The Rev. Darrel Gerrietts, Davis said, is the one that helped with that nudge.

“I wasn’t really involved in the church at that time and he wanted me to lead worship,” Davis said. “I was getting into a lot of trouble at that time and I said, ‘Do you really want me to?’ And he said, ‘Yeah,’ and so I did it. Some of the members started encouraging me to become a pastor, and that was my calling. I thought there was supposed to be a burning bush or bright light or something like that, but Gerrietts said maybe the way God is calling on you to become a pastor is through the people calling you to do it. So it was Gerrietts asking me to be involved and the people in that congregation.”

After graduating high school in Rockwell City, Davis continued his education at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge and Iowa State University in Ames before transferring to Wartburg.

After his graduation from Wartburg, he attended Lutheran Northwestern Theological Center in Minneapolis.

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
The Rev. Jim Davis visits with John Steinkamp, a resident at Pear Valley Rehabilitation and Nursing, during a recent visit.

He married his wife, Tami, and together they moved to Dubuque where he graduated from Wartburg Theological Seminary. He then served at various congregations before moving to Gowrie 19 years ago this summer.

Davis said his main duties are to oversee the ministry of both Zion Lutheran and Fulton Lutheran churches.

“I spend a lot of my time doing worship and preparing for worship, writing sermons, funerals and weddings, as well as education,” he said. “I teach the confirmation classes, but I get lessons ready for junior high lessons on Sunday morning and prepare Bible studies and present them to some of the groups.”

For Davis, there’s more to his duties as a pastor and member of the community of Gowrie that happen outside of the church.

“We have a program where, every week, people volunteer to bring food. They drop it off at the church, and I deliver it to families that need food. We provide fresh food for two families every week.”

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
The Rev. Jim Davis shows the banner that displays the mission statement for Zion Lutheran Church.

The church also contributes to the community food pantry as well.

Davis encourages those who may need assistance with obtaining food to come to him and, in total confidentiality, he will ensure they get the help as that help becomes available.

Davis also provides help to those in his congregation, community and beyond with counseling services, or will at least try to help them in the right direction.

Counseling is something he feels is in high demand with the current lack of mental health services.

“When you look at mental health services, we have just gutted them in this nation,” he said. “What has happened is the church ends up stepping in and, with me, I’m not a trained counselor. I have some education and some skills, but when it comes to some of those issues, especially when you look at our culture, the amount of alcoholism, drug addiction, and just dysfunctional behavior, and the lack of services that are there, oftentimes pastors become the people that people come to and say they need help.”

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
The Rev. Jim Davis, pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Gowrie and Fulton Lutheran Church in Roelyn, works on preparing a sermon. Davis is known for steppint out from behind the pulpit serving the community of Gowrie as well as area communities.

It’s getting more difficult to find the proper help for people, he said.

“There’s nothing else available,” he said. “For me, I can do some basic counseling — it’s not anything real serious. If it is serious, I try to get them referred to where they can get help. But the problem is, any more, you really need to go to Des Moines and a lot of people, because of time and money, can’t do that. Sometimes we can refer them and other times you just look and think, ‘Wow — what is going to happen?'”

Davis said if you are in need, you don’t have to be a member of either of his congregations — he considers himself a “pastor of the area.”

“In the time I have been here I have seen a lot of pastors, school superintendents and others come and go, but people know me. The majority of the weddings, for example, are not for members here. They’re for people in the area that know me. Same thing as funerals and counseling services. You end up being the person in the area that people know.”

Davis also makes hospital and nursing home visits as he is called. The home visits aren’t always for the sick, however.

“I do a lot of things that aren’t part of the job description,” he said. “Occasionally, there are little things that need taken care of and, if they don’t have kids around to help them, I will.”

Why go above and beyond?

“It’s the way I was raised. My mother was probably the most selfless person I met,” he said. “She was a hard, hard worker. She raised us, and I don’t know how she got that job done. She worked hard, and she never met a person she didn’t like. She might not have liked the things about the people, but she just accepted people the way they were. She was a good listener and she cared for a lot of people.”

Caring, Davis said, is what is most important to him.

“The care I received growing up through my family, school teachers, members of the community as well as the care I continue to receive,” he said. “I’m in rural Iowa because I want to give back a bit of what was given to me. I almost always am blessed with a wonderful feeling when I care in any way.”