Morris George Cornell Vaagenes is a former leader of the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

and

Ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

Charismatic movement The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream Christian denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spirit ...

since 1970. He was chairman of the International Lutheran Conference on the Holy Spirit, and is an ordained pastor for the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...

(ELCA). Vaagenes was a missionary to Madagascar and Pastor-Emeritus of North Heights Lutheran Church, a mega-church in

Roseville, Minnesota Roseville is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. It is one of two Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Twin Cities suburbs that are adjacent to both Saint Paul and Minneapolis (the other is Lauderdale, Minnesota, Lauderdale). The land comprisin ...

, and Arden Hills, Minnesota. He is the author of two books and president of Renewal International, a ministry in Madagascar. As of April 2010, Vaagenes served as Senior Pastor of the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Under the leadership of Vaagenes, North Heights Lutheran Church expanded to two campuses to accommodate its growing membership. Its ministries include music and drama productions. North Heights officially closed after a long-running rift in the congregation; the last service was scheduled for Sunday, March 13, 2016. Members of the congregation contributed to a Heritage and Vision fund to rescue the church. On Sunday, April 10, 2016, a reopening celebration service was held, 1,894 people attended; it was the largest single event ever held at the Arden Hills campus. Morris Vaagenes is the son of Morris George Carson Vaagenes and Hanna Bøvre Vaagenes. Both parents were born in Norway. Clark Morphew, in an article written for the St. Paul Pioneer Press offers this statement by Vaagenes:

"I sliced up my life and laid it bare," Vaagenes said. "I could feel the vibrations go through me. I'd had that feeling before, but I always felt it would be presumptuous to say this happened or that I had a unique experience." What Vaagenes didn't know was that his Cathedral experience would help energize one of the most powerful mystical movements in the 20th century Christian church. Aside from his transformation during that moment in the 1960s, Vaagenes would spend the next two decades pushing at the seams of global Lutheranism hoping to open Christianity to the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit.

According to Andy Birkey of ''The Column'', in the 1990s, Vaagenes performed an exorcism in an attempt to change the sexuality of a gay man.

References

*https://web.archive.org/web/20091222060114/http://archive.elca.org/archives/dgm/madagascar.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20110209150537/http://www2.luthersem.edu/alums/alumnews.asp?news_type=&show_months=24 *https://web.archive.org/web/20100528064130/http://www.augsburg.edu/now/archives/pdfs/issue69_2.pdf *http://www.nhlc.org *https://web.archive.org/web/20070404033101/http://www.aflc.org/pdf's/yearsofourchurch.pdf *http://www.newsmodo.com/1997/09/20/spirited-ministry-decades-rev-morris-vaagenes-led-north/display.jsp?id=4332589 *https://web.archive.org/web/20100116012634/http://www.holytrinitynewrochelle.org/lutherancharismatichistory.html *Vaagenes, Morris. Church on Fire!. Shoreview, MN; Renewal International, 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaagenes, Morris George Cornell American clergy Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Christians 1929 births Living people