TEAM PROFILE JOHN DRAKE UNDEM
I was born March 27,1958, in Indiana. Shortly after my birth we moved to Minnesota and I grew up in Alexandria where my father was a physician.
I grew up with five sisters and my mother and father. While I went to church regularly as a child, I did not grow up in a spiritual family. Sunday mornings my mother would dress the kids up for church while dad stayed home and watched TV. There was very little discussion about spiritual matters outside of church. The rule was that once we were confirmed we could make our own decision as to whether or not we would continue to go to church. I chose not to continue.
When I was 17 years old I met Linda, who would become my wife. She was, is and always will be the greatest blessing God has given me in this world.
With Linda's encouragement a year after I graduated from high school I enrolled in college. I spent four years at Moorhead State University where I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree with majors in psychology and economics and a minor in political science.
Even at that time I felt a longing to be involved in the ministry. I spent many hours with a man I befriended who was a theologian at Concordia University in Moorhead. He and I discussed at length matters of the spirit and my feelings about the ministry.
At the time however, Linda had developed serious health problems and we had four children; Lisa, Todd, Christopher and Michael. In the end it became apparent that the time was not right to pursue the ministry and I applied for and was accepted into law school.
During this time Linda and I had many discussions about God, our faith and our church. We decided, in our house, that on Sunday morning everybody would get up to go to church including dad. We talked about matters of faith with our children and became active in whichever church we were attending where we were living at the time.
After three years of law school I accepted a job in International Falls where we lived for three years. This was an extremely difficult time for us because Linda was very ill and I was not happy with my employment situation. In 1987,1 was offered an opportunity to come to Grand Rapids to practice law.
Our move to Grand Rapids was one of the best things that ever happened to us. Shortly after we came to town we began to attend Christ Episcopal Church. Of all the churches we had attended, none even held a candle to the warmth and spirit we felt and have always felt at Christ Church.
Over the years life has changed. All of our children have grown and left home. We are blessed with three beautiful grandsons; Corey, Troy and Cody, and will soon be blessed with two more grandchildren as Christopher will be marrying a wonderful woman who has two children we adore; Christopher and Taylor.
The one constant through all this change however has been Christ Church. Over the years we have become more and more deeply involved with the church. Linda has been directress of the Altar Guild now for over ten years and we are both active in total ministry - Linda in pastoral care and I am studying to be a priest.
When our church had its difficulties three and a half years ago, Linda and I were in anguish. The church has become so important to us we cannot bear the thought of its demise. We resolved to do everything we could to make sure that Christ Church would continue to exist and continue to spread the word about the Grace of Christ.
After many months of prayer and sometimes tearful conversation we discerned that we have been given a wonderful opportunity to help our church continue to grow and thrive through the Total Ministry Team.
I have awakened to the reality that the inspirations of the ministry I felt thirty years ago planted a seed which is now growing. I am so excited and so grateful for this opportunity to be one of your priests on the Total Ministry Team.