South Park Presbyterian Church : Rev. Dr. Kenn Shedenhelm

South Park
Presbyterian Church
1501 30th Street,
Rock Island, IL 61201

Click [map] to our location

Church Office Hours:
8:00 am - 4:00 pm Mon - Thurs
8:00 am - Noon Friday

Phone: (309) 786-6466
Fax: (309) 786-6470

Daily Upper Room Devotional www.upperroom.org/daily/

South Park Presbyterian Church is a congregation of
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) www.pcusa.org
The Presbytery of Great Rivers www.greatriverspby.org
The Synod of Lincoln Trails www.lincolntrails.org

and is affiliated with
Churches United of the Quad Cities www.churchesunited.net

Online community website: www.webjam.com/southpark_pcusa

Rev. Dr. Kenn Shedenhelm

I was born in Belle Plaine, Ia. and grew up in Des Moines, where I attended Des Moines Roosevelt High and Drake University. My family was what we would call “dysfunctional” today, but we were all hard-working. Dad worked his way up to Vice President for a company called, “Little Giant Crane and Shovel,” and my two brothers and I began careers with a grocery chain called (no kidding) “Hinky Dinky.” For me, Hinky Dinky led to a career in retailing, and after a brief stint with the Iowa Commission for the Blind, where I met my wife, Sherry, and taught white cane travel, I moved to Omaha, NE.. Sherry and I reared our two daughters in Omaha, and I eventually became a Vice President of Human Resources with Richman Gordman’s ½ Price Stores (now simply Gordmans).

I worked as hard as I could to be “somebody,” but over the course of time, I became more and more spiritually empty. My salary grew, but my soul got lost somewhere along the way. Life itself, relationships, even work, became uninteresting, but I was blessed with Sherry’s prayers and Rev. Lu Ratmeyer’s faith. With their efforts and God’s grace, I accepted Christ and became a Christian and eventually entered seminary at McCormick Theological Seminary in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. The transition from executive living to student housing was considerable, but MTS was very supportive and we made it through. Indeed, while I was attending McCormick, I was blessed with their G. Ernest Wright scholarship and also with the opportunity to become moderator of the seminary community’s “session” (or governing body).

I graduated with a Master of Divinity degree and later earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from MTS as well (I had earned a Master of Science degree from the Univ. of NE. when we lived in Omaha). In any event, I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve Christ as a church pastor in Joliet, IL; Kalamzoo, MI; and at two different congregations in Peoria.
Being a pastor is a privilege that I never dreamed of. It is a high calling- not because pastors are especially holy (they’re not)- but because our God is- and because there is no work more important than serving God’s people for Christ. I love virtually everything about being a pastor (except perhaps the endless meetings), and it would be hard to select any one aspect of my job as a “favorite.” All pastors love to preach and most of us love to teach. I am no exception to this. I also love our sacraments, but perhaps the greatest honor is simply to be present to those who are lost, broken, sick, or dying.

Justice and empowerment have always been big issues to me. Too many of God’s people are shut out, shut in, shut down and this grieves God Himself. As a person who often felt alone in a crowd and who spent a lot of time on the outside, looking in, I am also deeply committed to ministries of invitation and inclusion. As Christians we should draw ever larger circles of grace. John 3:16 is my favorite verse. Luther called in the “gospel in minature,” and despite the abuse it has taken in the endzones of our stadia, I still agree. I also like Philippians 2:5 and virtually all of Genesis. The Bible is filled with intriguing characters- from father Abraham himself- to women like Ruth- to models of faithfulness like Samuel. However, given his ups and downs, his faith and his fears, and ultimately, his discovery of God’s forgiving power, I would love to have a visit with Simon bar Jona- Peter the Rock.

I golf badly, I can’t seem to give up my love of baseball cards, and I love to dabble in other languages- Hebrew and Swedish for sure. The center of my life these days (other than Christ) is my wife and our two daughters and our three grandchildren. There presence alone lights up my world. There are a lot of things I wish I could do- dunking a basketball comes to mind- but I would very much like to sing. I sing of course, but you know what I mean. I am pleased to be in this area and I am already in love with the great people at South Park Presbyterian Church.

Pastor Kenn

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