PRESS RELEASES
2010
PetoskyNews.Com
GAYLORD — He’s a pastor by day and a writer of psychological thrillers by night.
The Rev. Dr. John F. Helgeson of the First Presbyterian Church of Gaylord, 513 Charles Brink Road, had his first novel, “A Matter of Abuse,” published a few months ago.
“The plot involves a mother who abuses a child,” said Helgeson. “A team of social workers come to investigate and one of the social workers has an evil intent.”
Each chapter is written from the perspective of one the characters involved, including the victim, her family, social workers, the media, members of law enforcement and the justice system.
Helgeson did not base the novel on an actual event. It was inspired by situations he’d encountered in his work as a clergyman and by research he’d done with people in the social work field.
2016
The Lawton Constitution
LAWTON - For the past decade, John Helgeson served in various churches across the nation as an interim pastor. And throughout his interim career, he has yet to find a book explaining the freedoms of being an interim pastor, so he decided to write one himself.
The 12 freedoms in Helgeson's book include: the freedom of speech; the freedom to worship; the freedom to act; the freedom to disagree; the freedom to override or veto; the freedom to heal; the freedom to explain; the freedom to terminate; the freedom to change; the freedom to experiment; the freedom to leave; and the freedom to hope.
"Each of those freedoms are basic to what an interim minister does," Helgeson said, "because an interim minister comes in between pastors. And this is very common in Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Episcopalian, etc., regularly use interim ministers. They're certainly there to provide the transition between the previous pastor and the new pastor yet to come, which often means they have certain jobs and tasks to do."
2018
Redemption Press
John F. Helgeson is an ordained pastor who has served interim positions in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois, as well as installed positions in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. He has presented portions of this book to interim colleagues and the Interim Ministry Network’s annual conference.
