Wolter installed at Trinity Lutheran Church
After 21 months of Pastor Kristian Bjornstad serving as an “interim” pastor for Trinity Lutheran Church, the congregation finally secured a more permanent candidate for their senior pastor position: Jason Wolter.
Wolter grew up on a dairy farm near Waconia and was an avid sports fan, playing both football and basketball. After graduating from Waconia, he pursued a degree in communications at Concordia St. Paul despite having an interest in theology. “My advisor said there was no sense in studying theology right away,” he said.
He then went to study at the St. Louis Seminary. During that time, he was a coach at a public school in St. Louis, rekindling his love for sports. He coached for 25 years until 2021, when he received his last call prior to arriving in Janesville.
Wolter has been involved in ministry work since 2002. During that time, he served as a theology teacher. He also served as a pastor for about 13 years. Although an ordination of a pastor usually doesn’t take place in the pastor’s home congregation, it was the case for him since he wasn’t being called to serve a church. His first calling was as a teacher at Martin Luther High School in Northrop.
While at Concordia St. Paul, he met his wife, Tracy. “She was a cheerleader…I was a football player,” he said.
The two have three children: Jacob, Isabella, and Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel is a Biblical name of a person who was a descendant of King David and an ancestor to Jesus; Zerubbabel led the Israelites to the promised lands after their exile.
Why the long name, though, compared to his other kids? “When we named Jacob, we found out later that the year he was born, his name was the most popular,” Wolter explained. “When Isabelle was born, we found out that year her name was the most popular. So, I wanted our next child to have a unique Biblical name. At first, my wife said no, but she couldn’t think of any other names.”
Wolter has served in St. Louis, Northrop, Norfolk, NE, and Baltimore. In all instances, he was a teacher.
These days, he focuses on the pastoral side of things. He admits that his philosophy on running a church can cause mixed feedback from his congregants. “Everywhere I served, I had a certain expectation of the churches,” he said. “It hasn’t always gone well. But I’ve always been upfront about it. I always believe that we should all stick to our faith and confessions.”
It’s been less than two weeks since his installation into Trinity, a process that happens every time a pastor answers a call to serve at a church. When Wolter received the initial call to serve Trinity Lutheran, he was excited. “Our youngest, Zeb, has never had a chance to go to a Lutheran School,” he said. “I came here because the church and school gives me the opportunity to do what I love to do: teach bible class.”
While Wolter has enjoyed staying busy teaching students and congregants alike about the ways of the Lutheran faith, he has been overseeing other processes as well, such as advising the church in calling an associate pastor. “That was an exciting opportunity to be a part of that process,” he said. “But it’s a challenge. We need to have an associate and possibly a third full-time person.”
So far, his short time in Janesville has been nothing less than amazing. “People came up to our place in Benson and helped us move down here,” he said. Benson is a town three hours from Janesville. “We’re excited to celebrate Christmas in Janesville.”
However, he does acknowledge that he is in the “honeymoon phase” of being the senior pastor at Trinity. “Everyone loves me right now,” he said.
One of the struggles that Janesville and many other churches have faced is finding suitable replacements for long-serving pastors. “It’s common knowledge that it’s a struggle to take over for a pastor that’s been in a church for a long time.”
This has been the case ever since Pastor Larry Griffin left Trinity Lutheran. In the past decade, Trinity has had two senior pastors, a few other associates, and one interim pastor who served nearly two years while the congregation found someone to call upon to take Pastor Johnson’s place.
Even with that, Wolter feels Trinity has made the proper steps for the church to be a good call for him. “Amongst themselves, they didn’t feel they’d get a pastor to do five services,” he explained. “They made the moves to make this an attractive calling. That’s why when I prayed about it, I was led by the Lord to come here.”
One of his favorite parts about being a teacher is being able to help children realize that no matter their sin, Christ loves them and forgives them. “In that point of their life, they aren’t worried too much about that,” he admitted. “But I want them to know that 20 years later, as long as they have his saving faith, he’ll forgive them. Moses killed a man. Apostle Palu had many Christians arrested and killed. And yet, God loved all of them and we’ll see them in heaven.”
Another part of the teaching process he enjoys is learning something himself and getting to share his knowledge. “I have bookshelves at home of things I’ve read and learned. It’s difficult to stay on track sometimes.”
Did we mention he loves coaching? “It’s difficult not to be a coach when you’re a teacher,” he said. “My passion isn’t the sport itself but the players that play it and teaching them how to play the game.”
His favorite part about being the pastor is serving the congregation and, in turn, serving the Lord. “When I do all the work, I know it’s not about the work, but about the Lord. When I’m not home until 10 at night, I call that a good day. Some days, when I get home at 5 p.m., I’d feel like I didn’t make much of a difference.”
One of his favorite memories as a pastor was doing a youth message. Well, no children came as intended. Instead, he opened the message up to anyone willing to listen, and a bunch of high school-aged kids showed up.
He also reminisced a time when he received a 3 a.m. phone call from one of the preschool teachers that he served who found out her husband had died. “I stayed with her until 7 a.m., when I had to get ready for church,” he explained. “It’s a great memory to me because it was a moment where someone needed God’s word. She had a lot of setbacks in life, and I appreciated the privilege to minister to her during that time.”
He had some of his most eye-opening experiences serving in the public school system as a coach in St. Louis. There was a black student on the football team he coached whose toes were sticking out of their cleats. Wolter bought him new cleats. He remembered when nobody came to pick up the student after a game and he tried to drop him off at his parents’ place, but nobody was home. The student ended up spending the night at Wolter’s place before returning home the next day.
“He had six siblings, and I found out that none of them have the same two parents,” he shared. “I found out that’s not that uncommon in St. Louis. I came from a traditional Midwest family, so it was one of those times when I couldn’t understand how parents could do this to their kids. It opened my eyes, seeing what most of those kids in the public school went through.”
Pastor Wolter is ready to create even more memories in Janesville and teach everyone about God’s word, students and congregants alike. “I’m grateful to the congregation for their help,” he said. “I couldn’t have moved down here without their help. I know it’s the honeymoon period, and things won’t always be this good. But as the saying goes, I’m ‘striking while the iron’s hot.’”
And as far as coaching a sport at Trinity or JWP? He’ll think about it.
