# V. Trygve Jordahl

Part of a series on :
Lutheranism :
Background
Christianity
Start of the Reformation
Reformation
Protestantism :
Doctrine and theology
Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
Creeds
Apostles' Creed
Nicene Creed
Athanasian Creed
Book of Concord
Augsburg Confession
Apology of the Augsburg Confession
Luther's Small / Large Catechism
Smalcald Articles
Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
Formula of Concord
Distinctive theological concepts
Theology of Martin Luther
Justification
Law and Gospel
Sola gratia
Sola scriptura
Christology
Sanctification
Two kingdoms
catholicity
Two states of the Church
Priesthood of all believers
Divine Providence
Marian theology
Theology of the Cross
Sacramental Union
Other relevant topics
Homosexuality :
Sacraments and worship
Baptism
Eucharist
Confession
Confirmation
Matrimony
Anointing of the Sick
Holy Orders
Divine Service
Matins
Vespers
Liturgical calendar
Calendar of saints
Lutheran hymn
Lutheran hymnwriters
Normative principle
Lutheran art :
Organization
Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference
Global Confessional & Missional Lutheran Forum
International Lutheran Council
Lutheran World Federation
Denominations
Lutheranism by region :
Movements
History of Lutheranism
Crypto-Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
Lutheran orthodoxy
Pietists
Radical Pietism
Haugeans
Laestadians
Finnish Awakening
Old Lutherans
Neo-Lutherans
High church Lutherans
Confessional Lutheranism :
Key figuresMissionaries
John Campanius
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Hans Egede
Johann Heinrich Callenberg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
Paul Henkel
John Christian Frederick Heyer
Karl Graul
Martti Rautanen
Wilhelm Sihler
F. C. D. Wyneken
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Lars Olsen Skrefsrud
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Onesimos Nesib
Paul Olaf Bodding
Johann Flierl
Christian Keyser
Jens Christensen
Bible Translators
Martin Luther
Casiodoro de Reina
Kjell Magne Yri
Onesimos Nesib
Aster Ganno
Kristian Osvald Viderø
Jákup Dahl
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
William Tyndale
John Rogers
George Constantine
Jozef Roháček
Johannes Avetaranian
Guðbrandur Þorláksson
Ludvig Olsen Fossum
Hans Egede / Paul Egede
Otto Fabricius
Nils Vibe Stockfleth
Olaus Petri / Laurentius Petri
Martti Rautanen
Primož Trubar
Jurij Dalmatin
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Sebastian Krelj
Mikael Agricola
Norwegian Bible Society
Swedish Bible Society
Samuel Ludwik Zasadius
Stanislovas Rapolionis
Laurentius Andreae
Hans Tausen
Olaf M. Norlie
Jonas Bretkūnas
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Antonio Brucioli
Mikołaj Jakubica
Matthias Bel
Johann Ernst Glück
William F. Beck
Theologians
Martin Luther / Katharina von Bora
Philip Melanchthon
Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Brenz
Justus Jonas
Hans Tausen
Laurentius Petri
Olaus Petri
Mikael Agricola
Matthias Flacius
Martin Chemnitz
Johann Gerhard
Abraham Calovius
Johannes Andreas Quenstedt
Johann Wilhelm Baier
Philipp Spener
David Hollaz
August Hermann Francke
Henry Muhlenberg
Lars Levi Laestadius
Charles Porterfield Krauth
C. F. W. Walther
Søren Kierkegaard
Albrecht Ritschl
Wilhelm Herrmann
F. W. Stellhorn
Rudolf Otto
Ernst Troeltsch
Rudolf Bultmann
Paul Tillich
Hermann Sasse
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Wolfhart Pannenberg
Robert Jenson :
vte :
Verner Trygve "V.T." Jordahl (Norwegian:; October 26, 1898 – September 27, 1984) was an Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC) District President; he served as a U.S. Army Chaplain, on the Luther College Board of Regents, and was the ELC Director of Service to Military Personnel.
Jordahl was born October 26, 1898, in Norway Lake, Minnesota, as a second generation immigrant from Norway. He retired in Sun City, Arizona. He died on September 27, 1984, at his summer home in Decorah, Iowa. He received his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Luther College in 1922, where he had also attended preparatory school. He then attended Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and received his Bachelor of Theology in 1925.

## Pastoral career

In 1925, Jordahl accepted a call to be pastor of Central Lutheran Church in Dallas, Texas. He was at Central Lutheran for eight years. After turning down five calls over many years from other churches to be their pastor, he finally accepted a call in May 1933 to Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Cleveland, Ohio.

## Military service

On September 25, 1943, V.T. enlisted as a U.S. Army Chaplain. He attended Chaplain’s school at Harvard University. His first assignment was as a chaplain on transport ships, which would bring troops to and from battle. His next chaplain assignment was to a Prisoner of War (POW) camp in Alva, Oklahoma, where there were about 4,800 POW’s, predominantly German Nazi’s. He received commendations for his work here to establish contact between POW’s and their relatives in the U.S. He also worked to identify Lutheran clergymen (conscripted into the Wehrmacht) among the POW’s in order to establish congregations. His discharge from the U.S. Army was April 28, 1946.
In July 1946 V.T. accepted a call as pastor of St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church in Bode, Iowa.

## Bishop and Service to Military Personnel

In October 1948, he was elected bishop (also called district president) of the South Central District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC). This district was, at the time, the largest district in the ELC, stretching from Iowa down through Texas. He served in this position for 11 years and during this time he received an honorary Doctorate from Luther College.
In 1959, V.T. was appointed by the president of the ELC, Fredrik A. Schiotz, to serve as the director of the newly formed agency, Service to Military Personnel. (In 1960, the ELC joined with other Lutheran churches to form the American Lutheran Church.) The position was the bishop to all Lutheran chaplains in the U.S. military and entailed coordinating all U.S. Lutheran chaplaincy operations around the world. This office was based in Minneapolis and the family lived in Golden Valley, MN.

## Career Timeline

* 1925 – Senior Pastor, Central Lutheran Church; Dallas, Texas
* 1933 – Senior Pastor, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church; Cleveland, Ohio
* 1943 – U.S. Army Chaplain
* 1946 – Pastor, St. Olaf's Lutheran Church; Bode, Iowa
* 1948 – District President/Bishop, South Central District, Evangelical Lutheran Church
* 1959 – Director, Service to Military Personnel, Evangelical Lutheran Church; Minneapolis, Minnesota

## Family

V.T. was the middle of seven children: Dagmar, Esther, Harold, V.T., Scriver, Nils, and Solveig. V.T. and his siblings were the first generation of their Jordahl ancestors born in the United States, as father Daniel Christopherson (known as D.C.) was born in Jordalsgrenda, Norway and his mother, Johanna, was born in Red Wing, Minnesota. She died when V.T. was only six years old. This made V.T. a second generation immigrant. On September 25, 1925, V.T. was married to Norma Resida Johnson at Madison Lutheran Church in Ridgeway, Iowa. V.T. and Norma knew each other growing up since they both attended and were confirmed at Madison Lutheran. The first three Jordahl children (Rodger, Daniel, and Norma) were born in Dallas between 1926 and 1929. The last Jordahl child, Vern Truman was born in Cleveland in the mid-1930s.