Rev. Sara Nelson, right, receives the Harry Denman Award for clergy from Bishop Deborah Kiesey. Photos by jlynn studios.

This year’s clergy recipient of the Harry Denman Evangelism Award is Rev. Sara Nelson, who serves as the lead pastor at First United Methodist Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

In 2010, while serving as an associate pastor at Watertown First UMC, Pastor Sara founded the People Against Child Hunger (PACH) program. Pastor Sara realizes that sharing Jesus with someone isn’t just done in words. It’s done through incarnational love in the name of Christ. Sara saw that there were people in her community whose physical hunger was a priority to address just as much as their spiritual hunger. She helped mobilize her community and her congregation to respond in a meaningful way.   

In 2015, having moved into the senior pastor role, Pastor Sara challenged each member of the congregation to pray for 21 days at either 6:25 am or 6:25 pm. During the 21-day prayer challenge people were asked to dedicate prayers to four areas: a loved one, a personal goal or dream, the church, or the city of Watertown. This challenge turned the hearts of her congregation outward to how they could share the Good News in tangible ways. The fruits of that prayer movement were seen in people responding to the nudge of the Spirit to live their faith and calling. 

Most recently, in her role as the senior pastor at Sioux Falls First UMC, Rev. Nelson, continues to challenge and inspire her congregation to reach new people. One example came as a part of this year’s Camp Sunday. Sara and the leadership of First UMC challenged the congregation to double the number of people who go to camp this summer from 8 to 16.  

But God used the spark of that challenge to fan into flame a bigger vision and this year Sioux Falls First is sending over 50 kids to camp, with over half being first-time campers and many coming from the daycare/after school program that the church hosts. Sara also came alongside staff and laity to launch a new worship experience that includes a time of fellowship and relationship building DURING the service. And Sioux Falls First, under Pastor Sara’s leadership, also recently opened their facility to an Ethiopian Orthodox congregation who lost their church to a fire. More than just facility use, they are forming relationships around their shared commitment to the Gospel. 

Sara isn’t just a personal evangelist. She is a catalyst that spurs on her congregation to reach beyond themselves with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. For these reasons and so many others, Pastor Sara Nelson was  named the 2022 recipient of the Harry Denman Evangelism clergy award for the Dakotas Conference.