Ellis Nieting (1919-1997) Papers

Ellis Nieting was born on August 2, 1919 in Egeland, South Dakota. He was baptized on August 10, 1919 at Trinity Lutheran Church (Egeland, South Dakota). He came to Iowa when his father accepted a call to Audubon, where he was confirmed and attended elementary and high school. He attended Concordia (Saint Paul, Minnesota), graduating from the junior college in 1939, and continued his studies at Concordia Seminary (Saint Lous, Missouri), graduating in 1944. He spent his vicarage year in Detroit, Michigan. Following his marriage to Virginia Winterstein in Detroit, he was ordained and installed at Zion Lutheran Church (Chamberlain, South Dakota) on August 1, 1922 to serve the Chamberlain-Ola parish. In addition to serving as a parish pastor, he served as circuit counselor and on the district stewardship committee. He accepted a call in 1956 as the first South Dakota District secretary. He accepted the call in December 1961 to the Iowa District West to serve as missions and stewardship counselor. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the seminary in Springfield, Illinois in 1966. He was elected as president of the Iowa District West at the Synod convention in July 1966. He served in that position until his retirement in 1985. While he was president, he served on synodical boards and commissions, and for 10 years, on the board of directors for Lutheran Bible Translators, three as chairman. Rev. Dr. Nieting stood solidly upon the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, exerting a steadying influence upon the Synod when it was rocked by the Seminex fallout. He worked with Drs. Karl Barth, Edmund Happel and Synod President J. A. O. Preus to bring the Missouri Synod back to its historical doctrinal position, healing the membership.