The Reverend Sean Janssen, wife Vanessa, and (from left) sons Holden-3, Cameron-5, and Liana-8, following his September 2 ordination to the ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland, Washington.
Welcome Sean Janssen new pastor of the Christ Lutheran Church of Big Sandy and Havre's Messiah Lutheran. Sean told me, "The first time Vanessa and I worked in a church setting was in the Dominican Republic. We taught English there for nine months." Part of the reason they returned to the US was because they were pregnant with their first child. "When we came back I started working to become an Associate Pastor for a church in Wisconsin. To make a long story short, it didn't work out." So, he went back to his newspaper job in California.
Historically he has worked for three smaller newspapers and a community college paper. His very first job as a reporter was for a very small paper who had one editor and one reporter. "I covered schools, business, and sports."
Before they felt compelled to do missionary work in Dominican Republic they got the traveling bug from Vanessa's sister who had traveled extensively. They wanted to travel too, so, they lived off their income from his reporting paycheck and Vanessa had a great waitress job. They saved her tips and saved enough in one year to travel to 30 countries.
After their first Missionary trip and while in California working as a reporter they both felt that they needed do another short-term missionary trip back to the Dominican Republic.
Upon their return, their pastor was away so he gave a sermon on their short-term missionary visit. "That Wednesday it was just Pastor Doug and myself, at the breakfast, so it allowed Pastor Doug to tell me that he felt the Holy Spirit was calling me into the ministry. I tried it once before, and it didn't work out so it wasn't meant to be I thought.
I began the process of praying and talking to Vanessa and to my father-in-law who serves as a real example and Christian mentor to me." His father-in-law encouraged him to apply to a seminary. "It was really a journey! A short journey geographically only 2 1/2 hours away." He went to Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary of California Lutheran University. The bay area was a very diverse area, a really very beautiful. They loved the sense of community they had while he attended school. He graduated in August 2017 after three years of course work.
He had one full year of internship work. He was an interim pastor at Sierra Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Vista Arizona. He spent a year doing a residency in clinical pastoral education at Banard University Medical Center in Phoenix. Which is the largest level one trauma hospital in the state of Arizona where he served as Chaplain.
"You come along to be a representative of God to people often in the worst time of their lives. It is very powerful, meaningful, amazing work and it is humbling to be a part of it."
He came from a city with 1 and ½ million to a state with one million, and then to the town of Big Sandy with a population of 600. "We had more patients in the hospital that I worked at than the population here in Big Sandy."
"We often had days of 117 degrees and we'll probably see -17 degrees here in Big Sandy." One of the greatest things for them was "Living in a community" at student housing. It is important to us to raise our kids and grow in a village. They are excited to have the opportunity to grow with everyone in our community. It is the perfect chance to raise their children in a small caring community of friends.
They are both from Whidbey Island in Washington. Growing up they lived in a small community about the size of Big Sandy , where they didn't lock their doors. They were high school sweethearts went to senior prom together before attending Evert Community College.
They both love seeing the sunrise over the Bear Paws which has given them a great sense of peace. He came here knowing it was a farming community. "A pastor once told me, 'You'll find yourself doing pastoral care in the combine.' I think I was on a combine within two weeks."
