Golden Congregational Church welcomes two new pastors

      The members of Golden Congregational United Church of Christ, three miles east of Ryan, are pleased to announce the arrival of two pastors who will share leading and serving our church and community.

      Shadoe Hanson and his wife, Marcy, both grew up in South Dakota. He was raised on a cattle ranch and she in the city. Growing up on a farm, Shadoe feels a calling to do ministry in rural settings. Shadoe graduated from South Dakota University and is now pursuing his master’s degree in divinity at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque. He feels blessed to receive such a warm welcome into the Golden UCC community. His ministry at Golden has been quite a journey, and he hopes to serve faithfully and joyfully for the next year.

      Reverend Dr. Curt Miner is a retired UCC minister. He was born in Connecticut and raised in Arizona. After college and seminary, he was ordained in 1985. Following a 31 ½ year career serving congregations of the United Church of Christ in California, Iowa and Ohio, Rev. Curt took early retirement from full time ministry so he and his wife, Linda, could be closer to their two adult children and three grandchildren in Iowa. Curt and Linda moved to Cedar Rapids in 2017, joined First UCC there, and shortly thereafter learned of Golden’s need for someone to lead the morning services.

      During their first Sunday at Golden, Linda discovered the tombstone of Ernie and Vi Hayhow in the cemetery. Before serving as Golden’s Pastor, Ernie served at Community Congregational Church in Manchester and as Director of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

      The Hayhows were longtime friends of Rev. Curt’s family. At the time of Ernie’s passing, Vi gave Ernie’s stoles to Curt. He now uses them while serving communion the first Sunday of each month as sacramental pastor.

      Golden’s previous pastor, Mary Taylor, passed away in April 2017. Since then we have been blessed to have some fine fill-ins for our worship services, including Shadoe and Rev. Curt.

      We now feel doubly blessed as they become more involved in Golden and our community.

      Weekly services are at 9:30 a.m. each Sunday. All are welcome to attend.