David Bahn – Reflections

Light from the Word and through the lens

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In 1968 Jerry Snell opened a door in the hallway outside our first hour chemistry class. He invited me into what I discovered was a darkroom. Soon I was on the school newspaper and annual staff as a photographer. Later I learned that Jerry was a Lutheran who was planning to become a pastor. A few years later I was not only a Lutheran, but I was heading off to seminary to become a Lutheran pastor, too. Jerry followed a year later and served as a pastor in Missouri until his untimely heart attack and death. I thank God for Jerry and enjoy photography still today – not to mention rejoicing in having served as a Lutheran pastor in congregations in Utah, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas. I’ve retired now and serve part time as a Congregational Support Specialist for the Texas District of the LCMS. I also provide coaching and leadership training through various PLI cohorts and with individual congregations and organizations. David Bahn is a follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Diane, father and grandfather. He is an avid amateur photographer. His photo website is “Flowers by God Photos by David” He also publishes a devotional blog DavidBahn-Reflections.com. He and Diane live in Cypress Texas and enjoy visiting their grandchildren who live in the United States and Germany. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1979, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1991. Diane, his wife, is now retired from PLI (PLIleadership.org). They have offered presentations on Marriage and Ministry Partnership, Leadership, Changing Your Congregation’s Culture, and Missional Living. They look are working with PLI International training pastors and wives of the ELVD Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania. David’s personal mission statement is “Leading people to realize Jesus’ calling and plans for their lives.”

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  • Oh my. It’s me.

    A very troubled woman was pouring out her heart about her past experiences with abuse and her troubled relationship with her son. Sitting on the red plaid couch in the counselor’s office, crying, lamenting, even cursing, she made her point. She had experienced traumatic emotional and verbal abuse at the hands of her father and…

  • “Don’t be a fanatic, Dave”

    I had a crush on her. She was a petite brunette whose attention I managed to get, but only occasionally, and never of the romantic kind. I once went up Interstate 55 in my red Volkswagen Beetle to her hometown for a visit. We never even connected; she was a no-show! Nothing ever came of…

  • Doing something about it

    It took me a long time to figure out that Diane didn’t want me to solve every problem she mentioned to me. She would express a concern, frustration, or problem and I would offer the perfect solution. I had a difficult time figuring out that she didn’t want me to fix the problem, she wanted to…

  • Maybe it’s time

    For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to…

  • Don’t Feel Good about Feeling Good

    I was stunned, or at least significantly shaken. You couldn’t have knocked me down with a feather, but you could have knocked me down with a small pillow! “Dave, we need to talk.” “Yes?” It sounded serious, but I was on pretty solid ground I thought. “What’s up?” “You know when you were talking to…

  • Blame Games

    “I don’t want to go swimming in those waters,” I said. I spoke those words with some quiet determination born of a mixture of great respect for the one who asked, and a genuine aversion to revisiting some of the painful experiences of my past. “You might think of it this way. It’s not so…

  • Foolish Fighting

    I’m not certain what possessed me to pick a fight with him.We’ll call him Peter Drake. He had almost every advantage on me. He was taller than I, and stood uphill from where I stood. He was older, and a better fighter than I was. I should have known this, because he was a known…

  • The Blessing of Community

    I was 19 years old and still living at my parents’ home, attending college in that same town. I had no idea on that Friday afternoon what I would discover to my horror. Barbara, the oldest of my three younger sisters, stayed home from school that day. Our sister Kathy, the middle of the three…

  • Not Without Hope

    She was inconsolable, even hysterical, with grief. “My baby boy! My baby boy! He’s…” In a terrible tragedy the couple’s 18-month-old boy had fallen into a backyard swimming pool and drowned. They had called me from the hospital, and I wasn’t even sure who they were – though they said they had visited the church…

  • You gotta have faith!

    She sat in my office in significant spiritual distress. “I’m not sure I have faith,” she cried. I’m not sure I really believe.” This was a spiritual struggle not unknown to any sincere Christian. These crises of faith come to anyone who deeply cares about God and his or her standing at the final judgment.…