Staff
Sarah Friesen-Carper - Pastor
Rev. Sarah Friesen-Carper has been the Pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection since January 2021. She graduated from Valparaiso University in 2001 with a BA in Psychology and minors in Theology and Humanities. She worked as an Admission Counselor for two years at Valpo heading Engineering and International Student recruitment and co-leading the freshman orientation program. In August of 2007 Pastor Sarah was ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and began six years of ministry as the pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Charlotte, MI. She served as Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational and Leadership Excellence in the North/West Lower Michigan Synod for five years working with call processes, candidacy, lay theological and spiritual education, youth ministry, pastoral formation, and anti-racism and justice ministries. Pastor Sarah and her family relocated to Saint Paul, Minnesota in 2018 where she served as interim pastor for St. Timothy Lutheran Church in St. Paul and St. Paul Lutheran Church in Wyoming.
Pastor Sarah is passionate about walking alongside individuals of all ages in their spiritual journey, building diverse, beloved community inside and outside the congregation, and worship in which the Divine One meets us and does not leave us where we were. Pastor Sarah finds deep joy in spending time with her husband, Rev. Andrew Tengwall, and their two children, Micah, and Stellan.
Gary Butler- Cantor
I have been an employed church musician for 31 years. After receiving my Bachelor of Music Degree from Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA in 1983, I received a Master of Sacred Music Degree from Luther Seminary, St. Paul in 1993. I have served for churches in the United Church of Christ, Roman Catholic Church, United Methodist, and the ELCA in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, and Minnesota. I also studied organ at the "Sessione Senese per la Musica e l'Arte" in Siena, Italy. When I am not at Resurrection, I am a music instructor and choral director for the Shakopee Public School District. I live in Burnsville with my wife; Ione, and our three children, Sophia, Kristina, and Jonathan
