Pastor Connie Tiede
Lead Pastor at Zion
Pastor Connie Tiede has been serving as one of the pastors of Zion since 2003. She grew up in New Ulm, MN and attended college at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. She went to Luther Seminary in St. Paul where she met her husband Mark, who is also a pastor serving in S. Minneapolis. Together they have 3 adult children, two of whom are married and live in the Twin Cities area. We enjoy spending time with family, our dog Rosie, going for walks and love to travel.
Pastor Sue Wallager
Pastor for Spiritual Care
Pastor Sue Wallager has served Zion for eight years. She grew up in Coon Rapids, MN and graduated from Luther College, Decorah, IA with a BA in Elementary Education. Pastor Sue received her Masters of Divinity degree from Luther Seminary in St Paul, MN. She has served congregations throughout Minnesota. She is married to Jeff, an ELCA Chaplain at St. Cloud Hospital, and together they have three children, Emma, Carl and Soren. She enjoys spending time attending her children’s sports and activities, walking their dog, Mya, and spending time with her family.
Pastor Mike Pancoast
Pastor for Adult Education
Pastor Mike Pancoast began serving as interim associate pastor in April 2024. He grew up in Texas, graduating from Texas Lutheran College (now University) with a BA in English. He attended Luther Seminary where he met his spouse, Kari, a pastor serving a 2-point parish (Bethel Lutheran in Little Falls and Immanuel Lutheran in Hillman) in the Northeastern Minnesota synod. They live with their three dogs (Kirby, Sourie, and Gene) in Becker. They have four adult children, two of whom are graduates of Concordia College in Moorhead (Olsen and Laura) and two who are current students at Concordia (Anna and Eleanor). Pastor Mike is a 2-year Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor, loves to cook anything and everything and can often be found in the saddle of one of his fat-tire, mountain, gravel, or road bicycles.
Ken Johnson
Visitation Minister
Ken Johnson and his wife Peg joined Zion after moving to the Twin Cities from Madison, Wisconsin. After retiring from a career in the accounting field, Ken felt a call to ministry and completed the TEEM Ministry program at Wartburg Seminary (TEEM is Theological Education for Emerging Ministries) with an emphasis on rural ministry. Most recently Ken served on the staff at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Madison, where he assisted with pastoral care and visitation ministry. Ken is a part-time addition to the Pastoral Care/Visitation Team at Zion and does hospital, nursing home, home visits and nursing home services and funeral services. Ken’s hobbies include anything railroading including books and DVDs, model railroading, and in the past has volunteered as an engineer on one of the excursion railroads in Duluth. Ken and his wife Peg have two children and six grandchildren.