The Rev. William (Bill) Tesch accepted the call to become Associate to the Bishop in September 2007, shortly after Bishop David B. Zellmer assumed his new duties.

Pastor Bill, who assumed his new duties in December 2007, is primarily responsible for stewardship and the South Dakota Synod's Companion Synods relationships with Lutheran churches in Cameroon and Nicaragua.

A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Pastor Bill is a graduate of Ashwaubenon High School, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.S.), and Luther Northwestern Seminary (M. Div.), as well as Maxwell Air Force Base (Officer Training School and basic chaplain training)

In addition to serving as a congregational pastor since 1989 (including St. Paul and St. Peter Lutheran Churches, Humboldt and Orland, and Messiah New Hope Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls), he is a founding partner of Sycamore Ministries, LLC (a stewardship consulting company), and, since 1999, a major in the US Air Force Chaplain Service, South Dakota Air National Guard.

In his spare time, Pastor Bill enjoys golf, fly fishing and fly tying, weight lifting, and hunting. He and his wife, Christine, a USD nursing instructor, are the parents of two children.

Upon accepting this call, Pastor Bill said, "I am honored and humbled by this opportunity to join Bishop Zellmer and his staff as we walk together with the synod spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed."

Pastor Bill can be reached at btesch@sdsynod.org or 605/274-4028.