View this issue as a PDF.

Winter 2014
A new church
Luther Seminary educates
leaders for Christian
communities called and sent
by the Holy Spirit to witness to
salvation through Jesus Christ
and to serve in God’s world.
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6
Editor
Kelsey Holm
Contributing Writers
Jim Vitale
John Klawiter
Kelly O’Hara Dyer
Katelyn Rakotoarivelo
Dave Smoker
Photographers
Stephen Geffre
Mark Hawkins
Steve Holm
Sitraka Rakotoarivelo
Breanne Royer
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12
Layout and Design
Jenni Lathrop
Luther Seminary, the largest
of the eight seminaries of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America, is accredited by
the Association of Theological
Schools in the United States and
Canada and the North Central
Association of Colleges and
Schools.
Story is published two times a
year and distributed via thirdclass mail to alumni and donors
by Luther Seminary, 2481 Como
Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108.
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20
Correspondence concerning
Story should be sent to:
[email protected]
651-641-3399
Office of Marketing
and Communications
Luther Seminary
2481 Como Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55108
For address changes or
cancellations: 651-641-3448
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Winter Contents
www.luthersem.edu
4 Letterfromthepresident
Cover photo: dough is made for Shobi’s Table,
a food truck ministry led by Margaret Kelly, ’09.
5 LutherSeminaryinstallsRobinSteinke
aspresident
Cover photo by Sitraka Rakotoarivelo
6 Forthegoodofthechurch
By Kelly O’Hara Dyer
Four alums take making a difference to the next level
10 Aholy(entrepreneurial)spirit
experience
By John Klawiter
A seminarian brings his meal-packing mission to
Stillwater prison
12 Mysteriousways
By Kelly O’Hara Dyer
Graduate Preaching Fellowship recipient feels God’s
hand throughout her travels
14 Mountainman
By Kelly O’Hara Dyer
In every issue
25 Alum News
26 Lay School of Theology Calendar
26 Calendar of Events
28 Faculty and Staff Notes
GC1028-14
29 KAIROS Calendar
M. Div. student experiences transformative
internship
16 Spiritualbutnotreligious
By John Klawiter
Luther Seminary’s voice in a growing conversation
20 Keepingthefaith
By Kelly O’Hara Dyer
M.A. student sends prayers, aid to family in Ebolastricken Liberia
Winter 2014
3
Letter from the President
Stretching horizons
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future.”
—Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
It IS aLWayS IntereStIng to See Where goD
CaLLS our StuDentS to Serve anD What
ShaPe thoSe CaLLS taKe aFter StuDentS Leave
the SemInary. Many serve as pastors in congregations. Increasingly we are seeing our newly trained
leaders heading into ministries that are less traditional.
They are stretching the horizons of traditional service
and sharing God’s love in unexpected ways and places.
Our students are pursuing opportunities all over the
world. This demonstrates the importance of preparing
students to stretch their boundaries to witness anew
in God’s world.
As you may know, I serve on the Council of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). This past June, I had the opportunity to travel to Medan, Indonesia, for the LWF Council
meeting. I was thrilled to meet bishops, pastors, teachers
4
Story
Robin Steinke
President
Photos by Stephen Geffre
In this issue of Story magazine, you will read about
President Robin Steinke and Academic Dean Craig Koester visit prior
some fascinating ways that alumni and students are
to the installation.
stretching their own horizons and making a difference
both in the communities they serve and in the larger church
and other leaders who received their education at Luther
and world.
Seminary. The stories they told me about the ways they are
sharing the gospel in many different countries were both
In the following pages, you’ll read about:
heartening and stirring. God is working through them in
amazing ways.
• A current student who runs a prison ministry that
allows inmates to help others
It reinforces the importance of seminaries equipping students to stretch their horizons for a wide variety of possible
• Grads who give back above and beyond their calls
ministries. Our students and alums are addressing changing
through mentoring and stewardship
needs with a strong awareness, understanding and set of
experiences that reflect the world we live in.
• Alums who reach people where they are and in a
number of compelling ways
We hope you enjoy this issue of Story. Please continue to
pray for Luther Seminary and the leaders we educate.
I hope you will be as inspired as I am by the many ways these
people are sharing the gospel. I am also delighted to learn
of our graduates stretching their horizons in a global arena.
Luther Seminary installs
Robin Steinke as president
The Luther Seminary community officially welcomed
Robin Steinke as president at a service of installation on Oct. 12. Many gathered in support, prayer
and celebration during the service, held at Shepherd
of the Valley Lutheran Church in Apple Valley, Minn.
Luther Seminary’s choir and brass ensemble, under
the direction of Andrew Bruhn, reflected a communal
vitality.
During her sermon, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton proclaimed, “We are called to stand in those places
where there is brokenness because that’s where
Christ already is ... Our students need to know and
embrace this.”
In her closing remarks, Steinke offered words of gratitude, collaboration and hope for her own journey and
that of Luther Seminary. She said, “I pray that a feature of our life together might be that we faithfully
lean into the face of gratitude for those who have
gone before us and for the future into which God
calls us.”
To view photos from the Inauguration, visit
www.flickr.com/photos/lutherseminary. Choose
Albums, and then choose 2014 Presidential
Inauguration.
For the gooD
oF the ChurCh
Four alums take making a difference to the next level
For Luther graDuateS, a LIFetIme SPent In ServICe to otherS IS Common. Whether alumni find their
vocation in a standard pastoral setting or serve their communities in another form, giving back remains a key tenet
of faith.
For some alumni, however, this mission goes even further.
These individuals are finding different ways to support,
strengthen and serve the larger church itself through their
actions.
mentor, trainer and coach
John Lee, ‘66
As an example, Jon Lee, 73, of Dallas, has spent the better
part of the past decade mentoring younger pastors and helping congregations learn to thrive in the 21st century.
In 2007, Lee retired as pastor of Dallas-based King of Glory
Lutheran Church after 35 years. During his ministry, his
congregation grew from 400 members to almost 2,000, a
notable achievement given that Lutherans are a minority
faith in Texas.
“I went from the Midwest where there are lots of Lutherans
to Dallas, where Lutherans make up less than 1 percent of
the population,” Lee says with a chuckle. “It’s a very different
setting, but it’s challenging and wonderful.”
Today, Lee remains an active mentor, sounding board and
coach for younger pastors in his area.
“When I retired,” Lee says, “I began to realize more fully how
my life had been blessed by the church, and that it was time
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for me to give back. I began to ask, ‘What is God calling me
to do in this next chapter of my life?’ I realized that over the
last 20 years, my most fulfilling experiences were working
with leaders of the church, both lay and clergy. After taking
a year’s sabbatical, I simply made myself available to work
with pastors and congregations as the bishop saw the need.”
In addition to mentoring pastors in the San Antonio, Austin
and Dallas areas, Lee also works with Lutheran congregations to help leaders better identify and live their mission.
“Pete Steinke, who initiated both the Bridgebuilder program
for conflicted churches and Healthy Congregations, had
asked if I would work with him on a project, along with former Bishop Paul Blom,” Lee says. “It’s called New Visions,
and it’s about training leaders to focus on their mission. It’s
asking congregations, ‘What do you think God is calling you
to be and do?’”
Lee believes that the largest hurdle facing congregations and
church leaders today is the paralysis that can come from
fear of change.
“Part of what I do in the training is help people understand
congregations as an emotional system,” Lee says. “We’re
a lot less rational than we think we are, and anxiety plays
a huge part in any organization. When we’re caught up in
high anxiety, we don’t think very well. [Relieving that anxiety
is] a process of thoughtfulness and of rethinking and going
back to the Scriptures and asking, ‘What are we here for?’
The only mission that the church has is to participate with
God in God’s mission. It seems to me as you read Scripture
that God’s mission is all about healing and redeeming and
restoring God’s creation. Therefore, the only mission that
the church has is to participate with God in God’s mission.
That’s it.”
Courtesy photos
By Kelly O’Hara Dyer, Correspondent
Jon Lee
John SImonSon
raCheL SImonSon
LISa LeWton
Spring 2014
7
Force for stewardship
Lisa Lewton, ’04
Another Luther alum working to support the larger Lutheran
church in a unique way is Lisa Lewton.
When Lewton was first called to St. John Lutheran Church
in Dickinson, N.D., seven years ago, she welcomed the opportunity to minister in her home state, and to become part
of an extremely devoted faith community.
Lewton, 36, now serves as one of two pastors at St. John,
which has a congregation of about 1,500. Located in the
central-west portion of North Dakota, the rapidly growing
Dickinson sits just on the southern edge of the region’s oil
boom.
“Our church was founded in 1903 and it’s a unique place,”
Lewton says. “When I started here, there had only been
two senior pastors over the course of 50 years. This is also
a church where you don’t have to worship too many times
to know that it’s a very generous congregation.”
Lewton says she thought her church members might be interested in giving to Luther Seminary as a way to support a
new generation of church leaders.
To introduce the idea, she sent 40 letters to church members who had served on the church’s call committee, inviting
them to give to Luther.
“[The letters] were a bit of a limb for me to go out on because I’m kind of shy,” Lewton admits. However, she adds, “I
think it’s an important task of a pastor to equip people to be
thankful in the way that they live, and this is one way to do
that. I’ve really been fortunate to be part of a church culture
that is not about scarcity, but about generosity. That changes
how you see money, and how you understand what it means
to ask people to give a gift to something that’s important.
Whether [the call committee members] know it or not, they
know about raising up leaders in the church, and I wanted to
invite them to be an even more integral part of that.”
Spiritual ambassadors
rachel, ’12, and John Simonson, ’12
Lewton’s mail campaign fell on fertile ground, and the letter
8
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recipients responded generously with their financial support.
That helped inspire Lewton’s friend and fellow pastor, Rachel
Simonson, to do the same thing with her congregation.
Simonson and her husband, John, serve as co-pastors for
three churches in and near Killdeer, N.D., a small town about
30 miles north of Dickinson. The Simonsons serve congregations at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Killdeer, and two
smaller churches in nearby Dunn Center and Halliday.
Rachel, 30, and John, 34, met while attending Luther
Seminary.
“Both John and I love Luther and had such a good experience
there,” Rachel Simonson says. “It was really formational for
our faith and our vocation, and we were just so impressed
with all of the professors and the staff. We really enjoy connecting people with Luther because of our dedication to it.
We feel that Luther gave us so much that we’d like to be able
to return something to it.”
Like Lewton, Rachel Simonson identified members of her
congregation she thought would be interested in supporting the church’s next generation of leaders and sent them a
letter introducing the idea.
“We have people [in our congregations] who are looking to
give money to good places,” Simonson says. “As pastors, we
have to keep in mind that giving is spiritual to people. Be
confident that God is at work in people’s hearts. Any conversation on giving or on any other spiritual practice really
is centered in faith. Asking people to give is inviting them
into a spiritual practice.”
Simonson took her beliefs about giving and stewardship one
step further, standing up at a recent synod assembly alumni
gathering and encouraging her fellow attendees to consider
inviting their church members to support Luther financially,
as well.
“That was really kind of a casual, impromptu thing that just
popped up,” Simonson says. “I basically told [attendees] that
I’ve found that people really do want to give. While we may
be intimidated to ask, it’s important to know that people are
actually ready to do so. God is working in people’s hearts
long before we get there. It’s surprising how easy that conversation can be.”
Donor gifts allow innovative ways
to educate church leaders
this past September, Luther Seminary launched the
Missional Leadership Cohort for Episcopal Clergy.
it’s an 18-month pilot program to help experienced
pastoral participants confront and answer tough
questions facing congregations today. the initial group
of 12 participants will travel through the program
together, meeting four times over the course of the
next year and a half for intensive instruction. the hope
is that this program will lead to more ecumenical and
diverse training opportunities at Luther Seminary.
the program is co-led by Dwight Zscheile, associate
professor of congregational mission and leadership,
and Dan Anderson, an adjunct faculty member.
Funding is provided by a grant from the Hamilton and
Mildred Kellogg trust.
“[the Kellogg trustees] were really interested in
funding leaders who had a relatively long horizon
in ministry in front of them,” Zscheile says. “Most of
our participants are in their 30s and 40s, and they
represent a really diverse range of contexts, everything
from inner-city urban to rural to suburban churches,
and everywhere from Vermont to Alabama to oregon.
“the vision for this program is that we gather a group
of leaders who have been out of seminary for a few
years, and who have some experience and some basic
pastoral identity that they’ve developed,” Zscheile
says. “they now know more deeply some of the tough
questions that leaders face and they’re ready to engage
those and bring their communities along in engaging
those. There are two primary challenges. The first
is, ‘How do we understand the culture that we’re in
today, which no longer supports Christian identity,
practice and belonging in ways that it once did, and in
the ways that our churches are often organized for it to
do?’ the second question is, ‘How do we actually lead
communities faithfully through the kinds of change
and adaptation necessary in order for them to have
vital witness in today’s world?’”
Gifts to the Sustaining Fund help faculty members
like Zscheile create new and innovative ways of
educating future leaders for the church.
to learn more about this program, visit
www.luthersem.edu/lifelong_learning/cohort.
You can help faculty members like
Zscheile think creatively about educating
future church leaders! Learn more!
www.luthersem.edu/giving
www.luthersem.edu/giving
Tom Thiets, right, works
with inmates at the
Stillwater prison.
A holy (entrepreneurial) spirit experience
John Klawiter, M.Div. ’12
the neWeSt verSIon oF the tom
thIetS Story IS CaLLeD “ServIng
BeyonD BarS”—anD It’S aBout
PrISon mInIStry. This story is built
off an amazing tale about packing
meals. However, this particular part of
the story wouldn’t exist without years
of faithful work and mission trips.
These are the threads that weave the
tale of this current seminarian whose
journey isn’t about where he ends up
but about how many different stories
he creates for others along the way.
This story began in 1979 with a storyteller who was listening. Sitting
with his wife, Lisa, Thiets listened
as the new youth pastor at Trinity
Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minn.,
told his congregation about mission
opportunities.
The Thietses were new to the congregation, so when the pastor asked for
10
Story
help and said, “Somebody is out here
today, you know who you are. Call me
tomorrow,” Thiets knew it was his
calling.
“I told my wife, ‘I think he’s talking
about me,’” Thiets says. “She said, ‘I
was thinking the same thing.’”
He made the call.
But Thiets also had a career doing
electro-mechanical drafting and design work. “Basically, I did high-tech
measuring of anything from wind
speed to wave motion,” he says. He
then got into residential and light
commercial construction—giving up
a great job with benefits to venture
out on his own. But this process
taught him something. Project management and sales skills were honed
through years of customer contact. As
a licensed general contractor he also
gained insight into all of the construction trades. Now, this insight proves
useful in leading mission construction
teams around the world.
After a decade of construction work,
Thiets went into the tradeshow business with family-owned Chandler
Exhibits, Inc. His main clients were
Andersen Windows and Home Depot.
“I look back, and what is the connection?” he asks. “It was reaching out
and learning to work with a variety of
people within a company and the community. I worked with all the people
in the company, all the staff. I learned
that you have to have project management, relationship development, and
all along the way I was doing six- to
eight-weeks of international mission
work.” This was only possible through
the openness and support of the
Chandler family, who shared a vision
of being part of a global community,
thus making space in their corporate
structure for a missionary.
Instead of seeing his international trips
as a burden, his employers found opportunities to make it part of their
company mission—providing warehouse space or other support for his
501c3 company called Mano Amiga.
“This was their partnership in my ministry, even though it wasn’t their specific
calling.”
About 10 years ago, Thiets was asked
if he would leave his full-time job and
only focus on mission at Trinity. Thiets
took the leap of faith.
“I am the mission department at Trinity,
but the number of volunteers is amazing,” Thiets says. “Everything is selffunded to do the ministry. I’ve always
been able to utilize the model of Mano
Amigo to engage the community and,
within that, find volunteers to rise up
to be leaders. If you don’t have a place
for people to lead, why grow leaders?
We bring people along that path. And
the people of Trinity and greater community have responded.”
It was a mission trip to Tanzania that
the food packing thread of his story
gets unwound. I asked our partner
what they needed and he said “find
me some food.”
Photos courtesy of the Stillwater Gazette
Thiets returned home and, unbelievably, a bag of meals had found its way
into his office. Thiets had an idea. Trinity would partner with Mano Amigo to
pack meals to ship around the world,
but also locally to food shelves.
“We ask volunteers for two hours and a
financial contribution” he says. “We’ve
packed millions of meals that way.
Truly all are welcome to come. We say,
bring them young—we’ve had children
that are 10 that came when they were
3. They come back every year.”
Thiets had packed meals for many corporate and church events, but it was
on a drive to Bayport, Minn., that he
passed by the Stillwater prison and
thought about the opportunity to pack
a meal in the prison.
He was presented with the unique
problem of finding his way into jail.
Along came another Holy Spirit encounter when case worker Nicole
Mulvehill met him while out for a
walk and said “You’re Tom, the missions guy!” Mulvehill had packed a
meal in Stillwater
led by Thiets and
had been thinking
about how a mealpacking event at
the prison could
coincide with the
maximum security offenders restorative justice
program to accept
responsibility for
their crimes and
the need to make
restitution to
those they hurt.
Would these offenders give up their
minimal free time to pack meals?
A sign-up sheet was hung in the cell
blocks and all the spots were taken in
five minutes.
Serving Beyond the Bars brought together a variety of ages, races and
even members of different gangs.
“Across the board, they had respect for
each other,” Thiets says. “They clamored for more, but it costs money to
pack a meal. So these guys who make
27 cents an hour offered to help pay
for another meal packing.”
“Those of us on the outside see these
correctional facilities when we drive
by and the only thing you hear is bad
stuff,” Thiets says. “They are on the inside and they look out and think, ‘The
only thing people on the outside see
is the bad stuff.’ So we go in, beyond
the bars, to serve and they go be-
yond the bars to serve the local food
shelves. We put the meals in those
communities.”
Serving Beyond the Bars has been invited by the Minnesota Department
of Corrections Commissioner to bring
its life-changing ministry into all state
facilities. To date, teams have served
beyond the bars at the Stillwater and
Oak Park Heights facilities and are
scheduled for the Shakopee facility
in December. “There are nine more
facilities to serve at in 2015,” Thiets
says. “We are looking for partners to
help sponsor and join the team serving
beyond the bars.”
Thiets helps the offenders tell a positive story for the community to hear.
The Thiets biography isn’t done yet.
There are more chapters to write and
more lives to touch in order to bring
about true transformative work in the
world.
“God called me to get people to get up
out of the pew,” Thiets says. “That’s
just the Spirit working and I’m just so
blessed to be along to hear the stories.”
For more information about Mano
Amiga, visit www.manoamiga.net.
Winter 2014
11
ringlaben has maintained both a blog and a youtube channel chronicling her travels.
Mysterious ways
graduate Preaching Fellowship recipient feels god’s hand throughout travels
By Kelly O’Hara Dyer, Correspondent
r aCheL rIngL aBen KnoWS that goD’S hanD
touCheS her LIFe every Day, oFten In unexPeCteD WayS. Most recently, as she lay on a surgeon’s table
in Guatemala, frightened before undergoing complicated
emergency surgery, she was certain God was in the room,
guiding her doctor’s hand.
“You,” the surgeon told her as she awoke after the surgery,
“were singing a hymn while you were under anesthesia.”
Ringlaben, 29, is the recipient of the 2013 Luther Seminary
Graduate Preaching Fellowship, which allowed her to travel
throughout Central and South America for the past year.
During her trip, she spent time with numerous indigenous
peoples throughout the region, as well as with a number of
Spanish-speaking faith communities.
As her fellowship drew to a close in early August, Ringlaben
was preparing to fly back to the U.S. for a quick family visit
before making a final, month-long stop in Taize, France, to
write and reflect on her travels.
But before Ringlaben was able to make the journey, she began to feel a nagging ache in her hip, which became progressively worse. She scheduled a doctor’s visit at a local medical
office, and what the physician told her shocked her deeply.
The doctor said he believed Ringlaben had a previously un12
Story
diagnosed congenital hernia in her stomach, and that the
tissue was strangling both her internal organs and threatening the blood supply in her femoral artery. He impressed on
Ringlaben that this was very serious and he believed she
needed immediate surgery.
In a fortuitous twist of fate—or as Ringlaben terms it, divine
intervention—at that exact moment, a surgeon who shared
office space with the first doctor re-entered the building,
returning for something she had forgotten.
“The whole thing, I just can’t look at that and say that it was
anything but God,” Ringlaben says in mid-August, as she continued her four- to six-week recuperation period in a hostel
in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. “I mean, from the fact that I
was recommended to a doctor who shares his office with a
surgeon, and that she wasn’t supposed to be there but had
forgotten something and came back. The Holy Spirit was
involved somehow here. The surgeon was surprised that
I’d lasted 29 years with that hernia, and it took her a long
time to [operate successfully on me]. It was God at work in
Guatemala.”
Although Ringlaben remains sore and under doctors’ orders
not to lift anything during her recovery—which precludes
traveling with heavy luggage—her spirits remain high. She
positively bubbles over as she describes her mission and
experiences during the past year.
Blog: http://onestorycatcher.wordpress.com | Videos: www.youtube.com/user/Esperanza984
Rachel Ringlaben, ’13, traveled throughout Central and South America as part of the Graduate Preaching Fellowship.
In addition to spending time with a number of Spanishspeaking communities, Ringlaben, who is bilingual in English and Spanish, stayed and worked with a wide variety of
indigenous communities. In Guatemala, she worked with the
Tz´utujil people; in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, she worked
with the Quechua, as well as the Aymara people; and she
worked with the Guarani in Paraguay. She also spent time
with Portuguese-speaking faith communities in Brazil who
were witnessing during the World Cup Games.
Ringlaben’s circuitous path to Central and South America
actually began while she was studying at Luther. It was during her clinical pastoral education (CPE) training that she first
thought of incorporating ministry to indigenous groups with
their own storytelling and oral traditions. CPE offers students
the opportunity to integrate their theological knowledge and
professional skills in clinical contexts like hospitals, extended
care facilities, social service organizations and congregational settings.
Courtesy photos
“When I was in CPE, my coordinator had a module called narrative theory, which stems from systems theory,” Ringlaben
explains. “It’s allowing people to be the experts of their own
lives when you talk to them in pastoral care. Narrative theory
says that you listen to how people talk about themselves and
their experiences, and then you help them deconstruct the
negative narrative in their lives, and reconstruct it telling the
truth about who they are in a grace-filled way.”
In many of the regions where Ringlaben stayed and ministered over the past 11 months, the indigenous groups she
worked with face multiple challenges, from civil war to grinding poverty. She says that during her mission, she learned to
sit quietly and let those around her share their stories and
their understanding of faith.
“Every day I learned how big God is, and yet how close and
gentle God is,” Ringlaben says. “Every encounter that I’ve
had on this journey has taught me that we are not alone,
and that has been constantly reaffirmed when I listened to
people tell me their experiences. I’ve sat with elders here in
Guatemala who lost their whole family in the civil war, and
they continue to talk about God’s grace and God’s presence
in their lives. I’ve sat with women in Peru who are recovering
from being trafficked, and they are constantly talking about
how it was God who got them through those things. These
people have been so oppressed, but they are saying, ‘I am
loved, I am cherished, I have a part to play and I’m going to
continue forward.’ Just watching their audacity to hope in
the midst of such struggle and such corruption is something
I admire and will continue to reflect upon.”
As Ringlaben continues her recovery, she plans to return to
the U.S. by fall. She is using her time in Guatemala to begin
sorting through the lessons she’s learned from the people
with whom she’s grown very close.
“If I have learned anything from the people I have spent time
with this last year, it is that the gospel of Christ gives us
agency to speak life and hope into the circumstances around
us that seek to choke out life: domestic violence, corruption,
injustice, poverty and so on,” Ringlaben says. “In turn, they
have made me ponder the question, ‘How different would
our congregations look if we passionately communicated to
our parishioners that the gospel of Christ gives them agency
to literally change the world?’”
Winter 2014
13
mountaIn man
M.Div. student experiences transformative internship
aLthough m.DIv. SenIor Joe natWICK, 25, SPent
hIS ChILDhooD on the FLat, WInD-SWePt north
DaKota PraIrIe, he FeeLS PartICuLarLy at PeaCe In
the mountaInS. In fact, Natwick says he first felt God’s
call while camping in the mountains with his church youth
group.
“That was when my faith really took hold,” Natwick says of
that trip away from his hometown of Fargo. “I had a youth
director tell me that the same God who created mountains
loved me and knows me by name. I was really immersed in
God’s amazing creation and feeling humbled, but also having
somebody preaching good news to me.”
For the past year, Natwick interned at Messiah Lutheran
Church in Vancouver, Wash., which lies directly across the
river from Portland, Ore. The region, with its rugged, mountainous terrain, offers ample opportunity for Natwick to take
part in the outdoor activities he loves, and has capped what
he calls a truly spectacular year.
“Some of the things about Messiah that attracted me are,
first and foremost, it’s next to mountains,” Natwick says
with a laugh. “Second, the pastors here—Luther grads Peter
and Kathleen Brafbadt—are a couple who have been here
20 years. They have a lot of trust in the congregation and
they’ve been doing a lot of incredible things. This church
started a second site, a satellite congregation, about 10 miles
north of the main site in a spot that’s growing and that has
no Lutheran churches currently. On any given weekend,
we have around 400 people worshipping here, and for the
Northwest, that’s humongous.”
One unique program Natwick has taken part in is something
called Theology on Tap, which brings together groups of up
to 80 people to discuss their faith in a relaxed setting.
“This has been the best year for me in terms of growth, in
terms of theological formation and in terms of vocational
challenge and excitement,” Natwick says. “It’s just been
incredible.”
“Once a month we rent out an entire brewery and we talk
about cool questions,” he says. “My favorite one was titled,
Space Aliens and Jesus Christ. In seminary, I had read a few
things in which a theologian pondered what it would mean
to our faith and our Christian identity if we found out that
there was life on other planets. Even though it’s kind of a
bizarre topic, I’d never heard church people speak so clearly
about some of the most basic tenets of faith, about Christology, about salvation and about original sin. They were these
big Christian topics that really came out clearly in this.”
Natwick says the past 12 months have been a whirlwind,
and he’s had an opportunity to plunge into every facet of
pastoral care.
Although Natwick admits the opportunity to go backpacking
every weekend has been a treasured aspect of his internship,
the best part has been the opportunity to grow in his faith.
“This week, my chief duty has been as a photographer, and
this is the only week I’ve done that,” he says. “It just kind of
happens that way. Things come up and exciting opportunities take place. Far and away the thing I’ve done most is
preached very, very often. I’ve also planned special worship
services, and since I’m a musician, I’ve had tons of opportunities to play my guitar, my trumpet and my mandolin, and
to sing.”
“It’s been such a blessing to me to be part of a congregation
that’s thinking creatively,” he says. “Sometimes in this current season of the church where there have been declines,
there’s wariness about the future. At seminary I lived into
some of that and was starting to think, ‘Oh wow, this is going
to be such a hard job. I don’t know if it’s worth it.’ But then
to come out here reminded me why I love the church. That’s
really the beauty of internships. They get you back into that
place that started it all.”
Natwick says he was drawn to Messiah for a number of
reasons, including the opportunity to be part of a growing
church.
14
Story
To watch a video of Joe Natwick detailing his relationship
with God in the great outdoors of Vancouver, Wash., visit
www.luthersem.edu/admissions.
Photo by Steve Holm
By Kelly O’Hara Dyer, Correspondent
Spring 2014
15
Luther’s
voice in a
growing
conversation
John Klawiter, M.Div. ’12
“a Lt h o u g h m a n y m a I n L I n e
ProteStantS no Longer attenD ChurCh, many StILL IDentIFy themSeLveS aS SPIrItuaL,
But not In any organIzeD Way,”
SayS LoIS maLCoLm, ProFeSSor
oF SyStematIC theoLogy. The
recognized terminology is “spiritual
but not religious,” or “SBNR.”
This mainline decline is not just happening elsewhere—it’s happening in
our own families, in our own circle of
friends and with our loved ones. So
how does the church respond to this
shift?
mid-Winter
Convocation takes on
the SBnr topic
Looking closer to home is the point
of January’s 2015 Mid-Winter Convocation, “Religious but Not Spiritual?”
Spiritual but
Malcolm is a keynote speaker at the event. She’s joined by
Nadia Bolz-Weber, pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints
in Denver; and Nancy Ammerman, professor of sociology of
religion at Boston University who recently published Sacred
Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life.
One of the main questions Convo is asking its participants
is what, in the midst of it all, is God calling Christian public
leaders to learn—and unlearn—from this wave of momentum for SBNR?
“Many people have a deep yearning for some sense of the
larger whole,” Malcolm says. “But they’re not interested in
organized religion. There’s a large atheist movement, but an
even larger category is spiritual but not religious.”
oppressed that comes in Jesus’ name? “We want people
to leave Convocation inspired, with a deeper experiential
naming of how Christ in the Spirit is present among them,”
she says.
The reality of what is happening in our congregations and
communities can be seen in three of the newest ELCA worshipping communities in the Twin Cities. All of them are
headed by Luther Seminary alums.
Malcolm’s illustration of Paul’s ministry is strikingly appropriate for Lydia’s Place, a new start in St. Paul.
Collaborate around passions:
Lydia’s Place, St. Paul
Malcolm hears two main questions being asked about this
group: What does it mean that this category has emerged,
and what does it mean for us, amidst our own congregations, families and networks of friendships? In the same way
that Paul proclaimed the gospel in ways that connected with
people’s deepest yearnings—as in Acts 17—how might we
do the same in our time?
Scott Simmons, ’12, Founding Pastor, Lydia’s Place; Associate
Pastor, St. James Lutheran, Burnsville
Malcolm ponders the implications of this by pointing to
changes that are happening even within Christian communities. “Many even within Christian churches are engaging in
spiritual practices—like yoga—that have roots in other traditions.” Trying to name what is happening with the spiritual
yearnings that people have doesn’t require most people in
the church to look that far. “It’s not just about people out
there,” Malcolm says. “We need to be honest about what
we see taking place in our own families and circles of friends,
and even within our congregations.
Philippi is the thriving trade center of Mesopotamia and it’s
not Jewish or Christian. It is the center of Roman power and
it is diverse. When Paul and Timothy arrive, there aren’t synagogues, so they go to the river where they encounter Lydia.
How is the Holy Spirit calling the church—as an assembly
gathered around Word and sacrament—to proclaim and embody the gospel in this milieu? How is the Spirit of the Lord
calling us—amidst our own families and networks of friendships, where many would identify as SBNR—to proclaim the
liberty to captives, sight to the blind and freedom to the
Lydia of the Bible is a dealer in purple cloth. Perhaps the first
person to fit into the spiritual but not religious category, her
heart is opened to hear Paul, who has traveled to Philippi
with Timothy in Acts 16.
Purple cloth is rare and expensive to produce. Lydia’s clientele is the Roman royalty and princes. “She deals with
the top echelon of society,” Simmons says. “The Holy Spirit
worked in her to hear the word of Paul and Timothy, and her
whole house was baptized. She was a new spirit convert in a
public, non-traditional and male-dominated space.”
Fast-forward to present-day St. Anthony Park. In the area
near University Avenue and Highway 280, mere miles from
Luther Seminary, this once thriving hub of the railroad that
was home to freight depots has seen the dominant industry move out to the suburbs. The old storage warehouses
not religious
Winter 2014
17
Scott Simmons (courtesy photo)
Margaret Kelly (photo by Sitraka Rakotoarivelo)
were left standing, but the rail died and the nature of the
neighborhood changed. An old neighborhood became new.
Simmons, who was seeking a call in the Twin Cities after
graduation, began to look at the neighborhood with mission developer eyes. The first question that came to mind
was, “What is God doing down here?”
This once industrial space was transforming into the domain of artists. It was cheap, unfinished space. Opportunity
lurked. “The artists didn’t want finished spaces; they wanted
to paint,” Simmons says. Being close to both the Minneapolis
and St. Paul downtowns and being in a low-rent district also
made this neighborhood a mecca for nonprofits.
“There are more than 1,000 nonprofits in this zip code within
a mile of Lydia’s place,” Simmons says. “What do they do?
They’re not organized around investor relationships but affecting the common good. This principal is similar to the
very nature of the church. ‘Love your neighbor’ is the key
component.”
Simmons approached St. Paul Area Synod’s director of evangelical mission, Paul Erickson, about engaging in community
support services in this neighborhood and was told to think
on it over the summer following graduation.
What God was doing in this neighborhood was providing a
space for a lot of self-employed and home-based professionals. Simmons had made a career doing exactly that before
coming to seminary.
“When you’re working at home, you’re isolated,” he says.
“Hardly anybody was near me when I was in Colorado working project to project. In fact, I had clients I’d never met in
person.”
18
Story
Kimberly Buffie, right (courtesy photo)
The idea of co-working came up as an option. “I was struggling with this isolation and I feel like this was this culmination of call to ministry for me,” Simmons says. “What if there
is this space for people who have this spiritual yearning that
Sunday isn’t necessarily answering?”
Co-working is about bringing together those workplace professionals into collaboration to do community building and
become sustainable. People in different industries can find
a common bond and common space to float their ideas and
ultimately put those plans into action. “We strive to provide
a holding environment where people can collaborate around
their passions and what God is doing in their lives,” Simmons
says.
“I came to the realization that we should use co-working as a
tool,” he says. “But we’re really called to be a collaborative
community to help people find their vocation and express
it in their everyday lives.”
While these dreams were hatching, Simmons still had the
minor detail of ensuring this new idea for ministry would be
supported by the ELCA.
After some red tape and hoop jumping—as well as divine
intervention—Lydia’s Place officially opened Aug. 1, 2013, as
a synodically authorized worshipping community.
“Why do we see something as spiritual and not religious?”
Simmons asks, adding that at Lydia’s Place the religious isn’t
represented. “Religious points to crosses, altars and inclusion, and going to a certain type of place. Spiritual points to
some sort of relationship with the creator. Lydia’s place is
focused on how God is at work in our lives, in our midst and
beyond our reach. That is the spiritual question. We don’t
look or act like a church.”
At least not most of the time. There is one time when they
do look like a church. “When we worship, we look like it,”
says Simmons. “We bring out the wine.”
Now, with the light rail, the community has made a dramatic
shift from older residents to younger families who are drawn
to this lifestyle. The warehouses are being converted to lofts.
It’s a place for struggling artists. Simmons asks, “What kind
of church can emerge from this milieu of people?”
He may be asking that question specifically for Lydia’s Place,
but with the backdrop of the 2015 Mid-Winter Convocation,
he names the question for each of us.
From Lydia’s Place, head east and you might bump into the
Shobi’s Table food truck in St. Paul, delivering free meals
every Thursday to mostly poor and homeless people.
Converting Lutherans:
Shobi’s table, St. Paul
Pastor Margaret Kelly, ’09, Pastor, Shobi’s Table, St. Paul
Sometimes, the call doesn’t come right away. For Margaret
Kelly, she is thankful for that—even if the waiting wasn’t
what she was hoping for at the time.
“The way my story starts is that God’s time isn’t my time,
and I shake my fist at God for that,” Kelly says. “But it’s always better that it’s that way because I wouldn’t have (my
daughter,) Francis.”
All the pieces came together because of the waiting. “If I had
a call when I wanted a call, I wouldn’t have worked as a social
worker in Ramsey County,” she says. “Besides not having
my family, I wouldn’t have that professional experience to
build relationships and get the credibility to do this ministry.”
What is this ministry that is Shobi’s Table? In short, it’s a
food truck.
Shobi’s Table, named after a passage from 2 Samuel, is a ministry among people in poverty—two areas that Kelly knows
plenty about. She’s also worked as a cook, so the ministry
fit is pretty perfect.
Thursday mornings, Kelly starts at Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church in St. Paul to do the prep work for the free
calzones they will serve. By the end of the morning, the truck
rolls on to Payne Avenue to serve the meal. But Shobi’s Table
is about more than the food.
“The food shelf is good, but Shobi’s Table is seeking to answer
a different question than hunger,” Kelly says. “We get deeper
when we look at community support, loving and caring for
one another. Simply serving your community builds you up
in a way when you need to figure out how to get your next
meal.”
Prayer is one of the main ingredients of the Shobi’s Table
ministry. Yet religion isn’t what this group is serving. “We
don’t make anyone sit through religion to get a meal,” she
says. When the critical mass hits, Kelly starts a service of
reading the Bible, saying prayers and giving a brief message.
Then, anyone who wants to can come together and talk
about what they need to pray for and then they pray. “It’s
about the feeling of being remembered and receiving the
pastoral care that is needed in that moment,” Kelly says.
“Folks are eager to give us the updates—and that’s community. And somebody cares that they stayed sober or out of
trouble or got a place to stay or got to see their kids again.
“I’m not the evangelist. I’m the pastor in praying with each
other, but honestly, the folks who do the work of Shobi’s
Table are so generous, kind and good,” she says. “They bless
people as they come and go and draw people in.”
In order to get the funding to make the food truck ministry
a reality, Kelly gathered the support of traditional churches
in St. Paul that wanted to participate with their neighbors
and not just give charity.
“The supporting congregations want to figure out how we do
this together. Our model is such that we can fund our own
ministry because we can do fundraising at other churches for
their fundraisers (by providing food),”she says. “We’re not
just receiving something for nothing, but offering a service—
we have something that people need. We bring together
food, community and fun—and that feels good.”
When asked if she’s had any converts to Christ, Kelly’s response may surprise some. But it goes hand in hand with the
theme of Mid-Winter Convocation. “What I do find is that
we’re converting the people in the pews—that people are
feeling new energy in being church, being in relationship and
being community. We’re converting Lutherans.”
Kelly says she never wants to have a non-synodical call. “Shobi’s Table should always be supported by the synod because
this is a value that the ELCA holds. We gotta figure out justice
and how to draw people in who aren’t hearing the unique
Spiritual but not religious, continued on page 30
Keeping the faith
M.A. student
sends prayers,
aid to family in
Ebola-stricken
Liberia
How can you help?
Pray for Nushann’s wife, Agnes,
and son, Steven, as well as all
those affected by Ebola.
Donate to the relief efforts.
Tell others how they can help.
20
Story
By Kelly O’Hara Dyer, Correspondent
ON a HOt Day iN EaRLy auGuSt, F. PHiLLiP NuSHaNN
JR. TOOK A SHORT BREAK FROM HIS INTERNSHIP
WORKING WITH REFUGEES THROUGH LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES. He carefully packed a large parcel with
bottles of hand sanitizer, eardrops, ibuprofen and acetaminophen, and then stopped at a local post office to mail the
package to his home in Liberia, hoping that the desperately
needed items would arrive within 10 days.
The U.N. World Food Program is currently delivering supplies
to more than a million people in the affected areas who are
under medical quarantine or receiving treatment. Luther
Seminary has also been involved in sending much-needed
supplies to the region, working with the Rev. John Karmo, ’14,
and the secretary general of the Baptist Churches in Liberia.
Nushann, 35, an M.A. junior at Luther, remains alert to each
new media report from his homeland, currently experiencing the worst outbreak of the virus-borne disease Ebola in
years. Ebola, which has a mortality rate of up to 90 percent,
currently has no cure or effective treatment. In addition to
Liberia, the West African nations of Guinea, Sierra Leone and
Nigeria are also affected.
If his plans had not been interrupted, Nushann would have
returned to Liberia in mid-August to see his family after a
year at Luther. He planned to use his time at home to conduct research for his thesis, which involves working with
rural Liberian communities to identify ways in which the
church can better serve them. (His father, now retired, was
a pastor in rural Liberia for more than 40 years.)
Nushann watches each newscast about the outbreak with
special concern. His wife, Agnes, and 9-year-old son, Steven,
remain in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia and the epicenter
of the recent outbreak. More than 4,100 people in Liberia
have died from Ebola so far, with countless others extremely
ill. Over the past months, the beleaguered government has
taken increasingly strict steps to halt the spread of the contagious disease, including quarantining nearly 50,000 people
in one of the area’s most crowded and impoverished slums.
“On the day I finally postponed my trip, it was really difficult,”
Nushann says. “But I also realized that I have to be strong
while I’m here so that I can help [my family] to be strong.
I have to provide them with guidance. If I don’t compose
myself, it will not help me to do the things I need to do here
now, like get drugs and other things for them.”
Nushann knows that his simple first-aid package won’t protect his family from the Ebola virus, but he says their request
for the supplies points out a largely under-reported facet of
the situation in his country.
“This is really serious right now in Liberia,” Nushann says.
“Usually during this time, we have a lot of sickness, especially
malaria, fever and colds. And the people are having problems because most of the health facilities are closed, so they
can’t even find these first-aid drugs. People have already
started dying from sicknesses that are not Ebola-related. I’ve
sent supplies that can be shared among my family and other
community members, and we can just be praying and asking
God to keep them safe.”
Nushann says another challenge currently confronting residents of Liberia is an even more direct one—food.
Photo by Sitraka Rakotoarivelo
out on a daily basis to find food. [Residents] are being asked
to stay home when their basic necessities are not available,
especially food.”
“The government has instituted some really stringent measures to try to stop the spread of this virus,” Nushann says.
“They have closed a lot of public places, like marketplaces and
schools. In Liberia, the situation is such that we have to go
While he waits and watches the situation develop in Liberia,
Nushann says he is happy right now to be at Luther among
friends, and for the scholarship from the ELCA International
Scholarship Program that has allowed him to study at the
seminary.
“Coming to Luther is something that I really could not believe
happened for me,” Nushann says. “It was unbelievable. It all
happened through the grace of God, and I’m really grateful
for the opportunity.”
Nushann also says that a crisis of the magnitude of the one
happening in West Africa right now has strengthened his
faith, rather than making him question God’s plan.
“Those are some of the things that make God, God, you
know?” he says. “There are things that are hard to understand why they happen. He works according to his own will,
and as I was saying to my son, ‘This is a time for us to trust
that God won’t let us down.’ That was also what I told my
wife. She said, ‘Keep praying for us.’ Even in the midst of this
outbreak, they know that God is able to bring the situation
under control. It has just overwhelmed the capacity of the
government, and we need to ask him to take us through this
situation.”
Winter 2014
21
Scholars and donors gather for Blessings
On April 24, scholarship recipients and donors came together for a celebration of thanks at the annual Blessings
event. This event is an opportunity for all who are part of
the scholarship equation to share a meal and an evening
prayer service.
The event featured messages from Thomas Jolivette, vice
president of seminary relations and executive director of
the Luther Seminary Foundation; Rick Foss, interim president; Jim (’59) and Gloria Thvedt, scholarship donors; and
Neal Cannon, scholarship recipient and M.Div. senior.
To view photos from Blessings, visit www.flickr.com/
photos/lutherseminary. Select Albums, and then choose
2014 Blessings.
Festival of homiletics welcomes faithful
to twin Cities
On May 19-23, more than 1,700 gathered in Minneapolis
for the 22nd annual Festival of Homiletics. The theme for
this year’s Festival was Preaching with Holy Imagination,
which focused on finding new approaches to preaching
fitting for the 21st century.
Speakers included Barbara Brown Taylor, Walter Brueggemann, William Willimon, Michael Curry, Brian McLaren,
Anna Carter Florence, Karoline Lewis, Grace Imathiu,
Yvette Flunder and many others.
Registration is now open for the 2015 Festival. For more
information, visit www.festivalofhomiletics.com.
To view photos from this event, visit www.flickr.com/
photos/lutherseminary. Choose Albums, and then choose
2014 Festival of Homiletics.
rethinking Faith Formation and
rethinking Stewardship
On July 23-25, church leaders and laypeople gathered to
learn how to cultivate in their people a vibrant, distinctive and compelling Christian identity that proves useful
in navigating the challenges of everyday life in a world
of many faiths, cultures and stories at Rethinking Faith
Formation. A few days later, a group gathered to imagine
new ways to celebrate God’s abundance and all that God
has entrusted into the care of humanity at Rethinking
Stewardship.
To view photos from these events, visit www.flickr.com/
photos/lutherseminary. Choose Albums, and then choose
Rethinking Faith Formation or Rethinking Stewardship.
22
Story
Donors honored at Giving Thanks
On Sept. 14, Luther Seminary welcomed donors to celebrate all they do to prepare leaders for Christian communities at Giving Thanks—A Community of Saints. Both
students and faculty talked about the impact of donor
gifts, and expressed excitement for the future. President
Robin Steinke spoke to attendees about her first few
months on campus and gave a seminary update. M.Div.
middler Kristofer Coffman also gave his call story. Donors
worshipped and visited together, and viewed the artwork
of Mark Roberts and James Quentin Young.
To view photos from this event, visit www.flickr.com/
photos/lutherseminary. Choose Albums, and then choose
2014 Giving Thanks.
Celebration of Biblical Preaching inspires
church leaders
From Oct. 6-8, church leaders gathered for the Celebration of Biblical Preaching: Preaching as Divine and Human
Drama. Participants sought to reclaim preaching as the
means by which to invite their people not just to witness
the story but to take up their part in the ongoing drama
of God’s work to love, save and bless the world.
The event’s speakers were Anna Carter Florence, Grace
Imathiu, Clay Schmit and Frank Thomas.
To view photos from this event, visit www.flickr.com/
photos/lutherseminary. Choose Albums, and then choose
2014 Celebration of Biblical Preaching.
Singing the Faith festival welcomes the
St. Olaf Choir
On Oct. 26, Luther Seminary hosted the 27th annual Singing the Faith festival. This festival celebrates the Lutheran
Reformation through a service of hymns and readings.
This year’s festival was titled Singing the Faith: Readings
from Luther’s Catechisms on the Lord’s Prayer, and featured the St. Olaf Choir. The St. Olaf Choir is the premier
choral ensemble of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.
St. Olaf is recognized worldwide for its exceptional music
program.
To view photos from this event, visit www.flickr.com/
photos/lutherseminary. Choose Albums, and then choose
2014 Singing the Faith.
Winter 2014
23
Luther Seminary’s 145th commencement exercises were held on
May 18. During the ceremony, the seminary conferred masters and
doctoral degrees upon the 168 graduating students. The ceremony
was held at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis with Interim
President Rick Foss and Seminary Pastor Laura Thelander presiding. David J. Lose, the now former Marbury E. Anderson Associate
Professor of Biblical Preaching, presented the 2014 Commencement address, and M.Div. student Britta Meier spoke on behalf of
the students.
To view pictures from Commencement, visit www.flickr.com/photos/
lutherseminary. Select Albums, and then choose from any of the
three 2014 Commencement albums.
refer future leaders!
Do you know someone with gifts for ministry? refer them to Luther Seminary!
First theological degrees
• Master of Divinity
• Master of Arts
• Dual Degrees:
Social Work
Marriage and Family Therapy
Distributed Learning options available:
Earn your degree from where you are!
Second theological degrees
• Doctor of Ministry
Congregational Mission and Leadership
Biblical Preaching
• Master of Theology
Dokimazo (dok-im-ad’-zo) | March 22-23
An event at Luther Seminary filled with the sharing
of stories and discernment of the call to Christian
public leadership
For more information, please visit
www.luthersem.edu/admissions or call 800-Luther3.
24
Story
Photos by Mark Hawkins and Steve Holm
Luther Seminary celebrates 145th Commencement
Alum News
’10s
John P. Kremidas, ’13, was re-elected chairman of the executive board of the Greek Bible
Society, a member society of United Bible
Societies.
Johannes Swart, ’10, associate professor of
world mission and evangelism at Pittsburgh
Theological Seminary, passed away suddenly
Sept. 8.
’00s
Matthew Poock, ’08, and Becca Poock, ’06,
welcomed son Simon Aaron on March 12. He
joins Eleanor, 4, and Micah, 2.
Brian Knutson, ’07, retired from his role as
chaplain and pastor on May 1 after 35 years of
service with the United States Air Force.
Christian Marien, ’00, was installed as lead
pastor at Ascension Lutheran Church in
Waukesha, Wis., in June.
Lee Ann Machosky Pomrenke, ’05, and husband Stefan H. M. Pomrenke welcomed a
second daughter into their family. Margareta
“Greta” Florence Pomrenke was born Oct. 1,
joining big sister Viktoria, 4.
Tim Anderson, ’90, wrote “Just a Little Bit
More: The Culture of Excess and the Fate of
the Common Good” (Blue Ocotillo Publishing,
2014). It is a commentary on social inequality
in America and a call to purposeful pursuit of
the common good.
Thomas Nyiwe, ’98, bishop of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Cameroon, died Aug. 8.
’80s
’90s
Eric Berg, ’99, associate professor of philosophy and religion at MacMurray College, was
named the first book review editor of The
Journal of Camus Studies.
Larry Rasmussen, ’65, received the Nautilus
Book Awards 2014 gold prize in the category
of ecology/environment as well as the grand
prize for the best book across all 27 categories
for his book, “Earth-Honoring Faith: Religious
Ethics in a New Key” (Oxford University Press).
Merville Olson, ’64, died June 13 in Billings,
Mont. A celebration of his life was held in Yellowstone National Park in August.
John Hogenson, ’87, started a call as senior
pastor at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in
Minneapolis on Aug. 1.
Norman Borsvold, ’60, died March 10 in Portland, Ore.
Russ Myers, ’03, received the Association of
Professional Chaplains’ 2014 Outstanding Local Leader award.
Ron Lavin, ’60, published “Some Things I’ve
Learned Since I Knew It All,” 11 messages that
point pastors and congregations back to an
unfiltered reliance on the Holy Spirit.
Cordell Strug, ’82, published a memoir of his
parish service in rural Minnesota, titled, “All
Hands Stand By to Repel Boarders: Tales from
Life as a Lutheran Pastor.”
Michele Venable, ’87, died after a brief battle
with cancer on Nov. 8.
’70s
Elroy Haverlah, ’73, published a historical
novel, “Anna’s Journey,” an account of the first
Swedish immigrants to Texas in 1848.
Stephanie Coltvet Erdmann, ’04, and Paul
Erdmann, ’05, became parents to twins Madeline and August in February. Stephanie ac- Tom Holmes, ’79, published a memoir entitled
cepted a call as co-pastor to Edina Community “Forty Days Alone in Thailand; Jesus, the BudLutheran Church in September 2014.
dha, Thai Culture and My Self,” a spiritual
reflection of his 25 years of pastoral experiKari Williamson, ’03, was named a 2014
ence with a multicultural church, as well as
YWCA Woman of Distinction in the category
his many missions trips to Thailand. The book
of faith community for her work as campus
focuses particularly on the 40 days he spent
minister to Minot State University as well
traveling Thailand alone, examining and
as congregational pastor at Hope Lutheran
strengthening his relationship with God and
Church in Surrey, ND.
with self.
Karl Hester, ’01, welcomed son Kai Jakob Hester on Oct. 7.
’60s
Paul Weber, ’70, has published a novel entitled “Con Weber’s Brighton,” which focuses
on the life of his grandfather. The story is
based on his family’s oral tradition passed
down through generations, and examines the
influence of Lutheran immigration and faith
on America’s history.
’50s
Ivan Fagre, ’55, died Oct. 26 in Madison, Wis.,
He was 90.
James Hofrenning, ’53, professor emeritus of
theology at Concordia College in Morehead,
Minn., recently published two books: “Cobbers in WWII,” memoirs from the greatest
generation; and “Easter People in a Good
Friday World,” making wise moral decisions,.
Both were published by Lutheran University
Press.
’40s
Arne Sovik, ’43, died Sept. 16.
’30s
Ed Sovik, ’35, died May 4. A memorial service
was held May 10 in Northfield, Minn.
For more alumni news, visit www.luthersem.edu/alums
Winter 2014
25
Lay School of Theology
Winter
Jan. 26-Feb. 23
Revelation, Faith and the End
Noon-2 p.m. Mondays
Faculty: Eric Barreto, Associate professor of new testament
Corinthians
7-9 p.m. Mondays
Faculty: Sarah Henrich, professor Emeritus of new testament
Lutherans in America: Beyond the
Alphabet Soup
7-9 p.m. Mondays
Faculty: Mark granquist, Associate professor of Church History
www.luthersem.edu/layschool
Spring
March 30-April 27
The Parables: Illustrations of Jesus’ Good
but Strange News
Noon-2 p.m. Mondays
Faculty: Matthew Skinner, Associate professor of new
testament
Come and See: Discipleship According to
the Gospel of John
7-9 p.m. Mondays
Faculty: Karoline Lewis, the Alvin n. rogness Associate
professor of Homiletics
Following Jesus in an Ecological Age
7-9 p.m. Mondays
Faculty: Alan padgett, professor of Systematic theology;
Kathryn Schifferdecker, Associate professor of old testament
Lifelong Learning | 651-641-3416 | [email protected]
Events Calendar
MLK Day
Jan. 19 | olson Campus Center
Join Christena Cleveland, Alika Galloway and David
Preus to reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.
www.luthersem.edu/calendar
the robert William ruotsalainen rutlen
and elizabeth Jane runn rutlen Lecture on
Faith and Creation
“Creation, Sin and Sacrament in the Anthropocene”
april 22 | Luther Seminary
Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor
Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Seminary
www.luthersem.edu/lectures/faithandcreation
26
Story
mid-Winter
Convocation
Dokimazo
Religious but Not Spiritual?
Jan. 28-30 |
Luther Seminary
Speakers: Nancy
Ammerman, Lois Malcolm
and Nadia Bolz-Weber
www.luthersem.edu/convo
march 22-23 |
Luther Seminary
An event for prospective
students to share stories
about their calling to
Christian public leadership.
www.luthersem.edu/
dokimazo
Festival of homiletics
146th Commencement
Preaching from the
Mountain: Heralds of Good
Tidings
may 11-15 | Denver, Colo.
www.festivalofhomiletics.
com
may 16-17 |
Central Lutheran Church,
Minneapolis
www.luthersem.edu/
commencement
Mid-Winter Convocation 2015
Plenary Sessions:
Nancy Ammerman
Principal Investigator,
Spiritual Narratives in
Everyday Life Project
Lois Malcolm
Author, “Holy Spirit:
Creative Power in Our
Lives,” Luther Seminary
Religious but
Not Spiritual?
Nadia Bolz-Weber
Pastor, House for All
Sinners and Saints,
Denver
Jan. 28-30 | St. Paul, Minn.
www.luthersem.edu/convo
Be inspired by God’s Word proclaimed by
some of the nation’s finest preachers and
teachers. Experience the fellowship of
more than a thousand preachers. Come
renew, refresh and recharge your spirit.
23rd Annual
SpeakerS include:
Craig Barnes
Nadia Bolz-Weber
Walter Brueggemann
Anna Carter Florence
Michael Curry
Adam Hamilton
Karoline Lewis
David Lose
Brian McLaren
Sara Miles
Otis Moss III
Richard Ward
Will Willimon
Preaching From
the Mountain:
Heralds of Good Tidings
May 11-15
Denver • www.festivalofhomiletics.com
Winter 2014
27
Faculty and Staff Notes
eric Barreto, assistant professor of New Testament, was the keynote speaker at the SouthCentral Synod of Wisconsin’s fall theological
conference in Lake Geneva, Wis. The talk is
titled “A People for God’s Name: Believing
and Belonging in Luke-Acts.” He served as the
convocation speaker at the Engle Institute of
Preaching at Princeton Theological Seminary.
In addition, he published a book titled, “Reading Theologically” (Fortress, 2014). Barreto
was the keynote speaker at the Northeastern
Minnesota Synod in Cohassett, Minn. The presentations focused on the ethnic diversity of
God’s people and what the church might look
like if we really invite the diversity of people to
enrich and enliven us and our proclamation of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the world.
guillermo hansen, associate professor of systematic theology, was elected to be theological adviser and member of the Lutheran World
Federation study project, “Self-understanding
of the Lutheran Communion.” The first meeting was held in Bossey, Switzerland, where he
gave a presentation on “Church, Culture and
Power: Dialectics in Late Modernity.” He was
elected as a member of the steering committee of the Association of Teaching Theologians.
Hansen was a member of the organizing committee of the 2014 Convocation, which gathered under the theme, Lutheran Pedagogy
for a Global Context. He presented the keynote lecture on Luther’s theology on money
and debt at Pacific Lutheran Theological
Seminary’s Luther Lectures. He contributed
“Money, Religion and Tyranny: God and the
michael J. Chan, ’09, assistant professor of
Demonic in Luther’s Antifragile Theology” to
Old Testament, was selected as one of 17
Wanda Deifelt‘s “Market and Margins” (Minparticipants in the highly competitive Chris- neapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2014).
tian Leadership Initiative (CLI), sponsored by
the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, mary hess, professor of educational leaderin cooperation with the American Jewish
ship and chair of the leadership division, conCommittee.
tributed “A New Culture of Learning: Digital
Storytelling and Faith Formation” to Dialog
terence Fretheim, ’60, emeritus professor of
(Vol. 53, No. 1, Spring 2014); “And the Word
Old Testament, will be a visiting professor of
Went Viral: Finding God at the Intersection of
Old Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary
Scripture and Popular Media” to America (July
in Columbus, Ohio, for the 2014 fall semester. 21-28, 2014); and “A New Culture of Learning:
He gave a lecture at Methodist Theological
What are the Implications for Theological
School in Delaware, Ohio, titled “Divine De- Educators?” to Teaching Theology and Relipendence upon the Creatures for the Care
gion (Vol. 17, No. 3, July 2014). She provided
of Creation.” He was a lecturer at the Biblical
faculty development consultation for Phillips
Preaching Seminar at Lipscomb University in
Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla., WestNashville, Tenn.
ern Seminary in Holland, Mich., and Lutheran
Southern Theological Seminary in Columbia,
mark granquist, associate professor of
N.C.
church history, presented a lecture titled,
“The Scripture Controversy in American Lu- Cameron B.r. howard, assistant professor of
theranism: Infallibility, Inerrancy, Inspiration,” Old Testament, published an article on young
for the Lutheran CORE/NALC Theological
adults and stewardship in the May 2014 isConference in Charleston, S.C. Granquist pre- sue of Presbyterians Today. In conjunction
sented “History and Habits: How Americans
with Michael Chan, she worked with Fortress
Are Religious” to Adult Lutherans Organized
Press to develop the pedagogical enhancefor Action in Trego, Wis.
ments for the Inkling e-book edition of John
J. Collins’ “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,
mary Jane haemig, professor of church his- ” which was released in July. At the annual
tory and director of the Thrivent Reforma- meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature
tion Research Program, attended the North
in November, Howard was recognized as one
American Luther Research Forum in St. Louis. of the 2014 Regional Scholars for the Society
She taught two sessions of adult education at
of Biblical Literature.
Zumbro Lutheran Church in Rochester, Minn.,
and a lay school class at Emmanuel Lutheran
rolf Jacobson, ’91, associate professor of Old
Church in Tacoma, Wash.
Testament, was the keynote speaker at the
ELCA Southeastern Synod’s assembly in Knoxville, Tenn., and was the keynote speaker at
the ELCA Northern-Texas, Northern-Louisiana
Synod fall theological convocation.
andrew Keck, director of library services,
was awarded the 2014 Francis Asbury Award
for fostering United Methodist ministries in
higher education at the Minnesota Annual
Conference of the United Methodist Church.
He spoke about “Developing, Creating, and
Managing Budgets” for the Creating Leaders
of Tomorrow program of the American Theological Library Association.
Craig Koester, ’80, academic dean and Asher
O. and Carrie Nasby Professor of New Testament, published a major commentary on
the book of Revelation for the prestigious
Anchor Yale Bible series titled “Revelation:
A New Translation With Introduction and
Commentary” (Yale). His essay, titled “Theological Complexity and the Characterization of
Nicodemus in the Gospel of John,” appeared
in “Characters and Characterization in John’s
Gospel,” edited by Christopher Skinner (T&T
Clark). He was reappointed for a second year
as Luther Seminary’s interim vice president for
academic affairs and academic dean.
alan Padgett, professor of systematic theology, spoke with Alan Love, director of the
Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota, for a lecture series at
Colonial Church in Edina, Minn., titled “Biblical Faith and Modern Science: Partnership or
Indifference?”
andrew root, Carrie Olson Baalson Associate
Professor of Children, Youth and Family Ministry and director of the Center for Children,
Youth and Family Ministry, has given many
presentations over the last six months at
various locations in the United States as well
as overseas. Among the diverse subjects he
presented were “The Relational Crisis;” “New
Energy, New Metaphor of the Pastor;” “Bonhoeffer and the Theological Turn;” “Identity
and Worship;” and “What is the Theological
Turn in Youth Ministry?” In addition, he published “Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of
the Cross” (Fortress, 2014) and “Bonhoeffer
as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for
Discipleship and Life Together” (Baker, 2014).
Do you want to invite a faculty or staff member to present in your congregation?
visit www.luthersem.edu/resourceguide for up-to-date topic listings and contact information.
28
Story
Faculty and Staff Notes
Matthew Skinner, associate professor of
New Testament, spoke and taught at the
ELCA South Dakota Synod’s rostered leaders’
retreat in Watertown, S.D. He taught the K. J.
Campbell Fall Preaching Workshops at United
Theological College in Montréal. He presented
a paper titled, “Who Speaks for (or against)
Rome? Acts in Relation to Empire,” at the Society of Biblical Literature’s annual meeting in
San Diego, Calif.
Dwight Zscheile, ’08, was promoted to associate professor of congregational mission
and leadership with tenure in spring 2014. He
was keynote speaker for the Spring Leadership Conference of the episcopal diocese of
El Camino Real. Zscheile taught a class in June
about Congregations in the 21st Century at
the Bexley Seabury Western Seminary Federation, where he led the fall board retreat.
FaCuLty PuBLiCatiONS
Eric Barreto will publish a companion volume
to “Reading Theologically,” titled “Thinking
Theologically” (Fortress Press) in January.
Rolf Jacobson, with Nancy Declaisse-Walford
and Beth Tanner, co-authored “The Book
of Psalms” (Eerdmans, 2014), part of the
New International Commentary on the Old
Testament.
Karoline Lewis, The Alvin N. Rogness Chair
of Homiletics, published “John” (Fortress,
2014), part of Fortress’ Biblical Preaching
Commentaries.
Dwight Zscheile published “The Agile Church:
Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age”
(Morehouse, 2014).
KAIROS Courses
www.luthersem.edu/kairos
Take your ministry to the next level with KAIROS!
Continuing education opportunities for pastors, associates in ministry, diaconal ministers and lay leaders
January
April
June
14
20-22 Learning and Living God’s
Story: A Journey through
Scripture
1-3
Webcast: Working Preacher
Lectionary Study Series
28-30 Mid-Winter Convocation—
religious but not Spiritual?
February
27
PrePAre/enriCH
Certification Workshop
March
9-10
16-20
School for Lay Ministry
Foundations of Faith
Community nursing:
Preparation Course
22
May
5-7
11-15
Webcast: Working
Preacher Lectionary
Study—Pentecost through
Ordinary 17
Speaking the Word Freely
Festival of Homiletics—
Preaching From the
Mountain: Heralds of Good
tidings, Denver
Center for Lifelong Learning
651-641-3416 | [email protected]
2
3-6
14-19
Daring Faith™: Show Up, Be
Seen, Live Brave™
narrative Lectionary
Workdays—September
2015 through Christmas:
the Gospel of Mark
Collaboratory: turning
Hair-Brained ideas into
Sustainable Ministries
Mini-MBA for Pastors and
Church Leaders: Leading
and Managing Change in a
Complex environment*
Augsburg College,
Minneapolis
15-Dec. 31
Discerning God’s
Mission: trust-Building and
Collaborative Leadership
for Collective insight
22-24 Storying Faith: teaching
the Bible to Adults
22-25 School for Lay Ministry
Winter 2014
29
Spiritual but not religious, continued from 19
word. I love that there are 105 congregations that have a say
in my ministry and a whole community says this is of value.”
The motto of Shobi’s Table is “the infinitely flexible church.”
It helps to have an infinitely flexible pastor to drive this ministry to the places it needs to be.
Now, head west of the Twin Cities to Montrose, a town
that has never had an ELCA church before—and you’ll find
House of Grace.
Speaking the Language:
House of Grace, Montrose
Kimberly Buffie, ’12, Pastor, House of Grace, Montrose
Montrose, a growing community of 3,000 people, is on the
fringe. Literally. When Buffie proposed starting a worshipping community, it wasn’t clear which Minnesota synod
would claim it.
After much arm wrestling, the Southwest Minnesota Synod
won and Buffie was named the developer.
“Once it was declared, every door was opened,” she says.
“People were on board and this is where God intended for
us to go.”
Since there wasn’t an obvious building to use, House of
Grace asked for space at the Methodist church in town. The
response from the Methodist pastor was, “Thank God you’re
here. Families need you.”
House of Grace started meeting at the church and gathering
in the fellowship space. Knowing that the community had
been without an ELCA voice, Buffie knew that she needed
to target the unchurched and people not familiar with the
language of church.
“I have them generate the conversation through the language
they speak in their daily lives,” she says. “Our worship services (which just began at the end of September) are around
a table, not the pews.”
House of Grace uses the image of the kitchen table in setting up the space. The common meal that the worshipping
community focuses on is the Lord’s Supper. “As we enter the
space, great things happen around the table,” Buffie says. “If
30
StOry
anything is missing in Montrose, it’s a sense of community.
People are finding that community in both the Holy Supper
and the potluck that follows service.”
House of Grace ponders the question: What does it look like
to gather around the table? “We want people to feel that in
church so that they can feel that in their own home and in
their workplace,” Buffie says. “We want it to be an engaged
style of ‘come as you are,’ then when you go into the world,
it doesn’t feel distinctly different and you can carry those
conversations with you.”
Buffie also wants to help the community discover its identity
and purpose. “I meet with the mayor and city council members and I ask them, ‘What are the hopes and dreams? What
are the needs?’” she says. After posting a call to meet with
Montrose residents on Facebook, Buffie met with a woman
skeptical of church. Though a resident of Montrose for 26
years, the woman felt like an outsider. After a cup of coffee
with Buffie, the woman organized a gathering at her home
where others would come and ask Buffie questions.
“We also need something for our kids,” Buffie says. “I imagine
a ministry center developing where people can have a job
interview, come together for encouragement or meet for
classes.”
She sees the purpose of House of Grace as helping Montrose
residents connect first with their community and in the process connect more deeply with one another as well as with
their faith. “To me, this is what Christ did,” says Buffie. “He
went to the people and allowed outsiders in and created a
sense that they too belong.”
What can we do?
Ultimately, this topic comes back to you. The future of the
church is not waiting for a secret antidote to suddenly bring
back the church the way it used to be. “Convocation will be
deeply experiential,” Malcolm says. “The participants are as
much a part of the content as the presentations.
“We have aging communities who are feeling really guilty that
their kids aren’t Christians and that their church isn’t there
for them,” she says. “Instead of focusing on that guilt and
fear, what if we ask ourselves what God is doing in this and,
more importantly, how are we being called to respond? We
have to attend to this seriously as a communal question.”
Supporting leaders for a
changing church and world
A few months ago, Jim and Felicia Lindus spent a week in San Francisco.
As they walked the streets, they saw a number of churches with one
shared characteristic.
“We saw these old churches that were the cornerstones of their
community at one time,” said Jim. “Now, those buildings are largely
historical. They’re surrounded by these big buildings, Starbucks, hustle
and bustle. It’s a different day.”
Lindus graduated from Luther Seminary in 1986, part of the
first class of the merger between Northwestern and
Luther. He is now chair of the Luther Seminary board
of directors and senior pastor of Trinity Lutheran
Church in Freeland, Wash.
“The leaders we’re producing at the seminary are
coming into a church and society that would have
been largely unrecognizable 40 years ago,” he said.
But Lindus believes that, based on the way Luther
Seminary is educating future church leaders, the
church will thrive into the future.
“I think Luther Seminary has recognized that it is
about leadership. Our programs have changed to
focus on faithfulness and leadership, faithfulness to
God in Scripture and focusing on God in the parish,”
he said. “I’m hopeful.”
That hope recently inspired the Linduses to include
Luther Seminary in their will.
“We’ve supported the seminary as we were able,
year after year,” said Jim. “But we believe the final
statement we make in this life should be consistent
with the values and priorities we held dear while we
were here. I think that’s an important statement to
those who come after us.”
Learn more about how you can help
raise up future leaders for a changing
church and world. Contact us today.
The Office of Seminary Relations
Susan Dunlop, 888-358-8437, [email protected]
http://legacy.luthersem.edu
The Linduses have been donors
since 2000 and are members of
the Heritage Society.
Non-Profit Org.
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give to the Sustaining Fund
Your gift to the Sustaining Fund helps Luther Seminary live out its mission to educate leaders for Christian
communities in a number of ways. The stories in this issue are examples of the incredible work being done with
the support of the Sustaining Fund.
Faculty
Faculty like Dwight Zscheile are finding
new and innovative ways to educate.
Page 9
Graduates
Rachel Ringlaben, the recipient of the
2013 Graduate Preaching Fellowship, was
able to fulfill her call to ministry in unique
ways. Page 12
Students
Students like M.Div. senior Joe Natwick
are given the opportunity to pursue
ministry in unique internship sites.
Page 14
to learn more about how you can support future leaders, visit www.luthersem.edu/giving.
Return the enclosed envelope or give online by Dec. 31 and your gift to the Sustaining Fund will be doubled.