The Rev. Shawn Mai
Interim Pastor
Shawn is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, having graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College and Luther Seminary. He is also a certified educator with the Association for Clinical PastoralEducation (ACPE).
After serving as associate pastor at Central Lutheran in Minneapolis, Shawn moved into specialized ministry as a chaplain and chaplain educator. He served as executive director of spiritual care for Walker Methodist, and director of spiritual care and education for the Allina Health System. Most recently he was the interim director and then manager for spiritual care and education Park Nicollet Health Partners Health System.
Growing up in the Swedish community of Lindsborg, Kansas, Shawn developed a love for folk dancing and the Scandinavian cultural traditions that permeate West Denmark. He is married to Chuck and is a proud father to Anne and Blake, as well as a grandfather to George, Sylvie, and Owen. In his leisure time, Shawn enjoys trail running with his dachshund, Trudy, in Polk County, Wisconsin and tending his land and trees on the shores of Big Lake in Eureka Center.
Christy Wetzig
Parish Associte
Christy is only a fraction Danish. In 2018 the Wetzig family emigrated to Frederic, Wisconsin, to build a home by hand and live quietly in the woods, which is when they began attending West Denmark. Christy has B.A.s in writing and art from Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, so obviously she is not qualified at all to preach in a church. She’s begun taking graduate courses from the woods and a life lived close to the land. The chickens, the compost pile, the mushroom logs, and the orchard are eloquent professors. On Sunday mornings, from the pulpit, she tries to share what she learns. Christy is also a potter. She teaches clay classes and practices ceramics in Frederic.
Liz Dodge
Parish Administrator
Liz spent her childhood and young adult years deeply rooted in social justice and service. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work and spent her pre-church career in direct practice and management roles in county social services. Liz is also a graduate of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin Lay School of Ministry, a program she completed after she felt called to deepen her Lutheran theological knowledge. Her background in systems theory, public policy advocacy, program development, and fiscal management, along with a deep pull to serve, encouraged her to volunteer for West Denmark’s Finance committee. It wasn’t long before she started making connections between that role and all kinds of administrative functions in the church. So now she finds purpose in God’s call by using her talents in the stewardship function of the congregation through executing and improving church policies and overseeing its financial operations.
Dr. Harry Johansen
Cantor and Choir Director
Harry is a retired professor of music and chair of the Department of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Prior to being chair, he was the director of choral activities and conductor of the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Women’s Chorale, and opera productions. He taught courses in conducting, choral literature, and voice.
Harry’s choirs have been selected to appear at state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators National Conference, and have toured in Europe. He has served as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for music festivals and clinics throughout the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest, where he was on the faculty of the University of Idaho. In 2009, he was awarded the prestigious Morris Hayes Award by the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association for service to the choral profession.
A bass, Dr. Johansen has often appeared as an oratorio soloist and in recitals. He has performed as a soloist for the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, and at the Oregon Bach Festival, where famed German choral conductor Helmuth Rilling served as artistic director.
A native of Wisconsin, Harry received his undergraduate degree in music education with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. His graduate degrees include a Master of Music degree from Indiana University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Iowa.
Christine Johansen
Pianist
Christine holds a Bachelor of Music Degree and a Master of Arts Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa. She retired from teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2007. While there, she taught Piano Performance, Class Piano, Music Methods for Teaching Music, and Music Fundamentals.
Together with her husband, Harry, she joined the church community in which he was raised, West Denmark Lutheran, where she plays for its worship services, accompanies the choir, and provides music for its many celebrations.
Thanks to the Harald and Saralice Petersen Arts and Letters Fund, a beautiful Estonia grand piano was installed in the West Denmark Church sanctuary in 2015. Christine gave the dedicatory recital on September 25 of that year.
Charles Parsons
Organist
From the age of 13, Chuck has worked in church music. He is an organist, choral conductor, and music director. He holds organ and choral degrees from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota and Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. He has done post-graduate work at King’s College, Cambridge, England and in the Netherlands.
Chuck has performed many recitals and hymn festivals and led choral events in the United States and Europe. He designed and conducted an evening compline (night prayer) service featuring an auditioned men’s choir. It aired live every Sunday evening for 15 years on WCAL Radio, heard throughout the Midwest.
He very much enjoys his volunteer work at West Denmark Lutheran Church and at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. He resides with his husband, Shawn, and their dachshund Trudy on Big Lake in Eureka Center.