Wilder, with a population of 68, has never been the brightest spot in southwestern Minnesota. It is a blink of the eye on highway 60. Because of the rundown appearance of a number of its properties, one might not have even noticed it. Since 2000, Ed Eigenberg, a retired pastor, has made a positive change in the town by serving in its city government. In the process, he is changing the way Seventh-day Adventists are viewed in the southwestern corner of the state.

Ed served as a pastor for 40 years and pastored the Petoskey, Carp Lake, and Cheboygan, Michigan, churches until his retirement in 1994. But upon retirement, he and his wife, Doris, returned to his Minnesota childhood home, where he was raised and where his father had been a well-known farmer. Here he serves the Windom and Marshall churches. And here he serves his community.

During the first two years after returning to the area, Ed sat on the city council of Wilder, being written in as mayor pro tem after his first year. When election time rolled around in 2002, Ed received 90 percent of the votes to be mayor.

He began immediately promoting development, rebuilding streets, and working to put a sign up near the freeway. He's also worked at cleaning up the old used cars and making rundown properties visibly attractive again. The Seventh-day Adventist church in nearby Windom, with a membership of 30, has had a role in Wilder's development. Members have done a great deal of community service work in the town. And in return, the town has been very grateful.

One way that Ed communicates about what goes on in Wilder is through the newspaper that he and his wife, Doris, put together. Published monthly, the one-sheet paper is mailed to the Wilder community. Often Wilder articles are reprinted in the county newspaper that goes to thousands of households throughout Cottonwood County. It is through this positive press that Ed is recognized and stopped on the streets of Windom, a community of 5,000 only five miles away from Wilder.

Through this publication, people county-wide have gotten a new view of Seventh-day Adventists. As mayor, Ed rubs shoulders with government officials county-wide. He has found that he and the name Adventist have gained respect, including those from Marshall, a university city of 25,000.

"It's my belief that to rightly represent our church," says Ed, "we need to be active in our communities. They need to know that we care. We don't just want to make them Christians. We need to find the ways we can make a difference," he says.

When Ed joined the area's ministerial association, he discovered years of prejudice had created nearly insurmountable walls. Local pastors said, "We didn't know that Adventists were interested in the community. We thought Adventists thought they'd be contaminated if they were part of us."

"These are barriers that we need to break down," Ed says. "As Adventists, we have a great deal to share. But we forget," he says, "that we have to earn the right to be heard."

Gayle Shomler was a Minnesota Conference assistant news editor at the time she wrote this article.