Pastor Melanie Sickels grew up in Southern Minnesota on a small acreage. Animals and chores

were her family’s main source of entertainment. “You would be amazed at the trouble we could find

with a 2x4 and an old barrel,” chuckled Pastor Mel. The middle child of three, her family lives in

Austin, MN.

Pastor Mel, as she likes to be called, is the mother of two adult boys both born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Recently married to Quentin Sickels, Quentin also has adult boys. Pastor Mel and Quentin will begin

their married life in Le Sueur along with their “judgy” English bulldog, Roxy.

Pastor Mel received her Masters of Divinity from the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities

and education and training in Spiritual Direction from the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center.

She received her Associate Degree in Nursing from Riverland College in Austin, MN.

As she reflects on her Call to Ministry, she describes it as being “a long and winding road,”

continually being pulled and prodded back to her childhood church. “Eventually, I found the United

Methodist Church with a theology that made so much sense to me.”

Pastor worked her way through school for lay ministry and into seminary. Serving a variety of

churches she says, “I credit my first two churches with loving me into ministry. They showed me how

church can be the hands and feet of Jesus in the day-to-day life of a small rural community.”

Helping people create a fulfilling, vibrant faith life is Pastor Mel’s passion. Her vision of Church, as an

institution, is that “we are called to make disciples; in essence to co-create the Kingdom of God.”