Kasson pastor’s life gives hope to others

Johannes Marsland’s life is a story that gives hope to people who find themselves confined by the cords of their own bad choices.
Johannes Marsland lived in Rochester, N.Y. until he was 12 where his mother was a pastor and his father worked as a teacher in a reform school. His mother was from Germany and had met her husband (a GI) during the reconstruction period after WWII.
The family then moved to Belle Plaine, Iowa when his mother accepted a call to the church there for the next seven years.
Johann grew up with three siblings and said he was always a band and choir geek and would get chased home from school by some of his classmates. He mentioned he became a troubled teen in his junior year and started drinking alcohol and using tobacco. When his mother got a call to serve a congregation in Waukon, Iowa, he said he was not going to move and was going to stay at a friend’s home instead.
With the permission of the Waukon church, they delayed the move for a year and he finished his senior year before the family moved. In looking back, Johann said, “It would have been better if we had not stayed that year with the issues I had.”
Johann had some scholarship opportunities at Iowa State University but said he just bombed out of his first year in college due to depression, substance abuse, and a lack of discipline, so he returned back home to Waukon.
He married a young lady and they moved to Key West, Fla. for two-and-a-half years. They were both struggling with addictions but he said he still knew there was a God even though his life was a wreck. One night at 2 a.m. he said he cried out “God, if you can do anything with this wreck of a life, I surrender it to You.”
A few days later Johann’s wife had been out late. When he woke up the next morning he had a strong feeling that she needed to tell him about something or he needed to leave. She denied that there was anything to tell so Johann left, and they were soon divorced. Johann later found out that she had started using crack cocaine and admits that if he had stayed he would certainly have become an addict as well. He attributes his rescue from addiction to the protective leading of God. 
Over the course of the next year-and-a-half Johann said he wavered between faith in God and worldly living. He became a manager at a Pizza Hut in Black River Falls, Wis. There he became acquainted with one of his employees, Dru Brown, who stood out for his cheery nature and integrity.
He told Johann that he had never intentionally sinned against God as the Holy Spirit was in him. Johann said that he thought the statement was crazy, but Dru seemed genuine. After examining Dru’s life and spending time around his family Johann decided to put the man’s method of living right to the test.
“I asked the Lord to fill me with His Holy Spirit and let me walk free from sin,” Johan said. He said that a great peace and joy came over him after that prayer. He felt that God had given him the power to live clean and free.
The next day Johann had an impression from the Spirit that something big was going to happen but that he was to accept it as God’s will. Later that morning as he arrived at work, his assistant manager asked if they could talk and the guy seemed very nervous, even scared. The man then told Johann that he was being fired. Johann just smiled and said, “Oh, that’s what it is.”
The assistant manager was expecting an angry outburst but instead got only a laugh and a pleasant goodbye.
Johann went back to Waukon and in 1994 started going with a group of Gideons to help facilitate a Bible training and mentorship program at the Luster Heights Correctional Facility in Iowa. He had significant credit card debt hanging over his head so started a job with a masonry company. He said he felt a call to attend a Bible college but how could he consider it with a debt hanging over his head.
Only two weeks into the new job, he was working at a project in Rochester. While standing on a scaffold, he started removing the bottom layer of bricks from an overhead arch. As he was chipping out the third layer, the rest of the wall above collapsed, smashing on his hand and before tipping out and crushing the scaffold. The wall fell right where Johann had been standing but somehow after his hand was crushed he had jumped backwards and landed safely away from the wreckage.
The wall had cut a tendon in one finger and cut off the end of his pinky but it was able to be reattached. After surgery, and being off work for six weeks, he was rehired to go back to the job again. One of his fingers was not able to bend anymore due to the cut tendon, so since it was a worker’s comp injury the insurance company agreed to make a settlement on the claim. He received enough money to pay off his credit card bill and still had $2,000 left so he could attend Bible college! God had provided for his need and gave him a physical reminder to beware of runaway debt, he said.
Johann enrolled at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Tex. for the next two years which was a fantastic experience for him, he said. After finishing school, he went along with a friend to India for three months. He said that this experience really transformed his world.
When flying into Bombay (now called Mumbai), he could see the real difference in the wealthy and the extreme poverty sections. The first day there they visited 12 house meetings in the slums with one of them being a home for lepers. It was amazing to him meeting these people, even though they were missing parts of their body due to leprosy, they showed the joy of experiencing God, he said.
After returning from India, Johann had contracted Hepatitis A and spent a week in the Rochester hospital. Since he had no insurance, how was he going to pay off his medical bill? He then started working in management for a 400 unit manufactured housing community in Stewartville for the next eight years and paid off the medical bill. He also worked with a church in the community.
While driving home from praise band practice, Johann said he had an impression from God that he was going to receive a phone call that night, and the person who called would be someone special in his life. He interpreted this to mean a girl he had courted in Bible College. So, he expectantly placed his phone and her picture on the headboard of his bed and started reading his Bible. He reports that he fell asleep and awoke the next morning, having not moved a muscle all night.
Johann said, “I just lay there disappointed and confused and started to pray, “Lord, I’m feeling kinda lon…” At this moment, in the middle of the word lonely, the phone which was right by his head, rang giving him quite a start.
Upon answering, there was a nervous, female voice talking very fast about wanting to know more about the Bible and asking if they could talk about God sometime. Johann was dumbfounded and the lady almost hung up before he could stammer out a reply and set up a time to meet.
This stranger was Stephanie Wolfe, who had moved from Indiana to Stewartville to get away from a bad relationship. During their first meeting, they shared with each other “every evil thing we had ever done.” Two years later they were married.
Five years and three children later, the family owned property in Stewartville that was sold to a corporation. Johann really felt the change in the work situation, yet stayed on for another six months. He said he had always felt a call to the ministry and had been a licensed minister since 1997, so in 2005 the family put their names in for consideration for a pastorate with the Church of the Nazarene.
Two Minnesota churches were available, one in Hewitt and another near the Brainerd area. He felt God called him to Hewitt even though the salary they offered was 1/5 of what he had been making, and 1/2 of what the other church proposed. Johann and Stephanie had asked God “who do you want us to serve.”
As they were making the financial adjustment to their new position, they found they were eligible for food stamps and applied. Two months later, while looking at their empty freezer, they felt God said they should not be using the food stamp program anymore so they stopped. Johann said that for five years their freezer was never empty again.  Johann said, “God provided all our needs and most of our wants.”
Johann was a member of the volunteer fire department while they were in Hewitt. One incident that really stood out was when the church started a scouting group. One of the age groups had only two girls attending. The group leader wondered if she should just cancel her group or blend it in with another. She and Johann prayed and felt they should continue the group for just the two girls. A couple weeks later, the leader joyously reported that both girls committed their lives to Jesus.
A few days later the town fire alarm went off at 3 a.m. It was cold and the wind was raging. When Johann arrived at the scene of the fire with the tanker truck, the mother of one of the girls from the class, stood outside the burning house and pointed to a second floor window where her daughter had been sleeping.
Flames were shooting 30 feet into the air above the second floor. When Johann was finally able to enter the home, he found the burned body of the girl that, a few days earlier, had given her life to Jesus. That incident pushed him to become the owner of Vigilant Fire Protection LLC providing fire safety services.
After being in Hewitt for five years Stephanie and Johann felt it was time to move as they had accomplished what they came to the community to do. The church synod had lined up a minister from out-of-state to plant a church in the Kasson area.  Since Johann had a brother in the area he moved his business to Southeast Minnesota to help with the new church. Before they could find a house, while living in an RV park in Owatonna, the church planter decided to return to Oklahoma and left Johann to take over the position.
After two years of ministry in the area a core group had formed that had a heart to start a Christian school, so Johann spoke with Kent Keller, who had bought the former Mantorville School, about the possibility of starting a school and a ministry there. They originally used a collective style school where parents would help facilitate learning. When a student did not have a parent that could help out, other parents would partner with learning.
One day Johann received a phone call from Mr. Keller telling him that he had received an offer from Dodge County so was sorry that he was going to sell the building. Kent said he would help find a new place for the school.
The former real estate building along Mantorville Avenue, that was later used by a church, was available and they took over the building for the school with 12 students in 2013 called TAC (Train a Child Center). The school is open Tuesday through Friday, with Mondays available for tutoring and catching up on school work if needed. The big white tent is used for phy-ed classes when it is cold, but they also will go to the Kasson parks when the weather cooperates. Other types of classes are held such as tae kwon do martial arts lessons after the regular school hours.
Johann said it is an alternative to public schools for students to help them learn with a family involved Christian Education for third through 12th grade education with a maximum of 29 students. The younger students can set an example for the older students and older students can also help the younger students in their studies.
Brain skill assessment and development is available for all students with the core subjects being taught to enhance learning. All the subjects are taught with the internet, video and other live media added to the educational programming to enhance learning. An approved parent or adult with expertise in a subject may teach segments of the program to multiple students with the teacher’s aides helping to facilitate learning.
Johann started “Church!” which is held in part of the same building where the Dodge County Food Shelf is located. Since there were several churches in our community with Sunday morning services, they decided to hold services on Saturday evening at 5:30 p.m. Johann said he is more of an M/C at the services but it is a gathering of God's people rather than just a formal style service. He said their services generally last one-and-a-half hours but have gone as long as three hours.
This summer they are going to facilitate a Christian camp meeting where people can tent or RV in a Christian environment and be strengthened in their faith. The camp will be free and open to anyone who is willing to maintain the wholesome environment. The meetings held at the camp will be called “The Threshing Floor.”
Johann said that he and his wife Stephanie have been married for 21 years and have lived in Kasson since 2010. He said he is grateful that he and Stephanie have never had a disrespectful disagreement and by the grace of God have been able to navigate their differences respectfully. They have three children.  Johann said he enjoys making knives, playing disk golf and ultimate Frisbee.
Life has taken a lot of twists and turns for Johann. The grace God has shown him is the grace he applies as he teaches at the school and ministers in the community.