About Don
Donald Patterson grew up in Garland, Texas - a suburb of Dallas. In 1985, he married Mary Donovan, whom he met in Garland. Don and Mary have four sons: Donovan, Seth, Caleb, and Blake. They have three grandsons: Wesley, Wyatt, and Easton.
Don earned a degree from East Texas State in Agricultural Education before pursuing the ministry. In the fall of 1986, he entered the theology program at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota. He completed his Masters of Divinity at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin. Upon graduation from the seminary in 1992, Don was called to Holy Word Lutheran church in Austin, Texas, where he served as senior pastor for 34 years.
In addition to his pastoral duties, Don served the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) as president of the South Central district (4 states and 55 congregations). In that role he supervised doctrine and practice; handles human resources, directed leadership training for pastors and lay leaders; and promoted a mission mindset - with the goal of starting a new church every year.
Currently, he serves as a WELS Ministry Recruitment Counselor across the South Central, South Pacific, and North Pacific Districts. He works alongside pastors, teachers, staff ministers, and lay leaders to help them actively recognize gifts in others, share information about ministerial education, and keep gospel ministry top of mind for WELS youth.
Don has also spoken at numerous marriage retreats, men’s and women’s retreats, leadership conferences and seminars. He has written several articles for various church publications, such as Forward in Christ, Meditations, Lutheran Parenting, and Lutheran Leadership.
In 2010, Don authored a Bible basics book titled: Finding Tools to Read and Interpret Scripture. In 2020, he also published a daily prayer book titled: Rising with Jesus: God Pleasing Prayers to Start Your Day.
When Don is not traveling, you can find him preaching and teaching at Holy Word Lutheran Church in Austin and other congregations across the WELS synod. Holy Word has five pastoral staff members and two campuses. Under Don’s leadership Holy Word has been instrumental in starting seven new congregations in the greater Austin Area.