At 2060 County Road 6 in Long Lake, Minnesota, Trinity Lutheran Church is an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation known for warm hospitality, strong music, shared meals, education from preschool through high school, and service that reaches from Long Lake to El Salvador. Founded in 1932, Trinity puts a simple mission into practice: worship joyfully, grow in faith, and serve near and far.
Sunday at Nine and Wednesday at Six
Sunday worship begins at 9:00 a.m. and is liturgical, pairing traditional and contemporary music with varied instrumentation. Wednesday worship begins at 6:00 p.m. from mid-September through mid-May. The midweek service has a relaxed, contemporary feel while keeping a familiar Lutheran rhythm, including the Kyrie, Hymn of Praise, Confession and Forgiveness, Creed, and prayers. During Lent, Wednesday worship moves to 6:30 p.m.
Word and sacrament stand at the center of Trinity's worship. God is called the true host, and the gathered community responds through music, prayer, offering, and service. Sunday and Wednesday worship are livestreamed, and past and live services can be watched online.
All ages are welcome. The nursery welcomes children up to age 3 at every Sunday service. During worship, the Prayground gives young children child-sized tables, coloring supplies, soft toys, and blocks while parents remain nearby. Trinity Kids welcomes children from age 2 through fifth grade and includes dismissal after Just for Kids, Bible stories, activities, prayer, and faith milestones.
From a Long Lake Living Room to County Road 6
Trinity's story begins in a Long Lake living room during the Great Depression. When support for an area missionary was discontinued, a group gathered at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Blain and chose to form a Lutheran church. Their hospitality became the first chapter of a congregation that continues to emphasize a warm welcome.
The first worship service took place on July 13, 1932, in Odd Fellows Hall above Neilson Hardware Store. Reverend Carl Tambert officiated for 18 people who gathered despite picking season, audible train whistles, and temperatures above 100 degrees. Charter members made door-to-door calls to invite others. A high school program, Luther League, began in 1937.
After a fire destroyed the earlier location, the congregation worshiped in a former Methodist church on Thanksgiving Day 1939. Forty-one charter members purchased it for $872 and moved it to donated land just south of the railroad tracks.
- 1946: Trinity became a single parish with more than 60 members and called Lloyd Zaudtke as pastor.
- 1953: The congregation broke ground for its building at 2060 County Road 6.
- 1969 through 1989: Richard Erickson, Trinity's longest-serving pastor, led completion of above-ground spaces for worship, education, choirs, and staff.
- 1972: Trinity Preschool opened under the leadership of Betty Harstad. The congregation celebrated 50 years in 1982.
- 1998 through 2012: Senior pastor Kent Grosser oversaw a 19,000-square-foot expansion that included the Great Hall, classrooms, a kitchen, larger sanctuary windows, and an outdoor cross.
- 2012 through 2021: Brian Fragodt served as senior pastor before retiring in 2020, followed by interim pastor John Strommen. Adam Butler became senior pastor in 2021, joining Ann Fenlason, who had served as associate pastor since 2018.
That history continues to shape Trinity's character: worship, discipleship, hospitality, care for children and youth, and service to neighbors remain connected in the life of one congregation.
Music for Every Generation and Every Level
Trinity has a long musical tradition, and participation is open without auditions or required experience. Music and ensembles are integral to both worship and the congregation's life together.
- Wednesday Worship Team: Singers and instrumentalists of all ages help lead familiar Lutheran worship with accessible contemporary music, usually on one or two Wednesdays each month.
- Youth Choir: Students in kindergarten through fifth grade rehearse Wednesdays from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., share a snack, and sing in worship about once a month. Transportation is available from Orono Public Schools.
- Middle School Choirs: Vocal and handbell groups for students in grades 6 through 8 meet on Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m.
- Trinity Choir: The adult ensemble rehearses Wednesdays from 6:45 to 7:30 p.m. and sings in two or three Sunday services each month. Members may join at any time.
- Chancel Bells: Trinity's advanced adult bell choir is a five-octave ensemble that rehearses on Monday evenings and usually rings on the second Sunday of each month.
Mark Hemingway, Director of Worship & Music, leads the musical ministry. An annual community concert and an intergenerational Christmas sing-along also bring musicians and singers together beyond the regular Sunday schedule.
Gather at the Table
Meals are another way Trinity gathers as the family of God. Around the table, people share conversation, laughter, care, food, and a sense of belonging. Trinity describes these gatherings as places to connect with one another and be nourished together.
- Pizza Dinner for All: First Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.
- Lenten Wednesday Dinner: A shared meal from 5:00 to 6:15 p.m. precedes the 6:30 p.m. worship service during Lent.
- Sunday Supper Group: A monthly meal in the Great Hall with a main dish, shared sides, and conversation shaped by biblical stories about meals, grace, community, hope, and mission.
- Long Lake Community Meal: A free meal on the fourth Thursday, rotating among Trinity, Calvin Presbyterian, St. George Catholic Church, and Dexter Park. November and December meals move to the third Thursday.
Trinity's Meal Ministry also coordinates food for an individual or family facing a stressful period, a transition, or a need for relief from cooking during a pastoral or staff visit. For people meeting Trinity for the first time, a shared meal offers an informal way to enter the community and become acquainted.
Trinity Kids: Faith, Friendships and Milestones
Children's ministry at Trinity is designed as a partnership with families. Trinity Kids uses a rotation-style approach to help children understand the larger Christian story through Bible stories, monthly themes, key verses, life applications, videos, activities, small groups, and prayer.
- Trinity Kids: Open to children from age 2 through fifth grade, with a separate welcome for two-year-olds and a Backpack Blessing at the annual kickoff.
- Faith milestones: Children receive Bibles, learn to serve others, explore caring conversations, celebrate baptism, receive prayer pillows, prepare for first Communion, and are welcomed into middle school.
- Club45: Fourth and fifth graders meet on the first Wednesday from 5:15 to 6:00 p.m. for devotionals, games, crafts, Bible lessons, and relationships with friends.
- Vacation Bible School: An annual faith-filled week for children age 3 through fourth grade combines worship, music, games, hands-on activities, stories, and small groups.
Children are treated as important members of the body of Christ. The nursery, Prayground, Trinity Kids, youth choirs, and Club45 all give children ways to belong while their families participate in worship together.
Middle School, High School and the Road to Leadership
Trinity's Confirmation ministry is a voluntary three-year program that typically begins in the fall of sixth grade and concludes with the Rite of Confirmation in ninth grade. Trinity teaches that this rite is a public affirmation of baptism and faith, not a sacrament in the Lutheran tradition. Middle school students gather for worship, music, games, a topical talk, and Huddle small groups where they can ask questions, share ideas, use creativity, pray, and have fun.
During Lent, the regular confirmation format gives way to one-to-one faith mentoring. Each student chooses a trusted adult who is not the student's parent or grandparent. Mentor pairs attend worship together, meet before or after the service, use discussion guides, and are encouraged to share a meal together. The aim is to build a supportive relationship around the student's faith journey.
Friday Nite LIVE gives middle school students and their friends two energetic hours of music, food, games, and themed experiences designed as community outreach. High school students help organize and run the program while also taking part in worship, open gym, youth group, service projects, local mission opportunities, and summer leadership experiences.
The Trinity Foundation supports this next generation with scholarships ranging from $500 to $2,000 for youth and young adults pursuing higher education or Christian leadership development. Eligibility reflects Trinity's emphasis on Christian leadership, service, and the congregation's four-part mission.
Adult Groups for Fellowship, Learning and Service
Trinity's adult ministries are built around the idea of finding people to share interests, faith, humor, and support with. Meetings take place throughout the week and throughout the year, with some groups structured for regular participation and others held periodically.
- Study and conversation: Focus on Faith meets on Friday mornings with a video study and optional workbook. Gather Study meets Tuesday afternoons for discussion of Women of the ELCA's Gather magazine. The men's study group meets every other Wednesday, and Faith & Justice explores how Scripture and faith shape responses to the world.
- Companionship: Empty Nesters, Trinity Moms, Trinity Women, Bunco, and a women-only pickleball group create settings for conversation and recreation. Trinity Moms includes childcare.
- Service and support: The Dorcas Circle combines devotion, Bible study, and support for women in need. Quilters make and tie quilts. The prayer shawl group knits and crochets, and Caring Connections offers a relaxed setting for people supporting a loved one through aging, illness, or changing needs.
- Men, seniors and varied interests: The BBQ Dudees gather around food, Friday Guys discuss the preaching text with Pastor Adam, and Trinitarians bring seniors together for social events, service, and helpful information sessions. Parents as Spiritual Guides offers a six-week course for parents, while pop-up events include game days, museum tours, and trivia nights.
Adults also share their gifts in worship through Scripture reading, ushering, communion service, music, meals, children's programs, and outreach projects.
Serving Long Lake and the Twin Cities
Trinity organizes its shared ministries around four places of service: in the church, in the neighborhood, in the city, and in the world. Its goal is to build relationships and share resources beyond what one congregation could accomplish alone.
In the Church and the Neighborhood
The annual Agape Gift Market fills the Great Hall with handmade goods, local vendors, Agape Bakery treats, crafts, raffles, and other gifts. Proceeds support disaster relief and local and global mission efforts. Other church-based outreach includes Garden Share, where extra produce and flowers are offered to the community, and the Giving Tree, which organizes donations requested by Twin Cities organizations.
Twice each year, SERVE Weekend brings people of all ages together for projects at Trinity and in the community. The quilting ministry makes and ties quilts for people experiencing homelessness, chemical dependency, endangered women and children, and others in need, with quilts distributed through organizations including Simpson, Bridging, Home Free Shelter, and Sojourners. The Meal Ministry and prayer shawl ministry provide direct forms of care, while the Giving Tree, food donations, and volunteer shifts extend that care beyond the congregation.
Trinity works with Interfaith Outreach & Community Partners by serving the food shelf, donating goods, supporting the resale store, and participating in Adopt-a-Family. Orono Sparks & Strive recruits high school students and adults as mentors for children facing academic and financial barriers. Neighboring Orono Woodlands offers opportunities to craft with residents and help with yardwork. Trinity also supports WeCAN, which helps individuals and families reach stability and self-sufficiency, and Art 2 Heart in Hamel, which uses creative arts to support Christian ministries and missionaries.
Across the Twin Cities
The citywide network includes Bridging, which provides donated furniture and household essentials to people moving from homelessness and poverty, and Can Do Canines, which creates partnerships through specially trained dogs. Salem Lutheran Church has been a partner since 2022, with Trinity groups helping serve its community meal and working on projects together. Trinity also cooks and serves a monthly lunch for Simpson Housing Services and regularly joins Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity workdays to support affordable homeownership.
These partnerships extend Trinity's table and worship beyond Long Lake while keeping the congregation connected to relationships in the city.
From Long Lake to El Salvador and Beyond
Trinity's mission includes long-term relationships with Lutheran and other partners working in other countries.
- Bricks to Bread: Since 2018, Trinity has baked and sold pretzels to support brick ovens that provide a sustainable source of income for families in El Salvador and Costa Rica. The church has also participated in an oven build project in Costa Rica.
- Seeds of Hope: Since 2011, Trinity members have sponsored students through Family of Christ's program in El Salvador. A $30 monthly gift can provide a child with a year of school, and Trinity members sponsor 54 of the program's 222 students.
- Feed My Starving Children: Trinity has hosted six mobile packing events since 2010, bringing together volunteers from the congregation and surrounding community to pack meals for children.
- Lutheran World Relief: Trinity supports emergency aid, economic recovery, and community-led development through special offerings, fundraising, and service projects.
- Habitat for Humanity and Water Mission: Trinity has sent six groups to El Salvador for home-building trips, joins local Habitat workdays, and supports Water Mission's clean-water work through the annual Walk for Water.
Trinity also directs support through Lutheran Disaster Relief, connecting its local and global service commitments to the wider Lutheran community.
Care for Baptisms, Weddings, Grief and Remembrance
Life's Milestones
Trinity considers baptism the most important event in a Christian's life and teaches that people are made new and assured of life and salvation in and through the waters of baptism. Baptisms are offered at any age. Families receive a handmade wooden keepsake box, a baptism blanket or prayer square, a candle for the baptism anniversary, and memory cards for sponsors, parents, friends, and family.
Pastors also help with Christian funeral and memorial services that honor a loved one while celebrating the hope of the resurrection. Wedding preparation includes marriage counseling from Trinity's pastors and detailed assistance from the congregational life and event teams.
The Memorial Garden and Columbaria
Just outside the sanctuary, Trinity maintains a Memorial Garden and Columbaria dedicated in 2015 as a place of remembrance for the communion of saints. The grounds include a memorial wall, a scattering garden, a granite columbarium with cremains niches, and a raised garden with additional niches. The garden is open year-round, and community members, friends, and families may purchase memorial spaces without being church members.
Care Through Transitions
Trinity's care ministry emphasizes visitation, listening, prayer, meals, and support during transitions, health changes, and grief. Lay ministers bring prayer, reflection, listening, and Holy Communion during visits. The CareNotes ministry offers short booklets on aging and dementia, grief and loss, family issues, pet loss, and bullying, while the prayer shawl group makes shawls and chemo caps for people facing illness or other needs.
Trinity Preschool: Learning Through Relationship and Joy
Trinity Preschool, which opened in 1972, offers a warm, nurturing, and safe environment where children can grow. Teachers emphasize meaningful relationships, hands-on experiences, and joyful play as children develop socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively. The goal is to nurture confidence, kindness, independence, curiosity, and a lifelong love of learning.
- Core classes: Two-day classes for children 33 months to three years old, four-day classes for four- and five-year-olds, and four-day prekindergarten classes meet Monday through Thursday from 9:15 to 11:45 a.m.
- Flexible extended care: Care is available from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. and from 11:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with enrichment activities such as science, cooking, book club, music, fitness, and outdoor exploration.
- Whole-child growth: Preschool activities support social and emotional development, physical movement, curiosity, independence, and confidence while allowing children to explore, discover, create, and play.
Director Kelly Govrik and the preschool staff create an environment in which children feel valued, comfortable being themselves, and excited about learning. Trinity's approach joins academic preparation with the same hospitality, trust, and relationship-building that shape the wider congregation.
Servant Leadership and a Shared Calling
Senior Pastor Adam Butler, called in 2021, previously served in congregations in Sioux Falls and Paynesville and in children, youth, and family ministry. He centers his work on relationships, community, proclaiming God's Word in everyday life, and an outward expression of God's love and grace.
Associate Pastor Ann Fenlason has served since 2018. Her background includes flute performance, teaching, flight instruction, airline piloting, and emergency dispatch work before she attended Luther Seminary. At Trinity, her ministry includes preaching, worship, pastoral care, and helping people connect faith with daily life.
Ministry leaders include Mark Hemingway in worship and music, Kelly Govrik in the preschool, Julie Vagle in faith formation and children's ministry, Jill Cornell in shared ministries, Kiana Temanson in youth ministry, Stacy Thoma in early childhood, and Linda Koltes in congregational engagement. Together, they serve a congregation committed to hospitality and service.
Trinity describes itself in four statements: We are church. We are Lutheran. We are church together. We are church for the sake of the world. Its mission is to welcome all, worship joyfully, grow in faith, and serve near and far in Jesus' name. Its core values are grace, service, generosity, engagement, and faithfulness. Its vision is a thriving congregation that engages everyone in their baptismal vocation, recognizing that all who are baptized have roles to play in Trinity and in the world.
Becoming a member is described as a simple, meaningful decision without pressure. Members have a voice and vote in significant congregational decisions, while the congregation continues to welcome people of every age for worship, meals, music, learning, care, and service. Giving can be made electronically or by text, by check, through stock transfers, and through designated gifts for the ministry fund, capital work, and Trinity Foundation.
At Trinity, the sanctuary, Great Hall, classrooms, preschool, memorial garden, and neighborhood partnerships remain connected by one shared calling: welcome all, worship joyfully, grow in faith, and serve near and far in Jesus' name.