August 2020
The LCMS Northern Illinois District has the pleasure of receiving the call placement of Donald Stein from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis this past April. Rev. Stein was ordained June 12, 2022 at Zion Lutheran Church in Mascoutah, Illinois and installed as Sole Pastor at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Rockton Illinois on July 31, 2022.
Pastor Stein was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin to Rev. Dr. Donald Melvin Stein, Pastor Emeritus at Shepherd of the Hills (SOTH) Lutheran Church in Onalaska, WI, and Margaret Ann Stein (nee Sternkopf), mother to seven children and more than 70 foster children. Don was baptized the day of his birth and recognized at Zion Lutheran Church in Wayside, Wisconsin later that month. Don was confirmed in the faith at SOTH in May 2003 and graduated from Onalaska High School in 2007. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in 2011, where he met Emily Marie (nee Rasmann).
The two were married November 10, 2012 at Emily’s childhood church, the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rockford, IL. Emily holds a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education with AMS certification in Montessori Methods. God has blessed Don and Emily with three children.
Don worked in a wide array of professions, from Congressional staffer in Washington, DC, to expediting manufacturing orders, to producing theatre, to supervising Park District departments and substitute teaching in Rockford, IL. Each experience formed him for ministry in its own way. Don and Emily attended Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Rockford, Illinois. There, Rev. Kenneth Krause (of blessed memory) asked Don to teach Sunday School, then Confirmation, then Adult Bible Study. In 2018, he suggested that Don enroll in the MDiv. program at Concordia Seminary St. Louis.
Don completed his fieldwork at Zion Lutheran Church in Mascoutah, Illinois under the direction of Rev. Kirk Clayton and served his vicarage at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Iowa City, Iowa under the supervision of Rev. Brent Hartwig.
The seminaries recognize and celebrate calls throughout the year although the campus’ primary Call Day celebrations are held in April. On Call Day, concluding students receive their first calls to ministry and second-year students receive their assignments for vicarages and deaconess internships. All calls and assignments for service are to churches or ministries within The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).
We are truly blessed by God for those serving our congregations.
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