​Redeemer Lutheran Church

Growing up in western Minnesota Pastor Clemens had the opportunity to be mentored by two dedicated pastors. Pastor Roger Schlechte (who took a call to Cumberland, WI) was his confirmation pastor and Pastor Jim Walburg was his pastor through high school. Both men demonstrated genuine care for the people in Holloway, Minnesota where Pastor Ed was raised. His uncle, Pastor Walter Holzheimer, shared the excitement of proclaiming the Gospel and also encouraged him to consider preparing for the pastoral ministry. In addition to these pastors, he was blessed to have his parents Ruth and George Clemens who lived out their faith within the walls of Immanuel Lutheran Church and in the community of Holloway. As parents they demonstrated their faith to their three sons in their daily lives of work and play. Upon graduating from high School, Pastor Clemens entered the preseminary program at Concordia College, St. Paul and graduated in 1987 after spending the previous summer at Custer State Park in South Dakota with a Christian Ministry in the National Parks. He attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and spent his vicarage year in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada then graduated in 1991. While on vicarage, he was sworn in as an officer with the United States Army in the Chaplain Corps. During the summers of 1990 and 1991 he attended the Chaplain Officer Basic Course at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Pastor Clemens served in Army Reserve units in Lafayette, Louisiana and Des Moines, Iowa. Upon graduating from the Seminary, he was called to First Lutheran Church in Crowley, Louisiana. His second call was to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Garner, Iowa where he met and in 1995 married his beloved - Pam.

 

The medical field had been of interest to Pastor Ed even in high school so in 1994 he enrolled in the Iowa Methodist School of Radiology and began a two-year program of study. In 1996 he and Pam moved to Kansas City, Missouri and then in 1997 they moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota where they spent the next 25 years working at the St. Cloud Hospital – Pam as a registered nurse and Ed as an MRI technologist.

 

After moving to St. Cloud, they were blessed with their son – Caleb who is currently a second-year podiatry student at the Rosaland-Franklin University in North Chicago. They were also blessed with a daughter – Victoria a recent graduate of St. Cloud State University who last summer married Brayden Wellman and are now living in Hastings, MN. While living in Sartell, MN they were active members of Messiah Lutheran Church. During this time Pastor Clemens also filled in various local congregations for pastors on vacation or vacant congregations.

 

In his free time, he likes to read, deer hunt with his family, and cross country ski. Both he and Pam like to travel, swim and fish. As “empty nesters” Pastor and Pam are excited to start a new adventure at Redeemer Lutheran Church ministering to and with congregational members as together they share God’s love through Jesus Christ in the Amery area!