Meet Your Instructors
Dr. Daniel J. Berge
Rev. Dr. Daniel J. Berge teaches at Lutheran Brethren Seminary, where he currently serves as Professor of New Testament. He has served as a youth pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Calgary, AB, Canada, and as sole pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Eugene, OR. He and his wife Meghan currently raise their 8 kids together in Fergus Falls, MN.
Dr. Allan W. Bjerkaas
Dr. Allan W. Bjerkaas Allan W. Bjerkaas holds a bachelor’s degree with a double major in physics and mathematics from the University of North Dakota and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He joined the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in 1973 after completing a two-year postdoctoral appointment at the University of Pittsburgh. While at the Applied Physics Laboratory, Dr. Bjerkaas was a Project Manager in the Submarine Technology Department and a Group Supervisor in both the Submarine Technology Department and the Research and Technology Development Center.
Since 1978 he has taught in the Johns Hopkins University Engineering for Professionals (JHU-EP) program through which the Whiting School of Engineering offers graduate degrees for working engineers. He has taught courses in applied physics, applied math and technical management. He received the Excellence in Teaching Award in 1992. Dr. Bjerkaas has been the Chair for the Applied Physics and the Information Systems and Technology programs in JHU-EP. In 2001 he became the Associate Dean for the JHU-EP programs in the Whiting School of Engineering, a position he held full-time after retiring from the Applied Physics Laboratory in February 2005 until he retired from the Whiting School of Engineering in September 2010.During his tenure as Associate Dean he led the effort to bring the graduate degrees online. In retirement he is a part-time Special Advisor to the Dean of the Whiting School and also is an instructor in the JHU-EP Technical Management program.
In 2010 he relocated to his boyhood hometown of Fergus Falls, Minnesota. In 2013 he accepted a part-time appointment as the Director of Distance Education at the Lutheran Brethren Seminary in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. In 2018 be also became The Director of the LB Discipleship Institute which provides online Biblical education and ministry training courses for adult learners. He was an elder in the Orthodox Presbyterian denomination from 1976 to 2010. He has been an elder at Bethel Lutheran Church in Fergus Falls since 2013. He can be reached at allan.bjerkaas@gmail.com.
Dr. Eugene L. Boe
Eugene L. Boe is Research Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Lutheran Brethren Seminary, Fergus Falls, MN where he has taught since 1983. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in history from Iowa State University, Ames, IA; the Master of Divinity from Lutheran Brethren Seminary, Fergus Falls, MN; the Master of Sacred Theology (STM) from Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne, IN; and the PhD in Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO;
Eugene served as a Student Pastor, Immanuel Lutheran Brethren Church, Jewell, IA, 1969-71; Pastor to Youth, 59th Street Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, NY, 1971-72; Student Pastor, Inspiration Lutheran Brethren Church, Wahpeton, ND, 1972-74; Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Brethren Church, Huntington Station, NY, 1974-77; Pastor of Hope Lutheran Brethren Church, Appleton, WI, 1978-83; and Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Wendell, MN, 1994-present.
His publications include: “The Relationship between Faith, Baptism, and Conversion in the Theology of Carl Fr. Wisløff.” in Teologian Carl Fr. Wisløff: En antologi hundre år etter fødsel redaktør, Sverre Bøe, 22-44. Olso, Norway: FMH-forlaget; “Pietism and the Sacraments in the Christian Life: The Contribution of Erik Pontoppidan” in Pietism and the Challenges of Modernity Editor, David J. Goa, Occasional Papers of the Chester Ronning Centre, I. Camrose, Alberta: The Chester Ronning Centre for The Study Of Religion and Public Life; “The Right Use of Baptism and Its Relationship to the Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel,” a chapter in Nagel, Norman, J. Bart Day, Jon D Vieker, and Albert B Collver. Dona Gratis Donata: Essays in Honor of Norman Nagel on the Occasion of His Ninetieth Birthday, 2015.
He has served as an Elder and has given a number of seminars on the calling and office of Elder. Many of these seminars were team taught with Dr. Timothy Ysteboe, the author of We Believe.
Eugene is married to Gudrun and they have four adult children and nine grandchildren.
Rev. Joel R Egge
Joel R. Egge is a retired pastor in the Church of the Lutheran Brethren. He was baptized and raised in Ebenezer Lutheran Brethren Church, Mayville, North Dakota. He grew up on a farm and attended a country elementary school and Mayville (ND) High for one year before transferring to Hillcrest Lutheran Academy.
He received a Bachelor of Science in history from Minot (ND) State University and was graduated from the Lutheran Brethren Seminary (Fergus Falls, MN) in 1966. He was ordained into the Christian Ministry in September 1967.
Joel Egge’s first pastoral call was from the CLB Department of Home Missions in 1966 to serve in Marysville, Washington. He was the founding pastor of Word of Life Lutheran Brethren Church, Marysville, WA. It was while serving that congregation that he was ordained to the Christian Ministry.
In 1973, he became the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Brethren Church, Pasadena, CA. After six years, he accepted a call to serve the Faith Lutheran Brethren Church, Briarcliff Manor, NY, which he served from 1979 to 1989.
In 1989, Egge was called to be an instructor at Lutheran Brethren Bible College in Fergus Falls, MN and was elected President of Lutheran Brethren Schools in June 1990.
He served on several synodical ministry boards and as the President of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren from 2001 to 2014.
Joel is married to Barbara Olsen of Succasunna, NJ. They live in Fergus Falls, MN. They have three sons, James (Ann Arbor, MI); Douglas (Fishers, IN); and Robert; (Falls Church, VA) and eight grandchildren.
He is the son and grandson of lay elders who served in his home LB congregation.
Dr. Gaylan Mathiesen
Gaylan Mathiesen is a graduate of Hillcrest Lutheran Academy and Lutheran Brethren Seminary. In 1998 he began Ph.D. studies at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, graduating in 2006. The following year, the Global Mission Institute of Luther Seminary re-published his dissertation in book form under the title A Theology of Mission: Challenges and Opportunities in Northeast Asia.
He and his wife Joy have served the Church of the Lutheran Brethren as church planters, first in Park Rapids, MN (1979-1985), and then in Sendai, Japan from 1985-1996. Beginning in 1996, he taught Japanese language and courses in missiology at University of Northwestern – St. Paul for 9 years prior to accepting a call in 2005 to Lutheran Brethren Seminary as Professor of Mission and Evangelism. He has also taught courses as an adjunct professor at other schools in Japan, Russia and the U.S.
Gaylan and Joy are active members of Stavanger Lutheran Church, a congregation in rural Fergus Falls, MN that is served by the Church of the Lutheran Brethren. They have three children and seven grandchildren.
Dr. Brad A. Pribbenow
Brad A. Pribbenow is professor of Old Testament and Dean at Lutheran Brethren Seminary in Fergus Falls, MN. Brad received a bachelor’s degree in music education from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1994. From 1995-1999 he worked as a Campus Staff Member with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In 2000 he accepted a call to serve as the Worship Director at Bethesda Lutheran Brethren Church in Eau Claire, WI.
Brad received an MDiv degree from Lutheran Brethren Seminary in 2008 and served two years as the Associate Pastor for Worship and Outreach at Bethel Lutheran Church in Fergus Falls, MN. He began PhD courses at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in the summer of 2010 and completed his PhD in Biblical Studies with an emphasis in Old Testament in May 2017. Brad has been at Lutheran Brethren Seminary since 2011, teaching courses in Old Testament, Worship, and Biblical Hebrew. He has served as the Dean of the Seminary since 2018.
Brad is the author of Prayerbook of Christ: Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Christological Interpretation of the Psalms, published in 2018 by Fortress Academic/Lexington Books.
In addition to his work at the Seminary, Brad also serves as part-time Music Director at Bethel Lutheran Church in Battle Lake, MN. Brad is married and has four children.