Bradn Buerkle, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has been serving in Russia since 2001.

He was born in Plevna, Montana, USA. He finished summa cum laude from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where his majors were Russian, Russian studies and English. In 2002 he received his M.Div. from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA.

Bradn spent his seminary internship in St. Nikolai Lutheran Church in Novgorod; he would go on to serve as the pastor of that congregation for another year. In the meantime he began teaching at the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Novosaratovka in 2003. He taught classes there in history, ethics and systematic theology.

In 2012 Bradn began to work for the Evangelical Lutheran Mission of Lower Saxony (Hermannsburg mission) and served as pastor in the congregation in Novosibirsk. Starting in 2014 Bradn has brought together his teaching and pastoral gifts as the leader of the Equipping for Service project – seminars for pastors, preachers and lay leaders throughout the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Bradn has a family – his wife, Natasha, and three boys – Matvey (14), Martin (11) and Lukas.