“A couple of the campus pastors, who are, by the way, religion department instructors, departed to other calls, leaving vacancies to be filled. I accepted her invitation, having wanted to teach for some time, but had never stepped forward to do so,” said Pastor Piepkorn.

After graduating from college, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard.

“I intended to make it a career, but my mother had a severe aneurism, leaving her partially paralyzed. My father asked if I could come back to the farm and operate it with him. I did so, cutting my active Coast Guard time to only three years,” said Pastor Piepkorn.

He bought the small Minnesota dairy farm from his father and operated it for six and a half years.

“It was a good life of learning the outdoors, learning the value of hard work, and gaining a humble and thoroughgoing appreciation for the goodness of belonging to God through faith in Jesus Christ from truly godly parents,” said Pastor Piepkorn.

After a couple of years of severe drought, he was encouraged to enter the seminary.

“Upon graduation from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I entered parish ministry,” said Pastor Piepkorn.

When he entered the seminary he decided to concentrate on Biblical studies. He found the examination of scripture to be most interesting.

“Indeed, those words are the very words of God and it behooves us to examine them as thoroughly as we can – to learn of Him and His wondrous works, to learn of our sinful nature, and to learn of how He has solved our eternal spiritual problem through Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection,” said Pastor Piepkorn.

He was only in the parish ministry for four years before becoming an active duty chaplain in the U.S. Air Force.

“Yes, it was still active pastoral ministry, but in a significantly different fashion than in the parish,” said Pastor Piepkorn, “There were several major events along the way that God used to put me where He wanted me to be - in pastoral ministry. I cannot be more thankful that it has all turned out that way.”

He enjoys the thrill of standing in front of a class and “expounding the truths of God’s holy Word.

“That rings true especially when it can be seen in the faces of students that those truths sink deep in their hearts and minds,” said Pastor Piepkorn.

He has had a lot of memorable events throughout his career, but finds the most exciting is applying God’s Word to the trials and traumas of people’s lives.

“This semester, spring of 2016, I’ve had the opportunity to teach Greek. Renewing what I learned nearly forty years ago is wonderful and to pass that on to the students so that they, too, can read God’s Word in its original language is a particular thrill,” said Pastor Piepkorn.

He considers a fellow pastor, who moved from Roswell, New Mexico, to Wyoming to be one of his mentors.

“He holds the right combination of thorough study of the Word and application to the lives of those of the parish that he serves,” explained Pastor Piepkorn.

He completed a master’s of divinity and considers that one of his greatest accomplishments. He also likes being able to give counsel and have an impact upon others.

“Likely greatest of all is that, often many years later, men have contacted me telling me that because of what I said and did at such-and-such base, they have become a Lutheran pastor. To quote a commercial on T.V., ‘It doesn’t get any better than that,’” said Pastor Piepkorn.

Pastor Piepkorn and his wife, Judy, have four children and 15 grandchildren.

“All have been rather successful in raising their own families and making a contribution to society. We thank and praise God profusely for that and for the joy grandchildren bring to one’s life,” said Pastor Piepkorn.

Two “personal thrills” of Pastor Piepkorn include hunting and music.

“I joke often that the music I like has to have a composer whose name starts with “B” – Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Berlioz, Bruckner and so on. Of course, there are many other great ones, but it seems that the “B’s” stand out.

“Concerning the other, we lease land here in New Mexico and own land in Minnesota where we hunt both big game, mule deer, elk, and whitetail, and game birds,” said Pastor Piepkorn.

He also owns Almost Home Bed and Breakfast, a mile south of Portales on the Dora Highway.

“That has brought many hours of sitting and drinking coffee over a nice breakfast with some truly wonderful guests over the eight years we’ve had it.”