Concordia pastor Timothy Megorden recently announced his plans to retire by September 2015. When Megorden accepted the position of campus pastor in 2007, he vowed that he would retire in four years.
“It’s been eight years because it’s really been good,” he said.
Megorden graduated from Concordia in 1969 with a sociology major and philosophy minor and returned to serve as campus pastor in 2007. After graduating from seminary, Megorden spent time serving as a campus pastor at public universities in North Dakota and Wisconsin, where he received his Masters of Science in Marriage and Family Counseling. He has spent more than 30 years serving as a campus pastor at public and private colleges.
“Faith and learning to me are really a fun and important synergy,” Megorden said.
Though he is a preacher, he said he has learned from students.
“I always learned so much about life from young people,” he said.
In retirement, Megorden hopes to make alterations to his current lifestyle, including more time on his snowboard.
“I am really hoping in retirement to slow things down,” Megorden said, “(and) that I’ll have a little more ability to control the acceleration of life.”
Megorden feels that he is an immigrant to social media and other “technology networking” compared to others, particularly young people. Megorden said these emerging voices better understand an increasingly diversifying local community, and he believes it is best to allow them to lead the way.
“I’ll applaud from the woods,” he said.
When Megorden came to Concordia, parts of the Knutson Campus Center were still under renovation, so Megorden held chapel in the black box theatre and offered communion in the dining center.
When he arrived in the Anderson Commons on Wednesday evenings, the space would have the look and feel of a communal dining center: he would always have to pick up random pieces of lettuce. By the time the students showed up, the space had transformed.
“We really made the best of it,” Megorden said.
Megorden has worked to avoid being too serious as a pastor; he instead tries to do his job while being cheerful.
“I always hoped that people would know who Tim was,” Megorden said.
Melody Peterson, a senior and co-commissioner of Campus Ministry, said his lighthearted attitude rubs off on others. She works closely with Megorden.
“I don’t think there’s a moment when we’re having conversation that I’m not smiling or laughing,” Peterson said.
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