Praise the Lord that He saved me! I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior as a young boy in Fargo, ND while reading a comic book gospel tract with my mother. Shortly after that, my father entered into the pastoral ministry full-time, so we grew up around the local church for as long as I can remember.

We moved to Dallas, TX when Dad was called to seminary and then to Watertown, SD when he graduated to become the pastor of New Life Evangelical Free Church. The move to Watertown was difficult for me as it was my senior year of High School. I struggled to fit in, but, looking back at it, I thank the Lord for using it to grow a love and care for people who may be prone to “slipping through the cracks” of society or the church. Praise God for how He works!

I met and married my wife, Karale, in 1996 and began our journey together moving around to a few places as I continued my work in the retail industry until 2013. At the end of that time, the Lord took away the business we had worked so hard on for several years. In earthly terms it was, another difficult chapter of life but very beautiful, as the body of Christ surrounded us (now with three daughters!) with mercy and love to help get us through that time. How wonderful is His Church!

In His Providence, I landed on my feet as a mailman with the United States Postal Service. In many ways this was a sweet time of training and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ as I would listen to many sermons and theological discussions as I delivered the mail. Through those years we were heavily involved in the life of the local church. God has used us in young-adult ministry, prayer ministry, children’s ministry, and youth ministry. It has been such a great joy!

In June 2020, the Lord called us to move to Mound and become the associate pastor at Calvary Memorial Church. How grateful we are for His leading! What a huge blessing this church has been to our family!

Philippians 3:8

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."

CONTACT  Pastor Rusty at rgrund32@yahoo.com

I am so thankful to the Lord for loving Christian parents who raised me to know, follow, and love the Lord Jesus from a very young age. I prayed to receive Christ as a young child and understood my need for His love and forgiveness in my life. What a privilege to walk with Jesus through all of life.

I grew up in Minneapolis. Our family went to Hope Presbyterian Church in Richfield, which was a place where I grew deeply in my walk with Christ.

After graduating from Minnehaha Academy, I went to Wheaton College, where Robert and I started dating. After graduating, we married and  I worked as an elementary education teacher in Bloomington and Minneapolis Schools for five years, and also graduated with a master's degree from Mankato State University. Then our daughter, Kathryn, was born, and three months later we moved to Colorado.

We helped start and lead a bible school at Timberline Lodge, a ministry of Torchbearers International. We discipled students and taught in the school for seven years in the mountains near Winter Park. During that time, Joseph, David, and Matthew were born (all at hospitals in Denver, which was a two-hour drive over the mountains!). Timberline was a wonderful place to raise our children, and we were so thankful for our church family at Winter Park Christian Church during those years.

In 2007 we moved back to Minnesota, knowing Rob’s dad was terminally ill. We felt the Lord moving us back to be nearer to our families. Right away we found Calvary Memorial Church (in part because of the giant AWANA sign on the fence) and have been so thankful and blessed to serve and be a part of Calvary since then. Our son, Daniel, was born in 2010. We have been homeschooling our children since 2012, and in the fall of 2017, I began as the worship leader at Calvary.

We praise the Lord that He is able to grow us up into Him. As I watch our children grow, I am in constant wonder that He is doing the growth! We also praise the Lord for the beautiful body of Christ at Calvary and the fellowship we share because of His redeeming work for us!

I love to read and swim and bike, have long talks with our kids, date nights with Rob, and see the whole family get involved serving and worshipping the Lord together.