Adam Butler, Pastoral Intern
My name is Adam Butler and I am originally from Plymouth, Minnesota, a northwest suburb of Minneapolis. I grew up in a modest house with my dad, mom and younger brother. I graduated from Wayzata High School in 2004 where I was involved in recreational sports (hockey, tennis, golf, and baseball), music (choir and band) and theatre. While in high school, I was very involved with my home congregation, Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. I participated in church choir, a program with developmentally delayed high school students, peer mentorship, camp counseling and was President of the high school youth group.
After graduating from high school, I went on to an undergraduate education at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota, a rural city about an hour south of the Twin Cities. While at Gustavus, I studied Religion and Communication Studies and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in both of those fields. Also while in attendance, I participated in the Gustavus Choir, six main stage theatre productions, Gustie Greeters (freshman orientation leader), Epsilon Pi Alpha fraternity as a pledge leader, and was a Gustavus athletics “Superfan.” During the summers between the four school years in college I worked in two different places. The summer after my freshman year I was a youth ministry intern at Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, Minnesota, doing children’s ministry work.
The next two summers I worked as a camp staff member at Cathedral of the Pines in Lutsen, Minnesota, a branch of ministry associated with Mount Olivet Lutheran Church. The first summer I worked as an “Inside Guy,” maintaining the lodge and setting up and cleaning up after meals. My second summer I worked as “Mr. Fun” which is a much cooler way of saying that I was an Activities Coordinator for all the kids that came through the camp for the summer from young children all the way up to high school graduates.
After graduating from Gustavus, I moved back up to the Twin Cities area where I have lived since. I was blessed to get a job that started the day after graduation at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, doing 7th and 8th grade youth ministry. I worked there until February of 2010 when my position was eliminated due to declining finances. I had begun my seminary education in the fall of 2009 as a part-time student which transitioned into full-time as a result of my being laid off at St. Andrew.
I live by myself in an apartment in Minneapolis and commute to Luther on a daily basis while also working at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church’s West Campus in Victoria, MN.
