Douglas Punke

Douglas Punke is the Senior Pastor of Zion. He has served Zion since November 2003. Prior to this, he served as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Clinton, Missouri. He currently serves the Indiana District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod as the Secretary of the District. He has served as Circuit Visitor of the Fort Wayne South Circuit, chair of IN District Northern Region Pastors Conference, vice-chair of the Board of The Lutheran Schools Partnership, and zone counselor for the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League in Missouri. He is active in the work by Lutheran churches in urban Fort Wayne called NINE: Northeast Indiana Neighborhood Engagement (ninefortwayne.org). He serves Lutheran South Unity School (lsusfw.org) as pastor and teacher. He is also board chairman of SPZP, Inc., a non-profit corporation partnering St. Peter’s Catholic Church and Zion Lutheran Church in continuing urban renewal in the Hanna Creighton and LaRez neighborhoods.

Pastor Punke has taught overseas in Novosibirsk, Russia, and Yambio, South Sudan.

Pastor Punke studied theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, and received his Master of Divinity in 1998. He was ordained into the Holy Ministry in June 1999.

Prior to beginning his study for the Holy Ministry, Pastor Punke taught mathematics and computer science at Lyon College (a liberal arts college) in Batesville, Arkansas, having received a Master of Science in Mathematics from Oklahoma State University and a Master of Science in Information and Computer Science from The Georgia Institute of Technology. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Arkansas College (later Lyon College) in 1983. And prior to that, he spent 5 years as a technician and maintenance planner in the US Air Force.

Pastor Punke is “husband of one wife” to Marge.