Celebrity Blogger Week: David Hansen

Celebrity Blogger Week continues with...another Lutheran! We're pleased to have digital media guru David Hansen return for another year of Lent Madness. We're not exactly sure what's going on in his extracurricular photo. He appears to be defending a stone fortress, or at least some environmentally friendly rain barrels, with a toy sword. We wish him luck in his Don Quixote-esque quest!

David Hansen

The Rev. David Hansen, despite growing up as a pastor’s kid, turned out okay. An ELCA pastor, he serves at Spirit of Joy! Lutheran Church in The Woodlands, Texas (outside of Houston), where he lives with his wife Megan, their daughter, and their menagerie of pets. When not preaching and teaching for the Lutheran diaspora in Texas, David is helping to drag the church into the digital age – teaching congregations and leaders to make use of online tools for ministry (You can catch David this year leading an Intensive as a part of the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza. He is a regular contributor and moderator in the Church Social Media (#chsocm) community, and wrote the forward to Celebrity Blogger alum Meredith Gould’s The Social Media Gospel. He is an occasional contributor to The Lutheran magazine and Living Lutheran, and blogs at Pastor David L. Hansen. David has recently begun work as the Director for LEAD -- an organization committed to providing resources for leaders and ministries. Connect with him on Twitter @rev_david and Facebook.

1. What is the single most inspirational place you have ever visited (besides your own church).
It’s so hard to choose just one! The Lutheran seminary on the battlefield of Gettysburg is an exceptionally inspirational space, and to attend school there was a powerful experience. Walking to class and back home up and over the same contested Seminary Ridge as that pivotal battle of the Civil War, spending time soaking in the views of the battlefield – to be in the space where so many sacrificed so much was a humbling experience.

2. Share one unusual fact about yourself with the Lent Madness public.
Despite attending an Episcopal seminary (YSR!), I come from a very Lutheran family. When I was born, the doctor smacked my posterior and I shouted, “Hier stehe ich!” Ok, maybe that one is less than factual – but it is a fact that when I was ordained I became the twelfth Lutheran pastor in four generations of our family.

3. Of the saints you've written about for Lent Madness 2017, what most inspires you? What most disturbs you?
The story of Philip Melanchthon really speaks to me – doing yeoman’s work for the Reformation, and watching his best friend get all the credit could not have been easy. And then to have much of that work discredited at the end of his career, because he was a politically convenient target for his opponents. In fact, perhaps Lin-Manuel Miranda’s next musical will be Melanchthon?

But nothing rolls off the tongue like “Franz Jägerstätter.” I admire – and also shudder – at what his wedding planning conversation must have been like. “So dear, I know you want a big, joyous celebration, but I’m thinking we should get married at a Maundy Thursday worship service. What do you say?”

4. If you could get just one tattoo this Lent, what would it be? (besides the Lent Madness logo and "none" is not an option).
Well, since “none” is not an option – and I have a very strong aversion to pain – I would have to go with something small. Very small. As in a dot. Well, more of a “jot” than a dot – a jot of the law, left unchanged by Jesus’ proclamation of the Gospel.

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13 comments on “Celebrity Blogger Week: David Hansen”

  1. Well, it's 8:39 AM in sunny Nashville TN and I've had breakfast w/coffee and now I'm meeting Blogger #4 who is a bona fide Lutheran pastor. Welcome to ya from a retired Episcopal vocational deacon who loves your sense of humor. Your pet roster doesn't mention ferrets like an SEC padre we know, love, and revere...so far, so good. Thanks for prodding us to remember what Lent should mean to us: the need to change and not get stuck on auto-pilot. You'll do just fine, so a hearty welcome Blogger #4.

  2. Maybe I'm finally going to get my dear college friend of 40 years--who is Lutheran-- hooked on Lent Madness!

  3. Gosh - couldn't you have spelled his name right in the title of the post/email??
    Hansen or Hanson? We just don't know!

  4. Actually, many many churches have punctuation marks in their names. However, I only know of one which has an exclamation point in its name.

  5. Loved your and David's humor (possibly our 1st Super-hero Celeb. blogger?!) --thank you for cheering my day & whetting our appetite for learning about this year's Saints!!

  6. Hi David, I was impressed with your inspiration: Gettysburg and Seminary there. My great grandfather attended 7 years of schooling there ending in 1890. I was recently handed 40 of his sermons which I transcribed into a booklet for family. I found Scripture, the Classics with a bit of poetry and contemporary history interwoven in those sermon notes. A most wonderful time I spent at my computer with Rev. Shaner looking over me from his picture on the wall. Although he died at 49 years, he was really good at one thing. He left 10 offspring to carry his ideas forward! Looking forward to your inspiration, too, David.

  7. Are you related to Mark Hansen? He was my pastor at Prince of Glory in Minneapolis in the late 1970's.

  8. Awesome! Can’t believe I looking forward to Lent.... Does that make me a hair shirt person? I hope not. Lent!

  9. Lutheran Churches in Texas seem to be creatively named. My favorite at the moment is Triumphant Lutheran Church in Garden Ridge (San Antonio), because of its location on Bat Cave Road.

  10. Most of our congregation choked on the Sunday after Election Day 2016 when we sang "It is Well" and got to the last verse, " ... the trump shall resound ... "