About The Author
About The Author
Philip Zarling
PHILIP EDWARD ZARLING WAS BORN IN 1944. HE GREW UP IN THE UPPER MIDWEST IN A FAMILY OF FIVE BROTHERS. THE SON OF A PASTOR, HE BECAME A THIRD-GENERATION PASTOR IN THE WISCONSIN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD HIMSELF.
He graduated from Northwestern College in Watertown, WI, with a Bachelor of Arts degree and from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. He served in the public ministry for 44 years at congregations in Nebraska and Kansas, spending the last 24 years at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Overland Park, KS. He took his retirement from the public ministry in 2014 and now resides in Shawnee, KS. During his years in the ministry he wrote a number of theological and practical papers for presentation at conferences and served in various positions in the larger church body of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Most important among those were the years of service as a member of the Committee on Interchurch Relations of the WELS.
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He also became the first Vice President of the Nebraska District for a number of years and served a term as Chairman of the Board of Nebraska Evangelical Lutheran High School in Waco, NE. Emphasizing the theological environment in which Philip Zarling was raised, his two grandfathers, three uncles, three brothers, four cousins and one nephew also have served as pastors in the WELS, and his mother and several cousins, nieces and one nephew have served as teachers in WELS schools. Philip married Edna Lorene Richert in Seward, NE in 1972 and the couple welcomed three children, Stacey, Joel and Tiffany. All three are married and live respectively with their spouses, Darby, Janet and Dustin in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City.
As sports fan, Philip’s other interests are golf, travel and competing in road races including completing twelve marathons. In his free time he spends time with his grandchildren doing yard work, caring for flowers, filling bird feeders, and chasing away squirrels in the back yard.
