The Lord Jesus Christ called John Michael Lingenfelder of Clarkfield, Minnesota, to join him in Glory at 5:50 p.m. on Sunday, May 22, 2011. Born on October 20, 1946, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Robert and Margaret Lingenfelder, John lived a full and blessed life to his final breath, whispering "Victory...victory in Jesus" and then mouthing the words as his family sang it with him. The son of a photographer and a homemaker, John lived in West Allis, Wisconsin, until leaving home to study at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1964. While in the classroom, John pursued one of his loves, music, and found another, meeting his wife, Kay Ilene (Johnson). John enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1969, serving during the Vietnam War. He married Kay at Keesler AFB, Mississippi, on March 13, 1970, and their son, Christian, was born there the following year. He was honorably discharged from the USAF as a Staff Sergeant in 1973, and returned with the family to UW Madison for graduate school in music. John took a position as high school band director in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, before completing his degree. God began a new work in John's life during his time in Ellsworth-his wife, Kay, became a Christian in 1977, and after watching the Lord change her life, John gave his life to Christ that fall. In the fall of the next year, God blessed John and his wife with another child, their daughter Sarah Kay. After seven years in Ellsworth, the Lord called John to leave the "security" of his job and life in western Wisconsin and join with the Overseas Missionary Fellowship to serve as high school band director at Faith Academy, a school for missionaries' children in Manila, Philippines. He moved the family to Chicago, Illinois, to study at Moody Bible Institute in the fall of 1982 before departing for Asia in 1983. John and Kay served at Faith Academy from 1983 until 1990, when the Lord brought them back to the upper Midwest and called John to pastoral ministry. In the summer of 1991, John began a four-year Master of Divinity program at Bethel Seminary, and loved studying Biblical languages. During this time, he served as Minister for Senior Adults at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, where he began to love shepherding souls for Jesus, which defined the remaining years of his life. John graduated from Bethel in 1995, and began serving as pastor of First Baptist Church, Grove City, Minnesota. In 2003, he was called to serve as Associate Pastor at Salem Baptist Church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In July 2007, he joined the pastoral staff for one year as K-8 school administrator for Menomonie Alliance Church in Menomonie, Wisconsin. John and Kay then spent the next nine months helping care for their daughter, Sarah Kay, her husband Joshua and their children before the Lord took her home on March 15, 2009. Later that year, God used ties from John's time at Menomonie Alliance Church to lead him and Kay to New Life Church in Clarkfield, Minnesota, where he ministered until his home-going. John is survived by his wife Kay; his son Christian and wife Amy (Volkmann) Lingenfelder and their children, Gabrielle, Isaak, Benjamin and AnaSophia; his son-in-law Joshua and wife Bethany (Van Goor) Aberle and their children, Elianna, Samuel, Aaron, William, Madisen and Obadiah; his sisters: Janet Godheim and Nancy Gillis; and brother Mark Lingenfelder. He was preceded in death by his father and mother, Robert and Margaret Lingenfelder, and his daughter Sarah Kay (Lingenfelder) Aberle. A viewing/visitation will be held at New Life Church, 605 Ninth Avenue, Clarkfield, Minnesota, on Friday evening, May 27, 2011, from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., with a prayer service beginning at 5:30 p.m. At noon on Saturday, May 28, a viewing/visitation will be held in the YME West gymnasium, at the intersection of State Highway 59 (Thirteenth Street) and Eleventh Avenue, Clarkfield, Minnesota, 56223, followed by John's celebration service at 1:00 p.m. At 4:00 p.m., a procession will travel from Clarkfield to Grove City, Minnesota, for interment of John's earthly remains in the church yard at First Baptist Church. Floral arrangements for John's celebration service will be handled by Clarkfield Floral, Clarkfield, Minnesota, 56223. Memorial gifts for John can be made out to "New Life Church," with a memorandum for "Arauco Rebuilding Project" to support the church's project to help rebuild a sister church's building destroyed by the earthquake in Chile in 2010. These gifts can be mailed to New Life Church, P.O. Box 416, Clarkfield, MN 56223. Those wishing to assist John's widow, Kay, financially can mail gifts to the "Friends of John Lingenfelder" account at F&M Bank, 940 Tenth Avenue, Clarkfield, MN 56223. Arrangements by Lynner Funeral Home Since 1891 Clarkfield Minnesota