Megadeth’s David Ellefson is studying to become a Lutheran minister. In a lengthy profile by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the thrash-metal bassist revealed that he’s an online student at suburban St. Louis’s Concordia Seminary, studying under the school’s Specific Ministry Program.
Long-term friends of Ellefson are not surprised by the news, given that Ellefson took his faith very seriously while attending his local Lutheran church as he was growing up in Minnesota. “I came from a good family, not a broken home,” Ellefson told the Post-Dispatch. “That became a model for me, and I saw church at center of it.”
Ellefson has even written songs for the Lutheran church he currently attends, using lyrics from the Old Testament. “For a Christmas service, I remixed some classics, not quite in a Megadeth fashion, but in a pretty heavy rock fashion,” he said.
Long aware of Ellefson’s obvious devotion, his current pastor, Jon Bjorgaard, encouraged Ellefson to enroll in the ministry program. “Most people want to become a rock star,” Bjorgaard said. “David’s a rock star who wants to become a pastor.”
“For those fans who are concerned that we will no longer sound like Priest [without Downing], you can put your minds at rest,” he said. “Richie Faulkner is a fabulous guitarist and the perfect replacement for K.K. Downing. You will miss nothing from the show and the sound.”