As the new senior pastor of the Lutheran Church of Mahomet, Nikoli Falenschek needs to learn a lot of things like names and locations. There is one thing, however, he knows very well. That is how to be a Bulldog.
“We were the Becker Bulldogs,” said Falenschek, a Minnesota native and recent graduate of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkley, California.
Growing up in a house his grandfather built in Becker, Minnesota, alongside his parents and younger sister, Falenschek said he played hockey as his year round sport and played tuba in his school band and in the Greater Twin City Youth Symphony. For a while, he thought about being a professional orchestral musician. He also thought about being a writer or a math teacher. When his church’s youth leader asked him a question, something else clicked in his mind.
“He asked ‘how will you live out your faith’,” Falenschek remembered.
And as a senior in high school, Falenschek said he began to realize he could incorporate many of the things he wanted to do by becoming a pastor. His ministry could include music and writing, and even math.
With that eventual goal in mind, Falenschek went to Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota where he majored in Art History and Classical Studies. He met the woman who would eventually become both his wife and a fellow pastor, Maggie. Together they ventured to seminary in the Bay Area. Their reasons for leaving the Midwest for seminary are simple.
‘We knew how to be Lutherans where we were the majority,” he said. “But we wanted to find out how to be Lutheran where we were in the minority.” Falenschek said his home town of less than 3,000 had three Lutheran churches, in addition to other Christian denominations. He said he and Maggie, also a Minnesota native, wanted to experience being in the minority both culturally and spiritually. He said he and his wife were also attracted to Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary because it allowed for interfaith studies. They participated in the Graduate Theological Union, a consortium of 19 seminaries and research centers. He studied with people of all faiths and of all cultures.
Being back in the Midwest feels good to the Falenscheks. “People say hi and wave. It didn’t feel like that at Berkley. There is more air to breathe.” He even said the couple’s dog, Cee Lo, a rescue from North Dakota, seems happier here with his fenced in back yard rather than in a city apartment.
Falenschek said he was looking forward to getting to know his new town and congregation. He was excited to participate in the monthly luncheon meeting of the Mahomet Ministerial Alliance. This group is comprised of clergy serving the Mahomet Seymour area. The mayor was attending lunch on that particular day.
Coming back to the Midwest was not a priority for the Falenscheks. They decided to go where they could best serve, he said. Plus, they had the challenge of two people looking for a first job in the same field.
“My wife and I didn’t put down a (geographic) preference,” he said. “What we were looking for couldn’t be tied to a box you check,” he added.
What they were looking for was a place where people value relationship in the gospel. And they also needed to be in a place where each could serve as a pastor. After going through the application and selection process, the Falenscheks’ names came up at two churches in Champaign County; the Lutheran Church of Mahomet, and St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Urbana. Eventually, Nikoli was called to the Senior Pastor position in Mahomet, and Maggie was called to the Associate Pastor for Youth and Family Ministry at St. Matthew.
Nikoli recalled coming to Mahomet in April and “seeing the new library and the new schools, the homes and neighborhoods.” He felt the people of Mahomet were invested in their community, and he is looking forward to becoming part of both his church community and the community at large. He added his wife really likes to run at Lake of the Woods.
“It’s a good fit for us,” he said. “There is no shortage of things for us to do.”
Falenschek said his first few years at LCofM will be spent establishing relationships both with parishioners and the community. He wants to help his congregation establish a long term vision. He said he will visit older members of the congregation who live in nursing homes, and be involved with the youngest members who attend All God’s Children Preschool, where he is scheduled to do a weekly Bible based activity with each class.
One thing Falenschek said he appreciates about his new congregation is their understanding of the challenges of a clergy couple. “I wanted to attend Maggie’s installation as pastor at St. Matthew,” he noted, adding the Mahomet congregation was understanding of his desire to be there for his wife.
From Minnesota to California, back to Minnesota for Clinical Pastoral Training, back to California for his final year of seminary, and finally at home in Illinois. Falenschek has had a busy three years. With an easy smile and a soft laugh, he said he is looking forward to staying in one place for more than a year.
He said he feels very welcomed by both his church community and the Mahomet community in general. And he is looking forward to being part of both communities for many years to come. He also said he hopes to take in a football game and see how the Marching Bulldogs compare to his beloved Becker Bulldogs.
