Grace Lutheran Church
Baldwin, Michigan
Pastor Daniel Fienen
Pastor Fienen was born May 14, 1952 in Evansville, Indiana to Norman and Carolyn Fienen. He graduated from Concordia Lutheran Junior College, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1972; Concordia Senior College, Ft. Wayne, Indiana 1974; Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana 1978; and Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky with an M. A. in Humanities, 1980.
On August 23, 1975 he was united in marriage to Janice Bellhorn, daughter of Walter and Alma Bellhorn of Detroit, Mighigan. Her father spent his career serving at the Lutheran School for the Deaf in Detroit, as a teacher, principal and finally executive director. In addition to being a wife and mother, Janice has worked as a bank teller, nursing home laundry and most recently home care provider for seniors or the disabled.
They have one son, Timothy born December 7, 1982. He graduated from Danville High School in 2001. He worked for a number of years at the Commercial News in Danville in paper handling and more recently for Meijer. He moved to Baldwin with his parents and is now living in Big Rapids, Michigan.
Pastor Fienen was the founding pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Ortonville, Michigan where he served from 1979 until 1988. In September of 1988 he accepted the call to serve Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Holdrege, Nebraska where he served until the end of 1999. During his time in Holdrege, he also served as a volunteer Police Chaplain with the Holdrege Police Department. He was installed in January of 2000 at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Danville, Illinois where he served until he retired at the end of June, 2012. Immanuel together with Trinity Lutheran Church, Danville sponsor Danville Lutheran School, so Pastor Fienen was active with the school and helped teach the 7th and 8th Grade religion class which also served as confirmation instruction for the students from the sponsoring churches.
Since retirement, Pastor Fienen was vacancy pastor St. Paul Lutheran Church, Mattoon, Illinois, beginning in June of 2012 until their new pastor was installed in November, 2012. Beginning in the summer, 2013 he preached regularly at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Osman (Fisher), Illinois and has also done supply preaching at various congregations.
In March 2014, Pastor Fienen accepted the call from Grace Lutheran Church to be their pastor. He was installed on April 27 and took up residence in Baldwin in May.