Pastor K. Christian Johnson began serving Gilbert Lutheran in November of 2016. He was installed as pastor on December 4, 2016.
Pastor Christian is a native of Minnesota. He grew up in St. Peter, MN and graduated from St. Olaf College with a degree in Political Science. He attended Luther Northwestern Seminary in St. Paul, MN.
In 1989, Pastor Christian was called to serve Garfield Lutheran Church in rural Madison, MN. In 1995, he became co-pastor of First Lutheran Church in St. James, MN. In 2003, he became Senior Pastor of First Lutheran.
Christian and his wife, Karen, live in north Ames. Karen works for First National Bank. They have two children – Maja and Peter. Maja is a family practice physician in Cottage Grove, MN. Her husband, Rob Muschler, is a senior associate for HMA Community Strategies, a firm specializing in publicly funded healthcare and human services policy, programs, financing, and evaluation. Peter and his wife, Eileen Downey, live in Knoxville, TN. Peter is a network security technician with Logically. Logically is an IT services and consulting firm based in Dublin, OH. Eileen is a member of the faculty at the University of Tennessee School of Music.
The Johnsons also live with their gray striped cat Pojke. Pojke (pronounced “poika”) is the Swedish word for “boy.”
