Magnusons join Main Street staff
Coming from the balmy, humid weather of southern Texas, the Magnuson family is slowly getting used to the chilly temperatures of a Kansas winter.
Dean and Johnna Magnuson and their two sons, Karl and Zach, moved to Hillsboro in August. The group is the newest family to join the staff of Main Street Ministries, located on South Main Street.
Karl is a sophomore at Hillsboro High School, and Zach is in eighth grade.
The Magnusons are taking the place of Don and Lillian Bookless, who are no longer full-time Main Street staffers. They're still involved in the organization and live next door.
Although Dean is a native to the Midwest, having grown up in Iowa, Johnna doesn't claim one hometown. She was born in California but raised all over the country, since her dad was in the military.
The two met at North Park College (now North Park University) in Chicago. They got married in 1984.
After a brief stay in Chicago, the couple moved to San Francisco. That's where their two sons were born. Dean worked in the army at that time, and Johnna continued working as a registered nurse.
As the years went on, Dean and Johnna decided that it was important to live closer to family. Johnna's sister, Maureen Fisher, lives in Hillsboro, and their parents live in Lindsborg.
So in the summer of 2001, Johnna took a job as a traveling nurse, and she was assigned to work at Via Christi in Wichita for 13 weeks. Her family came with her, and they all needed a place to live for that span of just over three months.
They ended up at Main Street Ministries, and they felt right at home.
"We just felt a kindred spirit here," Johnna said.
But after the summer, they returned to their home in Texas.
For the past decade, they had been serving as youth ministers in their Texas church. But at Main Street, they soon gained the opportunity to serve full-time.
They started work on Aug. 10, 2002..
In addition to serving at Main Street — which is where they live — Dean and Johnna also keep busy with part-time jobs in town. Dean works with Profitt's Tree Service, and Johnna works a couple nights a week as a nurse at the Hillsboro Community Medical Center.
The Magnusons hope that holding "normal" jobs will be an example to those they serve at Main Street, they said. For them, part of their ministry is just being that example and seeing the people that live there as an extension of their own family.
It's also about helping those around them grow spiritually — so they, in turn, can help others grow, Dean said.
The Magnusons work alongside other Main Street staffers Shawn Winter, Scott and Jennifer Proffitt, Tabor students Jed Padilla and Julie Bunch, and Amanda Ediger.
"We all have different roles to play," Dean said.
And as a part of the Main Street team, the Magnusons are enjoying themselves.
"It's exciting — it's what our dream was," Johnna said.
