Congregation welcomes Pastor Dan and Susanna Strutz
The Mountain Lake Community Bible Church recently welcomed their new pastor and his wife, Pastor Dan and Susanna Strutz. The new minister and spouse fill the roles held of interim Pastor Dan Keegan and his wife, Bonnie.
Dan is a “Cheesehead” by pro football affiliation – and birth. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and completed his undergraduate work at Minnesota State University-Mankato, earning a degree in Speech Communications. He then began his seminary work at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, which will soon be completed. Prior to taking the pulpit at Mountain Lake Community Bible, he served as a pastoral intern at epikos church in Milwaukee.
Good coffee (including roasting), marathon training – and watching baseball, football/hockey – are a few of his enjoyments.
Susanna is a South Dakota girl, hailing from Huron. She earned degrees in Math Education and German from Augustana University (formerly Augustana College – until September 1) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She has worked – and will continue to do so, remotely from Mountain Lake – for Moore Oil Company in Milwaukee.
Her enjoyment list includes cooking, baking and triathlon training.
The couple met “Down Under” in Australia when both were serving with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade For Christ).
Despite the fact that the couple comes from opposite circles of life – Dan is a city boy and Susanna is a farm girl; Susanna is a Minnesota Vikings fan; Dan cheers for the Green Bay Packers – they come together with their heart-filled yearnings for service. Dan’s heart is in helping others get excited about what can be found in God word; the gospel of a God who redeemed for his glory, while Susanna espouses a heart wish to work with young girls and women on how to live and walk more closely to Christ.
According to Pastor Dan, “Taking this position in Mountain Lake has been somewhat of a convergence of the worlds of our past. I had a good buddy who worked here at MLC (Mountain Lake Christian), Susanna grew up in the USMB (United States Mennonite Brethren) denomination, which is also Community Bible’s denomination – and ultimately we felt the Lord working to bring us to a small community where we can invest both in the community and the church. For us our desire to work to Connect People to Christ and Communty.”
