Morningside Community Church

Elaine Ganahl moved to Brookings in October of 2004 when her husband, Joe, accepted the position as Senior Pastor for Morningside Community Church. Her main ministry over the past twenty years has been to her husband and three children, being a stay-at-home mom for sixteen of those years. During this time, God was training Elaine through seminars, DVD studies, books and life experiences. In 2000, she felt God’s call to ministry, which He has refined to serving as a Pastoral Counselor. Elaine has been a licensed pastor with the Church of God for five years and is in the process of completing her ordination. She is also a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors.Pastor Elaine has served alongside her husband in ministry doing lay counseling, leading college and high school age small groups, and coordinating and facilitating seminars directed at helping people find freedom in Christ. Her personal mission statement is “to develop a more intimate relationship with my Savior on a daily basis. Knowing and understanding Him more is the passion behind my study and prayer life. As I discover the treasures of His kingdom, it is my aim, my calling, to pass it on to others. Specifically to bind up the broken hearted,  to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.  Having experienced the redeeming power of God in my life, I desire to be used by Him to do the same for others. I find great satisfaction and joy in helping others find lasting freedom in God’s truth.”

Sandra is originally from Washington, DC and had attended Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church all her life.   She moved to Brookings, SD and became a member of Morningside Community Church in March, 2000.   She had been working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 1985 and was relocated to South Dakota after completing a Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy.  

Sandra quickly became involved with church activities including the music ministry and the hospitality committee; however, “I felt that God did not bring me all the way to South Dakota to continue doing what I had been doing.”   Sandra’s life is filled with volunteer experiences including working with Big Sisters of America, nursing homes, hospitals, and various mission activities.   “I have always had a heart for helping people, and God paved the path for me to enter the ministry of counseling”, said Sandra.        

Sandra attended South Dakota State University and completed the formal program to receive a Master’s degree in Counseling.   She worked with Lutheran Social Services at the Counseling Center, the Refugee and Immigration Center and Summit Oaks, all in Sioux Falls, SD.   While at Lutheran Social Services she provided individual, couples, family and group counseling.  

While in South Dakota, Sandra met and married David Diedrich and gained 3 “bonus children” – Spencar, Brittney and Amy.

Tim and his family moved to Brookings to become the Music Pastor at MCC on New Year’s Day 2005. Previously, Tim had led worship for the youth ministry at Highland Park Community Church in Casper, WY where he served in a volunteer position for 3 1/2 years leading worship for Jr. High on Wednesday nights, Sr. High and College on Sunday nights, and occassionally the main congregation’s four weekend services as well!

“I love music and I love to worship God!” says Tim, “To me worshipping the Lord through music and leading others to express their love for God is a very natural thing. It’s like describing a hammer hitting a nail on the head…it’s what it was made to do! That’s how I feel, like I’m getting to do what I was made to do!”

Tim graduated from The King’s Academy, a Christian High school in Sunnyvale, CA, but at that time did not know he would one day be a worship pastor, nor living in South Dakota. “I knew that God was calling me to be in ministry since…well, as far back as I can remember, but I didn’t know for sure what that meant.”

Tim went on his first “outside-of-the-U.S.” missions trip to Mexico with his high school during his sophomore year and came home thinking maybe the “ministry” into which he felt God calling him would be missions, possibly even to Spanish speaking communities. He began getting serious about his Spanish classes at school and over the next four years went down to Mexico six more times, as well as, Guatemala two times. His last trip to Guatemala lasted a month and a half. “The Lord has definitely given me a heart for the Hispanic culture,” says Tim. “But, as more time went by the more I realized that missions work was not my main calling.” And then with a grin he added, “Not yet anyway!”

When did music come into the picture? “I’ve always loved music! I used to sit in my room as a young child and spend hours playing my little keyboards and singing all the songs from church that I could remember. I used to own all the Psalty tapes and the Colby tapes and wore them all out. And I even have some tapes of me, around eight years old, reading stories and singing songs from church. So, I guess even back then music was trying to invade my life…after all, I made my first recording when I was eight!”

It was not until the very end of his senior year in high school that Tim actually started thinking about the possibility of becoming a worship pastor…although that’s actually getting ahead of the story!

Tim was really shy growing up and had, naturally, never tried any form of leadership roles in school, youth group or otherwise. However, during his junior year in high school he was asked to help lead a number of different activities, including on-campus Bible studies, worship times, and prayer meetings. This began to open up even more opportunities for Tim that he was excited to explore, although rather hesitantly at first.

These experiences led him to begin working as a volunteer with various youth ministries, which he has continued to do each school year up to this day, over ten years later! So, naturally, during his senior year in high school he began praying about becoming a youth pastor…

(More to come…)

T i m ’ s    F a v o r i t e s

COLOR: Burgundy (wine color, purplish-red)

FOOD:
All Mexican food and Taco Bell
(They are NOT the same thing, but I like them both!)

BEVERAGES:
Monster Energy drinks (I like ‘em all, but the green ones are my uber-fav!),
Chai Tea latte with extra, extra caramel, root beer/dr. pepper/mt. dew

SNACK FOOD:
Chips and salsa, pizza (pineapple and canadian bacon is my fav, but…since when did something from Canada become Hawaiian?), popcorn, Reese’s peanut butter cups

MOVIES:
TIME TRAVEL  (Frequency, Back to the Future, etc…)
SUPERHERO (Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, etc…)
SCI-FI/FANTASY (Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc…)
and ALL Pixar movies because their fun, funny, very creative and always clean!

T.V. SHOWS:
24 (best show ever!), Smallville, Alias, Lost, American Idol, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: Enterprise, Pretender, X-Files and 21 Jumpstreet to name a few…

MUSIC:
All worship and praise stuff aside (because that goes without saying as my “favorite” stuff!)

STYLES:  rock (in all of its forms), jazz (crooners like Buble, Connick Jr. and Sinatra), acappella (there’s nothing like some killer vocal harmonies), and almost everything else.

BANDS: MuteMath (Their frontman, Paul Meany, used to come to my church in CA with his former band, Earthsuit…my former “favorite band”!)   I also like Skillet, Switchfoot, Waterdeep, ApologetiX (That Christian Parody Band), Tree 63, Caedmon’s Call, Relient K  and many more…

SONGWRITERS: Derek Webb (formerly with Caedmon’s Call), Paul Meany (MuteMath), Don Chaffer (Waterdeep), John Cooper (Skillet), Jonathan Foreman (Switchfoot), Matthew Thiessen (Relient K)…

HOBBIES:
I love building puzzles, playing games with family and friends, reading a good book, playing volleyball or baseball.

QUOTES:
“It is  better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” — Unknown

“Time flys like arrow; fruit flies like banana.” — Ancient Chinese proverb

“I’m done paying stupid tax with zeros on the end!” — Dave Ramsey

You may contact Pastor Tim through the contact form.

After making a commitment to Christ (for real this time!) as a sophomore in high school in the fall of 1995, T.J. started attending Morningside Community Church. “I felt a call to ministry while in high school, and I really wrestled with that for a long time.” He’s attended several schools: South Dakota State University, Warner Southern College, Mid-America Bible College (now Mid-America Christian University) and has had several majors: Secondary Education, Political Science, HPER- Health, Physical Education & Recreation, Church Ministries and Youth Ministry.

T.J. has been on staff at Morningside since the summer of 2000, working part-time as Co-Youth Director. He presently is on staff full-time as Associate Pastor. He leads MCC’s College Ministry (ENGAGE), and works in the areas of Assimilation and Discipleship.

T.J. and wife Kristy reside in Brookings with their son, Noah, their daughter, Sidney, and chocolate lab, Miles.

FAVORITES-

COLOR: Orange
FOOD: Pizza or Mac & Cheese
BEVERAGE: Milk (not skim, yuck) or Mt. Dew
SNACK FOOD: Sunflower Seeds or Popcorn
MOVIE: “The Great Outdoors”, “Shrek”, “Remember the Titans”
T.V. SHOW: LOST

MUSIC (BAND OR SINGER): Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Mercy Me & Third Day
OTHER TIDBITS: Big football fan (Go Broncos!), I also like to read a lot – and if I can read about football even better!
QUOTE: “How can I be ashamed of someone who died for me (Jesus).” (Paraphrased) – A Former Student (M.S.)

You may contact Pastor TJ through the contact form.

Thanks for finding out more about me. You’re probably wondering how I came to be a Senior Pastor at Morningside Community Church. Well, that’s a long story… and more space than we have here on the website. Suffice to say… God brought us here. I’m not sure I understand all the reasons why… but, I know He has been totally behind our decision to move to South Dakota. We have been at Morningside since October 1, 2004 and are loving every minute of it. We look forward to the new adventures God has planned for all of us here.

My path to ministry didn’t take the “normal” route. I have a Communications Degree from the University of Northern Iowa. In January 1986… I moved to Casper, Wyoming and took a job as a TV sportscaster with KGWC-TV and was there from 1986-1987. In 1987, I became Marketing Manager for Teton Homes. Then, in 1993, God called us into full-time ministry with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In late 1995, Highland Park Church asked me to be their youth minister. Thru a series of “God-ordained” circumstances, He made it clear that we were supposed to enter into church ministry… and on January 1, 1996, I became a youth pastor. God blessed us with nine wonderful years there. In June 2004… Morningside Community Church asked us to consider a Senior Pastor position here. We were voted in by the congregation on August 29th and began our ministry here on October 1st.

I have a passion to communicate the Gospel with clarity and relevance to all generations. My personal mission statement as a pastor is: I will strengthen, encourage, and comfort you by sharing the Truth of God’s Word and I will love you while doing it… based on 1 Corinthians 14:3… Galatians 1:6-9… and 1 Corinthians 13:1-2. I became a Christian on September 20, 1987 and was baptized that day as well. I was ordained by the Church of God on January 21, 2001.

My wife Elaine and I have been married since June 1987. We have three children, Jessica, Morgan, and Timothy. We love Brookings and are excited to be South Dakotans (I never have been one before). I look forward to being your Senior Pastor and helping all of us become rightly related to Jesus Christ. I also look forward to the opportunity to meet and talk to each and every one of you who visit this site. Thank you for coming here. I hope the Holy Spirit has blessed this time for you.

“Our ministry desires for people to glorify our Creator by serving others, sharing the truth according to His Word, daily growing and communicating with Jesus Christ, and connecting with one another in love.”

You may contact Pastor Joe through the contact form.