Introducing Pastor Mike Gudka

At the end of June, Clarion’s First United Methodist Church welcomed a new pastor, Mike Gudka. Gudka, who took over for retiring pastor Don Morrison, previously served at the United Methodist Church in La Porte City, Iowa, for six years, and in Ankeny for four years. For most of his adult life, however, he wasn’t a pastor.

“I’m a mid-career changer,” Gudka said. Though he felt the call to ministry when he was in high school, Gudka first completed a master’s degree in adult education at Drake University, from which he later earned a Distinguished Alumni Award. His career brought him to Iowa in 1993 when Wells Fargo Home Mortgage opened a new sales training department in Des Moines.

“We started with about two people, and when I left I had a group of 400 team members in all 50 states,” Gudka said. “I loved my job, loved my company, loved my boss. I spent about 25 years with them, and then felt called very strongly.”

Read the full article in the August 13 edition of the WCM.