NEW BRIGHTON, MN (March 24, 2017) — Retired Covenant pastor Glen Wiberg, 91, who has been described as “a pastor’s pastor, a preacher’s preacher,” died Thursday, March 23.
Glen was born on May 1, 1925, in Kansas City, Missouri.
He earned an associate’s degree from North Park College, a bachelor’s degree from William Jewel College, graduated from North Park Seminary, and earned an MDiv from Yale Divinity School.
Glen married Jane Mabes on June 10, 1949.
He served as pastor of Mission Covenant Church in Princeton, Illinois; First Covenant Church in Youngstown, Ohio; Haddam Neck Covenant Church in Hampton, Connecticut; North Park Covenant Church in Chicago; and Salem Covenant Church in New Brighton, Minnesota.
In addition, Glen served as chairman of the Covenant Hymnal Commission and helped produce multiple music and educational resources. He wrote books that included Singing the Story: Sightings in Christian Music and Housing the Sacred: What I Have Learned and Still Am Learning about Preaching.
Jay Phelan, senior professor of theological studies at North Park Theological Seminary, recalled Glen as “a towering giant among Covenant pastors of any generation.”
“Pastor Wiberg loved the church,” said longtime friend John Weborg, seminary professor emeritus of theology. “He served it with deep joy, a deeply informed mind, and a pastoral practice formed by the Bible and tradition, which he knew well. People knew him as a great preacher and rightly so, but equally compelling was his presence as a worship leader. Pastor Wiberg went about making church and the gospel means of grace home for whoever needed the good news.”
A collection of his writing for The Pietisten is available online.
He is survived by his wife and two daughters, Kathie Wiberg Frank and Sarah Betz. He was preceded in death by a son, Carl Wiberg.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 30, at Salem Covenant Church. Visitation will also be at 10 a.m. Friday prior to the funeral service which will be held at 11 a.m. A committal service will follow a luncheon.
