Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 53:1 (Mar 2010)
Article: Memorials
Author: Anonymous

JETS 53:1 (March 2010) p. 217

Memorials

John Henning Bergeson

John Henning Bergeson was born on May 10, 1919 in Ashland, WI to Henning John Bergeson and Lydia (Johnson) Bergeson, the oldest of three sons. He attended a one room school house through the eighth grade, and then went to live with relatives in Ashland because there was no local high school. John made an early childhood commitment to Christ, but at age fifteen at a Boys’ Camp that commitment became real and also served as his call to the ministry.

John received his B.A. degree in 1943 from the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, and his B.D. the following year from Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, MN. John later was granted a Doctor of Divinity from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, OR.

On June 10, 1944, John married Gladys Victoria Peterson in Elim Baptist Church of Chicago. They met at Bethel. Three sons and two daughters were born to this union. John served in the ministry for the Baptist General Conference for sixty years, from 1939-1999. He pastored in Gothenburg, NE for three years and at the Opstead Baptist Church in Opstead, MN for nine years. John started churches in the Denver, CO area and throughout Minnesota while living in St. Paul. He also did church planting in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, British Columbia, and Manitoba for thirty years as District Executive Minister. The Bergesons spent five years church planting in San Diego, CA and were connected with Bethel Seminary West.

John traveled extensively through Britain, Scandinavia, Austria, Germany, the Middle East, Japan, Taiwan, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil. His final retirement was from being pastor to seniors at Edgewood Baptist Church in Seattle, WA at the age of 86. John and Lydia then settled into a retirement apartment in Roseville, MN in 2005.

John was a member of the Evangelical Theological Society for 19 years. John passed into the presence of Christ on January 19, 2009 from Roseville, MN at the age of 89 years, 8 months, and 9 days. He is buried in Ogema, WI.

Left to mourn his passing are his wife, Gladys of Roseville, MN; son John J. Bergeson and his wife Diane of Lino Lakes, MN with their daughter Heather and son Donald; daughter Jane Ellen with her husband Robert Erickson, retired in Arizona; daughter Ruth and her husband Vernon Lunzer of Arden Hills, MN; son Peter Lowell Bergeson and his wife Gail of Mauston, WI, with their daughters Emily, Kristin, and Lydia; son Daniel Roger Bergeson and his wife Sandi of Shoreline, WA; Grandsons Lance Erickson and Reese Erickson with his wife Jodeen, all of Montana; Grandson Keith Lunzer and his wife Kerstin of Roseville, MN, with their children Benjamin, Kelsey, and Julian David; Grandson Kevin Lunzer and his ...