Pastor Andy Nelson
Here on campus at Morningside, Pastor Andy Nelson shares his faith to all the students, staff, and community. Starting his journey at Morningside in 2018, Nelson shares his thoughts about faith and encourages students to think and talk about their personal faiths. One of his jobs is to connect the different groups of people like students, staff, and the community. Bringing them together to talk about faith and sharing their experiences.
Andy grew up in a faith community, reading in mass and exploring his faith. He was seen by people of the community as someone trying to learn the religion at a young age. This is usually not seen to often, so many of those people brought the idea of becoming a seminarian. Andy seemed to be very interested in this idea growing up.
Going to college in Northeast Iowa, he started to study religion, having the plan of joining the seminary. Moving toward his junior year of college, he swayed away from this idea as he was getting burnt out of this life. Many events were going on during this time, such as 9/11. This scary event made Nelson question what he was doing in life, and this ultimately made him quit after two years of the four year program. Finishing college with a Master of Arts. Looking for things to do in his life he wanted to “come to the end of the day and see where I started and see what I have done.”
Changing his mind again, he decides to transfer his credits back and to go back to become a seminarian. In the last year of school, he had internship at St. Olaf college. After finishing school, his first call was in St Paul, Minnesota.
Recently, Andy moves to Sioux city with his wife and 4 kids for his wifes job. He found a job in vermillion, which a short commute. Then when the campus ministry job opened up at Morningside, he knew it was his place to be.
Wanting to expand into the community at Morningside, Andy wants to host events such as mini recitals, student faith stories, and start conversations about how god is affecting people’s lives.
