About Our Pastor
Rev. Kevin P. Mundell has been the minister at Bethany U.C.C.
since October of 1997. He has been
involved in ministry since 1986, working as a Junior and Senior High Youth staff
in various churches such as Temple Baptist, Rockford, IL; Calvary Baptist,
Roseville, MN; and Central Baptist, St. Paul, MN.
While attending seminary, he was the interim Youth Director at Olivet
Congregational Church in St. Paul, MN. His
internship included various roles such as, leading worship, preaching,
visitation with shut-ins, teaching adult education classes, participating with
all boards, creating an evangelism project, starting a young adult group,
starting a young married group, and working with confirmation candidates.
In the spring of 1990, Rev. Mundell received a BA in Biblical
and Theological Studies, with an emphasis on contemporary Theology from Bethel
College in St. Paul, MN. He
received his MDiv. from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN in the fall of 1996.
Rev. Mundell completed an internship at Falcon Heights U.C.C. in Falcon
Heights, MN in the spring of 1997 where he continued on as paid staff until
receiving the call to minister at Bethany.
Rev. Mundell
and his wife Kelly have two children,
Dakota and Chayton.
From
The Pastor's Desk...
I believe that religion is understood by most people as being
a set of rules as to how one should live their life and if followed, will
provide them with the desired results. I
do not see Christianity as such.
I see Christianity as the story of God coming to humanity to
bring us back into a relationship with God so that God can love and care for us
as God journeys with us in our lives. The
story is of God coming to us in Jesus and through the cross and resurrection
bringing down all barriers between God and us.
In so doing God is simply asking us to trust that God has brought down
the barriers between us. God then
leaves us to our own response to God and hopes to be a part of every moment of
our lives. As a church, it is our
place to try and help each other to trust God, to support each other when we
fail to trust God, and to help each other to see when we are getting in our own
way of trusting God.
My goals for Bethany are to see us grow in depth and breath
as we deepen our faith in God through learning and living out our lives with
what we have learned. My goal is to
help enrich our understanding of what it means to be a Christian community, to
build and nurture relationships within the community setting and to empower
everyone who is a part of our faith community to be able to let the spirit of
God help them to change the world around them for God's glory and honor.