Dan Eifert comes from a long line of church workers; though he doesn’t have a formal “Divine Call” from the church, he and his family serve in many ways. In Part 1 of our interview with Dan we explore the power of a name, and of a family of people molded by Christ and Christ’s service in His Church.
[00:00:00] I don't hide well when I go to church.
[00:00:10] Welcome to Christ in All Things, a conversation about meaning and purpose.
[00:00:15] It's based on a verse from the Bible, Colossians chapter 1 verse 17, which says,
[00:00:20] Christ is before all things, and in're all delightful. So I decided to switch the adjective this time. Dan Eiffert, who has served here at St. Paul's in several capacities, elder most recently, and then currently serving as the vice president of the congregation. We are working on adding to that too.
[00:01:42] Before we get much further, Pastor O'Donnell, you had found Lord, all who were skillful was 288. Dan, why is that particularly important? Well, there's you. Yeah, there's a reason. I don't hide well when I go to church. Very often, as I'm walking out of church, I'll have a host of people saying, oh, we just
[00:03:00] love to hear your singing.
[00:03:01] And I mean, it is a wonderful compliment.
[00:03:03] And I'm very thankful every single day to the Lord for all the gifts that He has granted our guests in advance a couple of simple questions and they prove to be quite wonderful conversations. Dan, so we ask you what is your name, at the time that I was the time that I was born, we were in Detroit, Michigan. My father was the choir director.
[00:05:42] Actually, I'd moved on to be the principal of Lutheran East and Harper Woods.
[00:05:45] Lutheran High School. Lutheran High School. Yes.
[00:06:43] of the anglicized yacob or something. Yes.
[00:06:44] Okay.
[00:06:45] All right.
[00:06:46] I forgot that.
[00:06:47] Okay.
[00:06:48] Yeah.
[00:06:49] So hence, supplant her.
[00:06:50] Yeah.
[00:06:51] Okay.
[00:06:52] So, Iphert, the family name.
[00:06:54] Now, there's a string of Ipherts that are known in the Missouri Synod.
[00:07:01] Yes.
[00:07:02] None the least of which that I am connected to is your aunt.
[00:07:07] Eunice.
[00:07:08] Eunice. Aji, which is point of as in like tip of the sword, and the second being Freethu or Freeth, which is peace. So the tip of the sword that brings peace protects what is dear. There you go. Zealot. Yeah.
[00:08:20] There you go.
[00:08:21] Well, you sing zealously.
[00:08:22] One could say that.
[00:08:24] And for this next little while. So Dan, what are the top three to five things that have shaped who you are? So one of the first things that I will mention, and listening to a few other of these podcasts is gonna be not so dissimilar from many other people,
[00:09:42] it's the family.
[00:09:43] I mean, that's obviously the first thing
[00:09:45] that you know about having a brother that's 10 years older than you that's ready to throw the ball around in the front yard or do something fun like that was always important to me. And obviously so many good times with my older sister too growing up. And you know, there's the story about when my younger sister was born that my my older brother and my older
[00:11:00] sister got me ready for church, picked up by some family that was bringing us to church. into Tritemichigan, which in the city in the city about two miles into the city sure That church now has had an incredible rebirth as a mission Wow and I mean the church building itself Has been cared for like there is none other it is a shining beacon Well a lot of the neighborhood around it is
[00:12:23] Not in good shape that church stands strong. Okay, so that's always good
[00:13:23] four people can sit there as opposed to the long pews that go through the rest of the nave. So in the very front pew, that's where dad sits because he has his choir director
[00:13:28] stand right there next to him and when it's time for the choir to sing, he simply stands
[00:13:32] up and invites the choir to stand up. And next to him are little Danny and little Christy.
[00:13:40] So he stood up at one point and to direct the choir problem. Challenging question. Okay. So your family, but you're raised in church, you're singing, you're singing all the time. Absolutely. Sorry to butt in here,
[00:15:02] but I'm curious about, is everyone musical amongst your to sing something in church. So she's one of the first people called over there, which is wonderful.
[00:16:22] And she'll grab her guitar, lead the music at the beginning of Sunday school or whatever
[00:16:27] is called for us. a very close second on this list is where that music took place. So, yeah, absolutely. Well, what did you have second on your list? Well, you're going to go there. I mean, it's the church. I grew up in church. They say that being a pastor's kid is a, well, yeah. I said, if you think back to this, and they know their grandmother very well, you know, I said, grandma had to play Christmas Eve services, the Christmas Day services, and you know, she had to work so very, very hard to get those services ready, and everything came off wonderfully. But then she would come home, and she would say,
[00:19:00] oh, I guess I have to prepare the rest of Christmas
[00:19:04] for the family.
[00:19:05] So I mean, it was just, it was life.
[00:19:07] There was no two ways about that. change and eat and we're on the road. There you go. So yeah, very similar existence. You know, our family has gotten into the habit of opening presents Christmas Eve morning. First thing. So super early on Christmas Eve morning, my kids are like, let's open presents. Here we go. Okay. I mean like five behind that? I think that just goes into, you know, and I'm trying to instill this into my kids too and picks up a organ gig every once in a while. So I mean she's wholeheartedly into that church. And then my older sister's kids,
[00:23:01] well the first two, the first one graduated from Seward already. Indeed, coming back to your question, how did we stay in the church so much? Part of it was we chose professions in the church. I'm the oddball out. I didn't choose a profession in the church, but yet, you know, here I am serving as elder for the past couple of years, serving still on the CLT right now, which is funny. It's an eye-opening experience, that's for sure.
[00:24:22] But you know, more important than that, we're in worship.
[00:24:25] We're in Bible class. And those are wonderful. That's a wonderful place to start. I think that's though a really good place to pause. And when we come back, we'll ask for the third thing that has formed and shaped who you are. Listeners, please join us again as we are talking with Dan James Eifford.
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