“When I was about six or seven years old, Mr. Art Lindall from Green Iowa, my hometown, gave me a little Easter chick. I raised that chick into a chicken…that laid eggs. I named her Sparkey.

Of course I baptized her Lutheran.”

— “Fenced About by God’s Love”

When people close to Don Deines reflect on his 17 years as pastor, they always do so with a smile and often a laugh, excitedly sharing a humorous story or tidbit from one of many sermons preached in his beloved church.

As the cruel grasp of young-onset Alzheimer’s steals his memory, the former pastor may not recollect every moment of his service at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, but his wife, Judy, wants to make sure her husband and everyone else never forgets how he touched lives with his words.

With the help of family and friends, Judy published “Fenced About by God’s Love, Sermons and Prayers by Pastor Don Deines,” a collection of 20 sermons and 58 prayers her husband wrote or cherished during his years as pastor. His condition led him to leave the pulpit early in life in February 2004.

“That was a trick — trying to remember what stood out in people’s minds,” Judy said.

Don has a deep connection in Austin, though he was also a pastor in LeMars, Iowa; Tacoma, Wash; Underwood, Iowa; and at Bethel Lutheran Church in Rochester.

Raised in Greene, Iowa, Don, 63, came to Austin as one of only three senior pastors in Our Savior’s 56-year history.

He is also known as a spokesperson for depression after being hospitalized in the 1990s. With the support of his congregation, he returned from treatment and began counseling in the community, helping found the DAWN Project at Austin Medical Center.

“This congregation was so loving,” Judy said, explaining how her husband used work from his art therapy to create cards to give to each person who contacted him while he was in treatment.

“They allowed me to get well,” Don said.

The book, recently released by Smythe Printing in Austin and shared with family and friends, with be for sale beginning Nov. 9, with proceeds benefiting Our Savior’s $5.1 million expansion.

Most of the project is an expansion of youth education, and will include Sunday school rooms, a nursery, multi-purpose room, youth ministry room and youth choir room.

“That is one of Don’s great loves,” Judy said of teaching children in faith.

The building project, which breaks ground Nov. 16, also includes a special addition that can’t be seen in Austin — a medical clinic in Central African Republic, expected to serve 250,000 patients.

“This congregation has always had a missions emphasis,” said Pastor Glenn Monson, who served as associate pastor from 1996 until Don stepped down as senior pastor in 2004.

The pastor explained it is much less expensive to build in that country, what he calls “one of the most desperate areas of Africa.” Building has already begun on the $100,000 facility.

“Fenced About by God’s Love” will be available beginning Sunday, Nov. 9 for $10 at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church.

The groundbreaking for the Our Savior’s Lutheran Church expansion and remodeling project will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 16.