• Introducing Our Ministers •
The Rev. Erik J. Buss
Spiritual ‘Genes’ With a Personal Fit
W
ith “the minister gene” running strong in Erik Buss’s family, it may seem
he had no choice but to become a minister himself. But the decision –
and the passion – were his own.
Included in the gene pool are: Grandfather, the late Rev. Erik
Sandstrom, and uncle, the Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom; father, the Rt. Rev. Peter M.
Buss (retired) and brother, the Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss Jr. His son, Jared, married
to Justine (Brannon), is in his final year of Theological School. And daughter
Rachel is about to marry theolog David Steen from Rochester, Michigan. So
it may have seemed inevitable that Erik would choose that course, but the
attraction came from inside, not outside – beginning about age six.
He was born in Durban, South Africa, to Peter and Lisa Buss and lived
there until age 11, then moved to Glenview when his father was called to be
the pastor there. His education progressed from the Kainon School in South
Africa, the Glenview New Church School and the Midwestern Academy, to the
Academy Boys School and two years at Bryn Athyn College. He transferred
for his final two years to Williams College in Massachusetts, then returned to
Bryn Athyn for Theological School.
Through all of this, he says, “I had known I wanted to be a minister since
about six. I’ve always loved the doctrines and knew I wanted to help people
with them as much as I could.”
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