Volume 93 Number 1 Fall ; 2010

7301 Germantown Avenue

Philadelphia, PA 19119-1794
www.Ltsp.edu

Have you remembered LTSP in your estate planning?

Alumni off
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Message from the president
Ltsp Convocations/Events What do nearly
fall 2010 ✛ winter/spring 2011 3 million members
have in common?
I USED TO HAVE A REGULAR AND FRIEND- work, business or other disciplines, and stu- Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Tuesday, March 22, 2011
LY ARGUMENT WITH A DEAR FRIEND AND dents do internships in places like Lutheran CONVOCATION HEIN-FRY LECTURE
COLLEAGUE at another seminary who would World Relief or social ministry organizations. 11:30 am
argue that a good theological education from The ELCA also requires the time-honored Teaching Church History in
anywhere will prepare a leader of the church to tradition of internship — an extended period
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Nearly 3 million members
Seminary Curriculum NOLDE LECTURE
serve anywhere. We did agree on one thing: the of learning in a parish context, usually in the Benbow Hall, The Brossman turn to Thrivent Financial for
curriculum needs to be comprehensive and bib- third year of study. As faculty members, we are
lically and theologically sound and include all always impressed with how students have
Center Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Lutherans to help meet their
CONVOCATION
the disciplines that integrate theological learn- grown and matured in their understanding of Sunday, December 5, 2010 Prof. Norma Cook-Everist, financial needs. Thrivent
ing with the practice of ministry. Our friendly ministry through their internships. As intern- ADVENT VESPERS St. John’s Visiting Professor Financial for Lutherans offers
disagreements were over my belief in the ships have become more expensive, new col- 7:30 pm
importance of context, both for the seminary laborative models have developed with institu- Grace Epiphany Church of a wide range of competitive
Saturday, April 9, 2011
and for learning in context, for leaders of the tions and congregations — models that pro- Mt. Airy products and personal service.
church. vide a broad based learning environment and a www.Ltsp.edu/adventvespers Women’s Day of REST,
At the Philadelphia Seminary, we are blessed parish experience. Friends and institutions REFRESHMENT, RENEWAL We are committed to serving
to be situated in the sixth largest metropolitan center of the United have also helped to raise funds for internships like the newly created Tuesday, December 7, 2010 LTSP Campus Lutheran families, communities
States and the second largest metropolitan area on the East Coast, Lee and Dolly Butz internship for the Lehigh Valley to intersect pas- CONVOCATION www.Ltsp.edu/restrefresh
with six million people, a convenient transportation system, and a toral ministry and community economic development. Some of the 11:30 am and congregations.
rich diversity of communities, institutions, and parishes. More than best contexts for learning do not have the funds to make an intern- Teaching Theology in Seminary Tuesday, April 19, 2011
25 percent of the U.S. population lives within a 300-mile radius of the ship possible, making more funding models essential. Alliances and Curriculum FACULTY PANEL: Insights
Benbow Hall, The Brossman
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
region. Our contexts are always changing. They are becoming more collaborations can make it work. from the convocation series
religiously pluralistic, multicultural, urbanized, and diverse. There are When I would argue with my friend, I would point out that Jesus Center Experience the difference.
almost one hundred communities of faith on Germantown Avenue did not just teach in one place, but traveled all around the towns and Tuesday-Wednesday,
cities of Israel, and, ultimately, to Jerusalem, challenging the apostles Tuesday, February 15, 2011 May 3-4, 2011
alone. This means that our theological curriculum needs to adapt to
fit the changing context, especially as many of our congregations need to do the same as they were being equipped for ministry. He would CONVOCATION SPRING CONVOCATION
to be developed or redeveloped to do ministry in their changing envi- point out that the Bible is all about diverse contexts and peoples and Teaching the Practice of Ministry 2011
ronments. It also means that we need to look for the best contextual how the Gospel of God addresses them all. My friend would empha- in Seminary Curriculum
education sites available to provide the best possible practical learning size the classroom with innovative teaching from texts in a world of 11:30 am Tuesday, May 10, 2011
environments. many peoples and religions, and I would argue for integrated learning Benbow Hall, The Brossman CONVOCATION
in rich and diverse contexts. Indeed, both sides of this wonderful con- Center Social Ministry
As you explore this issue, you will learn from Dr. Charles Leonard
and others how we take advantage of our context while preparing versation need to be cultivated. We need excellent teachers in the
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 Friday, May 20, 2011
missional leaders. In Field Education, our first year students are sent classroom, and we have those at LTSP. We also need veteran supervi-
on a rotation to the best possible congregation sites in the metropoli- sors in the field who integrate the learning for our future leaders, and CONVOCATION COMMENCEMENT
Seminary Education: What the Gerald Tancredi
tan area. We discovered that an exposure to a variety of superlative we need places where our future leaders can try out their skills and ChFC, CLU, FIC
sites had great outcomes. The students experience a depth and variety make the mistakes that insure good leadership. Church Expects?
Financial Consultant
of experiences that they bring to their first calls. The second year of As you read this issue of PS, please know how grateful we are for Bishop Roy Riley
2031 N Broad St, Ste 135
Field Education provides the single parish focus that has been our pri- your constant support as preparing leaders well for the church is a Lansdale, PA 19446
Sunday-Thursday
mary practice for decades. Excellence in worship, a missional empha- costly yet worthwhile endeavor. March 13-17, 2011 215-368-4888 office
sis, good stewardship, and Christian education is necessary for any 888-520-9127 toll-free
PREACHING WITH POWER
parish to be considered as a Field Education site. Yours in Christ,
www.Ltsp.edu/preachingwithpower
Not all LTSP students are preparing for Word and Sacrament
Ministry, with students preparing for roles in Christian Education,
Youth Ministry, and other areas. These require different contextual
education locations. Our exciting new Master of Arts in Public Philip D. Krey
Leadership prepares leaders for the intersection of theology and social President
For information and updates go to www.Ltsp.edu or sign
up for @PS, our eNewsletter, at www.Ltsp.edu/enews.
20315PC R1-07 ©2010 Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
ON THE COVER: The Rev. Maritza Torres-Dolich, MDiv ’02, with neighborhood
200700713
children tending the vegetable garden outside of St. Stephen Lutheran
Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Story on page 6.
 EDITOR/DESIGN
Merri L. Brown

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
contents
John Kahler

WRITERS FEATURES ✛ FALL 2010

John Kahler
Mark A. Staples Ministry in Today’s Context ..........................................................6
Alumni offer hopeful messages in trying times.
PHOTOGRAPHY
John Kahler The Muhlenberg Tercentenary ................................................20
Jim Roese Academic Year 2011-2012
EDITORIAL BOARD UTI Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary ..................................22
Merri L. Brown Celebrating an historic educational breakthrough.
Lois La Croix
David D. Grafton
Louise Johnson
John Kahler Page 6
Philip D. Krey
Adam Marles DEPARTMENTS 11 • 2011
J. Paul Rajashekar
17
Message from the President ....................Inside front cover
CORRESPONDENCE
PS, Offerings ....................................................................................................2
The Lutheran Theological Seminary
at Philadelphia, Alumni News ........................................................................................26
7301 Germantown Avenue, Alumni Spring Convocation 2011
Philadelphia, PA 19119
Faculty/Staff News and Notes ..................................................28
Telephone: 215.248.6311 or
1.800.286.4616 Faculty/Staff Activities ................................................................28
Email: communications@Ltsp.edu Passages ................................................................................................32
Visit us online: www.Ltsp.edu
In Memoriam ..................................................................................33

30
PS is a publication of The Lutheran

r
From the Foundation ......................................................................34 th
a

0
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and
is distributed without charge to alumni/ae,
An s
faculty, staff, and friends of the seminary.
See extended videos of many of those interviewed
n i v er
© Copyright 2010

30
Page 20
The Lutheran Theological Seminary for this issue at www.Ltsp.edu/PSinterviews.
at Philadelphia
Volume 93 Number 1 Celebrating our Past...
Centered in the Gospel of Jesus
Building our Future
Christ, The Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Philadelphia seeks to
educate and form public leaders who
are committed to developing and
nurturing individual believers and
1980-
communities of faith for engage- 2010
ment in the world.

Page 22

PS
To make a donation to LTSP, please go to www.Ltsp.edu/give
OFFERINGS✛
LTSP INTRODUCES INTERFAITH STUDIES
CONCENTRATION
Beginning in the fall of 2010, LTSP students are offered a new
MDiv concentration (MAR specialization) in Interfaith Stud-
ies. This is a new addition to existing concentrations in The
Black Church (UTI), Metropolitan/Urban Ministry, Latino,
and Multicultural Ministry/Mission at the MDiv level.
The addition of the Interfaith Studies concentration is in-
tended to highlight the reality of the Christian encounter
with other religious traditions, both past and present, to help
students develop skills for engaging in interfaith relationships
as a form of ministry in a religiously pluralistic North Ameri-
can society, and to foster opportunities for a theologically in-
formed and committed interfaith dialogue.
This new emphasis is in response to requests from students
who want to engage with issues and challenges in doing Chris-
tian ministry in a religiously pluralist society. The events of
9/11 and the continued controversies about Islam in America
also added an urgency to educate public leaders who are
knowledgeable about theological, religious, cultural, and pas-
toral issues that invariably come up in a multi-faith society.
Students will receive a certificate along with their degree by
taking a minimum five course units in the MDiv/MAR cur-
riculum. LTSP offers a wide variety of courses to fulfill this
certificate. Among the courses offered: World Religions,
Christian Encounter with Other Faiths, Theory and Practice
of Interreligious Dialogue, Scriptures of the World: Authority,
Meaning and Public Use, Theology of Religions, Jewish-
Christian Relations, Luther and the Jews, Islam and Christian-
Muslim Relations, Jesus in the Islamic Tradition, Church and
the Holocaust, New Religious Movements in America, and
Christian Engagement with Asian Religions.
LTSP also offers Interfaith Studies as a focus in the STM,
DMin and PhD programs. Prof. J. Paul Rajashekar, Luther D.
Reed Professor of Systematic Theology, directs the Interfaith
Studies concentration.
THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION WITH YOUTH
This past summer, young leaders from across regions 7 and
8 of the ELCA participated in the programs of Theo-
logical Education with Youth (TEY). TEY is a joint
initiative of Philadelphia and Gettysburg Seminaries
that creates spaces of theological exploration and discov-
ery for high school age disciples. For more information on
TEY go to www.theologicaleducationwithyouth.com.
2 PS ✛ FALL 2010
FARMERS MARKET ON THE PLAZA PREACHING WITH
William Allen Plaza on the LTSP campus takes on a different
POWER 2011
look on Tuesdays when the Plaza is home to the Mt. Airy Farm- The 29th annual Preaching
ers Market. The market attracts the seminary and Mt. Airy com- with Power, one of the initia-
munity with products direct from the farm. Market sponsors tives of LTSP’s Urban Theological
include LTSP, Valley Green Bank, Farm to City, and community Institute, is scheduled for March
groups including Weavers Way Coop, Mt. Airy USA, West and 6-10, 2011. Preaching with
East Mt. Airy Neighbors, Mt. Airy Business Association and Mt. Power brings outstanding African
Airy Learning Tree. American preachers to Philadelphia
Valley Green Bank Marketing Director Leslie Seitchik and to celebrate the finest in African American
LTSP President Philip Krey, during a conversation, realized they preaching and scholarship, and this year’s
LTSP THEME FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2010-2011 both had a dream to bring a farmers market to the center of Mt. preachers and scholars include The Rev. Dr.
Theological Education in the Changed Context of the Airy. Seitchik had connected with Farm to City four years ago, William H. Curtis, The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Dr.
Church and Society but didn’t have a suitable space for the market. President Krey Anthea D. Butler, Bishop Vashti McKenzie, The Rev. Dr. Loran
notes, “We have a lovely plaza and have envisioned this plaza to be E. Mann, and The Rev. Dr. Kevin Dudley, speaking and preaching
During the past few decades, theological education has been un-
a public space; a meeting and gathering place for the community. at LTSP and at venues throughout Philadelphia. More informa-
dergoing change. The change is more perceptible with regard to
The Farmers Market is a great way to serve this purpose.” tion and locations: www.Ltsp.edu/preachingwithpower.
the gender, age, and racial/ethnic composition of faculty, staff,
and students. Patterns of seminary attendance, academic schedule, Learn more and watch a short video: www.Ltsp.edu/farmersmarket
and the structure of the curricula are undergoing change. With
the advent of computers, the Internet, and modern technology,
new and creative modes of delivery of education have been devel-
LTSP’S 150TH ANNIVERSARY
oped. Students have exhibited diverse motivations and vocational
One of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg’s dreams, of
aspirations. Degrees have multiplied, theological disciplines have
a seminary in the city of Philadelphia, was
become specialized, and sources of financial support have shifted.
finally realized in 1864 with the
The cost of theological education, dwindling support from de-
founding of The Lutheran Theo-
nominations, debt load of students, pressure to reduce duration
logical Seminary at Philadelphia.
requirements — all have raised serious questions about the qual-
In 2014, the school that at
ity and sustainability of seminary education.
times has been known as Mt.
These changes to some extent reflect societal changes that have
Airy Seminary, Philadel-
impacted the church. The social location of the church and the
phia Seminary, and LTSP
long-standing privileges the culture had extended to Christian
will celebrate its 150th an-
churches have now diminished. The religious landscape of our so-
niversary. The school has
ciety has undergone change. The face of Christianity too has
grown, moved, and
changed due to immigration and migration of people. Mainline
changed over the years, re-
denominations have experienced significant decline in member-
maining strong in its mis-
ship. Denominations and denominational identity have weak-
ened. In short, the ecology of theological education has changed sion and purpose. Plans are
already underway to cele-
and will experience further changes.
brate this grand anniversary of
The theme for the 2010-2011 academic year is focused on cur-
this great school.
ricular implications of the changes underway in theological edu-
cation. A series of presentations during the year are intended to
address some of these critical issues.
Please see the inside back cover for schedule.
www.Ltsp.edu PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 3
OFFERINGS✛
LTSP INTRODUCES INTERFAITH STUDIES
CONCENTRATION
Beginning in the fall of 2010, LTSP students are offered a new
MDiv concentration (MAR specialization) in Interfaith Stud-
ies. This is a new addition to existing concentrations in The
Black Church (UTI), Metropolitan/Urban Ministry, Latino,
and Multicultural Ministry/Mission at the MDiv level.
The addition of the Interfaith Studies concentration is in-
tended to highlight the reality of the Christian encounter
with other religious traditions, both past and present, to help
students develop skills for engaging in interfaith relationships
as a form of ministry in a religiously pluralistic North Ameri-
can society, and to foster opportunities for a theologically in-
formed and committed interfaith dialogue.
This new emphasis is in response to requests from students
who want to engage with issues and challenges in doing Chris-
tian ministry in a religiously pluralist society. The events of
9/11 and the continued controversies about Islam in America
also added an urgency to educate public leaders who are
knowledgeable about theological, religious, cultural, and pas-
toral issues that invariably come up in a multi-faith society.
Students will receive a certificate along with their degree by
taking a minimum five course units in the MDiv/MAR cur-
riculum. LTSP offers a wide variety of courses to fulfill this
certificate. Among the courses offered: World Religions,
Christian Encounter with Other Faiths, Theory and Practice
of Interreligious Dialogue, Scriptures of the World: Authority,
Meaning and Public Use, Theology of Religions, Jewish-
Christian Relations, Luther and the Jews, Islam and Christian-
Muslim Relations, Jesus in the Islamic Tradition, Church and
the Holocaust, New Religious Movements in America, and
Christian Engagement with Asian Religions.
LTSP also offers Interfaith Studies as a focus in the STM,
DMin and PhD programs. Prof. J. Paul Rajashekar, Luther D.
Reed Professor of Systematic Theology, directs the Interfaith
Studies concentration.
THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION WITH YOUTH
This past summer, young leaders from across regions 7 and
8 of the ELCA participated in the programs of Theo-
logical Education with Youth (TEY). TEY is a joint
initiative of Philadelphia and Gettysburg Seminaries
that creates spaces of theological exploration and discov-
ery for high school age disciples. For more information on
TEY go to www.theologicaleducationwithyouth.com.
2 PS ✛ FALL 2010
FARMERS MARKET ON THE PLAZA PREACHING WITH
William Allen Plaza on the LTSP campus takes on a different
POWER 2011
look on Tuesdays when the Plaza is home to the Mt. Airy Farm- The 29th annual Preaching
ers Market. The market attracts the seminary and Mt. Airy com- with Power, one of the initia-
munity with products direct from the farm. Market sponsors tives of LTSP’s Urban Theological
include LTSP, Valley Green Bank, Farm to City, and community Institute, is scheduled for March
groups including Weavers Way Coop, Mt. Airy USA, West and 6-10, 2011. Preaching with
East Mt. Airy Neighbors, Mt. Airy Business Association and Mt. Power brings outstanding African
Airy Learning Tree. American preachers to Philadelphia
Valley Green Bank Marketing Director Leslie Seitchik and to celebrate the finest in African American
LTSP President Philip Krey, during a conversation, realized they preaching and scholarship, and this year’s
LTSP THEME FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2010-2011 both had a dream to bring a farmers market to the center of Mt. preachers and scholars include The Rev. Dr.
Theological Education in the Changed Context of the Airy. Seitchik had connected with Farm to City four years ago, William H. Curtis, The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Dr.
Church and Society but didn’t have a suitable space for the market. President Krey Anthea D. Butler, Bishop Vashti McKenzie, The Rev. Dr. Loran
notes, “We have a lovely plaza and have envisioned this plaza to be E. Mann, and The Rev. Dr. Kevin Dudley, speaking and preaching
During the past few decades, theological education has been un-
a public space; a meeting and gathering place for the community. at LTSP and at venues throughout Philadelphia. More informa-
dergoing change. The change is more perceptible with regard to
The Farmers Market is a great way to serve this purpose.” tion and locations: www.Ltsp.edu/preachingwithpower.
the gender, age, and racial/ethnic composition of faculty, staff,
and students. Patterns of seminary attendance, academic schedule, Learn more and watch a short video: www.Ltsp.edu/farmersmarket
and the structure of the curricula are undergoing change. With
the advent of computers, the Internet, and modern technology,
new and creative modes of delivery of education have been devel-
LTSP’S 150TH ANNIVERSARY
oped. Students have exhibited diverse motivations and vocational
One of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg’s dreams, of
aspirations. Degrees have multiplied, theological disciplines have
a seminary in the city of Philadelphia, was
become specialized, and sources of financial support have shifted.
finally realized in 1864 with the
The cost of theological education, dwindling support from de-
founding of The Lutheran Theo-
nominations, debt load of students, pressure to reduce duration
logical Seminary at Philadelphia.
requirements — all have raised serious questions about the qual-
In 2014, the school that at
ity and sustainability of seminary education.
times has been known as Mt.
These changes to some extent reflect societal changes that have
Airy Seminary, Philadel-
impacted the church. The social location of the church and the
phia Seminary, and LTSP
long-standing privileges the culture had extended to Christian
will celebrate its 150th an-
churches have now diminished. The religious landscape of our so-
niversary. The school has
ciety has undergone change. The face of Christianity too has
grown, moved, and
changed due to immigration and migration of people. Mainline
changed over the years, re-
denominations have experienced significant decline in member-
maining strong in its mis-
ship. Denominations and denominational identity have weak-
ened. In short, the ecology of theological education has changed sion and purpose. Plans are
already underway to cele-
and will experience further changes.
brate this grand anniversary of
The theme for the 2010-2011 academic year is focused on cur-
this great school.
ricular implications of the changes underway in theological edu-
cation. A series of presentations during the year are intended to
address some of these critical issues.
Please see the inside back cover for schedule.
www.Ltsp.edu PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 3

OFFERINGS✛
BUTZ/HUNEKE HONORS AND EVENTS
LTSP’s mission is to raise leaders for the church in the world, and
at the 146th Commencement, The Rev. John Huneke, ’53, pas-
tor of Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Brooklyn, New
York’s Highland Park Section, and Lee A. Butz, chairman of
Alvin H. Butz, Inc., were recognized for their long history of serv-
ice to their respective communities with the honorary Doctor of
Divinity degree. Both leaders began their service in their current
communities in 1973, with Pr. Huneke leading his congregation
for over three decades, and Mr. Butz heading the Butz contracting
business until 2007, when he assumed his current role.
In addition to their commencement honors, both Pr. Huneke
and Mr. Butz were honored at events closer to home. The week
before commencement, on May 13, parishioners and friends of
Pr. Huneke joined him at Reformation Church for an open house
in celebration of the conferral of the Doctor of Divinity, and to
support the establishment of The Rev. Dr. John G. Huneke En-
dowed Scholarship Fund at LTSP, which will benefit students
from the Metropolitan New York Synod of the ELCA who are
preparing to serve the church.
Lee Butz and his wife Dolly were honored at “In the City for
Good,” an Allentown, PA, event recognizing them for their long
commitment to urban areas and his philanthropy throughout the
Lehigh Valley, of which Allentown is a part. Friends, dignitaries
and others from the Lehigh Valley came together to fellowship,
taste a variety of foods from establishments in the Allentown area,
and celebrate the conferral of the Doctor of Divinity on Lee Butz.
Also recognized was the establishment of The Lee and Dolly
Butz Scholarship Fund at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia, which will support Lehigh Valley urban internships
that will develop the specialized leadership skills needed to con-
tribute to the revitalization of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.
Ed Pawlowski, Mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania (left), and Dolly and Lee
Butz at the “In the City for Good” event .
4 PS ✛ FALL 2010
ATSI: A SUCCESS STORY
The Asian Theological Summer Institute (ATSI) conducted its
fourth Institute in June, 2010. Funded by The Henry Luce Foun-
dation, ATSI began as a pilot project to mentor Asian and Asian-
American doctoral students preparing for a teaching vocation. The
success of the project convinced The Henry Luce Foundation to
make a five-year commitment to strengthen this unique program.
The institute brings together selected PhD and ThD candidates
from all across North America for a week-long seminar at LTSP.
Seven prominent Asian and Asian-American professors and schol-
ars are invited as guest faculty to mentor these students as they
prepare their doctoral research proposals. This interdisciplinary
program has received so much attention that students had to be
waitlisted this year for the Institute to be held in June, 2011. The
Institute admits only 20 students each year. In 2010 we had 67
nominations and 34 students formally applied.
The selected candidates came from the following 15 institu-
tions: Boston University, Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian
University, Calvin Theological Seminary, Columbia Theological
Seminary, Drew University, Duke Divinity School, Emory Uni-
versity, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Graduate The-
ological Union, Harvard University, Lutheran School of Theology
at Chicago, North West University in South Africa, Princeton
Theological Seminary, Toronto School of Theology and Vander-
bilt University.
The number of guest faculty was expanded to seven to accom-
modate the increased intake of candidates and the diversity of aca-
demic disciplines represented. The guest faculty included: Dr.
Kwok Pui-lan (Episcopal Divinity School, MA, also the President-
elect of The American Academy of Religion), Dr. Anne Joh (Gar-
rett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, IL), Dr. Eleazar Fernandez
(United Theological Seminary of the Twin cities, MN), Dr. Tat-
www.Ltsp.edu
AND TO THINK SOME
INVESTMENTS ONLY BUILD
YOU R S AV I N G S.
siong Benny Liew (Pacific School of Religion, CA), Dr. R.S. Su-
girtharajah (University of Birmingham, England), Dr. J. Jayakiran
Sebastian (LTSP, PA), and Dr. J. Paul Rajashekar (LTSP, PA).
The Institute also sponsored a public lecture on “Post-Colonial
Biblical Criticism, What Next?” by Prof. R.S. Sugirtharajah of
University of Birmingham. An off-shoot of ATSI is formation of
an Association of Asian Theological Educators in North America.
The Association hopes to develop a network of Asian-American
Theologians and contribute to the development of Asian-Ameri-
can Theology.
The success of these programs is additional evidence of LTSP’s
role in the development of theological education in a pluralist and
multicultural American society.
COMMENCEMENT 2010
Lutheran World Relief President and CEO John Nunes gave the
keynote address to eighty-one degree and certificate recipients
and their families and friends at the 146th Commencement of
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP). The
event was held on the LTSP campus on Friday, May 21, 2010, a
September 30, 2008.
sunny, warm day perfect for a celebration. Honorary Doctor of
Divinity degrees were awarded to The Rev. John Huneke, ’53, Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church, Lisbon, Iowa.
pastor of Reformation Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, New York, How you choose to invest your savings is a reflection of your values. And when
and Allentown, Pennsylvania contracting executive Mr. Lee Butz. you invest with the Mission Investment Fund, you help fund building loans to
Class co-presidents Elizabeth Nees and William Peterson also fledgling ELCA congregations like Seeds of Faith. Not only did Seeds of Faith use
addressed the gathering. an MIF loan to install an environmentally friendly geothermal heating and cooling
A full report of the day, including photo galleries and stream- system in its new building, the congregation’s members actually built much of
their new church building themselves. Just goes to show, sometimes sweat equity
ing media of Commencement day are online: www.Ltsp.edu/
is the best equity of all. To learn more, contact us at 877.886.3522 or elca.org/mif.
commencement2010.
See more about Doctor of Divinity recipients The Rev. John Huneke
and Lee Butz on previous page.
PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 5

OFFERINGS✛
BUTZ/HUNEKE HONORS AND EVENTS
LTSP’s mission is to raise leaders for the church in the world, and
at the 146th Commencement, The Rev. John Huneke, ’53, pas-
tor of Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Brooklyn, New
York’s Highland Park Section, and Lee A. Butz, chairman of
Alvin H. Butz, Inc., were recognized for their long history of serv-
ice to their respective communities with the honorary Doctor of
Divinity degree. Both leaders began their service in their current
communities in 1973, with Pr. Huneke leading his congregation
for over three decades, and Mr. Butz heading the Butz contracting
business until 2007, when he assumed his current role.
In addition to their commencement honors, both Pr. Huneke
and Mr. Butz were honored at events closer to home. The week
before commencement, on May 13, parishioners and friends of
Pr. Huneke joined him at Reformation Church for an open house
in celebration of the conferral of the Doctor of Divinity, and to
support the establishment of The Rev. Dr. John G. Huneke En-
dowed Scholarship Fund at LTSP, which will benefit students
from the Metropolitan New York Synod of the ELCA who are
preparing to serve the church.
Lee Butz and his wife Dolly were honored at “In the City for
Good,” an Allentown, PA, event recognizing them for their long
commitment to urban areas and his philanthropy throughout the
Lehigh Valley, of which Allentown is a part. Friends, dignitaries
and others from the Lehigh Valley came together to fellowship,
taste a variety of foods from establishments in the Allentown area,
and celebrate the conferral of the Doctor of Divinity on Lee Butz.
Also recognized was the establishment of The Lee and Dolly
Butz Scholarship Fund at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia, which will support Lehigh Valley urban internships
that will develop the specialized leadership skills needed to con-
tribute to the revitalization of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.
Ed Pawlowski, Mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania (left), and Dolly and Lee
Butz at the “In the City for Good” event .
4 PS ✛ FALL 2010
ATSI: A SUCCESS STORY
The Asian Theological Summer Institute (ATSI) conducted its
fourth Institute in June, 2010. Funded by The Henry Luce Foun-
dation, ATSI began as a pilot project to mentor Asian and Asian-
American doctoral students preparing for a teaching vocation. The
success of the project convinced The Henry Luce Foundation to
make a five-year commitment to strengthen this unique program.
The institute brings together selected PhD and ThD candidates
from all across North America for a week-long seminar at LTSP.
Seven prominent Asian and Asian-American professors and schol-
ars are invited as guest faculty to mentor these students as they
prepare their doctoral research proposals. This interdisciplinary
program has received so much attention that students had to be
waitlisted this year for the Institute to be held in June, 2011. The
Institute admits only 20 students each year. In 2010 we had 67
nominations and 34 students formally applied.
The selected candidates came from the following 15 institu-
tions: Boston University, Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian
University, Calvin Theological Seminary, Columbia Theological
Seminary, Drew University, Duke Divinity School, Emory Uni-
versity, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Graduate The-
ological Union, Harvard University, Lutheran School of Theology
at Chicago, North West University in South Africa, Princeton
Theological Seminary, Toronto School of Theology and Vander-
bilt University.
The number of guest faculty was expanded to seven to accom-
modate the increased intake of candidates and the diversity of aca-
demic disciplines represented. The guest faculty included: Dr.
Kwok Pui-lan (Episcopal Divinity School, MA, also the President-
elect of The American Academy of Religion), Dr. Anne Joh (Gar-
rett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, IL), Dr. Eleazar Fernandez
(United Theological Seminary of the Twin cities, MN), Dr. Tat-
www.Ltsp.edu
AND TO THINK SOME
INVESTMENTS ONLY BUILD
YOU R S AV I N G S.
siong Benny Liew (Pacific School of Religion, CA), Dr. R.S. Su-
girtharajah (University of Birmingham, England), Dr. J. Jayakiran
Sebastian (LTSP, PA), and Dr. J. Paul Rajashekar (LTSP, PA).
The Institute also sponsored a public lecture on “Post-Colonial
Biblical Criticism, What Next?” by Prof. R.S. Sugirtharajah of
University of Birmingham. An off-shoot of ATSI is formation of
an Association of Asian Theological Educators in North America.
The Association hopes to develop a network of Asian-American
Theologians and contribute to the development of Asian-Ameri-
can Theology.
The success of these programs is additional evidence of LTSP’s
role in the development of theological education in a pluralist and
multicultural American society.
COMMENCEMENT 2010
Lutheran World Relief President and CEO John Nunes gave the
keynote address to eighty-one degree and certificate recipients
and their families and friends at the 146th Commencement of
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP). The
event was held on the LTSP campus on Friday, May 21, 2010, a
September 30, 2008.
sunny, warm day perfect for a celebration. Honorary Doctor of
Divinity degrees were awarded to The Rev. John Huneke, ’53, Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church, Lisbon, Iowa.
pastor of Reformation Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, New York, How you choose to invest your savings is a reflection of your values. And when
and Allentown, Pennsylvania contracting executive Mr. Lee Butz. you invest with the Mission Investment Fund, you help fund building loans to
Class co-presidents Elizabeth Nees and William Peterson also fledgling ELCA congregations like Seeds of Faith. Not only did Seeds of Faith use
addressed the gathering. an MIF loan to install an environmentally friendly geothermal heating and cooling
A full report of the day, including photo galleries and stream- system in its new building, the congregation’s members actually built much of
their new church building themselves. Just goes to show, sometimes sweat equity
ing media of Commencement day are online: www.Ltsp.edu/
is the best equity of all. To learn more, contact us at 877.886.3522 or elca.org/mif.
commencement2010.
See more about Doctor of Divinity recipients The Rev. John Huneke
and Lee Butz on previous page.
PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 5
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT

Ministry in Today’s
The Rev. Mariza Torres-Dolich, MDiv ’02,
ventures onto the playground behind her
church to meet with neighborhood chil-
dren who have come to know her well.
The playground features a community
garden with a variety of growing vegeta-
“I feel we
bles planted by neighbors.
need to be engaged in min-
istry ‘out there’ beyond these
walls of the church...”
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
Alumni offer
hopeful messages
in trying times
HARDSHIP, CONFLICT, AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES are
familiar realities in today’s congregational “contexts.” These reali-
ties are hardly new, as seen in the translations of Lutheran Patri-
arch Henry Melchior Muhlenberg’s letters from the 1750s by
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia’s (LTSP)
Professor Timothy Wengert. But these realities nonetheless cre-
ate deep challenges for today’s church professional leaders and
those they care about.
Do congregations focus more on preservation or mission? Do
they replace the roof, add a coat of paint? Or do they instead do
patchwork maintenance as they stretch themselves to serve peo-
ple in need in new ways? The choices facing today’s congrega-
tions can be wrenching, and they can also lead to new-found life
in Jesus Christ.
PS magazine staff took a summertime journey to congrega-
tions and a college chaplaincy led by LTSP alumni in rural, sub-
urban, and urban settings to hear their perspectives. Interviews
with alumni revealed gratitude for the seminary training they re-
ceived in Bible, theology, and more practical matters, helping
them to think “out of the box.” This story and others on these
pages will afford faith-filled glimpses into what we found.
“Generation Xers don’t have the same spiritual priorities as
those of us who are older have for the church,” reflected The Rev.
Keith Rohrbach, MDiv ’84, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in
Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He also leads a campus ministry initia-
tive at Kutztown University, just blocks from the church, and so
he rubs elbows every week with college believers and non-believ-
ers alike. “Younger people are more concerned about serving
people beyond the walls of a church building than caring for the
building itself.” He speculates this perspective could lead to a dif-
ferent looking church decades from now.
Rohrbach, a 1984 LTSP graduate who recently returned from
a youth mission trip to Pittsburgh, gets excited when he thinks
about how once reluctant youth were transformed by a project to
fix-up the homes of older people without the resources to make
such repairs. But most of all he likes to talk about potatoes.

PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 7

MINISTRY IN CONTEXT

Ministry in Today’s
The Rev. Mariza Torres-Dolich, MDiv ’02,
ventures onto the playground behind her
church to meet with neighborhood chil-
dren who have come to know her well.
The playground features a community
garden with a variety of growing vegeta-
“I feel we
bles planted by neighbors.
need to be engaged in min-
istry ‘out there’ beyond these
walls of the church...”
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
Alumni offer
hopeful messages
in trying times
HARDSHIP, CONFLICT, AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES are
familiar realities in today’s congregational “contexts.” These reali-
ties are hardly new, as seen in the translations of Lutheran Patri-
arch Henry Melchior Muhlenberg’s letters from the 1750s by
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia’s (LTSP)
Professor Timothy Wengert. But these realities nonetheless cre-
ate deep challenges for today’s church professional leaders and
those they care about.
Do congregations focus more on preservation or mission? Do
they replace the roof, add a coat of paint? Or do they instead do
patchwork maintenance as they stretch themselves to serve peo-
ple in need in new ways? The choices facing today’s congrega-
tions can be wrenching, and they can also lead to new-found life
in Jesus Christ.
PS magazine staff took a summertime journey to congrega-
tions and a college chaplaincy led by LTSP alumni in rural, sub-
urban, and urban settings to hear their perspectives. Interviews
with alumni revealed gratitude for the seminary training they re-
ceived in Bible, theology, and more practical matters, helping
them to think “out of the box.” This story and others on these
pages will afford faith-filled glimpses into what we found.
“Generation Xers don’t have the same spiritual priorities as
those of us who are older have for the church,” reflected The Rev.
Keith Rohrbach, MDiv ’84, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in
Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He also leads a campus ministry initia-
tive at Kutztown University, just blocks from the church, and so
he rubs elbows every week with college believers and non-believ-
ers alike. “Younger people are more concerned about serving
people beyond the walls of a church building than caring for the
building itself.” He speculates this perspective could lead to a dif-
ferent looking church decades from now.
Rohrbach, a 1984 LTSP graduate who recently returned from
a youth mission trip to Pittsburgh, gets excited when he thinks
about how once reluctant youth were transformed by a project to
fix-up the homes of older people without the resources to make
such repairs. But most of all he likes to talk about potatoes.

PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 7

MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
The Rev. Kim Cottingham, MDiv ’03, with
a Vacation Bible School class of energetic
children, featuring Bible lessons, lively
music and water balloon tosses. Cotting-
ham’s parishioners do not fear doing min-
istry beyond the church doors. She
has
started an expanding campus
ministry initiative by regularly
biking over to Hudson Valley
Community College...
When we met with him he had just fin-
ished harvesting and bagging a bunch of
potatoes.
Trinity has parishioners without jobs.
Moreover, Kutztown University has had
to make employment cuts. So the com-
munity has its share of individuals who
are hurting economically. And many are
hungry.
“Last year we had a couple in the
church who told us they had an acre of
land behind the house that was just sit-
ting there. Why not do something with
it?” Rohrbach said. The idea that emerged
was “The Potato Project.” The congrega-
tion planted 7,000 potatoes during the
2009 growing season and harvested
70,000. They gave the spuds to food
pantries and shelters in the area. This
year, Rohrbach explained, someone else
in the community donated another five
acres to the project. The estimated potato
yield this year will be 430,000. “I can’t be-
lieve all that has happened,” Rohrbach
said. “This year the project has turned ec-
umenical. We have churches from all over
the region doing their share to tend the
harvest, and we tell them that they can
take the potatoes they pick back home
and distribute them to folks in need in
their own communities. I think that is
part of the challenge for today’s church
— finding ways to keep people — espe-
cially youth — excited about ministry
and making a difference. It calls for
churches to partner together across de-
nominational lines in new ways. Some-
times that means deciding to be leading
with ideas others have, and it can change
the church and change people’s lives.”
In Easton, Pennsylvania, Pastor Sue
Ruggles, MDiv ’02, became pastor of St.
John Lutheran Church, a downtown con-
gregation where another LTSP alumnus,
www.Ltsp.edu
The Rev. Keith Rohrbach The Rev. Sue Ruggles
The Rev. John Steinbruck, long ago
founded ProJeCt, an ecumenical feeding
and pantry initiative. Ruggles knows Eas-
ton well, having graduated from Lafayette
College, where her husband, Roger, teaches
civil engineering. Pastor Ruggles said
many would-be members of the church
find it uncomfortable to go to church in
an urban setting that feels less safe to
them. ProJeCt is still going strong, but
what changed Pastor Sue’s life and min-
“We have churches from all over
the region doing their share to
tend the harvest, and we tell them
that they can take the potatoes
they pick back home and distribute
them to folks in need in their own
communities.”
— Pastor Keith Rohrbach
istry was “that persistent knocking” on
the church door soon after her installa-
tion.
“I found myself greeting ex-offenders
who had been released from the
Northampton County Prison just up the
street,” she said. “They wanted some food
or clothing, or perhaps a bus ticket home
to Berks County.” Ruggles was able to
fund or find what they needed, but the
encounters started her thinking. “What if
I took some time each week to visit in-
mates?” She started visiting male inmates
each Thursday afternoon, involving them
in conversations and Bible classes. “Many
prisoners have listened to words of judg-
ment about what they have done, includ-
ing from other Christians who visit
them,” Ruggles said. Her classes focus in-
stead on the theme “Making a Better
PS ✛ FALL 2010
The Rev. Richard Yost
You.” “We’re taught to feed the hungry,
clothe the orphan, and visit prisoners,”
Ruggles said of her faith and seminary
background. “When I talk to the men, I
ask them about what is missing in their
lives. How can we work together to build
their self-esteem? God forgives you. Can
you then forgive yourself ? What is it that
God wants you to do now and in the fu-
ture with your life?” It is an encouraging
Word she delivers. She hopes to persuade
other parishioners to join her. “But it is
daunting,” she admitted. “It is hard to go
through those five sets of locked doors to
do these visits. I also tell people at St. John
not to focus on the numbers when they
get discouraged. Numbers are not the
only measure of success in ministry.”
In Clay, New York, The Rev. Richard
Yost, MDiv ’05, a one-time Verizon exec-
utive, serves Immanuel Lutheran Church
in a rural suburb of Syracuse. He said
both seminary teaching and life in corpo-
rate management have assisted him in
working with people in the church. A
2005 graduate of LTSP, the 59-year-old
Yost finds himself serving a church about
20 minutes away from Camillus, the com-
munity he knew as a child. “Immanuel is
really doing pretty well in these times,” he
said. The church has known steady
growth with parishioners who have cus-
tomarily given more to the church each
year during his five years of service. It is
the kind of place where the pastor will go
to his car and find gift vegetables on the
seat, “planted” there by generous church-
goers with busy gardens. Joblessness is not
a major current concern. People routinely
drive 20 to 30 miles to come to Sunday
worship.
Ministry with older people is one pri-
ority in Clay, Yost said. What once was an
informal luncheon of 15 folks at the
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
church the second Wednesday of the
month now involves 70 or 80 people
from around the community — and a
featured speaker. Immanuel is also part of
an ecumenical outreach to military per-
sonnel arriving at and departing from the
Syracuse Airport. A number of Immanuel
members help out distributing food and
snacks and conversing with soldiers either
facing uncertainty in places like
Afghanistan and Iraq or rejoicing about
returning home.
In Allentown, Pennsylvania, LTSP
alumna The Rev. Maritza Torres-
Dolich, MDiv ’02, acknowledges that
she and older members find it difficult to
maintain a significant physical plant in an
increasingly multicultural setting just
west of downtown. Funerals of aging
parishioners are a regular occurrence, but
Pastor Maritza said the congregation has
“It is hard to go through those five
sets of locked [prison] doors to do
these visits. I also tell people at
St. John not to focus on the
numbers when they get discour-
aged. Numbers are not the only
measure of success in ministry.”
— Pastor Sue Ruggles
a positive spirit. “They encourage me to
engage us in ministry that I think can
make a difference,” she said. “That can be
risky, but they say, let’s try it and see what
happens.” On many mornings Pastor
Maritza ventures onto the playground be-
hind the church to meet and chat with
neighborhood children who have come
to know her well. The playground also
features a community garden with a vari-
www.Ltsp.edu 9
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
The Rev. Kim Cottingham, MDiv ’03, with
a Vacation Bible School class of energetic
children, featuring Bible lessons, lively
music and water balloon tosses. Cotting-
ham’s parishioners do not fear doing min-
istry beyond the church doors. She
has
started an expanding campus
ministry initiative by regularly
biking over to Hudson Valley
Community College...
When we met with him he had just fin-
ished harvesting and bagging a bunch of
potatoes.
Trinity has parishioners without jobs.
Moreover, Kutztown University has had
to make employment cuts. So the com-
munity has its share of individuals who
are hurting economically. And many are
hungry.
“Last year we had a couple in the
church who told us they had an acre of
land behind the house that was just sit-
ting there. Why not do something with
it?” Rohrbach said. The idea that emerged
was “The Potato Project.” The congrega-
tion planted 7,000 potatoes during the
2009 growing season and harvested
70,000. They gave the spuds to food
pantries and shelters in the area. This
year, Rohrbach explained, someone else
in the community donated another five
acres to the project. The estimated potato
yield this year will be 430,000. “I can’t be-
lieve all that has happened,” Rohrbach
said. “This year the project has turned ec-
umenical. We have churches from all over
the region doing their share to tend the
harvest, and we tell them that they can
take the potatoes they pick back home
and distribute them to folks in need in
their own communities. I think that is
part of the challenge for today’s church
— finding ways to keep people — espe-
cially youth — excited about ministry
and making a difference. It calls for
churches to partner together across de-
nominational lines in new ways. Some-
times that means deciding to be leading
with ideas others have, and it can change
the church and change people’s lives.”
In Easton, Pennsylvania, Pastor Sue
Ruggles, MDiv ’02, became pastor of St.
John Lutheran Church, a downtown con-
gregation where another LTSP alumnus,
www.Ltsp.edu
The Rev. Keith Rohrbach The Rev. Sue Ruggles
The Rev. John Steinbruck, long ago
founded ProJeCt, an ecumenical feeding
and pantry initiative. Ruggles knows Eas-
ton well, having graduated from Lafayette
College, where her husband, Roger, teaches
civil engineering. Pastor Ruggles said
many would-be members of the church
find it uncomfortable to go to church in
an urban setting that feels less safe to
them. ProJeCt is still going strong, but
what changed Pastor Sue’s life and min-
“We have churches from all over
the region doing their share to
tend the harvest, and we tell them
that they can take the potatoes
they pick back home and distribute
them to folks in need in their own
communities.”
— Pastor Keith Rohrbach
istry was “that persistent knocking” on
the church door soon after her installa-
tion.
“I found myself greeting ex-offenders
who had been released from the
Northampton County Prison just up the
street,” she said. “They wanted some food
or clothing, or perhaps a bus ticket home
to Berks County.” Ruggles was able to
fund or find what they needed, but the
encounters started her thinking. “What if
I took some time each week to visit in-
mates?” She started visiting male inmates
each Thursday afternoon, involving them
in conversations and Bible classes. “Many
prisoners have listened to words of judg-
ment about what they have done, includ-
ing from other Christians who visit
them,” Ruggles said. Her classes focus in-
stead on the theme “Making a Better
PS ✛ FALL 2010
The Rev. Richard Yost
You.” “We’re taught to feed the hungry,
clothe the orphan, and visit prisoners,”
Ruggles said of her faith and seminary
background. “When I talk to the men, I
ask them about what is missing in their
lives. How can we work together to build
their self-esteem? God forgives you. Can
you then forgive yourself ? What is it that
God wants you to do now and in the fu-
ture with your life?” It is an encouraging
Word she delivers. She hopes to persuade
other parishioners to join her. “But it is
daunting,” she admitted. “It is hard to go
through those five sets of locked doors to
do these visits. I also tell people at St. John
not to focus on the numbers when they
get discouraged. Numbers are not the
only measure of success in ministry.”
In Clay, New York, The Rev. Richard
Yost, MDiv ’05, a one-time Verizon exec-
utive, serves Immanuel Lutheran Church
in a rural suburb of Syracuse. He said
both seminary teaching and life in corpo-
rate management have assisted him in
working with people in the church. A
2005 graduate of LTSP, the 59-year-old
Yost finds himself serving a church about
20 minutes away from Camillus, the com-
munity he knew as a child. “Immanuel is
really doing pretty well in these times,” he
said. The church has known steady
growth with parishioners who have cus-
tomarily given more to the church each
year during his five years of service. It is
the kind of place where the pastor will go
to his car and find gift vegetables on the
seat, “planted” there by generous church-
goers with busy gardens. Joblessness is not
a major current concern. People routinely
drive 20 to 30 miles to come to Sunday
worship.
Ministry with older people is one pri-
ority in Clay, Yost said. What once was an
informal luncheon of 15 folks at the
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
church the second Wednesday of the
month now involves 70 or 80 people
from around the community — and a
featured speaker. Immanuel is also part of
an ecumenical outreach to military per-
sonnel arriving at and departing from the
Syracuse Airport. A number of Immanuel
members help out distributing food and
snacks and conversing with soldiers either
facing uncertainty in places like
Afghanistan and Iraq or rejoicing about
returning home.
In Allentown, Pennsylvania, LTSP
alumna The Rev. Maritza Torres-
Dolich, MDiv ’02, acknowledges that
she and older members find it difficult to
maintain a significant physical plant in an
increasingly multicultural setting just
west of downtown. Funerals of aging
parishioners are a regular occurrence, but
Pastor Maritza said the congregation has
“It is hard to go through those five
sets of locked [prison] doors to do
these visits. I also tell people at
St. John not to focus on the
numbers when they get discour-
aged. Numbers are not the only
measure of success in ministry.”
— Pastor Sue Ruggles
a positive spirit. “They encourage me to
engage us in ministry that I think can
make a difference,” she said. “That can be
risky, but they say, let’s try it and see what
happens.” On many mornings Pastor
Maritza ventures onto the playground be-
hind the church to meet and chat with
neighborhood children who have come
to know her well. The playground also
features a community garden with a vari-
www.Ltsp.edu 9
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
ety of growing vegetables planted by
neighbors. “I feel we need to be engaged
in ministry ‘out there’ beyond these walls
of the church,” she said. The children have
grown to depend on her visits and those
of volunteers from other congregations in
a program now called “Playground in the
Park.” Sometimes she shares cookies and
beverages with the children. During our
interview comes a knock on the door. Bri-
anna, a neighborhood 10-year-old, has
come to inquire about piano lessons at
the church. Word has gotten around that
the church offers lessons. Pastor Maritza
assures her it can happen. Brianna is ex-
cited. Funds for such lessons come from
the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund. Pastor
Maritza said if she gets stuck in the office
on playground days the children will
“knock on my door” to see where she is.
And through her conversations with
youngsters, some of them about God,
Pastor Maritza is getting to know “a lot of
people.” Pastor Maritza calls The Rev. Dr.
Nelson Rivera, associate professor of Sys-
tematic Theology at LTSP, a true mentor.
“LTSP turned my life upside down,”
she said. “My preconceptions were blown
apart. I learned from Professor (Timothy)
Wengert in a class on Lutheran Confes-
sions that you have absolutely nothing to
do with God’s love for you. That love is
totally unconditional and it can’t be taken
back no matter what you do.” It is a mes-
sage she conveys to children and adults
alike in myriad ways to help them feel better
about themselves in an uncertain world.
At St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church in
North Greenbush, New York, Pastor
Kim Cottingham, MDiv ’03, whose first
career was in the military, is busy with a
Vacation Bible School class of energetic
children, featuring Bible lessons, lively
music, and water balloon tosses. Cotting-
10 PS ✛ FALL 2010
“Immanuel is part of an ecumeni-
cal outreach to military personnel
... a number of Immanuel members
help out distributing food and
snacks and conversing with sol-
diers either facing uncertainty in
places like Afghanistan and Iraq or
rejoicing about returning home.”
— Pastor Richard Yost
ham was influenced by her father and also
her late uncle and mentor, The Rev.
Henry Dierk, who decades ago was a
Caribbean Synod Bishop for the former
Lutheran Church in America. As an Air
Force master sergeant once involved in
launching satellites at Vandenberg AFB,
Cottingham began to discern her call
when she found herself caring less about
the mission at hand than for the welfare
of military colleagues. She recalled the
first night she began to wrestle with other
students at LTSP over the frightening
prospect of learning Hebrew, and the ad-
vice of Old Testament Professor Dr.
Robert B. Robinson: “Don’t overload.
Relax. Find a balance between study,
work, and life with colleagues.” She said
the advice has stood the test of time.
St. Timothy’s was born because of a
mission startup dream some 52 years ago.
St. Paul Lutheran Church in neighboring
Rensselaer wanted to sponsor a new
church and did. Ironically, St. Paul re-
cently closed and the mission survived.
Former St. Paul members worship at St.
Timothy today. The St. Paul building is
now a homeless shelter for women and
children that is bulging at the seams and
has a waiting list. Cottingham said eco-
nomic conditions are better in North
Greenbush than in neighboring commu-
nities, and the church supports a food
pantry and feeding program in partner-
ship with an Episcopal congregation in
Rensselaer, where many St. Timothy wor-
shippers once went to church.
St. Timothy’s has a modest church fa-
cility, and Cottingham finds her parish-
ioners do not fear doing ministry beyond
the church doors. She has started an ex-
panding campus ministry initiative by
regularly biking over to Hudson Valley
Community College where she “hangs
out” in the student union. “I bring some-
thing to eat and some reading material,”
she said. Some students starting out at the
college have known her through an area
camping ministry and “need some sup-
port to get through the transition,” she
said. Through them she meets others.
When the subject of religion comes up,
sometimes involving students from fun-
damentalist backgrounds, she said she
starts the discussion by saying, “This is
what is true for me. What is true for
you?” Lively debates ensue. With some
students the conversation turns to the
needs of people around the campus and
what might be done to serve others, a
topic that also frequently comes up at St.
Timothy’s. Cottingham also serves as an
EMT and chaplain for local firefighters.
Her military background fuels that interest.
The Rev. Peter Bredlau, MDiv ’96,
Muhlenberg College chaplain the past 14
years, hails from Wisconsin and found his
faith being formed by a Lutheran summer
camp experience there. After college near
home, he took jobs in Western New York
and at a publishing company in Philadel-
phia. Looking for a different experience,
he one day found himself in the office of
The Rev. George Keck, LTSP’s admis-
sions director at the time. “I couldn’t ex-
plain to him why I was there, but we
engaged in an amazing conversation,” he
www.Ltsp.edu
recalled. And soon he was in seminary.
Bredlau still does not consider his call to
have been a lightning strike experience. “I
take it one day at a time, and it seems to
work,” he smiled. “When college students
tell me they are uncertain about what to
do, what is ahead, I share my story as a
pastor, and it seems to help them to know
someone older personally understands
what they are going through. It makes
sense today. I don’t have it all figured out,
and it is not terrifying. Vocation does not
have a terminus. It is a conversation you
need to engage in throughout life.” He re-
members seminary teachers fondly, some
of them seeming then to be academic
icons. “It is great to know some of them
now as people — President Phil Krey and
Dean (Paul) Rajashekar for example.”
Some of his best seminary memories are
of working with facilities personnel,
doing chores like shoveling snow on the
campus. He mentioned lots of faculty and
staff names and said simply, “Mostly I am
just grateful to LTSP for allowing me to
be there. I was struggling mightily with
my life, always asking, ‘Why am I here?’”
These days Bredlau enjoys engaging
students — like the young man, now an
attorney, who still stays in touch with him
years after walking into the chaplain’s of-
fice needing to talk. The subject turned
to many questions over many meetings —
questions about God and faith.
Lutherans today make up a compara-
tively small percentage of Muhlenberg’s
student body, but students engaging with
Chaplain Bredlau, including a class in
which he deals with the theme “So What
Do You Want to Be?”, learn a lot about
the difference Reformer Martin Luther
makes in their lives today. He teaches
about Luther’s writings. “I tell them that
Martin Luther was a major figure in our
PS ✛ FALL 2010
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
collective history who was a proponent of
education and co-education. I tell them
that if you value critical thinking and the
opportunity to challenge authority when
authority is wrong, you have Martin
Luther to thank for encouraging those
values. I tell them that the idea of won-
dering about what to do with your life is
not new, and that Luther’s ‘spin’ on Scrip-
ture basically empowers them to do what
they want to do. People come here with
the notion that they’ve got to make
money, and they sometimes have anxi-
eties because they feel pressures to go this
way or that way or do what others expect
of them. Luther tells us you can be what
you want, and you can figure out a direc-
tion in life based on what you already
have within you, and that what you have The Rev. Peter Bredlau, MDiv ’96, does
in you is enough. No matter what you
not consider his call to have been a light-
choose to do, that is enough and you are
enough because you have gifts from God, “I take it
ning strike experience.
and those gifts are enough.” one day at a time, and it
In speaking of the present and future
seems to work ... When college
church, in a congregational setting or oth-
erwise, Bredlau believes Luther’s under- students tell me they are uncertain
standing of vocation is a truly profound about what to do, what is ahead, I share
and unique legacy Lutherans need to cele-
my story as a pastor, and it seems to
brate and espouse if they are to remain on
the road to relevance for today’s and to- help them to know someone older per-
morrow’s believers and non-believers sonally understands what they are going
alike. “It is a source of Good News central
through.”
to what God wants for us.”
His message to the church is basically
the same one he delivers to students. “We
need to understand what we are and who
we are, look at our reality and not try to
be something we aren’t,” Bredlau said.
“What we have to say about vocation is a
relevant core message that sets Lutherans
apart from everyone else.”✛
View extended interviews at Ltsp.edu/
PSinterviews.
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
ety of growing vegetables planted by
neighbors. “I feel we need to be engaged
in ministry ‘out there’ beyond these walls
of the church,” she said. The children have
grown to depend on her visits and those
of volunteers from other congregations in
a program now called “Playground in the
Park.” Sometimes she shares cookies and
beverages with the children. During our
interview comes a knock on the door. Bri-
anna, a neighborhood 10-year-old, has
come to inquire about piano lessons at
the church. Word has gotten around that
the church offers lessons. Pastor Maritza
assures her it can happen. Brianna is ex-
cited. Funds for such lessons come from
the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund. Pastor
Maritza said if she gets stuck in the office
on playground days the children will
“knock on my door” to see where she is.
And through her conversations with
youngsters, some of them about God,
Pastor Maritza is getting to know “a lot of
people.” Pastor Maritza calls The Rev. Dr.
Nelson Rivera, associate professor of Sys-
tematic Theology at LTSP, a true mentor.
“LTSP turned my life upside down,”
she said. “My preconceptions were blown
apart. I learned from Professor (Timothy)
Wengert in a class on Lutheran Confes-
sions that you have absolutely nothing to
do with God’s love for you. That love is
totally unconditional and it can’t be taken
back no matter what you do.” It is a mes-
sage she conveys to children and adults
alike in myriad ways to help them feel better
about themselves in an uncertain world.
At St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church in
North Greenbush, New York, Pastor
Kim Cottingham, MDiv ’03, whose first
career was in the military, is busy with a
Vacation Bible School class of energetic
children, featuring Bible lessons, lively
music, and water balloon tosses. Cotting-
10 PS ✛ FALL 2010
“Immanuel is part of an ecumeni-
cal outreach to military personnel
... a number of Immanuel members
help out distributing food and
snacks and conversing with sol-
diers either facing uncertainty in
places like Afghanistan and Iraq or
rejoicing about returning home.”
— Pastor Richard Yost
ham was influenced by her father and also
her late uncle and mentor, The Rev.
Henry Dierk, who decades ago was a
Caribbean Synod Bishop for the former
Lutheran Church in America. As an Air
Force master sergeant once involved in
launching satellites at Vandenberg AFB,
Cottingham began to discern her call
when she found herself caring less about
the mission at hand than for the welfare
of military colleagues. She recalled the
first night she began to wrestle with other
students at LTSP over the frightening
prospect of learning Hebrew, and the ad-
vice of Old Testament Professor Dr.
Robert B. Robinson: “Don’t overload.
Relax. Find a balance between study,
work, and life with colleagues.” She said
the advice has stood the test of time.
St. Timothy’s was born because of a
mission startup dream some 52 years ago.
St. Paul Lutheran Church in neighboring
Rensselaer wanted to sponsor a new
church and did. Ironically, St. Paul re-
cently closed and the mission survived.
Former St. Paul members worship at St.
Timothy today. The St. Paul building is
now a homeless shelter for women and
children that is bulging at the seams and
has a waiting list. Cottingham said eco-
nomic conditions are better in North
Greenbush than in neighboring commu-
nities, and the church supports a food
pantry and feeding program in partner-
ship with an Episcopal congregation in
Rensselaer, where many St. Timothy wor-
shippers once went to church.
St. Timothy’s has a modest church fa-
cility, and Cottingham finds her parish-
ioners do not fear doing ministry beyond
the church doors. She has started an ex-
panding campus ministry initiative by
regularly biking over to Hudson Valley
Community College where she “hangs
out” in the student union. “I bring some-
thing to eat and some reading material,”
she said. Some students starting out at the
college have known her through an area
camping ministry and “need some sup-
port to get through the transition,” she
said. Through them she meets others.
When the subject of religion comes up,
sometimes involving students from fun-
damentalist backgrounds, she said she
starts the discussion by saying, “This is
what is true for me. What is true for
you?” Lively debates ensue. With some
students the conversation turns to the
needs of people around the campus and
what might be done to serve others, a
topic that also frequently comes up at St.
Timothy’s. Cottingham also serves as an
EMT and chaplain for local firefighters.
Her military background fuels that interest.
The Rev. Peter Bredlau, MDiv ’96,
Muhlenberg College chaplain the past 14
years, hails from Wisconsin and found his
faith being formed by a Lutheran summer
camp experience there. After college near
home, he took jobs in Western New York
and at a publishing company in Philadel-
phia. Looking for a different experience,
he one day found himself in the office of
The Rev. George Keck, LTSP’s admis-
sions director at the time. “I couldn’t ex-
plain to him why I was there, but we
engaged in an amazing conversation,” he
www.Ltsp.edu
recalled. And soon he was in seminary.
Bredlau still does not consider his call to
have been a lightning strike experience. “I
take it one day at a time, and it seems to
work,” he smiled. “When college students
tell me they are uncertain about what to
do, what is ahead, I share my story as a
pastor, and it seems to help them to know
someone older personally understands
what they are going through. It makes
sense today. I don’t have it all figured out,
and it is not terrifying. Vocation does not
have a terminus. It is a conversation you
need to engage in throughout life.” He re-
members seminary teachers fondly, some
of them seeming then to be academic
icons. “It is great to know some of them
now as people — President Phil Krey and
Dean (Paul) Rajashekar for example.”
Some of his best seminary memories are
of working with facilities personnel,
doing chores like shoveling snow on the
campus. He mentioned lots of faculty and
staff names and said simply, “Mostly I am
just grateful to LTSP for allowing me to
be there. I was struggling mightily with
my life, always asking, ‘Why am I here?’”
These days Bredlau enjoys engaging
students — like the young man, now an
attorney, who still stays in touch with him
years after walking into the chaplain’s of-
fice needing to talk. The subject turned
to many questions over many meetings —
questions about God and faith.
Lutherans today make up a compara-
tively small percentage of Muhlenberg’s
student body, but students engaging with
Chaplain Bredlau, including a class in
which he deals with the theme “So What
Do You Want to Be?”, learn a lot about
the difference Reformer Martin Luther
makes in their lives today. He teaches
about Luther’s writings. “I tell them that
Martin Luther was a major figure in our
PS ✛ FALL 2010
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
collective history who was a proponent of
education and co-education. I tell them
that if you value critical thinking and the
opportunity to challenge authority when
authority is wrong, you have Martin
Luther to thank for encouraging those
values. I tell them that the idea of won-
dering about what to do with your life is
not new, and that Luther’s ‘spin’ on Scrip-
ture basically empowers them to do what
they want to do. People come here with
the notion that they’ve got to make
money, and they sometimes have anxi-
eties because they feel pressures to go this
way or that way or do what others expect
of them. Luther tells us you can be what
you want, and you can figure out a direc-
tion in life based on what you already
have within you, and that what you have The Rev. Peter Bredlau, MDiv ’96, does
in you is enough. No matter what you
not consider his call to have been a light-
choose to do, that is enough and you are
enough because you have gifts from God, “I take it
ning strike experience.
and those gifts are enough.” one day at a time, and it
In speaking of the present and future
seems to work ... When college
church, in a congregational setting or oth-
erwise, Bredlau believes Luther’s under- students tell me they are uncertain
standing of vocation is a truly profound about what to do, what is ahead, I share
and unique legacy Lutherans need to cele-
my story as a pastor, and it seems to
brate and espouse if they are to remain on
the road to relevance for today’s and to- help them to know someone older per-
morrow’s believers and non-believers sonally understands what they are going
alike. “It is a source of Good News central
through.”
to what God wants for us.”
His message to the church is basically
the same one he delivers to students. “We
need to understand what we are and who
we are, look at our reality and not try to
be something we aren’t,” Bredlau said.
“What we have to say about vocation is a
relevant core message that sets Lutherans
apart from everyone else.”✛
View extended interviews at Ltsp.edu/
PSinterviews.
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
PhD Scholars talk about Connecting to the World
from Different Places
Two 2010 PhD graduates from LTSP see a strong connection between serious scholarship
and making positive changes in the world as Christian leaders.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Lohrmann loves the richness of the Lutheran
tradition and church history. Born and raised in Washington State,
he studied and served as a pastor while gradually moving east.
Lohrmann decided he wanted to deepen his educational back-
ground by earning a PhD. “I figured it would make me a better
teacher as a pastor, and if that didn’t work out I could teach else-
where,” he said. At LTSP, he was profoundly influenced by Refor-
mation Scholar Timothy Wengert. During his studies, Lohrmann
wrote a thesis on a commentary from the Book of Jonah by Jo-
hannes Bugenhagen, one among the circle of reformers surround-
ing Martin Luther. Written after the death of Luther, the commentary
wrestled with renegotiating the role of the church after Lutherans
lost a difficult war in the 1500s. In terms of the commentary, the
thesis depicts how faith unfolds in the world context in terms of
the Scripture found in Jonah.
This year, Lohrmann took a call as pastor of Christ Ascension
Lutheran Church in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill section, a congre-
gation that has roots dating to the Civil War, and which is the prod-
uct of a merger with Ascension Lutheran Church, once part of the
LTSP campus. Now writing a history of the congregation,
Lohrmann finds excitement being part of a church that has consis-
tently involved itself in concern for its neighbors by operating a
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
child care center and having members active in community con-
cerns. He describes examples such as the Philadelphia Walk
Against Hunger, the Philabundance food program for disadvan-
taged Philadelphians, work with Lutheran Settlement House,
which features a domestic violence counseling program, and co-
operative ministries involving nearby St. Michael’s and Trinity
Lutheran Churches.
Lohrmann said in terms of his PhD studies that “there are big-
ger names out there, like Penn and Princeton, for earning a de-
gree, but I believe the academic quality offered at LTSP is really
about the same. I wonder where else I could have gone that af-
fords the high level of academic thinking, where people can think
critically and also learn how to struggle deeply with what it means
to be a person of faith.”
The Rev. Dr. Charles “Chaz” Howard, chaplain at the University of
Pennsylvania (Penn), calls himself a son of Baltimore, where he
was raised, and a godson of Philadelphia. Once, he thought of the
scholarly pursuit of an advanced degree as detached from the in-
tense connection of dealing with tough urban issues like home-
lessness, poverty, and the role of women in the church. Along his
theological journey, he decided that what mattered most is to re-
late one-on-one to a diverse audience rather than being a parish
pastor. He was profoundly influenced by historically important fig-
ures like pastor and politician Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. of New York,
Drs. James Cone and Martin Luther King, Jr., and by mentors Dr.
Cornel West of Princeton University and LTSP faculty member Dr.
Katie Day. His LTSP thesis, “Incomplete Prophecies,” explored the
intersection of Black Theology with capitalism, poverty, and theol-
ogy of the 1960s. It helped him to appreciate economic systems
and both the local and global contexts for ministry. Today he over-
sees a wide variety of Penn’s campus ministries involving all three
Abrahamic traditions plus Hindu, Buddhist, and other disciplines,
and strives to provide a safe place for all faith expressions. “Whenever
there is a campus crisis involving, say, the death of a student, I get
involved,” Howard said. He counsels students facing issues such
as interfaith dating, grief and loss, and academic challenges.
Howard came to LTSP because, as he carried out his ministry at
Penn, he needed a strong, nearby academic program that afforded
him flexibility to be with his family. “I really needed something
with a teaching emphasis,” he said, “but what I found especially
cool was the inspiring way in which professors like Dr. (Phil) Krey,
Dr. John Hoffmeyer, and Dr. Day — through their mentoring and
the lives they lead — demonstrate an involvement of Christ-like
faith in today’s culture.” He cited Dr. Day’s Germantown Avenue
Project (a photo history of evolving faith communities on German-
town Avenue) and the work of the Urban Theological Institute as
examples “that paint ministry using a theological brush.”
View extended interviews at Ltsp.edu/ PSinterviews.
PS ✛ FALL 2010
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
PhD Scholars talk about Connecting to the World
from Different Places
Two 2010 PhD graduates from LTSP see a strong connection between serious scholarship
and making positive changes in the world as Christian leaders.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Lohrmann loves the richness of the Lutheran
tradition and church history. Born and raised in Washington State,
he studied and served as a pastor while gradually moving east.
Lohrmann decided he wanted to deepen his educational back-
ground by earning a PhD. “I figured it would make me a better
teacher as a pastor, and if that didn’t work out I could teach else-
where,” he said. At LTSP, he was profoundly influenced by Refor-
mation Scholar Timothy Wengert. During his studies, Lohrmann
wrote a thesis on a commentary from the Book of Jonah by Jo-
hannes Bugenhagen, one among the circle of reformers surround-
ing Martin Luther. Written after the death of Luther, the commentary
wrestled with renegotiating the role of the church after Lutherans
lost a difficult war in the 1500s. In terms of the commentary, the
thesis depicts how faith unfolds in the world context in terms of
the Scripture found in Jonah.
This year, Lohrmann took a call as pastor of Christ Ascension
Lutheran Church in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill section, a congre-
gation that has roots dating to the Civil War, and which is the prod-
uct of a merger with Ascension Lutheran Church, once part of the
LTSP campus. Now writing a history of the congregation,
Lohrmann finds excitement being part of a church that has consis-
tently involved itself in concern for its neighbors by operating a
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
child care center and having members active in community con-
cerns. He describes examples such as the Philadelphia Walk
Against Hunger, the Philabundance food program for disadvan-
taged Philadelphians, work with Lutheran Settlement House,
which features a domestic violence counseling program, and co-
operative ministries involving nearby St. Michael’s and Trinity
Lutheran Churches.
Lohrmann said in terms of his PhD studies that “there are big-
ger names out there, like Penn and Princeton, for earning a de-
gree, but I believe the academic quality offered at LTSP is really
about the same. I wonder where else I could have gone that af-
fords the high level of academic thinking, where people can think
critically and also learn how to struggle deeply with what it means
to be a person of faith.”
The Rev. Dr. Charles “Chaz” Howard, chaplain at the University of
Pennsylvania (Penn), calls himself a son of Baltimore, where he
was raised, and a godson of Philadelphia. Once, he thought of the
scholarly pursuit of an advanced degree as detached from the in-
tense connection of dealing with tough urban issues like home-
lessness, poverty, and the role of women in the church. Along his
theological journey, he decided that what mattered most is to re-
late one-on-one to a diverse audience rather than being a parish
pastor. He was profoundly influenced by historically important fig-
ures like pastor and politician Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. of New York,
Drs. James Cone and Martin Luther King, Jr., and by mentors Dr.
Cornel West of Princeton University and LTSP faculty member Dr.
Katie Day. His LTSP thesis, “Incomplete Prophecies,” explored the
intersection of Black Theology with capitalism, poverty, and theol-
ogy of the 1960s. It helped him to appreciate economic systems
and both the local and global contexts for ministry. Today he over-
sees a wide variety of Penn’s campus ministries involving all three
Abrahamic traditions plus Hindu, Buddhist, and other disciplines,
and strives to provide a safe place for all faith expressions. “Whenever
there is a campus crisis involving, say, the death of a student, I get
involved,” Howard said. He counsels students facing issues such
as interfaith dating, grief and loss, and academic challenges.
Howard came to LTSP because, as he carried out his ministry at
Penn, he needed a strong, nearby academic program that afforded
him flexibility to be with his family. “I really needed something
with a teaching emphasis,” he said, “but what I found especially
cool was the inspiring way in which professors like Dr. (Phil) Krey,
Dr. John Hoffmeyer, and Dr. Day — through their mentoring and
the lives they lead — demonstrate an involvement of Christ-like
faith in today’s culture.” He cited Dr. Day’s Germantown Avenue
Project (a photo history of evolving faith communities on German-
town Avenue) and the work of the Urban Theological Institute as
examples “that paint ministry using a theological brush.”
View extended interviews at Ltsp.edu/ PSinterviews.
PS ✛ FALL 2010
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
“Rotation” Field Work Model
Helps Seminarians Expand
Horizons
Field work beyond the classroom has always been a vital dimen-
sion of seminary education for candidates studying for ordination
at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP). Can-
didates engage in clinical pastoral education, often in a hospital or
other clinical type setting, and usually in the summer at the end of
their first year of study. Often, the third year of their degree work is
a full-time residence internship in a congregation or other setting.
A comparatively new “wrinkle” to field work, known as contex-
tual education, has been a “rotation model” for seminarians dur-
ing the first year of study. This model involves students observing
worship and congregational life, spending three Sundays at a time
in a church before moving onto another location, visiting eight to
10 congregations overall during an academic year.
“Seminarians often come to us having experienced life in com-
paratively few churches,” explained The Rev. Dr. Charles Leonard,
associate professor of integrative theology and director of contex-
tual education at the seminary. He has supervised contextual edu-
cation at the school for the past 14 years.
The rotation model challenges seminarians to scrutinize what
they see happening in a congregation. “We ask them to try to un-
derstand what they observe,” Leonard said. “Who are the leaders
and what do they do? What are the roles of women and youth?
What is the worship style? How are they reaching out beyond the
church walls? What are their views on
serving where they are located?”
The seminarians are asked to keep
track of questions raised, and dis-
cuss them in Monday afternoon
reflection sessions with parish
pastors who lead the discus-
sions. “These congregations
and the pastors who lead the re-
flection sessions are folks we re-
ally trust, and they play a vital
role in the education we provide,”
Leonard said.
The model involves seminarians in
widely expanding their perspectives, he
said. They experience worship in churches
of denominations and multicultural settings
continued on page 17
www.Ltsp.edu
Alumnus Ann Colley Challenges Lutherans to
Share their Faith Stories with Strangers
“Get outside your church walls. People desperately need to know God
has a purpose for their lives no matter what they have done...”
The Rev. Ann L. Colley, MDiv ’06, a Baptist who lives “around the
corner” from LTSP, said enrolling at the Lutheran seminary down
the street “was a tactic to run away from my calling” to serve as a
pastor. “But what I learned at the seminary is a lot about the God
of all of us. I once was very dogmatic, but I discovered a real heart
for God at LTSP. The biggest thing I picked up was the Lutheran un-
derstanding of grace and what that means about loving people. No
judgments. No critiques. I came out (in 2006) more loving, open,
and grace-filled toward others.”
Colley, an African American who is dynamically articulate about
communicating her faith, is a single mother who is associate pas-
tor for evangelism at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Northwest
Philadelphia, a congregation with 15,000 parishioners, and where
The Rev. Allyn Waller is pastor. Her son, Christian, 11, is a vital part
of her life. “I have seven years left before he goes off to college,
and I have been learning that a vital part of my ministry is being
there for him.”
Colley, once a pharmaceutical executive who became dissatis-
fied with corporate life, holds an MBA, and once thought she
wanted to earn a PhD to qualify her to teach Bible and Religion. (In
some of her spare time she teaches marketing and management in
the Business program at Holy Family University.)
She energetically rattles off the professors who influenced her
— John Hoffmeyer’s approach to thinking about God, Pam Cooper-
White’s (now the Ben G. and Nancye Clapp Gautier Professor of
Pastoral Theology, Care and Counseling, at Columbia Theological
Seminary) teaching about pastoral care, Katie Day’s conversations
about the myriad faith communities she has researched along Ger-
mantown Avenue, Jon Pahl’s media wisdom about how faith
speaks through the use of art, the liturgical and worship gleanings
she learned from Gordon Lathrop. “I met so many students from a
wide variety of backgrounds and walks of life. I made life-long
friends at the school.”
Part of the core of Colley’s ministry is reaching out to women in
several prisons and leading visits involving Enon members to insti-
tutions like Bethesda Court, a personal care facility, and Inglis
House, which serves individuals with disabilities and supports
them to enjoy independent living. Of her overall ministry Colley
said bluntly, “I would hate to have lived and said I never witnessed
to how good God has been to me.”
PS ✛ FALL 2010
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
In her prison ministry, Colley said she has learned that a com-
paratively small number — 20 percent or so — are “hard core crim-
inals. The other 80 percent were in circumstances of survival, not
murderers or robbers but rather involved in prostitution to get
money to care for their children, or drug abuse because they felt
overwhelmed by life and wanted to escape its realities. I tell them I
have no judgment on them, that all of us have fallen short in life. I
tell them that no matter who they are or what they have done, God
has a purpose for their life, and they can begin right now to live
out that purpose. We pray for each other, for other inmates and for
prison guards and officials who are their captors.”
It is the same message of purpose she also uses on the street
when she and Enon members go out day and night to meet
strangers. “We meet people who are down on their luck, and if
they want to come we bring them to the church for worship and
offer them spiritual and practical kinds of help,” she said. That in-
cludes counseling and support to change unhealthy habits, includ-
ing recovery options. “We just tell these strangers we love them
and that God has a purpose for them too,” she said.
One initiative she leads is to support seven Lutheran congrega-
tions trying to improve their evangelism approaches. The Luther-
ans accompany her in her street outreach in places like
Philadelphia’s Olney section. She said she teaches the Lutherans
that “we have a burden for souls. As Christians we have a goal to
communicate that no soul goes unsaved, to serve our neighbors
no matter what the circumstances.”
A self-described city girl, originally from Chicago’s south side,
Colley has a message for Lutherans and others striving to make a
difference in their communities, but who may feel uncertain about
how to go about it. “I know what God saved me from. It happened
because of God’s grace and mercy. Tell others your story. We all
need to get outside the walls of our churches and extend a hand to
others to witness to the love of Christ. Be willing to be uncomfort-
able, to be stretched. Lutherans have so much to give. If you get
outside the walls it will be OK. If people give back a message of re-
jection, it is Christ they are rejecting and not you. We are not per-
fect, but we have a message for people, that God forgives us no
matter what we have done. We can be released from guilt and find
a purpose God has in mind for us. Today, no matter where you are,
people desperately need to hear that message.”
www.Ltsp.edu 15
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
“Rotation” Field Work Model
Helps Seminarians Expand
Horizons
Field work beyond the classroom has always been a vital dimen-
sion of seminary education for candidates studying for ordination
at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP). Can-
didates engage in clinical pastoral education, often in a hospital or
other clinical type setting, and usually in the summer at the end of
their first year of study. Often, the third year of their degree work is
a full-time residence internship in a congregation or other setting.
A comparatively new “wrinkle” to field work, known as contex-
tual education, has been a “rotation model” for seminarians dur-
ing the first year of study. This model involves students observing
worship and congregational life, spending three Sundays at a time
in a church before moving onto another location, visiting eight to
10 congregations overall during an academic year.
“Seminarians often come to us having experienced life in com-
paratively few churches,” explained The Rev. Dr. Charles Leonard,
associate professor of integrative theology and director of contex-
tual education at the seminary. He has supervised contextual edu-
cation at the school for the past 14 years.
The rotation model challenges seminarians to scrutinize what
they see happening in a congregation. “We ask them to try to un-
derstand what they observe,” Leonard said. “Who are the leaders
and what do they do? What are the roles of women and youth?
What is the worship style? How are they reaching out beyond the
church walls? What are their views on
serving where they are located?”
The seminarians are asked to keep
track of questions raised, and dis-
cuss them in Monday afternoon
reflection sessions with parish
pastors who lead the discus-
sions. “These congregations
and the pastors who lead the re-
flection sessions are folks we re-
ally trust, and they play a vital
role in the education we provide,”
Leonard said.
The model involves seminarians in
widely expanding their perspectives, he
said. They experience worship in churches
of denominations and multicultural settings
continued on page 17
www.Ltsp.edu
Alumnus Ann Colley Challenges Lutherans to
Share their Faith Stories with Strangers
“Get outside your church walls. People desperately need to know God
has a purpose for their lives no matter what they have done...”
The Rev. Ann L. Colley, MDiv ’06, a Baptist who lives “around the
corner” from LTSP, said enrolling at the Lutheran seminary down
the street “was a tactic to run away from my calling” to serve as a
pastor. “But what I learned at the seminary is a lot about the God
of all of us. I once was very dogmatic, but I discovered a real heart
for God at LTSP. The biggest thing I picked up was the Lutheran un-
derstanding of grace and what that means about loving people. No
judgments. No critiques. I came out (in 2006) more loving, open,
and grace-filled toward others.”
Colley, an African American who is dynamically articulate about
communicating her faith, is a single mother who is associate pas-
tor for evangelism at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Northwest
Philadelphia, a congregation with 15,000 parishioners, and where
The Rev. Allyn Waller is pastor. Her son, Christian, 11, is a vital part
of her life. “I have seven years left before he goes off to college,
and I have been learning that a vital part of my ministry is being
there for him.”
Colley, once a pharmaceutical executive who became dissatis-
fied with corporate life, holds an MBA, and once thought she
wanted to earn a PhD to qualify her to teach Bible and Religion. (In
some of her spare time she teaches marketing and management in
the Business program at Holy Family University.)
She energetically rattles off the professors who influenced her
— John Hoffmeyer’s approach to thinking about God, Pam Cooper-
White’s (now the Ben G. and Nancye Clapp Gautier Professor of
Pastoral Theology, Care and Counseling, at Columbia Theological
Seminary) teaching about pastoral care, Katie Day’s conversations
about the myriad faith communities she has researched along Ger-
mantown Avenue, Jon Pahl’s media wisdom about how faith
speaks through the use of art, the liturgical and worship gleanings
she learned from Gordon Lathrop. “I met so many students from a
wide variety of backgrounds and walks of life. I made life-long
friends at the school.”
Part of the core of Colley’s ministry is reaching out to women in
several prisons and leading visits involving Enon members to insti-
tutions like Bethesda Court, a personal care facility, and Inglis
House, which serves individuals with disabilities and supports
them to enjoy independent living. Of her overall ministry Colley
said bluntly, “I would hate to have lived and said I never witnessed
to how good God has been to me.”
PS ✛ FALL 2010
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
In her prison ministry, Colley said she has learned that a com-
paratively small number — 20 percent or so — are “hard core crim-
inals. The other 80 percent were in circumstances of survival, not
murderers or robbers but rather involved in prostitution to get
money to care for their children, or drug abuse because they felt
overwhelmed by life and wanted to escape its realities. I tell them I
have no judgment on them, that all of us have fallen short in life. I
tell them that no matter who they are or what they have done, God
has a purpose for their life, and they can begin right now to live
out that purpose. We pray for each other, for other inmates and for
prison guards and officials who are their captors.”
It is the same message of purpose she also uses on the street
when she and Enon members go out day and night to meet
strangers. “We meet people who are down on their luck, and if
they want to come we bring them to the church for worship and
offer them spiritual and practical kinds of help,” she said. That in-
cludes counseling and support to change unhealthy habits, includ-
ing recovery options. “We just tell these strangers we love them
and that God has a purpose for them too,” she said.
One initiative she leads is to support seven Lutheran congrega-
tions trying to improve their evangelism approaches. The Luther-
ans accompany her in her street outreach in places like
Philadelphia’s Olney section. She said she teaches the Lutherans
that “we have a burden for souls. As Christians we have a goal to
communicate that no soul goes unsaved, to serve our neighbors
no matter what the circumstances.”
A self-described city girl, originally from Chicago’s south side,
Colley has a message for Lutherans and others striving to make a
difference in their communities, but who may feel uncertain about
how to go about it. “I know what God saved me from. It happened
because of God’s grace and mercy. Tell others your story. We all
need to get outside the walls of our churches and extend a hand to
others to witness to the love of Christ. Be willing to be uncomfort-
able, to be stretched. Lutherans have so much to give. If you get
outside the walls it will be OK. If people give back a message of re-
jection, it is Christ they are rejecting and not you. We are not per-
fect, but we have a message for people, that God forgives us no
matter what we have done. We can be released from guilt and find
a purpose God has in mind for us. Today, no matter where you are,
people desperately need to hear that message.”
www.Ltsp.edu 15
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
Ecumenical Understanding Fostered by
Rotation Model Field Experience
“I’ll feel less anxious about interfaith and ecumenical
relationships when I become a pastor.”
Senior seminarian Amanda Range, a North Carolina native, was called. “We took part in many different styles of worship and came
baptized as an Episcopalian, grew up in a church of the Lutheran to know a variety of traditions.”
Church - Missouri Synod, was president of the Christian Fellowship Amanda said the rotation model continued her exposure to ecu-
(campus ministry) program at Hollins University in Roanoke, Vir- menical traditions she came to know in the Hollins campus min-
ginia, and now belongs to a mission congregation of the Evangeli- istry program she led.
cal Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Wilmington, North “In college I came to appreciate other traditions and enjoyed in-
Carolina. terfaith conversations,” she said. “I think that kind of exposure is
No wonder she felt completely at home during her first year of important for believers of all traditions. I came to LTSP in part be-
seminary, taking part in the “rotation model” field work experience cause I wanted to be a part of a seminary that shares those values.
where she and a small group of classmates visited eight congrega- I feel rooted in ecumenical openness, and so I was really open to
tions for three consecutive Sundays each to observe and partake in the rotation model and all it offered me and my colleagues.” She
worship and drink in the climate at each church. “We visited noted that the model is useful as well to seminarians who come to
Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and a new mission LTSP without the kind of broad congregational experience she has
congregation among the sites,” Amanda recalled. The churches known.
were in urban, suburban, and rural settings. “It was an amazing ex- “I think the collection of experiences and background I have
perience. We met with pastors and lay leaders, shared a meal in known at seminary have opened me to God and the Holy Spirit in
many of the host churches, and had a chance to ask questions.” many special ways,” she said. “I also think this kind of exposure
The Monday after each Sunday visit, a pastor/facilitator met with will make me less nervous than many peer leaders without the ex-
Amanda’s group and helped them debrief their observations. perience when it comes to dealing with ecumenical and interfaith
“We felt welcomed at the churches we visited,” Amanda re- opportunities I hope to encounter as a future professional leader.”
Seminary Emblematic of Episcopal/
Lutheran Partnership, Philadelphia
Cathedral Dean Says
“The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are close cousins,”
said The Very Rev. Judith Sullivan, newly appointed Dean of the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathe-
dral in the city’s University City section. Sullivan refers to Called to Common Mission (CCM),
the ecumenical agreement between the two church bodies, as “emblematic, a restorative sign
of the Kingdom. It defines that what we share runs far deeper than the much smaller differences
between us. CCM is truly a model for ecumenical work.”
Sullivan is herself an embodiment of the agreement. A resident of Philadelphia’s Chestnut
Hill, Sullivan holds her MDiv from General Seminary, an Episcopal school in New York, but she
took much of her seminary training at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP),
16 PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu
enrolling in the Fall of 2001 and completing her studies there al-
most two years later before finishing her requirements at General.
“When I think of LTSP I just have to smile,” she said. “I could
walk to the school from my home. It was such a formative time in
my faith journey. Faculty and student body friends are people I re-
main in relationship with. Among the seminary’s great gifts to me
were liturgical study with Professor Gordon Lathrop and what I
learned about Pastoral Care from The Rev. Dr. Pamela Cooper-
White, who was an Episcopal member of the LTSP faculty, now the
Ben G. and Nancye Clapp Gautier Professor of Pastoral Theology,
Care and Counseling at Columbia Theological Seminary. Dr.
Cooper-White is a great friend and mentor.” Other highlights were
studies in the areas of preaching, Bible, and theology, and an inde-
pendent study of church history undertaken with LTSP Professor
and President Philip D. Krey. Sullivan said she is indebted to the
seminary for her training and calls the school a powerful institu-
tional presence in the ecumenical partnership between Episco-
palians and Lutherans. “It was such a wonderful community for
me to be a part of, and it was very hard for me to leave the semi-
nary,” she said.
The Cathedral is “a unique place in the history of the Episcopal
Church,” Dean Sullivan said. “It is the seat for the Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.” The Cathedral is in the com-
pany of a variety of neighborhood churches, hospitals, colleges,
and universities including Drexel University and the University of
Pennsylvania, she added. “We see ourselves as an open door, a
connector between the Episcopal Church and the complex urban,
suburban, and rural communities in the five-county region sur-
rounding us,” she observed.
Current connections include ecumenical work to feed hungry
people in University City and to form a hospitality consortium op-
erating a food pantry. “We’re part of a mural arts initiative in the
city, and we’re working on an interfaith healing garden at 38th and
Chestnut Streets,” she said.
Dean Sullivan noted that the Cathedral is facing many of the
same challenges familiar to other worshiping communities. “A lot
of folks we are in touch with are dealing with joblessness,” she
said. “We’re an older church facing stiff costs to maintain our prop-
erties, and we’re not able to support the infrastructure as before.
Our endowment isn’t fulfilling our needs. We have a lot of people
in our community who are in pain because of today’s many uncer-
tainties. When we look at the past we realize that today we are
looking at a ‘new normal’ time, one of struggle and uncertainty.
“But our plan is to meet those challenges by keeping on being
the church, proclaiming the Gospel and living amid these temporal
changes,” Dean Sullivan said. “In these difficult times we are
blessed to have a Christian faith that is so deep, eternal, and assur-
PS ✛ FALL 2010
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
ing that we are really where we want to be as a community of be-
lievers, despite all the challenges. Our faith has the power to open
people’s ears so that they may hear and learn of a different way of
thinking to support them in a secular age frequently known for its
exploitation.”
Dean Sullivan added that today’s Christians are more blessed by
religious freedom than their predecessors. “We’re not thrown to the
lions as was once the case,” she said. “The cost of being a follower
in the twenty-first century is not what our forebears once endured.
“Rotation Field Work Model” continued from page 14
they may never have known before. “And what we feel they learn
is that everyone has strengths and weaknesses in what he or she
does, and no one has all the answers. Some are strong in worship.
Some are strong in hospitality or evangelism, some are good with
stewardship or teaching and preaching and others are not. But
those with weaknesses have strengths as well. And what the stu-
dents learn may profoundly impact how they conduct their leader-
ship in churches after they graduate.” Ecumenical partners include
the Presbyterian Church USA, Reformed Church in America,
United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church, Moravian Church, the
United Methodist Church, and independent congregations as well
as Lutheran churches, he said. The total scope of contextual edu-
cation helps students learn much about themselves and elements
for the vision a congregation they serve might have.
“We’re trying to help our students learn how to be the most ef-
fective leaders in this challenging time,” Leonard said. “Many con-
gregations today have lost their way and forgotten the mission of
the church. Churches are called to reach out and do something be-
yond themselves. The issue is how do they make Christ known?
How do they show hope to others? Self-service is not the way. If
they are content to fall into a hole rather than connecting with oth-
ers, how effective will they be for people around them and for peo-
ple in the pews?” He said the current state of the economy is a
factor in the decision by many churches to “pull back” rather than
taking risks in serving others.
To designate your Thrivent Choice
Dollars to The Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Philadelphia go to
www.thrivent.com/thriventchoice
www.Ltsp.edu 17
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
Ecumenical Understanding Fostered by
Rotation Model Field Experience
“I’ll feel less anxious about interfaith and ecumenical
relationships when I become a pastor.”
Senior seminarian Amanda Range, a North Carolina native, was called. “We took part in many different styles of worship and came
baptized as an Episcopalian, grew up in a church of the Lutheran to know a variety of traditions.”
Church - Missouri Synod, was president of the Christian Fellowship Amanda said the rotation model continued her exposure to ecu-
(campus ministry) program at Hollins University in Roanoke, Vir- menical traditions she came to know in the Hollins campus min-
ginia, and now belongs to a mission congregation of the Evangeli- istry program she led.
cal Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Wilmington, North “In college I came to appreciate other traditions and enjoyed in-
Carolina. terfaith conversations,” she said. “I think that kind of exposure is
No wonder she felt completely at home during her first year of important for believers of all traditions. I came to LTSP in part be-
seminary, taking part in the “rotation model” field work experience cause I wanted to be a part of a seminary that shares those values.
where she and a small group of classmates visited eight congrega- I feel rooted in ecumenical openness, and so I was really open to
tions for three consecutive Sundays each to observe and partake in the rotation model and all it offered me and my colleagues.” She
worship and drink in the climate at each church. “We visited noted that the model is useful as well to seminarians who come to
Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and a new mission LTSP without the kind of broad congregational experience she has
congregation among the sites,” Amanda recalled. The churches known.
were in urban, suburban, and rural settings. “It was an amazing ex- “I think the collection of experiences and background I have
perience. We met with pastors and lay leaders, shared a meal in known at seminary have opened me to God and the Holy Spirit in
many of the host churches, and had a chance to ask questions.” many special ways,” she said. “I also think this kind of exposure
The Monday after each Sunday visit, a pastor/facilitator met with will make me less nervous than many peer leaders without the ex-
Amanda’s group and helped them debrief their observations. perience when it comes to dealing with ecumenical and interfaith
“We felt welcomed at the churches we visited,” Amanda re- opportunities I hope to encounter as a future professional leader.”
Seminary Emblematic of Episcopal/
Lutheran Partnership, Philadelphia
Cathedral Dean Says
“The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are close cousins,”
said The Very Rev. Judith Sullivan, newly appointed Dean of the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathe-
dral in the city’s University City section. Sullivan refers to Called to Common Mission (CCM),
the ecumenical agreement between the two church bodies, as “emblematic, a restorative sign
of the Kingdom. It defines that what we share runs far deeper than the much smaller differences
between us. CCM is truly a model for ecumenical work.”
Sullivan is herself an embodiment of the agreement. A resident of Philadelphia’s Chestnut
Hill, Sullivan holds her MDiv from General Seminary, an Episcopal school in New York, but she
took much of her seminary training at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP),
16 PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu
enrolling in the Fall of 2001 and completing her studies there al-
most two years later before finishing her requirements at General.
“When I think of LTSP I just have to smile,” she said. “I could
walk to the school from my home. It was such a formative time in
my faith journey. Faculty and student body friends are people I re-
main in relationship with. Among the seminary’s great gifts to me
were liturgical study with Professor Gordon Lathrop and what I
learned about Pastoral Care from The Rev. Dr. Pamela Cooper-
White, who was an Episcopal member of the LTSP faculty, now the
Ben G. and Nancye Clapp Gautier Professor of Pastoral Theology,
Care and Counseling at Columbia Theological Seminary. Dr.
Cooper-White is a great friend and mentor.” Other highlights were
studies in the areas of preaching, Bible, and theology, and an inde-
pendent study of church history undertaken with LTSP Professor
and President Philip D. Krey. Sullivan said she is indebted to the
seminary for her training and calls the school a powerful institu-
tional presence in the ecumenical partnership between Episco-
palians and Lutherans. “It was such a wonderful community for
me to be a part of, and it was very hard for me to leave the semi-
nary,” she said.
The Cathedral is “a unique place in the history of the Episcopal
Church,” Dean Sullivan said. “It is the seat for the Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.” The Cathedral is in the com-
pany of a variety of neighborhood churches, hospitals, colleges,
and universities including Drexel University and the University of
Pennsylvania, she added. “We see ourselves as an open door, a
connector between the Episcopal Church and the complex urban,
suburban, and rural communities in the five-county region sur-
rounding us,” she observed.
Current connections include ecumenical work to feed hungry
people in University City and to form a hospitality consortium op-
erating a food pantry. “We’re part of a mural arts initiative in the
city, and we’re working on an interfaith healing garden at 38th and
Chestnut Streets,” she said.
Dean Sullivan noted that the Cathedral is facing many of the
same challenges familiar to other worshiping communities. “A lot
of folks we are in touch with are dealing with joblessness,” she
said. “We’re an older church facing stiff costs to maintain our prop-
erties, and we’re not able to support the infrastructure as before.
Our endowment isn’t fulfilling our needs. We have a lot of people
in our community who are in pain because of today’s many uncer-
tainties. When we look at the past we realize that today we are
looking at a ‘new normal’ time, one of struggle and uncertainty.
“But our plan is to meet those challenges by keeping on being
the church, proclaiming the Gospel and living amid these temporal
changes,” Dean Sullivan said. “In these difficult times we are
blessed to have a Christian faith that is so deep, eternal, and assur-
PS ✛ FALL 2010
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
ing that we are really where we want to be as a community of be-
lievers, despite all the challenges. Our faith has the power to open
people’s ears so that they may hear and learn of a different way of
thinking to support them in a secular age frequently known for its
exploitation.”
Dean Sullivan added that today’s Christians are more blessed by
religious freedom than their predecessors. “We’re not thrown to the
lions as was once the case,” she said. “The cost of being a follower
in the twenty-first century is not what our forebears once endured.
“Rotation Field Work Model” continued from page 14
they may never have known before. “And what we feel they learn
is that everyone has strengths and weaknesses in what he or she
does, and no one has all the answers. Some are strong in worship.
Some are strong in hospitality or evangelism, some are good with
stewardship or teaching and preaching and others are not. But
those with weaknesses have strengths as well. And what the stu-
dents learn may profoundly impact how they conduct their leader-
ship in churches after they graduate.” Ecumenical partners include
the Presbyterian Church USA, Reformed Church in America,
United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church, Moravian Church, the
United Methodist Church, and independent congregations as well
as Lutheran churches, he said. The total scope of contextual edu-
cation helps students learn much about themselves and elements
for the vision a congregation they serve might have.
“We’re trying to help our students learn how to be the most ef-
fective leaders in this challenging time,” Leonard said. “Many con-
gregations today have lost their way and forgotten the mission of
the church. Churches are called to reach out and do something be-
yond themselves. The issue is how do they make Christ known?
How do they show hope to others? Self-service is not the way. If
they are content to fall into a hole rather than connecting with oth-
ers, how effective will they be for people around them and for peo-
ple in the pews?” He said the current state of the economy is a
factor in the decision by many churches to “pull back” rather than
taking risks in serving others.
To designate your Thrivent Choice
Dollars to The Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Philadelphia go to
www.thrivent.com/thriventchoice
www.Ltsp.edu 17
MINISTRY IN CONTEXT

MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
Bishop’s Canoe Adventure Raises $6,000
for Lutheran Archives at LTSP
Investing in the Church’s Future Critical gregation has opened itself up to its His-
panic neighbors by providing clothing, a

Photo by Ryan McFadden/Reading Eagle.

food pantry, and recovery programs for

for Two Synods and their Bishops
TWO EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA
REGION 7 BISHOPS whose synods have pledged significant
campaign support for student scholarships at LTSP say that more
than ever the church needs well-trained, creative professional
leaders in order for congregations to survive by making a differ-
ence for Christ in their communities.
“We’re facing declining numbers, and our members are aging,”
said The Rev. Marie Jerge, MDiv ’78, Bishop of the Upstate
New York Synod. She noted that population centers like Buffalo,
New York have had dramatic population losses in recent decades,
“and many in the younger generation have been making the deci-
sion to move out.” Increasing costs in areas such as health care
have meant that congregations “just have fewer dollars” in these
transitional times. But she added that, despite the challenges, op-
portunities abound. “Many churches that cannot afford to re-
place a full-time pastor are thinking creatively and collaborating
with others in order to do effective ministry.”
“We’re a Resurrection people,” Jerge said. “We’re asking our
people to pray first and ground themselves in the Bible as they
think through what their mission in Christ is at this time. How
are they being called? We’re challenging people to grow in their
faith and challenging our pastors to preach hope in what seems
to many to be a hopeless time. I find that many of our youngest
pastors — first call pastors — are showing incredible vitality and
said. An LTSP alumna, Jerge said the seminary grounded her
well in many basics, but also taught her to think carefully about
the context of a pastorate and how to approach ministry in a par-
ticular setting. The Bishop said that as part of a fund-raising
campaign, the synod has pledged to find donors who care to sup-
port the education of the church’s future leaders.
Bishop Samuel Zeiser, MDiv ’77, STM ’89, of the North-
eastern Pennsylvania Synod said the synod council had approved
the idea of a long-standing financial relationship with the semi-
nary “to build up its financial resources and support students. If
the church is to have a vibrant future it will need solid leaders,
and we need to make an investment in that future.” He noted
that support of the seminary is part of a synod campaign cur-
rently under development.
Zeiser said the context for ministry in the synod is changing
rapidly. “We’re really engaged in a transition in the way people
earn their living,” he said. “Once stable large industries like Beth-
lehem Steel and Mack Truck are either changing or are gone alto-
gether, and so the economics of our people and churches are
really impacted. These industries once were a way people shaped
their identities. What we want to say is God still has a place for
them and a plan for what it means to be the church in this time.
We need to help people identify themselves as God’s people in
uncertain times.” The once farm-centered rural areas of the
the community.” He said a Department
of Public Welfare official in the commu-
nity had appealed to him, “Please don’t
close this church down. It is the only
place that no matter what time of day or
night people come to me I can send them
there for help.” Zeiser said that while such
congregations are facing huge challenges,
their context also presents great opportu-
nities. “We need to sustain them and find
new strategies for doing so, and that will
take special leaders in the future who not
only have a strong grounding in Scripture
but also the ability to give character, color,
and direction to their ministry. It is not It began as a simple idea. Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod Bishop Samuel Zeiser and col-
simply social service, but telling the story league The Rev. Carl Shankweiler, both alumni of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at
of the Resurrection of Jesus and what that Philadelphia (LTSP), had attended a meeting of the Schuylkill Mission District and had
means for people today.” He said such a paused to gaze at the Schuylkill Canal. “It was a beautiful spot in the river, water lapping
over the rocks, so scenic and peaceful,” Zeiser said.
context for ministry “is not for the uncer-
“Carl said to me, ‘What if we got into a canoe and took a ride on the river. We’d proba-
tain. It takes a leader who knows the
bly really enjoy that.’” Zeiser thought that would be the end of it. A week later Shankweiler
meaning of grace and what it means to be
called to say he had bought a canoe on eBay. Shankweiler mused about going forward with
a Lutheran. It takes someone able to deal a canoe trip. He also wondered about whether the trip might be used to garner support by
with a wide variety of personalities, some- the mile for a favorite interest — the Lutheran Archives Center at LTSP. The Archives is a
one who is well grounded and accepting major repository for Lutheran history both regional and from around the country.
of others, someone with a lot of energy!” Shankweiler reflected with Zeiser about the colonial travels of Lutheran Patriarch Henry
Zeiser, who grew up not far from the Melchior Muhlenberg identified in Muhlenberg’s journals. Maybe they could learn first-hand
coal region community he described, said about what it was like to travel in those 1750s days in something other than a car. “Maybe

creativity in their ministry as they provide pastoral care to their
people and hold up their congregations while they move in new
directions. It’s exciting!” Much of the most creative work, she
said, involves pastors from different denominations thinking
strategically together about how to make the best difference. She
described a suburban-rural congregational partnership in Buffalo
that has strengthened and energized both churches, and a second
partnership involving two Buffalo churches where the ministry
and pastors are shared. “Attendance there has doubled.”
“We’re supporting the seminary because we need a place for
people to be trained and well-grounded in Bible and theology,
but we also need leaders who are prepared to engage their parish-
synod have changed in many locations to feature housing and
other forms of development. Coal region communities no longer
have the economic vitality they once had with the decline of
mining in those areas. That change, combined with multicultural
transition, has “redefined what it means to be part of a congrega-
tion. Congregations no longer have the kind of stable and ‘com-
fortable’ ministry they once knew, and that challenges
congregations — not only in terms of their ministry within the
church but how they figure out what they should be doing in
their communities.”
Zeiser described the developing new approach to ministry in
Shenandoah, a coal region town. “If you only looked at the statis-
the seminary for him is a place that works
hard at bringing together people from di-
verse cultures and backgrounds and creat-
ing a powerful sense of community. “I
found LTSP to be a challenging academic
environment,” he said. “I also got a sense
of what the church had invested in my
call, that it had made a commitment, that
it wasn’t just about me, that it had a stake
in what I did. It gave me a sense of the vi-
sion and standards and breadth of the
church that I had not known before
we could raise a few hundred dollars for the Archives by getting donations by the mile,”
Shankweiler said. They put an announcement in the packet given out at the synod assembly.
“Before we knew it the project was growing beyond our imagination,” Zeiser said. The
Reading Eagle newspaper wanted a story and a photo. The Lutheran magazine did a piece
about us. Channel 69 News did a story. One congregation donated $1,000 toward the project.”
On a June day, the duo paddled to Reading from Hamburg. The 23.4 mile trip lasted from
9:30 am to 4:00 pm with stops along the way in Shoemakersville and Leesport.
“Muhlenberg did not spend a lot of time in a canoe from what we have been able to
learn,” Zeiser noted, “but we did find a reference in his journals to his crossing the river by
canoe. Apart from that, the trip did help Carl and me to recognize the way natural geogra-
phy played a role in the way colonial era pastors got from place to place.” With cars today,
you just don’t think much about travel, but it was not always easy.
The project raised about $6,000 for the Archives. The amount raised might have been

ioners in how to think and think creatively in these times,” Jerge tics you might think this church should be closed, but the con- growing up in a place like Jim Thorpe, less than that, but some donors upped their gifts when they heard Shankweiler and Zeiser
Pennsylvania.”✛ had briefly gone overboard in the midst of their journey!

18 PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 19

MINISTRY IN CONTEXT

MINISTRY IN CONTEXT
Bishop’s Canoe Adventure Raises $6,000
for Lutheran Archives at LTSP
Investing in the Church’s Future Critical gregation has opened itself up to its His-
panic neighbors by providing clothing, a

Photo by Ryan McFadden/Reading Eagle.

food pantry, and recovery programs for

for Two Synods and their Bishops
TWO EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA
REGION 7 BISHOPS whose synods have pledged significant
campaign support for student scholarships at LTSP say that more
than ever the church needs well-trained, creative professional
leaders in order for congregations to survive by making a differ-
ence for Christ in their communities.
“We’re facing declining numbers, and our members are aging,”
said The Rev. Marie Jerge, MDiv ’78, Bishop of the Upstate
New York Synod. She noted that population centers like Buffalo,
New York have had dramatic population losses in recent decades,
“and many in the younger generation have been making the deci-
sion to move out.” Increasing costs in areas such as health care
have meant that congregations “just have fewer dollars” in these
transitional times. But she added that, despite the challenges, op-
portunities abound. “Many churches that cannot afford to re-
place a full-time pastor are thinking creatively and collaborating
with others in order to do effective ministry.”
“We’re a Resurrection people,” Jerge said. “We’re asking our
people to pray first and ground themselves in the Bible as they
think through what their mission in Christ is at this time. How
are they being called? We’re challenging people to grow in their
faith and challenging our pastors to preach hope in what seems
to many to be a hopeless time. I find that many of our youngest
pastors — first call pastors — are showing incredible vitality and
said. An LTSP alumna, Jerge said the seminary grounded her
well in many basics, but also taught her to think carefully about
the context of a pastorate and how to approach ministry in a par-
ticular setting. The Bishop said that as part of a fund-raising
campaign, the synod has pledged to find donors who care to sup-
port the education of the church’s future leaders.
Bishop Samuel Zeiser, MDiv ’77, STM ’89, of the North-
eastern Pennsylvania Synod said the synod council had approved
the idea of a long-standing financial relationship with the semi-
nary “to build up its financial resources and support students. If
the church is to have a vibrant future it will need solid leaders,
and we need to make an investment in that future.” He noted
that support of the seminary is part of a synod campaign cur-
rently under development.
Zeiser said the context for ministry in the synod is changing
rapidly. “We’re really engaged in a transition in the way people
earn their living,” he said. “Once stable large industries like Beth-
lehem Steel and Mack Truck are either changing or are gone alto-
gether, and so the economics of our people and churches are
really impacted. These industries once were a way people shaped
their identities. What we want to say is God still has a place for
them and a plan for what it means to be the church in this time.
We need to help people identify themselves as God’s people in
uncertain times.” The once farm-centered rural areas of the
the community.” He said a Department
of Public Welfare official in the commu-
nity had appealed to him, “Please don’t
close this church down. It is the only
place that no matter what time of day or
night people come to me I can send them
there for help.” Zeiser said that while such
congregations are facing huge challenges,
their context also presents great opportu-
nities. “We need to sustain them and find
new strategies for doing so, and that will
take special leaders in the future who not
only have a strong grounding in Scripture
but also the ability to give character, color,
and direction to their ministry. It is not It began as a simple idea. Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod Bishop Samuel Zeiser and col-
simply social service, but telling the story league The Rev. Carl Shankweiler, both alumni of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at
of the Resurrection of Jesus and what that Philadelphia (LTSP), had attended a meeting of the Schuylkill Mission District and had
means for people today.” He said such a paused to gaze at the Schuylkill Canal. “It was a beautiful spot in the river, water lapping
over the rocks, so scenic and peaceful,” Zeiser said.
context for ministry “is not for the uncer-
“Carl said to me, ‘What if we got into a canoe and took a ride on the river. We’d proba-
tain. It takes a leader who knows the
bly really enjoy that.’” Zeiser thought that would be the end of it. A week later Shankweiler
meaning of grace and what it means to be
called to say he had bought a canoe on eBay. Shankweiler mused about going forward with
a Lutheran. It takes someone able to deal a canoe trip. He also wondered about whether the trip might be used to garner support by
with a wide variety of personalities, some- the mile for a favorite interest — the Lutheran Archives Center at LTSP. The Archives is a
one who is well grounded and accepting major repository for Lutheran history both regional and from around the country.
of others, someone with a lot of energy!” Shankweiler reflected with Zeiser about the colonial travels of Lutheran Patriarch Henry
Zeiser, who grew up not far from the Melchior Muhlenberg identified in Muhlenberg’s journals. Maybe they could learn first-hand
coal region community he described, said about what it was like to travel in those 1750s days in something other than a car. “Maybe

creativity in their ministry as they provide pastoral care to their
people and hold up their congregations while they move in new
directions. It’s exciting!” Much of the most creative work, she
said, involves pastors from different denominations thinking
strategically together about how to make the best difference. She
described a suburban-rural congregational partnership in Buffalo
that has strengthened and energized both churches, and a second
partnership involving two Buffalo churches where the ministry
and pastors are shared. “Attendance there has doubled.”
“We’re supporting the seminary because we need a place for
people to be trained and well-grounded in Bible and theology,
but we also need leaders who are prepared to engage their parish-
synod have changed in many locations to feature housing and
other forms of development. Coal region communities no longer
have the economic vitality they once had with the decline of
mining in those areas. That change, combined with multicultural
transition, has “redefined what it means to be part of a congrega-
tion. Congregations no longer have the kind of stable and ‘com-
fortable’ ministry they once knew, and that challenges
congregations — not only in terms of their ministry within the
church but how they figure out what they should be doing in
their communities.”
Zeiser described the developing new approach to ministry in
Shenandoah, a coal region town. “If you only looked at the statis-
the seminary for him is a place that works
hard at bringing together people from di-
verse cultures and backgrounds and creat-
ing a powerful sense of community. “I
found LTSP to be a challenging academic
environment,” he said. “I also got a sense
of what the church had invested in my
call, that it had made a commitment, that
it wasn’t just about me, that it had a stake
in what I did. It gave me a sense of the vi-
sion and standards and breadth of the
church that I had not known before
we could raise a few hundred dollars for the Archives by getting donations by the mile,”
Shankweiler said. They put an announcement in the packet given out at the synod assembly.
“Before we knew it the project was growing beyond our imagination,” Zeiser said. The
Reading Eagle newspaper wanted a story and a photo. The Lutheran magazine did a piece
about us. Channel 69 News did a story. One congregation donated $1,000 toward the project.”
On a June day, the duo paddled to Reading from Hamburg. The 23.4 mile trip lasted from
9:30 am to 4:00 pm with stops along the way in Shoemakersville and Leesport.
“Muhlenberg did not spend a lot of time in a canoe from what we have been able to
learn,” Zeiser noted, “but we did find a reference in his journals to his crossing the river by
canoe. Apart from that, the trip did help Carl and me to recognize the way natural geogra-
phy played a role in the way colonial era pastors got from place to place.” With cars today,
you just don’t think much about travel, but it was not always easy.
The project raised about $6,000 for the Archives. The amount raised might have been

ioners in how to think and think creatively in these times,” Jerge tics you might think this church should be closed, but the con- growing up in a place like Jim Thorpe, less than that, but some donors upped their gifts when they heard Shankweiler and Zeiser
Pennsylvania.”✛ had briefly gone overboard in the midst of their journey!

18 PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 19

MUHLENBERG 300th
The Muhlenberg Tercentenary
Academic Year 2011-2012
DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2011-
2012, The Lutheran Theological Semi-
nary at Philadelphia (LTSP) will mark
the tercentenary of the birth of Henry
Melchior Muhlenberg. We are doing this
in partnership with many organizations,
most notably Muhlenberg College, and
over 100 congregations — from Georgia
through New York — whose legacy is di-
rectly tied to Muhlenberg. Special pro-
grams and events are being planned for
families, for women, for scholars, for
alumni, and for congregations. Artifacts
and historic documents are being pre-
served and readied for display including
Peter Muhlenberg’s robe, Henry Mel-
chior Muhlenberg’s journals and diaries,
and a beautifully painted wooden box be-
longing to Anna Muhlenberg. Special ex-
hibitions are being planned at Ursinus
College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, as
well as at the German-American Heritage
Foundation in Washington, D.C., and a
traveling exhibition from Halle, Germany
will tour across the United States.
Resources are being gathered and
posted on the Muhlenberg 300 website
for congregations — a speaker’s bureau,
worship materials, and a curriculum for
catechetics. Website pages are being cre-
ated to include an online map highlight-
ing Muhlenberg’s churches and other
points of interest, and a comprehensive
20 PS ✛ FALL 2010
calendar noting the events of the year of
all of our partners. An international
scholarly conference is being organized by
Muhlenberg College, LTSP, and the Mc-
Neil Center for Early American Studies at
the University of Pennsylvania. Together
we are working to tell the story of this
Lutheran pastor who was a church ad-
ministrator, an immigrant father of chil-
dren who themselves became leaders in
early America, a colonial pacifist, and a
prolific writer whose words paint a clear
picture of life in the colonies.
As we work toward this year, some may
question the value of looking back. Some
may suggest that because we are a very
different church than we were when
Muhlenberg lived, there is little value to
studying a man who was born 300 years
ago. But it is in preserving our history
that we preserve our identity. It is by look-
ing at the past honestly that we learn our
strengths and weaknesses. It is by under-
standing where we have been that we can
plan for where we are going.
In one of the old family Bibles is a
short verse Henry Melchior Muhlenberg
wrote at about the time he was confirmed:
“Two hands, both fresh and strong,
did my Creator give;
They shall not idle be as long as I
shall live;
MUHLENBERG 300th
First I will raise them up to God to
praise and pray,
And then they may begin what labor
brings each day.”
Today, almost 300 years later, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) defines its mission in the simple
phrase: “God’s work. Our hands.”
Two very different moments in time.
One common call.
During the forty-five years of his min-
istry, Muhlenberg organized new congre-
gations as continued immigration led to
the establishment of new communities.
Today the church he nurtured on Ameri-
can soil numbers 4.5 million members
and nearly 10,500 congregations across
the U.S. and Caribbean in the ELCA
alone. The church has continued the
missionary enterprise that brought Muh-
...The scales that weigh the destinies of man defy his understanding. A moment may determine the course of
lenberg to America. The challenges of
immigration, language, and planting new generations of human lives. It was to such a moment that the hands of the dial moved on the evening of
churches continues. Join with us as we September 6, 1741, when Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, now recognized as the patriarch of the Lutheran
discover together our shared past and Church in America, received the call to leave family and friends, in a land that then enjoyed comparative
write a new chapter in the Church’s
comfort, to serve the leaderless Lutherans in Pennsylvania.
history.✛
Other Lutherans had gone to America before him. Others had planted their churches in the American
Visit the Muhlenberg 300 website at
www.muhlenberg300.org. colonies. But to Muhlenberg fell the task of organizing scattered Lutherans along the Atlantic Seaboard, of
establishing churches for them, and of forming the Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States, the
mother synod of the United Lutheran Church in America.
The above excerpt is from a publication edited by Gordon B. Fister as part of the Muhlenberg
Bicentennial Celebration organized by Muhlenberg College in 1942.
www.Ltsp.edu PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 21
MUHLENBERG 300th
The Muhlenberg Tercentenary
Academic Year 2011-2012
DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2011-
2012, The Lutheran Theological Semi-
nary at Philadelphia (LTSP) will mark
the tercentenary of the birth of Henry
Melchior Muhlenberg. We are doing this
in partnership with many organizations,
most notably Muhlenberg College, and
over 100 congregations — from Georgia
through New York — whose legacy is di-
rectly tied to Muhlenberg. Special pro-
grams and events are being planned for
families, for women, for scholars, for
alumni, and for congregations. Artifacts
and historic documents are being pre-
served and readied for display including
Peter Muhlenberg’s robe, Henry Mel-
chior Muhlenberg’s journals and diaries,
and a beautifully painted wooden box be-
longing to Anna Muhlenberg. Special ex-
hibitions are being planned at Ursinus
College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, as
well as at the German-American Heritage
Foundation in Washington, D.C., and a
traveling exhibition from Halle, Germany
will tour across the United States.
Resources are being gathered and
posted on the Muhlenberg 300 website
for congregations — a speaker’s bureau,
worship materials, and a curriculum for
catechetics. Website pages are being cre-
ated to include an online map highlight-
ing Muhlenberg’s churches and other
points of interest, and a comprehensive
20 PS ✛ FALL 2010
calendar noting the events of the year of
all of our partners. An international
scholarly conference is being organized by
Muhlenberg College, LTSP, and the Mc-
Neil Center for Early American Studies at
the University of Pennsylvania. Together
we are working to tell the story of this
Lutheran pastor who was a church ad-
ministrator, an immigrant father of chil-
dren who themselves became leaders in
early America, a colonial pacifist, and a
prolific writer whose words paint a clear
picture of life in the colonies.
As we work toward this year, some may
question the value of looking back. Some
may suggest that because we are a very
different church than we were when
Muhlenberg lived, there is little value to
studying a man who was born 300 years
ago. But it is in preserving our history
that we preserve our identity. It is by look-
ing at the past honestly that we learn our
strengths and weaknesses. It is by under-
standing where we have been that we can
plan for where we are going.
In one of the old family Bibles is a
short verse Henry Melchior Muhlenberg
wrote at about the time he was confirmed:
“Two hands, both fresh and strong,
did my Creator give;
They shall not idle be as long as I
shall live;
MUHLENBERG 300th
First I will raise them up to God to
praise and pray,
And then they may begin what labor
brings each day.”
Today, almost 300 years later, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) defines its mission in the simple
phrase: “God’s work. Our hands.”
Two very different moments in time.
One common call.
During the forty-five years of his min-
istry, Muhlenberg organized new congre-
gations as continued immigration led to
the establishment of new communities.
Today the church he nurtured on Ameri-
can soil numbers 4.5 million members
and nearly 10,500 congregations across
the U.S. and Caribbean in the ELCA
alone. The church has continued the
missionary enterprise that brought Muh-
...The scales that weigh the destinies of man defy his understanding. A moment may determine the course of
lenberg to America. The challenges of
immigration, language, and planting new generations of human lives. It was to such a moment that the hands of the dial moved on the evening of
churches continues. Join with us as we September 6, 1741, when Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, now recognized as the patriarch of the Lutheran
discover together our shared past and Church in America, received the call to leave family and friends, in a land that then enjoyed comparative
write a new chapter in the Church’s
comfort, to serve the leaderless Lutherans in Pennsylvania.
history.✛
Other Lutherans had gone to America before him. Others had planted their churches in the American
Visit the Muhlenberg 300 website at
www.muhlenberg300.org. colonies. But to Muhlenberg fell the task of organizing scattered Lutherans along the Atlantic Seaboard, of
establishing churches for them, and of forming the Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States, the
mother synod of the United Lutheran Church in America.
The above excerpt is from a publication edited by Gordon B. Fister as part of the Muhlenberg
Bicentennial Celebration organized by Muhlenberg College in 1942.
www.Ltsp.edu PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 21
UTI 30TH ANNIVERSARY
TO HEAR THE STORY OF THE REV.
WILLIAM B. MOORE is to learn the
heart and soul of the 30-year-old Urban
Theological Institute (UTI) at The
Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia (LTSP). No wonder Moore,
the pastor of Tenth Memorial Baptist
Church in North Philadelphia, has re-
cently embraced an appointment as chair
of the Urban Theological Institute Com-
mittee of Advisors (UTICA).
Before Moore departed North Car-
olina to accept a call in Philadelphia, he
was telling a neighboring pastor, The Rev.
T. Robert Washington, that he wanted to
complete his education. “If you are called
to ministry you are also called to prepara-
tion, and we must take that preparation
seriously,” Moore said recently.
“You should check out LTSP,” Wash-
ington told him. “That’s my seminary.”
Several years after becoming pastor of
Tenth Memorial Church, the UTI initia-
tive began under the leadership of the late
Rev. Dr. Randolph Jones and The Rev.
Dr. Andrew Willis, who envisioned and
founded the program enabling students
to study part time while they held regular
22 PS ✛ FALL 2010
jobs. Working with LTSP and then Dean
Faith Burgess, Jones and Willis have been
fond of saying that LTSP embraced their
idea “when no one else would.” Moore
enrolled in the program.
“I found UTI offered three critical
qualities,” Moore said. “First, it was rele-
vant. It met the needs for my ministry at
Tenth Memorial. It had the ingredients
necessary for success for someone like me.
Second, it was high quality, not fly by
night. It was well-respected academically.
I knew I had found a gold mine with the
seminary’s long history of quality and
substance. Third, it was convenient for a
full-time pastor like me with times for
classes that met my needs Tuesday
evenings and Saturdays.” He completed
the requirements for his MDiv in four
years during the 1980s — one of the
scores of graduates connected with UTI.
And what a ministry has unfolded at
Tenth Memorial, where Moore has served
for 36 years. The congregation hosts a
drug recovery program. You cannot drive
through the church’s community without
seeing the transformation that Moore
said has been inspired by the people he
loves and his UTI education. Homes,
more than 200 in one form or another,
dot the neighborhood — rehabilitated
row homes, a six story high rise apart-
ment building for retirees, 51 homes for
low and moderate income residents, and
10 homes especially built for first time
home-buyers. A sign in front of some of
the newest properties advertises their sale
at $110,000.
“We’ve wanted people to find afford-
able housing so that they could afford to
raise their children in these hard times
and afford their education and manage
the rest of their lives,” he said. “Having a
good home is a critical piece of that life
formula.”
Moore is not a fan of the “prosperity
gospel” trend in which pastors, on televi-
sion and elsewhere, suggest believers are
predisposed to wealth. “These pastors
convey that it is all about their listeners
and viewers. God doesn’t promise any-
thing like that. God wants us to be com-
fortable, certainly, and God promises to
be with us, but it is really not about us. It
is about serving others, not just about
serving ourselves.”
www.Ltsp.edu
Moore’s appreciation for UTI is
echoed by several colleagues — The Rev.
Dr. Ernest Morris, pastor of Mt. Airy
Church of God in Christ; The Rev. Dr.
G. Daniel Jones, pastor of Grace Baptist
Church in Philadelphia’s Germantown,
and The Rev. Dr. Richard Franklin Nor-
ris, Bishop of the First Episcopal District
of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Jones and Morris have been host pas-
tors since its inception for UTI’s 28-year
old “Preaching with Power” initiative,
which each spring invites highly regarded
African American preachers to Philadel-
phia pulpits. Norris celebrates a collabo-
ration with the AME Church’s Payne
Seminary in Ohio that he said has made
possible “a whole new flavor” for relation-
ships involving aspiring church leaders
across denominational lines. He notes
that local AME students through the col-
laboration can take some of their classes
at LTSP without having to travel to Ohio.
Jones, a past UTICA chair, praises the
seminary and UTI for the “genuine sense
of inclusivity, innovation, and openness
they have generated so that trained lead-
ers have the knowledge to meet urban
PS ✛ FALL 2010
challenges.” UTI was a breakthrough 30
years ago in that it enabled “bi-vocational
and bi-professional students to take semi-
nary courses that only had been available
during the day. The program forged a
change in the educational concept and
ideology of the time.” Morris said simply
that for working people interested in pro-
fessional church leadership 30 years ago,
“there was no opportunity for formal ed-
ucation. When UTI was offered it opened
doors for them. It has been so helpful to
so many men and women who have been
able to enhance their ministries.”
With the Fall 2010 30-year celebration,
UTI Director The Rev. Dr. Quintin L.
Robertson said his leadership goal look-
ing toward the future is to “strengthen the
foundation” established by founders
Jones and Willis in collaboration with
other leaders. UTI is expanding its hori-
zon these days, overseeing a Black Church
Concentration within LTSP’s MDiv pro-
gram, and a Black Church Specialization
in the Master of Arts in Religion pro-
gram, both aimed at professional church
leaders interested in Black Church issues.
UTI also oversees a Black Church focus
UTI 30TH ANNIVERSARY
in LTSP’s DMin program. A new UTI
certificate offering in Christian Ministry
complements a Certificate in Church
Leadership. Quarterly seminars in part-
nership with African American religious
communities are being established as well.
“We want to cultivate a deeper under-
standing, appreciation of, and respect for
African American theological inquiry
and religious history,” explained Dr.
Robertson, an ordained elder of the
Church of God in Christ. Such an out-
reach, he said, will further “enrich the
church and the seminary community.”
The three-day fall gala celebration
Oct. 13-15 included an African American
Sacred Music Concert coordinated by
Sheila D. Booker and including greetings
from Philadelphia Mayor Michael A.
Nutter, a worship celebration with The
Rev. Dr. Carolyn A. Knight as guest
preacher, and a gala reception and ban-
quet with featured speaker The Rev. Dr.
James A. Forbes.✛
View photos and videos of UTI’s 30th An-
niversary Celebration at www.Ltsp.edu/
UTI30.
www.Ltsp.edu 23
UTI 30TH ANNIVERSARY
TO HEAR THE STORY OF THE REV.
WILLIAM B. MOORE is to learn the
heart and soul of the 30-year-old Urban
Theological Institute (UTI) at The
Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia (LTSP). No wonder Moore,
the pastor of Tenth Memorial Baptist
Church in North Philadelphia, has re-
cently embraced an appointment as chair
of the Urban Theological Institute Com-
mittee of Advisors (UTICA).
Before Moore departed North Car-
olina to accept a call in Philadelphia, he
was telling a neighboring pastor, The Rev.
T. Robert Washington, that he wanted to
complete his education. “If you are called
to ministry you are also called to prepara-
tion, and we must take that preparation
seriously,” Moore said recently.
“You should check out LTSP,” Wash-
ington told him. “That’s my seminary.”
Several years after becoming pastor of
Tenth Memorial Church, the UTI initia-
tive began under the leadership of the late
Rev. Dr. Randolph Jones and The Rev.
Dr. Andrew Willis, who envisioned and
founded the program enabling students
to study part time while they held regular
22 PS ✛ FALL 2010
jobs. Working with LTSP and then Dean
Faith Burgess, Jones and Willis have been
fond of saying that LTSP embraced their
idea “when no one else would.” Moore
enrolled in the program.
“I found UTI offered three critical
qualities,” Moore said. “First, it was rele-
vant. It met the needs for my ministry at
Tenth Memorial. It had the ingredients
necessary for success for someone like me.
Second, it was high quality, not fly by
night. It was well-respected academically.
I knew I had found a gold mine with the
seminary’s long history of quality and
substance. Third, it was convenient for a
full-time pastor like me with times for
classes that met my needs Tuesday
evenings and Saturdays.” He completed
the requirements for his MDiv in four
years during the 1980s — one of the
scores of graduates connected with UTI.
And what a ministry has unfolded at
Tenth Memorial, where Moore has served
for 36 years. The congregation hosts a
drug recovery program. You cannot drive
through the church’s community without
seeing the transformation that Moore
said has been inspired by the people he
loves and his UTI education. Homes,
more than 200 in one form or another,
dot the neighborhood — rehabilitated
row homes, a six story high rise apart-
ment building for retirees, 51 homes for
low and moderate income residents, and
10 homes especially built for first time
home-buyers. A sign in front of some of
the newest properties advertises their sale
at $110,000.
“We’ve wanted people to find afford-
able housing so that they could afford to
raise their children in these hard times
and afford their education and manage
the rest of their lives,” he said. “Having a
good home is a critical piece of that life
formula.”
Moore is not a fan of the “prosperity
gospel” trend in which pastors, on televi-
sion and elsewhere, suggest believers are
predisposed to wealth. “These pastors
convey that it is all about their listeners
and viewers. God doesn’t promise any-
thing like that. God wants us to be com-
fortable, certainly, and God promises to
be with us, but it is really not about us. It
is about serving others, not just about
serving ourselves.”
www.Ltsp.edu
Moore’s appreciation for UTI is
echoed by several colleagues — The Rev.
Dr. Ernest Morris, pastor of Mt. Airy
Church of God in Christ; The Rev. Dr.
G. Daniel Jones, pastor of Grace Baptist
Church in Philadelphia’s Germantown,
and The Rev. Dr. Richard Franklin Nor-
ris, Bishop of the First Episcopal District
of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Jones and Morris have been host pas-
tors since its inception for UTI’s 28-year
old “Preaching with Power” initiative,
which each spring invites highly regarded
African American preachers to Philadel-
phia pulpits. Norris celebrates a collabo-
ration with the AME Church’s Payne
Seminary in Ohio that he said has made
possible “a whole new flavor” for relation-
ships involving aspiring church leaders
across denominational lines. He notes
that local AME students through the col-
laboration can take some of their classes
at LTSP without having to travel to Ohio.
Jones, a past UTICA chair, praises the
seminary and UTI for the “genuine sense
of inclusivity, innovation, and openness
they have generated so that trained lead-
ers have the knowledge to meet urban
PS ✛ FALL 2010
challenges.” UTI was a breakthrough 30
years ago in that it enabled “bi-vocational
and bi-professional students to take semi-
nary courses that only had been available
during the day. The program forged a
change in the educational concept and
ideology of the time.” Morris said simply
that for working people interested in pro-
fessional church leadership 30 years ago,
“there was no opportunity for formal ed-
ucation. When UTI was offered it opened
doors for them. It has been so helpful to
so many men and women who have been
able to enhance their ministries.”
With the Fall 2010 30-year celebration,
UTI Director The Rev. Dr. Quintin L.
Robertson said his leadership goal look-
ing toward the future is to “strengthen the
foundation” established by founders
Jones and Willis in collaboration with
other leaders. UTI is expanding its hori-
zon these days, overseeing a Black Church
Concentration within LTSP’s MDiv pro-
gram, and a Black Church Specialization
in the Master of Arts in Religion pro-
gram, both aimed at professional church
leaders interested in Black Church issues.
UTI also oversees a Black Church focus
UTI 30TH ANNIVERSARY
in LTSP’s DMin program. A new UTI
certificate offering in Christian Ministry
complements a Certificate in Church
Leadership. Quarterly seminars in part-
nership with African American religious
communities are being established as well.
“We want to cultivate a deeper under-
standing, appreciation of, and respect for
African American theological inquiry
and religious history,” explained Dr.
Robertson, an ordained elder of the
Church of God in Christ. Such an out-
reach, he said, will further “enrich the
church and the seminary community.”
The three-day fall gala celebration
Oct. 13-15 included an African American
Sacred Music Concert coordinated by
Sheila D. Booker and including greetings
from Philadelphia Mayor Michael A.
Nutter, a worship celebration with The
Rev. Dr. Carolyn A. Knight as guest
preacher, and a gala reception and ban-
quet with featured speaker The Rev. Dr.
James A. Forbes.✛
View photos and videos of UTI’s 30th An-
niversary Celebration at www.Ltsp.edu/
UTI30.
www.Ltsp.edu 23
UTI 30TH ANNIVERSARY
BISHOP LOIS BARKSDALE, recent grad-
uate of The Lutheran Theological Semi-
nary at Philadelphia (LTSP), said God
was always involved as her remarkable ca-
reer unfolded. “The right people were
there every step of the way for me,” she
said with typical enthusiasm. “That was
God at work in my life. I know it.”
First, she was a licensed beautician.
Then came retail, her becoming one of
only two African American buyers for
Strawbridge & Clothier in Plymouth
Meeting, Pennsylvania. Peter Strawbridge
then asked her to open a new store in the
Neshaminy Mall. Next a friend told her
that she should take the federal civil serv-
ice exam and get a job with the govern-
ment. “You’d be good at that,” the friend
told her. Once a “straight A” student at
Gratz High School where she was class
president, Barksdale passed the test easily.
She steadily rose through the pay grade
ranks within the Department of Labor.
Barksdale was the first woman to serve in
the Philadelphia office as an investigator.
“My responsibility was to examine the in-
ternal affairs practices of labor unions,
check out financial and election practices
and assure that union members in good
standing had their rights,” she said. Some-
times cases she worked on made the head-
lines. She investigated United Mine
Workers election practices involving
Joseph “Jock” Jablonski and his presiden-
tial successor Tony Boyle, and the union
reran the election. Jablonski was a re-
former who had campaigned on behalf of
mine safety issues. In 1974, Boyle was
24 PS ✛ FALL 2010
UTI Alumna Lois Barksdale’s
Story: Many Roles with God
as her Guide
convicted of having hired a hit on Jablon-
ski, his wife and daughter in Clarksville,
Pennsylvania, on January 5, 1970, and all
three were killed.
Over a 30-year Department of Labor
career she worked both in Philadelphia
and Washington, DC, becoming the first
area director for the Department. She
ended her government career in 1995,
having served as the national director of
field operations. Because of her experience,
knowledge, and dynamic personality,
Barksdale was regularly invited to serve as
a consultant or speaker by organizations
like the U.S. Air Force, the Tennessee Val-
ley Authority, housing authorities in
Newark, New Jersey, and St. Louis, and
the American Federation of Government
Employees. She could have made a new
career from accepting such invitations.
“But by 1995, I knew that I was done
with secular work,” she said. “God was
calling me in a new direction.” That year,
Barksdale founded Word Alive Worship
Center, a church of the Pentecostal As-
semblies of the World in rental space in
Philadelphia. Her husband, Jerome, a dea-
con, was then, as well as now, at her side.
(The couple married in 1961. Daughter
Beverly, born in 1964 is a licensed minis-
ter in Delaware. Jerome has held a variety
of vocational posts, including service as a
Philadelphia transit worker.) Recognized
as a gifted administrator as well as a pas-
tor, Barksdale served 15 years on her
church body’s state council, 10 years as
general secretary for New Destiny Fellow-
ship International, a mission organiza-
tion, and three years as assistant pastor at
Pentecostal Bridegroom Temple in
Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane section.
God also came to her 11 years ago in
the form of her brother, an LTSP alumnus,
and Barksdale became persuaded that
having an MDiv would give her impor-
tant credentials as an influential leader
and pastor.
She studied part-time in the seminary’s
Urban Theological Institute (UTI) for
roughly one-third of that program’s 30-
year history, receiving her degree in May,
2010, and thus she fits the classic profile
of many UTI scholars who frequently
spend many years to achieve their aca-
demic goal. She said coincidentally she
was appointed Bishop for her church
body’s Region 1 (Eastern Pennsylvania
and Delaware) after she graduated. “I did-
n’t seek that appointment,” she said. “I
was perfectly happy to support other
leaders.” Now she regularly meets with
pastors in her region to provide them
with support and counsel.
“Studying in the UTI was an awesome
experience for me,” she said. “I was im-
pressed with the history, how the school
developed a partnership with UTI
founders Dr. Randolph Jones and Dr. An-
drew Willis to enable African American
leaders needing an additional education
and credentials the opportunity to get
them while remaining part of the working
world and studying part-time. I really had
an awakening through my studies. I
learned the Creeds. I learned about the
evolution of the church by taking an In-
www.Ltsp.edu
UTI 30TH ANNIVERSARY
troduction to Christianity course. I Luzerne Street in Philadelphia’s Hunting In these hard times, Barksdale believes
learned the church has a mosaic and dis-
covered how all the pieces fit. I studied
Park section. The building was once the
home of St. Simeon’s Lutheran Church.
it is a new day for the church. “When the
heater breaks or something like that
Greek and the Bible, and understand “The church is truly located in the state’s someone always comes forward to help
more now about its translations. UTI
provides its scholars with a bridge to get
crime capital,” she said. A park down the
street is known as a haven for prostitu-
out financially,” she said. “We always
make the budget. But it’s not all about
from where they are to where they need tion. Two summers ago she confronted numbers. We want people to come to our
to be in today’s world. Jesus Christ really the neighborhood drug lord and asked church and truly feel the presence and
erases any caste system in the faith. In him to stop selling drugs next to the love of God without some preconceived
UTI, those of us with different faith per- church. The two began to hold conversa- notion of what we stand for.
spectives had the chance to interact with tions, and she worked to bring the church “We need to think through how we do
each other and talk about what we believe into the young man’s life. “I really believe church today. Pentecostalism is a way to
and discover how to deal with each other. he was headed here when he was shot to worship that is upbeat, fiery and differ-
It was just awesome.” death outside the door,” she said. She is ent.” It’s a description that seems to suit
As Barksdale learned at seminary, she part of a police clergy organization that Bishop Lois Barksdale to a T. Is she think-
was also praying about finding a perma- holds prayer on neighborhood street cor- ing of retiring anytime soon? She chuck-
nent home for her congregation. God re- ners and provides telephone numbers in led. “I’m an adrenaline junkie,” she said. “I
moved some early stumbling blocks, and case neighbors feel they need to talk about wouldn’t know what to do if I retired. I
five years ago Word Alive moved into a what is going on in the community. She always have to be doing something for the
vacated church building at 801 West believes it is where her congregation belongs. Lord.”✛
Inspiring Service
Founded in 1847 as a Lutheran college, Carthage highly
values its affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America. Our liberal arts curriculum includes courses
that explore and celebrate religion and spirituality.
Faith-oriented programs and student religious organizations
offer students many opportunities to strengthen their faith
as they discover how they can serve others in the Church
and in the world.
800-351-4058
carthage.edu/ministry
PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 25
UTI 30TH ANNIVERSARY
BISHOP LOIS BARKSDALE, recent grad-
uate of The Lutheran Theological Semi-
nary at Philadelphia (LTSP), said God
was always involved as her remarkable ca-
reer unfolded. “The right people were
there every step of the way for me,” she
said with typical enthusiasm. “That was
God at work in my life. I know it.”
First, she was a licensed beautician.
Then came retail, her becoming one of
only two African American buyers for
Strawbridge & Clothier in Plymouth
Meeting, Pennsylvania. Peter Strawbridge
then asked her to open a new store in the
Neshaminy Mall. Next a friend told her
that she should take the federal civil serv-
ice exam and get a job with the govern-
ment. “You’d be good at that,” the friend
told her. Once a “straight A” student at
Gratz High School where she was class
president, Barksdale passed the test easily.
She steadily rose through the pay grade
ranks within the Department of Labor.
Barksdale was the first woman to serve in
the Philadelphia office as an investigator.
“My responsibility was to examine the in-
ternal affairs practices of labor unions,
check out financial and election practices
and assure that union members in good
standing had their rights,” she said. Some-
times cases she worked on made the head-
lines. She investigated United Mine
Workers election practices involving
Joseph “Jock” Jablonski and his presiden-
tial successor Tony Boyle, and the union
reran the election. Jablonski was a re-
former who had campaigned on behalf of
mine safety issues. In 1974, Boyle was
24 PS ✛ FALL 2010
UTI Alumna Lois Barksdale’s
Story: Many Roles with God
as her Guide
convicted of having hired a hit on Jablon-
ski, his wife and daughter in Clarksville,
Pennsylvania, on January 5, 1970, and all
three were killed.
Over a 30-year Department of Labor
career she worked both in Philadelphia
and Washington, DC, becoming the first
area director for the Department. She
ended her government career in 1995,
having served as the national director of
field operations. Because of her experience,
knowledge, and dynamic personality,
Barksdale was regularly invited to serve as
a consultant or speaker by organizations
like the U.S. Air Force, the Tennessee Val-
ley Authority, housing authorities in
Newark, New Jersey, and St. Louis, and
the American Federation of Government
Employees. She could have made a new
career from accepting such invitations.
“But by 1995, I knew that I was done
with secular work,” she said. “God was
calling me in a new direction.” That year,
Barksdale founded Word Alive Worship
Center, a church of the Pentecostal As-
semblies of the World in rental space in
Philadelphia. Her husband, Jerome, a dea-
con, was then, as well as now, at her side.
(The couple married in 1961. Daughter
Beverly, born in 1964 is a licensed minis-
ter in Delaware. Jerome has held a variety
of vocational posts, including service as a
Philadelphia transit worker.) Recognized
as a gifted administrator as well as a pas-
tor, Barksdale served 15 years on her
church body’s state council, 10 years as
general secretary for New Destiny Fellow-
ship International, a mission organiza-
tion, and three years as assistant pastor at
Pentecostal Bridegroom Temple in
Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane section.
God also came to her 11 years ago in
the form of her brother, an LTSP alumnus,
and Barksdale became persuaded that
having an MDiv would give her impor-
tant credentials as an influential leader
and pastor.
She studied part-time in the seminary’s
Urban Theological Institute (UTI) for
roughly one-third of that program’s 30-
year history, receiving her degree in May,
2010, and thus she fits the classic profile
of many UTI scholars who frequently
spend many years to achieve their aca-
demic goal. She said coincidentally she
was appointed Bishop for her church
body’s Region 1 (Eastern Pennsylvania
and Delaware) after she graduated. “I did-
n’t seek that appointment,” she said. “I
was perfectly happy to support other
leaders.” Now she regularly meets with
pastors in her region to provide them
with support and counsel.
“Studying in the UTI was an awesome
experience for me,” she said. “I was im-
pressed with the history, how the school
developed a partnership with UTI
founders Dr. Randolph Jones and Dr. An-
drew Willis to enable African American
leaders needing an additional education
and credentials the opportunity to get
them while remaining part of the working
world and studying part-time. I really had
an awakening through my studies. I
learned the Creeds. I learned about the
evolution of the church by taking an In-
www.Ltsp.edu
UTI 30TH ANNIVERSARY
troduction to Christianity course. I Luzerne Street in Philadelphia’s Hunting In these hard times, Barksdale believes
learned the church has a mosaic and dis-
covered how all the pieces fit. I studied
Park section. The building was once the
home of St. Simeon’s Lutheran Church.
it is a new day for the church. “When the
heater breaks or something like that
Greek and the Bible, and understand “The church is truly located in the state’s someone always comes forward to help
more now about its translations. UTI
provides its scholars with a bridge to get
crime capital,” she said. A park down the
street is known as a haven for prostitu-
out financially,” she said. “We always
make the budget. But it’s not all about
from where they are to where they need tion. Two summers ago she confronted numbers. We want people to come to our
to be in today’s world. Jesus Christ really the neighborhood drug lord and asked church and truly feel the presence and
erases any caste system in the faith. In him to stop selling drugs next to the love of God without some preconceived
UTI, those of us with different faith per- church. The two began to hold conversa- notion of what we stand for.
spectives had the chance to interact with tions, and she worked to bring the church “We need to think through how we do
each other and talk about what we believe into the young man’s life. “I really believe church today. Pentecostalism is a way to
and discover how to deal with each other. he was headed here when he was shot to worship that is upbeat, fiery and differ-
It was just awesome.” death outside the door,” she said. She is ent.” It’s a description that seems to suit
As Barksdale learned at seminary, she part of a police clergy organization that Bishop Lois Barksdale to a T. Is she think-
was also praying about finding a perma- holds prayer on neighborhood street cor- ing of retiring anytime soon? She chuck-
nent home for her congregation. God re- ners and provides telephone numbers in led. “I’m an adrenaline junkie,” she said. “I
moved some early stumbling blocks, and case neighbors feel they need to talk about wouldn’t know what to do if I retired. I
five years ago Word Alive moved into a what is going on in the community. She always have to be doing something for the
vacated church building at 801 West believes it is where her congregation belongs. Lord.”✛
Inspiring Service
Founded in 1847 as a Lutheran college, Carthage highly
values its affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America. Our liberal arts curriculum includes courses
that explore and celebrate religion and spirituality.
Faith-oriented programs and student religious organizations
offer students many opportunities to strengthen their faith
as they discover how they can serve others in the Church
and in the world.
800-351-4058
carthage.edu/ministry
PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 25
ALUMNI NEWS✛
The Rev. George Handley, ’56, LTSP
2010 Distinguished Alumnus/a
Handley with alumnus The Rev. Chris Duckworth (left) who was an intern of Handley, and
President Krey.
THROUGHOUT HIS SERVICE TO THE
CHURCH, our 2010 Distinguished
Alumnus/a, The Rev. George E. Handley
’56, who received his award at the 2010
Spring Convocation Alumni Banquet,
has been committed to parish ministry,
the wider church, and to LTSP. After
Handley’s ordination in 1956 by the
United Lutheran Synod of New York and
New England, UCLA, he served in three
parishes: St. Thomas, Jamaica (Queens),
New York, Christ Lutheran in York,
Pennsylvania, and Grace Lutheran in
Waynesboro, Virginia. Following his
eighteen years of service in the parish,
Handley was chosen to be Secretary and
Administrative Assistant to the Bishop of
the Virginia Synod of the Lutheran
Church in America and later the ELCA.
26 PS ✛ FALL 2010
Having gone from the parish to synodical
service, his next journey led him to be the
first ever Coordinator of Ministry Lead-
ership, Region 7 (Northeast Region). As
the pioneer of this position in the newly
formed ELCA, Handley’s home base was
located on campus at LTSP from 1988-
1995. His synod, churchwide, and ecu-
menical positions included Coordinator
of Evangelism Program Ministry with the
National Council of Churches, and Co-
ordinator of United Lutheran Appeal in
the Virginia and Metropolitan Washing-
ton DC Synods. As he started his min-
istry as a parish pastor, so he returned to
parish as interim pastor at Redeemer
Lutheran Church, Trenton, New Jersey,
and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in
Gaithersburg, Maryland.
classNOTES
(photo: Reading Eagle online)
The Rev. Thomas F. Irwin
Jr., MDiv ’79, was installed
September 26, 2010 as the
new pastor of Calvary
Lutheran Church, Laurel-
dale, PA.
Dr. Peter Pettit, MDiv ’80, department of reli-
As we lift Handley’s gifts and talents gion studies and the director of the Institute
given to congregations, synods, and the for Jewish Christian Understanding at Muh-
wider church, we can not forget his love lenberg College, was promoted to associate
of history and the church. His many writ- professor. Pettit received his bachelor’s degree
from Princeton University, his master of di-
ings on the history of Lutherans and bi- vinity from LTSP, and his master of arts and
ographical sketches of pastors in Virginia, doctorate from Claremont Graduate University.
the Ministerium of Pennsylvania,
Lutheran churches in Central Trenton, Julie DeWerth, MDiv ’91, began call as pas-
tor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in
New Jersey, and reflections on the 300th King of Prussia, PA, on June 1, 2010.
anniversary of the ordination of Justus
Falckner (the first Lutheran ordained in Wolfgang Herz-Lane, MDiv ’01, was installed
America) show his keen interest of as bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod
of the ELCA on September 18, 2010, in Balti-
Lutheran history. No wonder LTSP is so
more, MD. He served as a parish pastor in
blessed to have George Handley as the Camden, NJ, before being elected to the six
current President of the Lutheran year term as synod bishop at the synod’s
Archives Center at Philadelphia and his 2010 Assembly on June 12, 2010. ELCA Pre-
siding Bishop The Rev. Mark Hanson deliv-
leadership on the Lutheran Historical So-
ered the sermon. Also installed at the service
ciety of the Mid-Atlantic. His diligent as an assistant to the bishop was LTSP alum-
work can be seen in the Heinecken Room nus The Rev. Ed Kay, MDiv ’07.
in The Brossman Center at LTSP as
many hours were spent arranging the Dr. Dirk Lange, MDiv, STM ’01, associate pro-
fessor of worship, Luther Seminary, is the re-
shelves with books appropriate for a pas-
cipient of a 2010-11 Lilly Theological
tor’s study in the Heinecken years. Research Grant for the project “Rethinking
As parish pastor, synodical assistant, Communal Prayer: A Baptismal Discipline.”
church wide coordinator, and historian of
Matthew Cimorelli, MDiv ’03, is serving as
the Lutheran Church, George Handley
pastor at Reformation Lutheran Church,
brings distinction to LTSP in areas of West Long Branch, NJ.
leadership, faithful service, and a signifi-
cant contribution to the life of the Darryl W. Kozak, MDiv ’06, returned to his
church. Therefore, The Rev. George E. native Southern California this past summer,
Handley, ’56 is awarded the 2010 Distin-
and on August 15, 2010, began a new call as
the Associate Pastor of Trinity Lutheran
guished Alumni/ae Award. Church, Manhattan Beach, CA. He had
served his first call in Brooklyn, NY.
J. Lena Horst Warren, MDiv ’08, was or-
dained on October 17, 2010, at St. Mark
Lutheran Church in Norwich, CT. Warren has
received a call to Salem and Immanuel
Lutheran Churches in Naugatuck, CT.
www.Ltsp.edu PS ✛ FALL 2010
Teal Anderson, MDiv ’10, was ordained and
installed at Faith Lutheran Church, Logans-
port, IN, on October 9, 2010.
May 3 and 4, 2011
Donna M. House, MDiv ’10, and Scott A.
Staub, MDiv ’10, were ordained on July 25, (Tuesday and Wednesday only, note later dates)
2010, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Boyer-
town, PA. The preacher was The Rev. Marcia
Bell. Staub has been called to Trinity Lutheran One God, Many Christs:
Church, Topton, PA, and House has been
called to St. John’s Lutheran, Nazareth, PA. How Jesus is Incarnated
Jocelyn Johnston, MDiv ’10,
was ordained on September
in America
19, 2010, at St. Paul Reunion Class Anniversaries celebrated
Lutheran Church, East Wind- at Spring Convocation: 1936, 1941,
sor, NJ, and has been called
1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971,
to serve as pastor at Zion
Lutheran Church, Barnegat 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001,
Light, NJ. 2006, 2010
Martin Lohrmann, PhD ’10, This year’s presenter is
was installed on January 6,
2010 as pastor of Christ
Richard Wrightman Fox,
who is Professor of History
Ascension Lutheran Church
in Chestnut Hill, PA, which is at the University of South-
celebrating its 150th anniver- ern California (USC). His
sary. www.christascension.org
scholarship has centered on the crossroads of
American social, cultural, and intellectual his-
Christine Myers Parker, MDiv ’10, and Mark E.
Parker, MDiv ’07, are pleased to announce tory in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
the arrival of Luke Raymond Parker, 7 lbs. 14 with a special focus on how religion and secu-
oz., 22 inches, born September 1, 2010.
larity in the United States have evolved in rela-
Elizabeth Nees, MDiv ’10,
tion to one another.
was ordained on September
19, 2010, at St. Paul Look for Alumni Spring Convocation 2011
Lutheran Church, East
registration material in your mail in early
Windsor, NJ, and has been
called to serve as pastor at
February and online at www.Ltsp.edu/
convocation11.
Saint Paul Lutheran Church,
Millville, NJ.
Nominations for the Distinguished
The Rev. William R. Petersen, MDiv ’10, Alumnus/a Award 2011 must be in by
was called to Faith Lutheran Church, East December 31, 2010. The award will be given at
Hartford, CT, on May 23, 2010, and ordained the Alumni Banquet on Tuesday evening, May
on June 4, 2010.
3, 2011. Please nominate via email to
eanderson@Ltsp.edu, or nominate online at
www.Ltsp.edu/award.
www.Ltsp.edu/convocation11
www.Ltsp.edu 27
ALUMNI NEWS✛
The Rev. George Handley, ’56, LTSP
2010 Distinguished Alumnus/a
Handley with alumnus The Rev. Chris Duckworth (left) who was an intern of Handley, and
President Krey.
THROUGHOUT HIS SERVICE TO THE
CHURCH, our 2010 Distinguished
Alumnus/a, The Rev. George E. Handley
’56, who received his award at the 2010
Spring Convocation Alumni Banquet,
has been committed to parish ministry,
the wider church, and to LTSP. After
Handley’s ordination in 1956 by the
United Lutheran Synod of New York and
New England, UCLA, he served in three
parishes: St. Thomas, Jamaica (Queens),
New York, Christ Lutheran in York,
Pennsylvania, and Grace Lutheran in
Waynesboro, Virginia. Following his
eighteen years of service in the parish,
Handley was chosen to be Secretary and
Administrative Assistant to the Bishop of
the Virginia Synod of the Lutheran
Church in America and later the ELCA.
26 PS ✛ FALL 2010
Having gone from the parish to synodical
service, his next journey led him to be the
first ever Coordinator of Ministry Lead-
ership, Region 7 (Northeast Region). As
the pioneer of this position in the newly
formed ELCA, Handley’s home base was
located on campus at LTSP from 1988-
1995. His synod, churchwide, and ecu-
menical positions included Coordinator
of Evangelism Program Ministry with the
National Council of Churches, and Co-
ordinator of United Lutheran Appeal in
the Virginia and Metropolitan Washing-
ton DC Synods. As he started his min-
istry as a parish pastor, so he returned to
parish as interim pastor at Redeemer
Lutheran Church, Trenton, New Jersey,
and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in
Gaithersburg, Maryland.
classNOTES
(photo: Reading Eagle online)
The Rev. Thomas F. Irwin
Jr., MDiv ’79, was installed
September 26, 2010 as the
new pastor of Calvary
Lutheran Church, Laurel-
dale, PA.
Dr. Peter Pettit, MDiv ’80, department of reli-
As we lift Handley’s gifts and talents gion studies and the director of the Institute
given to congregations, synods, and the for Jewish Christian Understanding at Muh-
wider church, we can not forget his love lenberg College, was promoted to associate
of history and the church. His many writ- professor. Pettit received his bachelor’s degree
from Princeton University, his master of di-
ings on the history of Lutherans and bi- vinity from LTSP, and his master of arts and
ographical sketches of pastors in Virginia, doctorate from Claremont Graduate University.
the Ministerium of Pennsylvania,
Lutheran churches in Central Trenton, Julie DeWerth, MDiv ’91, began call as pas-
tor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in
New Jersey, and reflections on the 300th King of Prussia, PA, on June 1, 2010.
anniversary of the ordination of Justus
Falckner (the first Lutheran ordained in Wolfgang Herz-Lane, MDiv ’01, was installed
America) show his keen interest of as bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod
of the ELCA on September 18, 2010, in Balti-
Lutheran history. No wonder LTSP is so
more, MD. He served as a parish pastor in
blessed to have George Handley as the Camden, NJ, before being elected to the six
current President of the Lutheran year term as synod bishop at the synod’s
Archives Center at Philadelphia and his 2010 Assembly on June 12, 2010. ELCA Pre-
siding Bishop The Rev. Mark Hanson deliv-
leadership on the Lutheran Historical So-
ered the sermon. Also installed at the service
ciety of the Mid-Atlantic. His diligent as an assistant to the bishop was LTSP alum-
work can be seen in the Heinecken Room nus The Rev. Ed Kay, MDiv ’07.
in The Brossman Center at LTSP as
many hours were spent arranging the Dr. Dirk Lange, MDiv, STM ’01, associate pro-
fessor of worship, Luther Seminary, is the re-
shelves with books appropriate for a pas-
cipient of a 2010-11 Lilly Theological
tor’s study in the Heinecken years. Research Grant for the project “Rethinking
As parish pastor, synodical assistant, Communal Prayer: A Baptismal Discipline.”
church wide coordinator, and historian of
Matthew Cimorelli, MDiv ’03, is serving as
the Lutheran Church, George Handley
pastor at Reformation Lutheran Church,
brings distinction to LTSP in areas of West Long Branch, NJ.
leadership, faithful service, and a signifi-
cant contribution to the life of the Darryl W. Kozak, MDiv ’06, returned to his
church. Therefore, The Rev. George E. native Southern California this past summer,
Handley, ’56 is awarded the 2010 Distin-
and on August 15, 2010, began a new call as
the Associate Pastor of Trinity Lutheran
guished Alumni/ae Award. Church, Manhattan Beach, CA. He had
served his first call in Brooklyn, NY.
J. Lena Horst Warren, MDiv ’08, was or-
dained on October 17, 2010, at St. Mark
Lutheran Church in Norwich, CT. Warren has
received a call to Salem and Immanuel
Lutheran Churches in Naugatuck, CT.
www.Ltsp.edu PS ✛ FALL 2010
Teal Anderson, MDiv ’10, was ordained and
installed at Faith Lutheran Church, Logans-
port, IN, on October 9, 2010.
May 3 and 4, 2011
Donna M. House, MDiv ’10, and Scott A.
Staub, MDiv ’10, were ordained on July 25, (Tuesday and Wednesday only, note later dates)
2010, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Boyer-
town, PA. The preacher was The Rev. Marcia
Bell. Staub has been called to Trinity Lutheran One God, Many Christs:
Church, Topton, PA, and House has been
called to St. John’s Lutheran, Nazareth, PA. How Jesus is Incarnated
Jocelyn Johnston, MDiv ’10,
was ordained on September
in America
19, 2010, at St. Paul Reunion Class Anniversaries celebrated
Lutheran Church, East Wind- at Spring Convocation: 1936, 1941,
sor, NJ, and has been called
1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971,
to serve as pastor at Zion
Lutheran Church, Barnegat 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001,
Light, NJ. 2006, 2010
Martin Lohrmann, PhD ’10, This year’s presenter is
was installed on January 6,
2010 as pastor of Christ
Richard Wrightman Fox,
who is Professor of History
Ascension Lutheran Church
in Chestnut Hill, PA, which is at the University of South-
celebrating its 150th anniver- ern California (USC). His
sary. www.christascension.org
scholarship has centered on the crossroads of
American social, cultural, and intellectual his-
Christine Myers Parker, MDiv ’10, and Mark E.
Parker, MDiv ’07, are pleased to announce tory in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
the arrival of Luke Raymond Parker, 7 lbs. 14 with a special focus on how religion and secu-
oz., 22 inches, born September 1, 2010.
larity in the United States have evolved in rela-
Elizabeth Nees, MDiv ’10,
tion to one another.
was ordained on September
19, 2010, at St. Paul Look for Alumni Spring Convocation 2011
Lutheran Church, East
registration material in your mail in early
Windsor, NJ, and has been
called to serve as pastor at
February and online at www.Ltsp.edu/
convocation11.
Saint Paul Lutheran Church,
Millville, NJ.
Nominations for the Distinguished
The Rev. William R. Petersen, MDiv ’10, Alumnus/a Award 2011 must be in by
was called to Faith Lutheran Church, East December 31, 2010. The award will be given at
Hartford, CT, on May 23, 2010, and ordained the Alumni Banquet on Tuesday evening, May
on June 4, 2010.
3, 2011. Please nominate via email to
eanderson@Ltsp.edu, or nominate online at
www.Ltsp.edu/award.
www.Ltsp.edu/convocation11
www.Ltsp.edu 27
 faculty/staff
NEWS✛NOTES
FACULTY/STAFF ACTIVITIES
DR. KATIE DAY The Charles A.
Scheiren Professor, Church and
Society; Director, Metropolitan/
Urban Concentration July 2010:
presented to General Assembly,
PCUSA, policy “Gun Violence,
Gospel Values,” which was passed
unanimously; continued research
on Germantown Avenue project
which is featured on the Duke Di-
vinity Webizine, Faith and Leader-
ship (www.faithandleadership.
com/multimedia/faith-the-av-
enue); October 2010: presented
paper at Society for the Scientific
Study of Religion (SSSR) on an
aspect of that research, “Seeking
Professor Wengert Receives (and selling) the Shalom of the
City: Methodological Considera-
Honorary Doctor of Divinity tions in Measuring the Economic
Impact of Urban Congregations;”
THE REV. DR . TIMOTHY J. WENGERT, Ministerium of met with Interfaith Relations
Committee of the National Coun-
Pennsylvania Professor, Reformation History at The Lutheran
cil of Churches for presentation
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, delivered the baccalau- on, and tour of, Germantown Av-
reate sermon at Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin, and enue; attended AAR (American
received an honorary doctorate of divinity. Academy of Religion) and chaired
Prof. Wengert teaches and does research in Reformation session on Public Theology and
co-chaired a consultation on Reli-
History and the Lutheran Confessions. In 1981, he discovered gion and Cities; Temple Univer-
and published notes on two of Martin Luther’s sermons from sity Honors Class: “Religion in
1520. He is associate editor of the Lutheran Quarterly and has Philadelphia: Ethnographic Re-
edited two volumes of essays on Martin Luther by scholars search Methods;” November 2010:
participant, Engaged Scholars
whose contributions first appeared in the journal: “Harvesting Conference (sponsored by Hart-
Martin Luther’s Reflections on Theology, Church, and Ethics” ford Seminary in Louisville, KY);
and “The Pastoral Luther: Essays in Luther’s Practical Theol- active locally in Heeding God’s
ogy.” He served on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Amer- Call (a faith-based gun violence
prevention organization); contin-
ica (ELCA)-United Methodist dialogue, on the ELCA Task
ued to meet and work with the
Force for Studies in Sexuality, and as co-chair of the Commis- Communal Discernment Task
sion of the World Mennonite Conference and the Lutheran Force of the ELCA.
World Federation.
In February 2000, the city of Bretten, Germany, awarded DR. DAVID D. GRAFTON
Director of Graduate Studies;
him the Melanchthon Prize for contributions to the field of Associate Professor of Islamic
Reformation scholarship, especially for his book on Philip Studies and Christian-Muslim
Melanchthon and Erasmus. This is the first time that the Relations January 2010: served as
prize, awarded every three years, was given to an American. resource scholar for Luther Col-
lege Globalization Trip to Egypt;
Carthage College is a four-year, liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical
presented “Islam in America,”
Lutheran Church in America, located in Kenosha, Wisconsin (information about the ELCA Ministerium of Western
award from Carthage College). Montgomery County; February-
May 2010: served as presenter in
28 PS ✛ FALL 2010
the ELCA pilot program for So-
journers short term mission proj-
ects; May 2010: presented “Images
of Muslims in America,” New Jer-
sey Synod Assembly; April 2010:
moderated panel at the Interna-
tional Symposium on Islam, Salva-
tion and the Fate of Others,
University of Illinois; published
“The Arabs of Pentecost: Greco-
Roman Views of the Arabs and
their Cultural Identity,” Theologi-
cal Review 30/2 (2009): 183-201;
reviewed: A Common Word: Mus-
lims and Christians on Loving God
and Neighbor, Miroslav Volf,
Ghazi bin Muhammad, and
Melissa Yarrington (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans, 2010), Journal of Ecu-
menical Studies, forthcoming 45,
No. 2 (Spring 2010): 315; “That
All May Believe: A Theology of
the Gospel and the Mission of the
Church,” Carl E. Braaten (Eerd-
mans, Grand Rapids, 2008), Inter-
pretation: A Journal of Bible and
Theology 64, no. 2 (April 2010):
216-218; “The Theology of Tariq
Ramadan: A Catholic Perspec-
tive,” Gregory Baum, (Notre
Dame, IN: University of Notre
Dame Press, 2009): Journal of Ecu-
menical Studies 45, no. 1 (Winter
2010): 149.
DR. ERIK M. HEEN Professor
of New Testament and Greek
reviewed Sharper Than A Two-
Edged Sword: Preaching, Teaching,
www.Ltsp.edu
and Living the Bible, Michael
Root and James J. Buckley, eds.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008 in
Currents 37:2 (April 2010), 148-
49; reviewed Teaching Unprepared
Students: Strategies for Promoting
Success and Retention in Higher
Education by Kathleen F. Gabriel
(Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing,
2008). Teaching in Theology and
Religion 13:1 ( January 2010), 73-
75; published “Theological Per-
spective” on Rev. 5:11-14 for the
Third Sunday After Easter; Rev.
7:9-17 for the Fourth Sunday
After Easter; and Rev. 21:1-6 for
the Fifth Sunday After Easter in
Feasting on the Word: Preaching
the Common Lectionary. Year C,
Volume 2, Edited by David L.
Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor
(Louisville: Westminster John
Knox Press, 2009), 414-18; 438-
42; 462-66; January 2010: pre-
sented “The New Testament
Theology of Diaconia,” Diaconal
Ministry Formation Event, the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Gettysburg; February 2010: pre-
sented “Lenten Texts,” Upper
Bucks Conference Retreat, Little
Zion Lutheran Church, Telford,
Pennsylvania; April 2010: pre-
sented “The Typological Exegesis
of Scripture,” at a gathering of
Book of Faith Initiative advocates,
LTSP; “Lectionary Texts in the
Season of Pentecost: Year C,”
Upper Montgomery Lutheran
Conference, St. Luke’s Lutheran
Church, Zieglerville, Pennsylva-
nia; “The ELCA’s Understanding
of Scripture,” A Dialogue with
Mark Chavez, St. James Lutheran
Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylva-
nia; May 2010: presented “Luther-
ans and the Bible: Past, Present,
and Future” at three sessions dur-
ing the Upper Susquehanna Synod
Bishop’s Retreat, Penn Wells Hotel
and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church,
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania; June
2010: workshop facilitator, “Easier
Said Than Done: The Bible as
PS ✛ FALL 2010
Norm in the ELCA and Beyond;”
presented Keynote Address,
“Lutherans and the Bible: Old and
New,” La Crosse Area Synod
(ELCA) Assembly: “Rooted in
the Word.” Decorah, Iowa.
DR. MICHAEL KRENTZ Director
of Music Ministries/Seminary
Cantor December 2009: organ ac-
companist for annual performance
of Messiah at Cathedral Church of
the Nativity, Bethlehem, Pennsyl-
vania; January 2010: lead work-
shop entitled “I Have to Play a
Gospel Hymn — Help” for Janu-
ary Jumpstart hosted by seven
chapters of the American Guild of
Organists; presented “Theology
on Tap” at St. Paul’s Lutheran
Church, Doylestown, Pennsylva-
nia; February 2010: played recital
in the Lenten organ recital series
at First Presbyterian Church, Al-
lentown, Pennsylvania; March
2010: taught a session on music
and worship for Project Yachad,
The Lehigh Valley Coalition for
Jewish Education; July 2010: led
workshop for the conference of
Region 1 of the Association of
Lutheran Church Musicians,
“Music for Organ and Instrument
with Limited Resources.”
MATTHEW O’REAR Associate
Director of Admissions opened
LTSP’s 147th academic year with
Hymn Festival along with Michael
Krentz, Director of Music Min-
istries/Seminary Cantor, and
Sheila D. Booker, Assistant to the
Director of Music Ministries.
Used words and music given, in
one way or another, by four emi-
nent musicians and a poet who
have died in the past year — Paul
Manz, Richard Proulx, Horace
Clarence Boyer, The Rev. Herbert
F. Brokering and Richard Hillert.
DR. JON PAHL Professor, DR. NELSON RIVERA Associate
History of Christianity in North Professor, Systematic Theology
America; Director, MA Programs and Hispanic Ministry; Director,
published “Empire of Sacrifice: Latino Concentration August
2010: published The Earth Is Our
The Religious Origins of Ameri-
can Violence” (NYU Press, 2010); Home, a book on Mary Midgley’s
evolutionary epistemology (Im-
“The Core of Lutheran CORE:
American Civil Religion and print Academic, Exeter, England);
White Male Backlash,” in the March 2010: presented as part of a
“Journal of Lutheran Ethics,” May panel on Latina/o Pedagogy at
Palmer Theological Seminary;
2010, online at www.Ltsp.edu/
LJE-Pahl; “Music is Prayer: Re- July 2010: taught the course
considering Secular Music,” in the “Confesiones Luteranas” at Evan-
October 2010 issue of the Journal gelical Seminary of Puerto Rico.
of Lutheran Ethics. The article ad-
dresses the work of “The Groove
Daemons,” a band made up of
LTSP alumni, students, faculty,
and friends, and their exploration
of the theological, spiritual, and
ethical implications of six secular
tunes, view online at www.Ltsp.
edu/LJE-Groove; lectured or de-
livered papers at The University of
Houston, The University of Penn-
sylvania, Temple University,
Carthage College (WI), and The
University of Chicago; continues
active as co-chair of the Religions,
Social Conflict, and Peace Group
in the American Academy of Reli- DR. J. JAYAKIRAN SEBASTIAN
H. George Anderson Professor
gion, and in interreligious dia-
of Mission and Cultures; Director,
logue with Jews, Muslims, and
Hindus; steered the new Master of Multicultural Mission Resource
Arts in Public Leadership to ap- Center published Enlivening the
proval by the PA Department of Past: An Asian Theologian’s:
Education. Engagement with the Early Teachers
of Faith (Gorgias Press, 2009);
January 2010: participant and
presented “Pierced by the curved
continued on page 31
www.Ltsp.edu 29
 faculty/staff
NEWS✛NOTES
FACULTY/STAFF ACTIVITIES
DR. KATIE DAY The Charles A.
Scheiren Professor, Church and
Society; Director, Metropolitan/
Urban Concentration July 2010:
presented to General Assembly,
PCUSA, policy “Gun Violence,
Gospel Values,” which was passed
unanimously; continued research
on Germantown Avenue project
which is featured on the Duke Di-
vinity Webizine, Faith and Leader-
ship (www.faithandleadership.
com/multimedia/faith-the-av-
enue); October 2010: presented
paper at Society for the Scientific
Study of Religion (SSSR) on an
aspect of that research, “Seeking
Professor Wengert Receives (and selling) the Shalom of the
City: Methodological Considera-
Honorary Doctor of Divinity tions in Measuring the Economic
Impact of Urban Congregations;”
THE REV. DR . TIMOTHY J. WENGERT, Ministerium of met with Interfaith Relations
Committee of the National Coun-
Pennsylvania Professor, Reformation History at The Lutheran
cil of Churches for presentation
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, delivered the baccalau- on, and tour of, Germantown Av-
reate sermon at Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin, and enue; attended AAR (American
received an honorary doctorate of divinity. Academy of Religion) and chaired
Prof. Wengert teaches and does research in Reformation session on Public Theology and
co-chaired a consultation on Reli-
History and the Lutheran Confessions. In 1981, he discovered gion and Cities; Temple Univer-
and published notes on two of Martin Luther’s sermons from sity Honors Class: “Religion in
1520. He is associate editor of the Lutheran Quarterly and has Philadelphia: Ethnographic Re-
edited two volumes of essays on Martin Luther by scholars search Methods;” November 2010:
participant, Engaged Scholars
whose contributions first appeared in the journal: “Harvesting Conference (sponsored by Hart-
Martin Luther’s Reflections on Theology, Church, and Ethics” ford Seminary in Louisville, KY);
and “The Pastoral Luther: Essays in Luther’s Practical Theol- active locally in Heeding God’s
ogy.” He served on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Amer- Call (a faith-based gun violence
prevention organization); contin-
ica (ELCA)-United Methodist dialogue, on the ELCA Task
ued to meet and work with the
Force for Studies in Sexuality, and as co-chair of the Commis- Communal Discernment Task
sion of the World Mennonite Conference and the Lutheran Force of the ELCA.
World Federation.
In February 2000, the city of Bretten, Germany, awarded DR. DAVID D. GRAFTON
Director of Graduate Studies;
him the Melanchthon Prize for contributions to the field of Associate Professor of Islamic
Reformation scholarship, especially for his book on Philip Studies and Christian-Muslim
Melanchthon and Erasmus. This is the first time that the Relations January 2010: served as
prize, awarded every three years, was given to an American. resource scholar for Luther Col-
lege Globalization Trip to Egypt;
Carthage College is a four-year, liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical
presented “Islam in America,”
Lutheran Church in America, located in Kenosha, Wisconsin (information about the ELCA Ministerium of Western
award from Carthage College). Montgomery County; February-
May 2010: served as presenter in
28 PS ✛ FALL 2010
the ELCA pilot program for So-
journers short term mission proj-
ects; May 2010: presented “Images
of Muslims in America,” New Jer-
sey Synod Assembly; April 2010:
moderated panel at the Interna-
tional Symposium on Islam, Salva-
tion and the Fate of Others,
University of Illinois; published
“The Arabs of Pentecost: Greco-
Roman Views of the Arabs and
their Cultural Identity,” Theologi-
cal Review 30/2 (2009): 183-201;
reviewed: A Common Word: Mus-
lims and Christians on Loving God
and Neighbor, Miroslav Volf,
Ghazi bin Muhammad, and
Melissa Yarrington (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans, 2010), Journal of Ecu-
menical Studies, forthcoming 45,
No. 2 (Spring 2010): 315; “That
All May Believe: A Theology of
the Gospel and the Mission of the
Church,” Carl E. Braaten (Eerd-
mans, Grand Rapids, 2008), Inter-
pretation: A Journal of Bible and
Theology 64, no. 2 (April 2010):
216-218; “The Theology of Tariq
Ramadan: A Catholic Perspec-
tive,” Gregory Baum, (Notre
Dame, IN: University of Notre
Dame Press, 2009): Journal of Ecu-
menical Studies 45, no. 1 (Winter
2010): 149.
DR. ERIK M. HEEN Professor
of New Testament and Greek
reviewed Sharper Than A Two-
Edged Sword: Preaching, Teaching,
www.Ltsp.edu
and Living the Bible, Michael
Root and James J. Buckley, eds.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008 in
Currents 37:2 (April 2010), 148-
49; reviewed Teaching Unprepared
Students: Strategies for Promoting
Success and Retention in Higher
Education by Kathleen F. Gabriel
(Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing,
2008). Teaching in Theology and
Religion 13:1 ( January 2010), 73-
75; published “Theological Per-
spective” on Rev. 5:11-14 for the
Third Sunday After Easter; Rev.
7:9-17 for the Fourth Sunday
After Easter; and Rev. 21:1-6 for
the Fifth Sunday After Easter in
Feasting on the Word: Preaching
the Common Lectionary. Year C,
Volume 2, Edited by David L.
Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor
(Louisville: Westminster John
Knox Press, 2009), 414-18; 438-
42; 462-66; January 2010: pre-
sented “The New Testament
Theology of Diaconia,” Diaconal
Ministry Formation Event, the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Gettysburg; February 2010: pre-
sented “Lenten Texts,” Upper
Bucks Conference Retreat, Little
Zion Lutheran Church, Telford,
Pennsylvania; April 2010: pre-
sented “The Typological Exegesis
of Scripture,” at a gathering of
Book of Faith Initiative advocates,
LTSP; “Lectionary Texts in the
Season of Pentecost: Year C,”
Upper Montgomery Lutheran
Conference, St. Luke’s Lutheran
Church, Zieglerville, Pennsylva-
nia; “The ELCA’s Understanding
of Scripture,” A Dialogue with
Mark Chavez, St. James Lutheran
Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylva-
nia; May 2010: presented “Luther-
ans and the Bible: Past, Present,
and Future” at three sessions dur-
ing the Upper Susquehanna Synod
Bishop’s Retreat, Penn Wells Hotel
and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church,
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania; June
2010: workshop facilitator, “Easier
Said Than Done: The Bible as
PS ✛ FALL 2010
Norm in the ELCA and Beyond;”
presented Keynote Address,
“Lutherans and the Bible: Old and
New,” La Crosse Area Synod
(ELCA) Assembly: “Rooted in
the Word.” Decorah, Iowa.
DR. MICHAEL KRENTZ Director
of Music Ministries/Seminary
Cantor December 2009: organ ac-
companist for annual performance
of Messiah at Cathedral Church of
the Nativity, Bethlehem, Pennsyl-
vania; January 2010: lead work-
shop entitled “I Have to Play a
Gospel Hymn — Help” for Janu-
ary Jumpstart hosted by seven
chapters of the American Guild of
Organists; presented “Theology
on Tap” at St. Paul’s Lutheran
Church, Doylestown, Pennsylva-
nia; February 2010: played recital
in the Lenten organ recital series
at First Presbyterian Church, Al-
lentown, Pennsylvania; March
2010: taught a session on music
and worship for Project Yachad,
The Lehigh Valley Coalition for
Jewish Education; July 2010: led
workshop for the conference of
Region 1 of the Association of
Lutheran Church Musicians,
“Music for Organ and Instrument
with Limited Resources.”
MATTHEW O’REAR Associate
Director of Admissions opened
LTSP’s 147th academic year with
Hymn Festival along with Michael
Krentz, Director of Music Min-
istries/Seminary Cantor, and
Sheila D. Booker, Assistant to the
Director of Music Ministries.
Used words and music given, in
one way or another, by four emi-
nent musicians and a poet who
have died in the past year — Paul
Manz, Richard Proulx, Horace
Clarence Boyer, The Rev. Herbert
F. Brokering and Richard Hillert.
DR. JON PAHL Professor, DR. NELSON RIVERA Associate
History of Christianity in North Professor, Systematic Theology
America; Director, MA Programs and Hispanic Ministry; Director,
published “Empire of Sacrifice: Latino Concentration August
2010: published The Earth Is Our
The Religious Origins of Ameri-
can Violence” (NYU Press, 2010); Home, a book on Mary Midgley’s
evolutionary epistemology (Im-
“The Core of Lutheran CORE:
American Civil Religion and print Academic, Exeter, England);
White Male Backlash,” in the March 2010: presented as part of a
“Journal of Lutheran Ethics,” May panel on Latina/o Pedagogy at
Palmer Theological Seminary;
2010, online at www.Ltsp.edu/
LJE-Pahl; “Music is Prayer: Re- July 2010: taught the course
considering Secular Music,” in the “Confesiones Luteranas” at Evan-
October 2010 issue of the Journal gelical Seminary of Puerto Rico.
of Lutheran Ethics. The article ad-
dresses the work of “The Groove
Daemons,” a band made up of
LTSP alumni, students, faculty,
and friends, and their exploration
of the theological, spiritual, and
ethical implications of six secular
tunes, view online at www.Ltsp.
edu/LJE-Groove; lectured or de-
livered papers at The University of
Houston, The University of Penn-
sylvania, Temple University,
Carthage College (WI), and The
University of Chicago; continues
active as co-chair of the Religions,
Social Conflict, and Peace Group
in the American Academy of Reli- DR. J. JAYAKIRAN SEBASTIAN
H. George Anderson Professor
gion, and in interreligious dia-
of Mission and Cultures; Director,
logue with Jews, Muslims, and
Hindus; steered the new Master of Multicultural Mission Resource
Arts in Public Leadership to ap- Center published Enlivening the
proval by the PA Department of Past: An Asian Theologian’s:
Education. Engagement with the Early Teachers
of Faith (Gorgias Press, 2009);
January 2010: participant and
presented “Pierced by the curved
continued on page 31
www.Ltsp.edu 29

f
Dr. Karyn L. Wiseman Dr. Wayne E. Croft, Sr.
aculty Additions and Changes for the 2010 Academic Year
ACTIONS by the LTSP BOARD OF TRUSTEES at their spring meeting included two new faculty appointments and granting of tenure
to a member of the faculty. The Rev. Dr. Karyn L. Wiseman was appointed Assistant Professor of Homiletics, and began her appoint-
ment July 1, 2010. The Rev. Dr. Wayne E. Croft., Sr., will join the faculty in February, 2011 as the Jeremiah A. Wright, Sr. Associate
Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics in African American Studies. The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney was named Associate Professor of Hebrew
and Old Testament, with tenure.
In a way this is a homecoming for Drs. Wiseman and Croft, who were both students in the Doctor of Philosophy program at Drew
University, Madison, New Jersey.
The Rev. Dr. Karyn L. Wiseman
Prof. Wiseman came to LTSP from Hood
Theological Seminary, Salisbury, North
Carolina, where she held the position of
Associate Professor of Ministerial Studies,
and also directed Hood’s Supervised MIn-
istry program and was coordinator of
United Methodist Studies. She is a mem-
ber of the American Academy of Religion,
Academy of Homiletics, Society of Biblical
Literature, and Association of Theological
Field Educators.
Prof. Wiseman was awarded a Doctor of
Philosophy in Liturgical Studies with con-
centration in Preaching and Worship, with
additional specializations/extensive work in
Postmodern/Emergent Worship, Liturgy,
and Worship Space and Design, from Drew
University in 2006, receiving the Dean’s
Honor Award as the outstanding student of
the class. Her dissertation topic was
“Grace Space: The Creation of Worship
Space for the Postmodern/Emerging Church.”
She also holds a Master of Philosophy
from Drew (2005), Master of Divinity (with
honors) from St. Paul School of Theology,
Kansas CIty, Missouri (1996), and Bachelor
of Arts in History from Angelo State Uni-
versity, San Angelo, Texas (1985).
30 PS ✛ FALL 2010
Dr. Wil Gafney
Elder/Full Member of the Kansas East
Conference of the United Methodist
Church, 1996, Prof. Wiseman served local
churches in Kansas and New Jersey as
senior pastor for 15 years.
The Rev. Dr. Wayne E. Croft, Sr.
Prof. Croft believes that the academy, the
pulpit, and the community need to be con-
nected, and he plans to remain in the pul-
pit at The Church of the Redeemer Baptist
in South Philadelphia as he joins the fac-
ulty part time in February, maintaining that
connection. He last served in academia as
Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Litur-
gics at Palmer Theological Seminary of
Eastern University.
Prof. Croft earned a Doctor of Ministry,
with distinction, Master of Philosophy, and
Doctor of Philosophy from Drew University
in Madison, New Jersey. His doctoral dis-
sertation was entitled “You Jes’ Wait A Lit-
tle: A Comparison of the Motif of Hope in
African American Preaching During the
Slave and Post-Civil War Periods.” He
holds a Master of Theology from Princeton
Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity
from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary
(now Palmer Theological Seminary), a
Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from
Trinity College, and an Associates degree
from Pinebrook Junior College.
Pastor of The Church of the Redeemer
since June 1993, the membership has
grown during his tenure from 177 to over
1,900. Prof. Croft serves as founder of the
Redeemer Renaissance Community Devel-
opment Corporation, Dean of the Pennsyl-
vania Eastern Keystone Baptist
Association, is a member of the Kappa
Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and has been in-
ducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Board of Preachers of Morehouse College in
Atlanta, Georgia.
Prof. Croft’s sermons, along with the ar-
ticle What Does it Mean to Preach Bibli-
cally Today (Winter 2003), have been
published in The African American Pulpit,
and he has also contributed to the book
From One Brother to Another: Voices of
African-American Men, Volume II (Judson
Press). He was one of the preachers during
Preaching with Power in 2009, and is al-
ready active in activities of the Urban The-
ological Institute at LTSP.
The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney
Prof. Gafney, who joined the faculty as an
assistant professor in 2005, was granted
tenure and raised to the position of Associ-
continued on page 32
www.Ltsp.edu
end of a rainbow: Decolonizing
the Body of the Martyr” at “Envi-
sioning Postcolonial Theologies to
Decolonize the Body of Christ,”
United Theological College, Ban-
galore, India; March 2010:
keynote address, World Day of
Prayer, The Ecumenical Fellow-
ship of Indian Churches in
Philadelphia, at St. Thomas In-
dian Orthodox Church, on the
theme: “Let everything that has
breath praise God;” June 2010:
faculty mentor, Asian Theological
Summer Institute 2010, LTSP;
participant, Network of Asian
Theological Educators, Planning
Meeting, LTSP; Contribution to a
Festschrift: “On Walking Through
the Cemetery: Continuity and
Transformation in Reading Death
in an Indian-Christian Commu-
nity,” in Tat-siong Benny Liew, ed.,
Postcolonial Interventions: Essays
in Honor of R.S. Sugirtharajah
(Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009),
pp. 178-189; “Foreword,” in Rob
Arner, Consistently Pro-Life: The
Ethics of Bloodshed in Ancient
Christianity (Eugene, OR: Pick-
wick Publications, 2010), pp. vii-
ix; “Tribute and Introduction,” in
Vanlalthlana, Doctrine of Grace:
Augustine’s Doctrine of Grace and
Human Free Will and an Appraisal
from a Mizo Christian Perspective
(Delhi: ISPCK, 2010), pp. xi-xiii;
reviewed The South Indian Pente-
costal Movement in the Twentieth
Century, Michael Bergunder
(Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge,
U.K.: Eerdmans, 2008), in Theolo-
gische Literaturzeitung, 135.
Jahrgang, Heft 1 ( January 2010),
pp. 112-114.
PS ✛ FALL 2010
DR. TIMOTHY J. WENGERT
Ministerium of Pennsylvania
Professor of the History of Chris-
tianity May 2010: Baccalaureate
preacher at Carthage College and
recipient of an honorary doctor-
ate; led colloquy at the Duke Au-
gust Library (Wolfenbüttel,
Germany) celebrating the 450th
anniversary of the death of Philip
Melanchthon (1497-1560); July
2010: co-chair and chief drafter of
Healing Memories: Reconciling in
Christ — Report of the Lutheran-
Mennonite International Study
Commission, which was published
for the deliberations of the
Lutheran World Federation, lead-
ing to the vote to ask the Mennon-
ite World Conference for
forgiveness for the past persecu-
tion of Anabaptists by Lutheran
reformers; published collection of
essays, Philip Melanchthon,
Speaker of the Reformation (Ash-
gate Variorum Press).
DR. KARYN L. WISEMAN
Assistant Professor of Homiletics
presented “Best Practices for
Teaching Preaching: How the
Summer of Love Led Me to Using
Rubrics for Evaluating Preaching;”
at the Academy of Homiletics in
Washington, DC; selected to
preach to the Academy of
Homiletics, preaching a sermon
entitled “Defying Gravity;” pub-
lished three entries for the com-
mentary series Feasting on the News Disturbs: Interpreting the
Word (Westminster John Knox Media, “Encounter,” Fall of 2010;
Press), Homiletical Commentary taught four United Methodist
on Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25, Zepha- District workshops in North Car-
niah 1:7, 12-18, and Ezekiel 34: olina on several topics, including
11-16, 20-24; Fall 2009: reviewed Clergy Self-Care, Worship as
William A. Dyrness’s Senses of the Evangelism, and The Emerging
Soul: Art and the Visual in Chris- Church; August 2010: taught two
tian Worship, Homiletics, Fall
2009; reviewed Audrey Borschel’s
Preaching Prophetically When the
workshops on Worship and Bibli-
cal Literacy for Augsburg Fortress.
New Director of Student
Services Joins LTSP
THE REV.JOHN BERNTSEN,
PhD, joined LTSP’s staff on
February 8, 2010, as the
new Director of Student
Services. Pastor Berntsen’s
most recent call was in
parish ministry as senior
pastor at Trinity Evangelical
Lutheran Church, Perkasie,
Pennsylvania. He previously served several congregations in the
Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, ELCA.
Pastor Berntsen has also been involved in formation and aca-
demic pursuits. He served on the Southeastern Pennsylvania
Synod’s Candidacy Committee, as member and chair. He was a
member of the First Call Theological Education Colleague Men-
tor Group, has led a Formation Group at LTSP, and was a Guest
Lecturer in Religion at Muhlenberg College and Adjunct Profes-
sor of Systematic Theology at Mary Immaculate Seminary,
Northampton, Pennsylvania.
Pastor Berntsen graduated cum laude from St. Olaf College
(BA), from Yale University Divinity School (MDiv), and from
Emory University with a PhD in Theological Studies. His doc-
toral thesis was on the theology of Karl Barth. He was also Reader
in philosophy and political science, Manchester College, Oxford
University, England. He was ordained by the Iowa Synod of the
Lutheran Church in America, predecessor body of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, in 1980.
www.Ltsp.edu 31

f
Dr. Karyn L. Wiseman Dr. Wayne E. Croft, Sr.
aculty Additions and Changes for the 2010 Academic Year
ACTIONS by the LTSP BOARD OF TRUSTEES at their spring meeting included two new faculty appointments and granting of tenure
to a member of the faculty. The Rev. Dr. Karyn L. Wiseman was appointed Assistant Professor of Homiletics, and began her appoint-
ment July 1, 2010. The Rev. Dr. Wayne E. Croft., Sr., will join the faculty in February, 2011 as the Jeremiah A. Wright, Sr. Associate
Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics in African American Studies. The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney was named Associate Professor of Hebrew
and Old Testament, with tenure.
In a way this is a homecoming for Drs. Wiseman and Croft, who were both students in the Doctor of Philosophy program at Drew
University, Madison, New Jersey.
The Rev. Dr. Karyn L. Wiseman
Prof. Wiseman came to LTSP from Hood
Theological Seminary, Salisbury, North
Carolina, where she held the position of
Associate Professor of Ministerial Studies,
and also directed Hood’s Supervised MIn-
istry program and was coordinator of
United Methodist Studies. She is a mem-
ber of the American Academy of Religion,
Academy of Homiletics, Society of Biblical
Literature, and Association of Theological
Field Educators.
Prof. Wiseman was awarded a Doctor of
Philosophy in Liturgical Studies with con-
centration in Preaching and Worship, with
additional specializations/extensive work in
Postmodern/Emergent Worship, Liturgy,
and Worship Space and Design, from Drew
University in 2006, receiving the Dean’s
Honor Award as the outstanding student of
the class. Her dissertation topic was
“Grace Space: The Creation of Worship
Space for the Postmodern/Emerging Church.”
She also holds a Master of Philosophy
from Drew (2005), Master of Divinity (with
honors) from St. Paul School of Theology,
Kansas CIty, Missouri (1996), and Bachelor
of Arts in History from Angelo State Uni-
versity, San Angelo, Texas (1985).
30 PS ✛ FALL 2010
Dr. Wil Gafney
Elder/Full Member of the Kansas East
Conference of the United Methodist
Church, 1996, Prof. Wiseman served local
churches in Kansas and New Jersey as
senior pastor for 15 years.
The Rev. Dr. Wayne E. Croft, Sr.
Prof. Croft believes that the academy, the
pulpit, and the community need to be con-
nected, and he plans to remain in the pul-
pit at The Church of the Redeemer Baptist
in South Philadelphia as he joins the fac-
ulty part time in February, maintaining that
connection. He last served in academia as
Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Litur-
gics at Palmer Theological Seminary of
Eastern University.
Prof. Croft earned a Doctor of Ministry,
with distinction, Master of Philosophy, and
Doctor of Philosophy from Drew University
in Madison, New Jersey. His doctoral dis-
sertation was entitled “You Jes’ Wait A Lit-
tle: A Comparison of the Motif of Hope in
African American Preaching During the
Slave and Post-Civil War Periods.” He
holds a Master of Theology from Princeton
Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity
from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary
(now Palmer Theological Seminary), a
Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from
Trinity College, and an Associates degree
from Pinebrook Junior College.
Pastor of The Church of the Redeemer
since June 1993, the membership has
grown during his tenure from 177 to over
1,900. Prof. Croft serves as founder of the
Redeemer Renaissance Community Devel-
opment Corporation, Dean of the Pennsyl-
vania Eastern Keystone Baptist
Association, is a member of the Kappa
Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and has been in-
ducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Board of Preachers of Morehouse College in
Atlanta, Georgia.
Prof. Croft’s sermons, along with the ar-
ticle What Does it Mean to Preach Bibli-
cally Today (Winter 2003), have been
published in The African American Pulpit,
and he has also contributed to the book
From One Brother to Another: Voices of
African-American Men, Volume II (Judson
Press). He was one of the preachers during
Preaching with Power in 2009, and is al-
ready active in activities of the Urban The-
ological Institute at LTSP.
The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney
Prof. Gafney, who joined the faculty as an
assistant professor in 2005, was granted
tenure and raised to the position of Associ-
continued on page 32
www.Ltsp.edu
end of a rainbow: Decolonizing
the Body of the Martyr” at “Envi-
sioning Postcolonial Theologies to
Decolonize the Body of Christ,”
United Theological College, Ban-
galore, India; March 2010:
keynote address, World Day of
Prayer, The Ecumenical Fellow-
ship of Indian Churches in
Philadelphia, at St. Thomas In-
dian Orthodox Church, on the
theme: “Let everything that has
breath praise God;” June 2010:
faculty mentor, Asian Theological
Summer Institute 2010, LTSP;
participant, Network of Asian
Theological Educators, Planning
Meeting, LTSP; Contribution to a
Festschrift: “On Walking Through
the Cemetery: Continuity and
Transformation in Reading Death
in an Indian-Christian Commu-
nity,” in Tat-siong Benny Liew, ed.,
Postcolonial Interventions: Essays
in Honor of R.S. Sugirtharajah
(Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009),
pp. 178-189; “Foreword,” in Rob
Arner, Consistently Pro-Life: The
Ethics of Bloodshed in Ancient
Christianity (Eugene, OR: Pick-
wick Publications, 2010), pp. vii-
ix; “Tribute and Introduction,” in
Vanlalthlana, Doctrine of Grace:
Augustine’s Doctrine of Grace and
Human Free Will and an Appraisal
from a Mizo Christian Perspective
(Delhi: ISPCK, 2010), pp. xi-xiii;
reviewed The South Indian Pente-
costal Movement in the Twentieth
Century, Michael Bergunder
(Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge,
U.K.: Eerdmans, 2008), in Theolo-
gische Literaturzeitung, 135.
Jahrgang, Heft 1 ( January 2010),
pp. 112-114.
PS ✛ FALL 2010
DR. TIMOTHY J. WENGERT
Ministerium of Pennsylvania
Professor of the History of Chris-
tianity May 2010: Baccalaureate
preacher at Carthage College and
recipient of an honorary doctor-
ate; led colloquy at the Duke Au-
gust Library (Wolfenbüttel,
Germany) celebrating the 450th
anniversary of the death of Philip
Melanchthon (1497-1560); July
2010: co-chair and chief drafter of
Healing Memories: Reconciling in
Christ — Report of the Lutheran-
Mennonite International Study
Commission, which was published
for the deliberations of the
Lutheran World Federation, lead-
ing to the vote to ask the Mennon-
ite World Conference for
forgiveness for the past persecu-
tion of Anabaptists by Lutheran
reformers; published collection of
essays, Philip Melanchthon,
Speaker of the Reformation (Ash-
gate Variorum Press).
DR. KARYN L. WISEMAN
Assistant Professor of Homiletics
presented “Best Practices for
Teaching Preaching: How the
Summer of Love Led Me to Using
Rubrics for Evaluating Preaching;”
at the Academy of Homiletics in
Washington, DC; selected to
preach to the Academy of
Homiletics, preaching a sermon
entitled “Defying Gravity;” pub-
lished three entries for the com-
mentary series Feasting on the News Disturbs: Interpreting the
Word (Westminster John Knox Media, “Encounter,” Fall of 2010;
Press), Homiletical Commentary taught four United Methodist
on Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25, Zepha- District workshops in North Car-
niah 1:7, 12-18, and Ezekiel 34: olina on several topics, including
11-16, 20-24; Fall 2009: reviewed Clergy Self-Care, Worship as
William A. Dyrness’s Senses of the Evangelism, and The Emerging
Soul: Art and the Visual in Chris- Church; August 2010: taught two
tian Worship, Homiletics, Fall
2009; reviewed Audrey Borschel’s
Preaching Prophetically When the
workshops on Worship and Bibli-
cal Literacy for Augsburg Fortress.
New Director of Student
Services Joins LTSP
THE REV.JOHN BERNTSEN,
PhD, joined LTSP’s staff on
February 8, 2010, as the
new Director of Student
Services. Pastor Berntsen’s
most recent call was in
parish ministry as senior
pastor at Trinity Evangelical
Lutheran Church, Perkasie,
Pennsylvania. He previously served several congregations in the
Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, ELCA.
Pastor Berntsen has also been involved in formation and aca-
demic pursuits. He served on the Southeastern Pennsylvania
Synod’s Candidacy Committee, as member and chair. He was a
member of the First Call Theological Education Colleague Men-
tor Group, has led a Formation Group at LTSP, and was a Guest
Lecturer in Religion at Muhlenberg College and Adjunct Profes-
sor of Systematic Theology at Mary Immaculate Seminary,
Northampton, Pennsylvania.
Pastor Berntsen graduated cum laude from St. Olaf College
(BA), from Yale University Divinity School (MDiv), and from
Emory University with a PhD in Theological Studies. His doc-
toral thesis was on the theology of Karl Barth. He was also Reader
in philosophy and political science, Manchester College, Oxford
University, England. He was ordained by the Iowa Synod of the
Lutheran Church in America, predecessor body of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, in 1980.
www.Ltsp.edu 31
 PASSAGES
John Newpher, One-time LTSP President
and Parish Pastor
THE REV. DR . JOHN D.
NEWPHER , 90, LTSP
president from 1971 to
1975 and pastor of six
congregations over a 40-
year ministry career, died
Saturday, May 22, 2010,
after a brief illness.
“Dr. Newpher was
president of the seminary
during a time of renewed
commitment to the present campus,” recalled Dr. Robert Blanck,
vice chair of the LTSP Board of Trustees during Newpher’s
tenure. “Before he became president, the seminary had contem-
plated establishing a campus in West Philadelphia with the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and it had also
later considered consolidating with Philadelphia Divinity
School, a seminary of the Episcopal Church. After considerable
discussions, neither step was taken,” Blanck recalled. “So the
focus shifted to the 14-acre Mt. Airy campus. While he was pres-
ident, the Hagan Administration Building was expanded, and
improvements to faculty housing, which had been deferred, were
made.” It was a strong financial period for the school, Blanck noted.
“Faculty Additions” continued from page 30
ate Professor by the Board of Trustees in April 2010. Her course of-
ferings include: Heroines, Harlots and Handmaids: the Women of
the Hebrew Scriptures, Suffering in Job and the Holocaust, An In-
troduction to the Dead Seas Scrolls, and Exodus in African and
African American Exegesis.
Among her research interests are feminist biblical studies, rab-
binic studies, and issues in translation. Her recent projects include
an exploration of motherhood in messianic genealogies in
“Mother Knows Best: Messianic Surrogacy and Sexploitation in
Ruth” in Mother Goose, Mother Jones, Mommie Dearest: Biblical
Mothers and their Children (Brill), and a commentary on Ruth and
article on responsible Christian exegesis of the Hebrew Scriptures
in the African diasporic biblical commentary The Africana Bible
32 PS ✛ FALL 2010
Newpher returned to parish ministry in 1975, becoming pas-
tor of St. John Lutheran Church, Slatington, Pennsylvania, and
retired in 1985.
Born March 28, 1920, the Reading, Pennsylvania native
earned a Bachelor’s degree from Muhlenberg College (1942), a
Bachelor of Divinity (1945) and a Master of Sacred Theology
(1946) from LTSP, and a Doctor of Sacred Theology (1958)
from Temple University. Ordained in 1945 into the United
Lutheran Church in America, he first served a two-point Penn-
sylvania parish, Salem in Audenried and St. Paul in Beaver Mead-
ows, from 1946 to 1948, followed by calls to Christ Lutheran
Church, Camden, NJ (1948-1953); Ascension Lutheran
Church, Philadelphia (1953-1961), and Christ Lutheran
Church, Oreland, Pennsylvania (1961-1971).
He and his widow, the former Suzanne Van Arsdale of
DuBois, Pennsylvania, resided in Ambler, Pennsylvania, and were
members of Upper Dublin Lutheran Church, Ambler. Also sur-
viving are four children from a first marriage with former wife,
Gladys: John, Peter and Valerie Newpher, and Pamela Macon;
and three stepchildren, Karen Vickter, Sandra O’Brien, and
Louis Eble.
Read a detailed obituary at www.Ltsp.edu/newpher
(Fortress). Dr. Gafney has also contributed to the Lutheran Study
Bible, now available through Fortress, and is anticipating publica-
tion of a commentary on the book of Numbers in the “African
Women’s Bible Commentary.” Her essay on transformative teach-
ing practices will be published by the Society of Biblical Literature.
A number of Dr. Gafney’s sermons in Jewish and Christian con-
gregations, along with her complete profile, are posted on her
LTSP profile page, www.Ltsp.edu/people/wgafney.
www.Ltsp.edu
IN MEMORIAM
Priscilla Schlenker Kinney, former vice pres-
ident of the Northeastern Pennsylvania
Synod, and a member of the LTSP Board of
Trustees from 2006 to 2010, died on April 15,
2010. She was first diagnosed with breast
cancer in 1987. Over the last twenty-two
years she experienced several relapses and
underwent a number of surgeries and treat-
ments.
The daughter of The Rev. Luther F. and Eliza-
beth Schlenker, and the wife of The Rev.
George G. Kinney, Priscilla found countless
ways to serve in a church that had not yet
opened doors to women of her generation. In
1963 she was a delegate to the Lutheran
World Federation student assembly in
Helsinki, Finland. Her volunteer and commu-
nity services ranged from organizing a nurs-
ery school at St. John, Jersey City, NJ, to
serving as associate director of community
ministries of Community of Hope in Atlanta,
GA to being a member of the Board of Edu-
cation of Plymouth, CT. Professionally, she
worked for many years for social ministry or-
ganizations. She was director of admissions
and social services for the Lutheran Home in
Worcester, MA, and director of volunteer
services and then director of residential serv-
ices for the Lutheran Home at Topton.
In the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, she
served on the social ministry team, steward-
ship committee, synod council, and strategic
planning task force, and as a member of the
board of LTSP. In 2001 she was elected vice
president of the synod, an office she held
until 2009.
Priscilla is survived by her husband, The Rev.
George Kinney, and by two daughters, Anne
and Katherine.
The Priscilla Schlenker Kinney Fund has
been established at LTSP to provide student
scholarship support. Gifts in Kinney’s name
can be made online at www.Ltsp.edu/give —
select the Fund in the “other” dropdown list.
PS ✛ FALL 2010
The Rev. Phares O. Reitz, Diploma ’39, died July
15, 2010. Although not the oldest pastor in the
Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, he was the
longest serving, having been ordained on May 24,
1939, at the age of twenty-two. He matriculated
at Muhlenberg College at the age of 15, and grad-
uated from LTSP in 1939.
Following his ordination, Pastor Reitz served
Berrysburg-Lykens in Dauphin County, PA (1939-
1950); St. John Lutheran Church, Hamburg, PA
(1950-1956); and St. Stephen Lutheran Church,
Allentown, PA (1957-1975). From 1975 until his
retirement in 1981, he was the administrative
assistant to the president (bishop) of the synod.
The Rev. William E. Dennis, BD ’50, STM ’62,
83, of Stroudsburg, PA, died on October 9, 2010,
at home. Pastor Dennis graduated from Muhlen-
berg College in Allentown, PA, the class of 1947
with an AB degree. From there he attended LTSP,
graduating in 1950 with his theological degree.
Later he earned his STM from the seminary’s
graduate school.
The Rev. Larry Tropp, MDiv ’55, died on Satur-
day, February 13, 2010.
The Rev. Martin L. Acker, BD ’57,
died Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, at
Pocono Medical Center in East
Stroudsburg. He graduated from
Muhlenberg College in 1954,
and LTSP in 1957. He served as
a student assistant minister in
Souderton and Bethlehem, PA,
from 1954 to 1956, while at the same time serv-
ing as weekend chaplain to the Lutheran students
at Lehigh University.
While still in his senior year at LTSP, he was called
by the Board of American Missions of the United
Lutheran Church of America to develop a mission
congregation in King of Prussia, PA.
The Rev. Charles E. Mertz, BD ’57, died June 10,
2010. Following his ordination in 1957, Pastor
Mertz served Zion Lutheran Church, Spring City;
Peace Lutheran Church, Cornwells Heights; St.
John Lutheran Church, Tremont; Zion Lutheran
Church, Donaldson; Christ’s United Lutheran
Church, Ashland; and Reformation Lutheran
Church, Reiffton. He retired in 1992.
The Rev. Donald W. Wert, BD ’59, 77, of Lehigh-
ton, PA, died October 7, 2010, at Lehigh Valley
Hospital, Salisbury Township. He was the hus-
band of Janice Ruth (Reichard) Wert. The couple
celebrated its 56th wedding anniversary last July
31. He graduated from Moravian College, and
LTSP in 1959. He was ordained on May 23, 1959,
by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, fulfilling his
long-time aspirations of becoming a pastor.
The Rev. Richard Stephens, BD ’60, 78, of
Harleysville, PA, retired pastor of Christ Lutheran
Church in Kulpsville, PA, died September 9, 2010,
of kidney cancer at Grand View Hospital in Sell-
ersville, PA.
The Rev. Juan Cobrda, STM ’84,
former bishop of the Slovak Zion
Synod of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA), died July 1, 2010, after
an illness. Cobrda, 79, was also
a former bishop of the United
Evangelical Lutheran Church
(UELC) in Argentina. Cobrda attended LTSP From
1955 to 1958, and earned his STM at LTSP in 1984.
The Rev. Arvo E. Beck, MDiv ’85, of Allentown,
PA, passed away September 28, 2010, in his
home. His wife, The Rev. Barbara A. Davis, died
March 29, 2010. He is survived by daughters, Mia
Clements of Oviedo, FL, and Elizabeth Beck of
New Bronxville, TX; and six grandchildren.
The Rev. Barbara A. Davis, MDiv ’87, died sud-
denly on March 29, 2010. Following her ordination
in 1987, Pastor Davis served as pastor of Media-
tor Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, until 1990. In
that year she married The Rev. Arvo Beck and be-
came co-pastor with him of the Good News Parish
in Greeley, Shohola and Lackawaxen, PA. From
1992 until 1997 she was engaged in advanced
clinical pastoral education, and in 1997 she be-
came assistant chaplain at Good Shepherd Home.
She served there until her retirement in 2007.
The Rev. E. Jeanne Beadle, TEEM, died sud-
denly on October 11, 2010. Ordained in 2003, she
served throughout her ministry as the pastor of
the Deaf Ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church,
Reading, PA. She was one of only eight pastors
serving deaf congregations in the ELCA.
Delores Russell Brown, MDiv UTI ’05, entered
the Church Triumphant on May 25, 2010.
Lois Amutha Fernando, MDiv ’08, died May 10,
2010, after a long illness. She is survived by her
husband, Edwin Fernando, STM ’03, pastor of
Nava Jeevan Lutheran Church, Kendall Park, NJ.
www.Ltsp.edu 33
 PASSAGES
John Newpher, One-time LTSP President
and Parish Pastor
THE REV. DR . JOHN D.
NEWPHER , 90, LTSP
president from 1971 to
1975 and pastor of six
congregations over a 40-
year ministry career, died
Saturday, May 22, 2010,
after a brief illness.
“Dr. Newpher was
president of the seminary
during a time of renewed
commitment to the present campus,” recalled Dr. Robert Blanck,
vice chair of the LTSP Board of Trustees during Newpher’s
tenure. “Before he became president, the seminary had contem-
plated establishing a campus in West Philadelphia with the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and it had also
later considered consolidating with Philadelphia Divinity
School, a seminary of the Episcopal Church. After considerable
discussions, neither step was taken,” Blanck recalled. “So the
focus shifted to the 14-acre Mt. Airy campus. While he was pres-
ident, the Hagan Administration Building was expanded, and
improvements to faculty housing, which had been deferred, were
made.” It was a strong financial period for the school, Blanck noted.
“Faculty Additions” continued from page 30
ate Professor by the Board of Trustees in April 2010. Her course of-
ferings include: Heroines, Harlots and Handmaids: the Women of
the Hebrew Scriptures, Suffering in Job and the Holocaust, An In-
troduction to the Dead Seas Scrolls, and Exodus in African and
African American Exegesis.
Among her research interests are feminist biblical studies, rab-
binic studies, and issues in translation. Her recent projects include
an exploration of motherhood in messianic genealogies in
“Mother Knows Best: Messianic Surrogacy and Sexploitation in
Ruth” in Mother Goose, Mother Jones, Mommie Dearest: Biblical
Mothers and their Children (Brill), and a commentary on Ruth and
article on responsible Christian exegesis of the Hebrew Scriptures
in the African diasporic biblical commentary The Africana Bible
32 PS ✛ FALL 2010
Newpher returned to parish ministry in 1975, becoming pas-
tor of St. John Lutheran Church, Slatington, Pennsylvania, and
retired in 1985.
Born March 28, 1920, the Reading, Pennsylvania native
earned a Bachelor’s degree from Muhlenberg College (1942), a
Bachelor of Divinity (1945) and a Master of Sacred Theology
(1946) from LTSP, and a Doctor of Sacred Theology (1958)
from Temple University. Ordained in 1945 into the United
Lutheran Church in America, he first served a two-point Penn-
sylvania parish, Salem in Audenried and St. Paul in Beaver Mead-
ows, from 1946 to 1948, followed by calls to Christ Lutheran
Church, Camden, NJ (1948-1953); Ascension Lutheran
Church, Philadelphia (1953-1961), and Christ Lutheran
Church, Oreland, Pennsylvania (1961-1971).
He and his widow, the former Suzanne Van Arsdale of
DuBois, Pennsylvania, resided in Ambler, Pennsylvania, and were
members of Upper Dublin Lutheran Church, Ambler. Also sur-
viving are four children from a first marriage with former wife,
Gladys: John, Peter and Valerie Newpher, and Pamela Macon;
and three stepchildren, Karen Vickter, Sandra O’Brien, and
Louis Eble.
Read a detailed obituary at www.Ltsp.edu/newpher
(Fortress). Dr. Gafney has also contributed to the Lutheran Study
Bible, now available through Fortress, and is anticipating publica-
tion of a commentary on the book of Numbers in the “African
Women’s Bible Commentary.” Her essay on transformative teach-
ing practices will be published by the Society of Biblical Literature.
A number of Dr. Gafney’s sermons in Jewish and Christian con-
gregations, along with her complete profile, are posted on her
LTSP profile page, www.Ltsp.edu/people/wgafney.
www.Ltsp.edu
IN MEMORIAM
Priscilla Schlenker Kinney, former vice pres-
ident of the Northeastern Pennsylvania
Synod, and a member of the LTSP Board of
Trustees from 2006 to 2010, died on April 15,
2010. She was first diagnosed with breast
cancer in 1987. Over the last twenty-two
years she experienced several relapses and
underwent a number of surgeries and treat-
ments.
The daughter of The Rev. Luther F. and Eliza-
beth Schlenker, and the wife of The Rev.
George G. Kinney, Priscilla found countless
ways to serve in a church that had not yet
opened doors to women of her generation. In
1963 she was a delegate to the Lutheran
World Federation student assembly in
Helsinki, Finland. Her volunteer and commu-
nity services ranged from organizing a nurs-
ery school at St. John, Jersey City, NJ, to
serving as associate director of community
ministries of Community of Hope in Atlanta,
GA to being a member of the Board of Edu-
cation of Plymouth, CT. Professionally, she
worked for many years for social ministry or-
ganizations. She was director of admissions
and social services for the Lutheran Home in
Worcester, MA, and director of volunteer
services and then director of residential serv-
ices for the Lutheran Home at Topton.
In the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, she
served on the social ministry team, steward-
ship committee, synod council, and strategic
planning task force, and as a member of the
board of LTSP. In 2001 she was elected vice
president of the synod, an office she held
until 2009.
Priscilla is survived by her husband, The Rev.
George Kinney, and by two daughters, Anne
and Katherine.
The Priscilla Schlenker Kinney Fund has
been established at LTSP to provide student
scholarship support. Gifts in Kinney’s name
can be made online at www.Ltsp.edu/give —
select the Fund in the “other” dropdown list.
PS ✛ FALL 2010
The Rev. Phares O. Reitz, Diploma ’39, died July
15, 2010. Although not the oldest pastor in the
Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, he was the
longest serving, having been ordained on May 24,
1939, at the age of twenty-two. He matriculated
at Muhlenberg College at the age of 15, and grad-
uated from LTSP in 1939.
Following his ordination, Pastor Reitz served
Berrysburg-Lykens in Dauphin County, PA (1939-
1950); St. John Lutheran Church, Hamburg, PA
(1950-1956); and St. Stephen Lutheran Church,
Allentown, PA (1957-1975). From 1975 until his
retirement in 1981, he was the administrative
assistant to the president (bishop) of the synod.
The Rev. William E. Dennis, BD ’50, STM ’62,
83, of Stroudsburg, PA, died on October 9, 2010,
at home. Pastor Dennis graduated from Muhlen-
berg College in Allentown, PA, the class of 1947
with an AB degree. From there he attended LTSP,
graduating in 1950 with his theological degree.
Later he earned his STM from the seminary’s
graduate school.
The Rev. Larry Tropp, MDiv ’55, died on Satur-
day, February 13, 2010.
The Rev. Martin L. Acker, BD ’57,
died Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, at
Pocono Medical Center in East
Stroudsburg. He graduated from
Muhlenberg College in 1954,
and LTSP in 1957. He served as
a student assistant minister in
Souderton and Bethlehem, PA,
from 1954 to 1956, while at the same time serv-
ing as weekend chaplain to the Lutheran students
at Lehigh University.
While still in his senior year at LTSP, he was called
by the Board of American Missions of the United
Lutheran Church of America to develop a mission
congregation in King of Prussia, PA.
The Rev. Charles E. Mertz, BD ’57, died June 10,
2010. Following his ordination in 1957, Pastor
Mertz served Zion Lutheran Church, Spring City;
Peace Lutheran Church, Cornwells Heights; St.
John Lutheran Church, Tremont; Zion Lutheran
Church, Donaldson; Christ’s United Lutheran
Church, Ashland; and Reformation Lutheran
Church, Reiffton. He retired in 1992.
The Rev. Donald W. Wert, BD ’59, 77, of Lehigh-
ton, PA, died October 7, 2010, at Lehigh Valley
Hospital, Salisbury Township. He was the hus-
band of Janice Ruth (Reichard) Wert. The couple
celebrated its 56th wedding anniversary last July
31. He graduated from Moravian College, and
LTSP in 1959. He was ordained on May 23, 1959,
by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, fulfilling his
long-time aspirations of becoming a pastor.
The Rev. Richard Stephens, BD ’60, 78, of
Harleysville, PA, retired pastor of Christ Lutheran
Church in Kulpsville, PA, died September 9, 2010,
of kidney cancer at Grand View Hospital in Sell-
ersville, PA.
The Rev. Juan Cobrda, STM ’84,
former bishop of the Slovak Zion
Synod of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA), died July 1, 2010, after
an illness. Cobrda, 79, was also
a former bishop of the United
Evangelical Lutheran Church
(UELC) in Argentina. Cobrda attended LTSP From
1955 to 1958, and earned his STM at LTSP in 1984.
The Rev. Arvo E. Beck, MDiv ’85, of Allentown,
PA, passed away September 28, 2010, in his
home. His wife, The Rev. Barbara A. Davis, died
March 29, 2010. He is survived by daughters, Mia
Clements of Oviedo, FL, and Elizabeth Beck of
New Bronxville, TX; and six grandchildren.
The Rev. Barbara A. Davis, MDiv ’87, died sud-
denly on March 29, 2010. Following her ordination
in 1987, Pastor Davis served as pastor of Media-
tor Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, until 1990. In
that year she married The Rev. Arvo Beck and be-
came co-pastor with him of the Good News Parish
in Greeley, Shohola and Lackawaxen, PA. From
1992 until 1997 she was engaged in advanced
clinical pastoral education, and in 1997 she be-
came assistant chaplain at Good Shepherd Home.
She served there until her retirement in 2007.
The Rev. E. Jeanne Beadle, TEEM, died sud-
denly on October 11, 2010. Ordained in 2003, she
served throughout her ministry as the pastor of
the Deaf Ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church,
Reading, PA. She was one of only eight pastors
serving deaf congregations in the ELCA.
Delores Russell Brown, MDiv UTI ’05, entered
the Church Triumphant on May 25, 2010.
Lois Amutha Fernando, MDiv ’08, died May 10,
2010, after a long illness. She is survived by her
husband, Edwin Fernando, STM ’03, pastor of
Nava Jeevan Lutheran Church, Kendall Park, NJ.
www.Ltsp.edu 33
 from the
✛FOUNDATION
Campaigns for Scholarship Aid Launch in
Northeastern Pennsylvania and
Upstate New York Synods
TWO CAMPAIGNS for student scholarship aid with goals total-
ing nearly $3 million began in the fall of 2010. Once these goals
are attained, the funds will be permanently endowed and gener-
ate the equivalent of ten full tuition scholarships for seminary
students. The Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod campaign aims
to raise $2.5 million, and the Upstate New York Synod campaign
has set a $250,000 goal as part of the synod’s comprehensive
campaign plan.
The success of these campaigns is critical to the future of the
church and to seminary students. In a recent consultation with
current LTSP students to discuss student debt and financial con-
cerns, students felt torn between the need to work more hours
outside of their studies to pay the bills while still finding time for
quality study, reflection, and preparation. They expressed con-
cern about students who did not return to the seminary for fi-
nancial reasons or who were considering doing so. The students
recognized the financial pressures on the seminary and other in-
stitutions of the church, but appealed for both increased finan-
cial support and guidance in keeping total student debt as low as
possible. Unless addressed directly, the student debt problem will
adversely impact not only the students of the seminary, but the
church itself.
Despite ongoing efforts to maintain low tuition rates, the cost
of theological education continues to grow, and the number of fi-
nancial requests for student aid made by LTSP students grows in
kind. According to the ELCA, student indebtedness averages
over $30,000. If the seminary cannot provide additional financial
aid as needed, student debt will continue to get worse and poten-
tial future leaders of the church could be discouraged from pur-
suing seminary studies. Already many synods withhold
candidacy applications for students if their personal student loan
debt exceeds $20,000.
Here are few points to consider:
A recent LTSP entering class of 44 students had a median per
capita debt burden of $32,611 before any seminary costs. This
34 PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu
amount reflects the debt burden of all re- move the seminary closer to its vision of
Planned Gift Results
cent classes, with yearly increases raising
the level of debt more than incrementally.
offering 20 percent of the budget as stu-
dent aid while relieving financial pressure
in $1.3 Million for
Student Aid
The seminary in these economic times
receives less support from synods and the
on other aspects of the institution.
The two campaigns for scholarship aid
More than fifty years ago, Ethel Eby wrote
ELCA (combined total is less than 10 will offer direct support to current and
percent of the budget) as it attempts to
keep tuition and fees as low as possible.
future students preparing for ordained
ministry and for other ministries of the
a will providing for the creation of a trust to
benefit her family upon her death. At the
time, she wrote that when those family
Currently, only 50 percent of the $26,000 church, and will help to ensure access to members passed away, the remainder of
annual cost to educate a student is met by theological education of the highest order the trust funds would be used to benefit the
tuition and fees. Seminary endowments, for generations of LTSP students to students of The Lutheran Theological Semi-
trusts, and gifts must meet the remaining come. The success of this ambitious un- nary Philadelphia (LTSP). Mrs. Eby died in
50 percent. dertaking, on the heels of the successful 1957. In August of 2010, the seminary was
Recognizing that graduating LTSP stu- Building in Faith for People of Faith cam- notified that it would receive $1.3 million to
dents will have, at best, modest compen- paign, will depend on the leadership of establish The Samuel E. & Ethel M. Eby En-
sation, they will face a formidable the seminary’s friends and supporters dowed Scholarship Fund.
challenge as they assume leadership re- who may be in a position to help accom- Samuel and Ethel Eby were members of
sponsibilities in strengthening the mission plish its goals. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Wallingford,
Pennsylvania. Her foresight and commit-
of the church. LTSP, while attempting to For more information on the scholar-
ment to the ministry of LTSP illustrate the
keep student indebtedness in check, must ship aid campaigns in Northeastern
incredible impact that planned gifts can
also continue to strengthen its mission of Pennsylvania and Upstate New York Syn-
have on future generations. The seminary
faithful teaching in preparing ample ods, or for more information about the gives thanks for her vision and to all those
numbers of future leaders for our church. seminary’s efforts to address student in- who have included LTSP in their estate plans.
Currently, LTSP provides 12 percent debtedness, please contact the LTSP De-
For information on planning giving oppor-
of its annual budget for student aid. Suc- velopment Office at 215.248.6316 or
tunities, please contact Mr. Larry House,
cessful completion of this campaign will development@Ltsp.edu.✛
Director of Leadership Giving, at
215.248.7390 or lhouse@Ltsp.edu.
First UCC Bridgeport John Kaufmann:
FIRST UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST IN BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, is a small Continuing to Serve
congregation determined to make a big difference in its community and for its sister
churches. On Sunday, May 2, 2010, the church presented gifts of $50,000 each to Lan- LTSP
caster Theological Seminary, a United Church of Christ (UCC) school, and to The The Rev. Dr. John Kaufmann, long a vital
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. member of the LTSP community who we
First UCC, founded in 1894, had 600 members in the 1960s, but as its membership wrote about in the Fall 2009 issue of PS,
dwindled, the congregation chose to sell their building to the Bridgeport Tabernacle died December 5, 2009. His love for his
Seventh Day Adventist Church. The two congregations had a creative partnership, as alma mater and community was expressed
Tabernacle had been meeting there already. The sale provided the UCC congregation in a $2 million bequest to LTSP, with a sig-
with a substantial pool of resources for supporting ministry. nificant majority of the gift to be placed in a
restricted fund called the John and Doris
The gifts to the seminaries came with the encouragement of First UCC’s pastor, The
Rev. Karen DeWerth-Wamester, who is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kaufmann Fund for the Krauth Memorial Li-
America (ELCA). The church previously made significant gifts to local helping agencies brary. You can read more about Dr. Kauf-
mann and his gift online: www.Ltsp.edu/
including the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Bridgeport chapter of Habitat for Humanity,
JohnKaufmann.
continued
PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 35
 from the
✛FOUNDATION
Campaigns for Scholarship Aid Launch in
Northeastern Pennsylvania and
Upstate New York Synods
TWO CAMPAIGNS for student scholarship aid with goals total-
ing nearly $3 million began in the fall of 2010. Once these goals
are attained, the funds will be permanently endowed and gener-
ate the equivalent of ten full tuition scholarships for seminary
students. The Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod campaign aims
to raise $2.5 million, and the Upstate New York Synod campaign
has set a $250,000 goal as part of the synod’s comprehensive
campaign plan.
The success of these campaigns is critical to the future of the
church and to seminary students. In a recent consultation with
current LTSP students to discuss student debt and financial con-
cerns, students felt torn between the need to work more hours
outside of their studies to pay the bills while still finding time for
quality study, reflection, and preparation. They expressed con-
cern about students who did not return to the seminary for fi-
nancial reasons or who were considering doing so. The students
recognized the financial pressures on the seminary and other in-
stitutions of the church, but appealed for both increased finan-
cial support and guidance in keeping total student debt as low as
possible. Unless addressed directly, the student debt problem will
adversely impact not only the students of the seminary, but the
church itself.
Despite ongoing efforts to maintain low tuition rates, the cost
of theological education continues to grow, and the number of fi-
nancial requests for student aid made by LTSP students grows in
kind. According to the ELCA, student indebtedness averages
over $30,000. If the seminary cannot provide additional financial
aid as needed, student debt will continue to get worse and poten-
tial future leaders of the church could be discouraged from pur-
suing seminary studies. Already many synods withhold
candidacy applications for students if their personal student loan
debt exceeds $20,000.
Here are few points to consider:
A recent LTSP entering class of 44 students had a median per
capita debt burden of $32,611 before any seminary costs. This
34 PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu
amount reflects the debt burden of all re- move the seminary closer to its vision of
Planned Gift Results
cent classes, with yearly increases raising
the level of debt more than incrementally.
offering 20 percent of the budget as stu-
dent aid while relieving financial pressure
in $1.3 Million for
Student Aid
The seminary in these economic times
receives less support from synods and the
on other aspects of the institution.
The two campaigns for scholarship aid
More than fifty years ago, Ethel Eby wrote
ELCA (combined total is less than 10 will offer direct support to current and
percent of the budget) as it attempts to
keep tuition and fees as low as possible.
future students preparing for ordained
ministry and for other ministries of the
a will providing for the creation of a trust to
benefit her family upon her death. At the
time, she wrote that when those family
Currently, only 50 percent of the $26,000 church, and will help to ensure access to members passed away, the remainder of
annual cost to educate a student is met by theological education of the highest order the trust funds would be used to benefit the
tuition and fees. Seminary endowments, for generations of LTSP students to students of The Lutheran Theological Semi-
trusts, and gifts must meet the remaining come. The success of this ambitious un- nary Philadelphia (LTSP). Mrs. Eby died in
50 percent. dertaking, on the heels of the successful 1957. In August of 2010, the seminary was
Recognizing that graduating LTSP stu- Building in Faith for People of Faith cam- notified that it would receive $1.3 million to
dents will have, at best, modest compen- paign, will depend on the leadership of establish The Samuel E. & Ethel M. Eby En-
sation, they will face a formidable the seminary’s friends and supporters dowed Scholarship Fund.
challenge as they assume leadership re- who may be in a position to help accom- Samuel and Ethel Eby were members of
sponsibilities in strengthening the mission plish its goals. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Wallingford,
Pennsylvania. Her foresight and commit-
of the church. LTSP, while attempting to For more information on the scholar-
ment to the ministry of LTSP illustrate the
keep student indebtedness in check, must ship aid campaigns in Northeastern
incredible impact that planned gifts can
also continue to strengthen its mission of Pennsylvania and Upstate New York Syn-
have on future generations. The seminary
faithful teaching in preparing ample ods, or for more information about the gives thanks for her vision and to all those
numbers of future leaders for our church. seminary’s efforts to address student in- who have included LTSP in their estate plans.
Currently, LTSP provides 12 percent debtedness, please contact the LTSP De-
For information on planning giving oppor-
of its annual budget for student aid. Suc- velopment Office at 215.248.6316 or
tunities, please contact Mr. Larry House,
cessful completion of this campaign will development@Ltsp.edu.✛
Director of Leadership Giving, at
215.248.7390 or lhouse@Ltsp.edu.
First UCC Bridgeport John Kaufmann:
FIRST UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST IN BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, is a small Continuing to Serve
congregation determined to make a big difference in its community and for its sister
churches. On Sunday, May 2, 2010, the church presented gifts of $50,000 each to Lan- LTSP
caster Theological Seminary, a United Church of Christ (UCC) school, and to The The Rev. Dr. John Kaufmann, long a vital
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. member of the LTSP community who we
First UCC, founded in 1894, had 600 members in the 1960s, but as its membership wrote about in the Fall 2009 issue of PS,
dwindled, the congregation chose to sell their building to the Bridgeport Tabernacle died December 5, 2009. His love for his
Seventh Day Adventist Church. The two congregations had a creative partnership, as alma mater and community was expressed
Tabernacle had been meeting there already. The sale provided the UCC congregation in a $2 million bequest to LTSP, with a sig-
with a substantial pool of resources for supporting ministry. nificant majority of the gift to be placed in a
restricted fund called the John and Doris
The gifts to the seminaries came with the encouragement of First UCC’s pastor, The
Rev. Karen DeWerth-Wamester, who is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kaufmann Fund for the Krauth Memorial Li-
America (ELCA). The church previously made significant gifts to local helping agencies brary. You can read more about Dr. Kauf-
mann and his gift online: www.Ltsp.edu/
including the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Bridgeport chapter of Habitat for Humanity,
JohnKaufmann.
continued
PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu 35
 from the

LTSP Appoints Vice President for

Advancement/ Foundation Executive
Director
The Rev. John V. Puotinen has been appointed as Vice President
for Advancement of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia (LTSP) and Executive Director of the LTSP Foundation,
according to The Rev. Dr. Philip D. Krey, seminary and foundation
president. Pastor Puotinen was selected following a nationwide
search.
Pr. Puotinen comes to LTSP from the University of Dubuque/
Dubuque Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, where he has served as Sen-
ior Vice President of Development since 2005. He led the university
through the concluding stages of a ten year capital campaign that
concluded in 2008 with a record $128 million in gifts from over
4,700 donors.
Before joining the University of Dubuque, Pr. Puotinen served as
Vice President of the Foundation of Lutheran Life Communities, Ar-
lington Heights, Illinois, a provider of services in Greater Chicago,
along with development positions at Luther Manor,
Milwaukee,Wisconsin, and Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin
and Upper Michigan, and was an investment executive with Piper,
Jaffray, Inc. He was developer and founder of Holy Cross Lutheran
Church, Libertyville, Illinois. He is a pastor on the roster of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Pr. Puotinen received a Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary,
St. Paul, Minnesota, and a bachelor’s degree from Augustana Col-
lege, Rock Island, Illinois. He began his service at LTSP in August 2010.

“First UCC Bridgeport” continued from page 35

and the Merton House food pantry (and several smaller church-
based food distribution sites), as well as to the Silver Lake Con-
ference Center Scholarship Fund.✛
Read a more detailed account and see photos online:
www.Ltsp.edu/UCCBridgeport.

To make a donation to LTSP, please go to www.Ltsp.edu/give

36 PS ✛ FALL 2010 www.Ltsp.edu

Message from the president
Ltsp Convocations/Events What do nearly
fall 2010 ✛ winter/spring 2011 3 million members
have in common?
I USED TO HAVE A REGULAR AND FRIEND- work, business or other disciplines, and stu- Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Tuesday, March 22, 2011
LY ARGUMENT WITH A DEAR FRIEND AND dents do internships in places like Lutheran CONVOCATION HEIN-FRY LECTURE
COLLEAGUE at another seminary who would World Relief or social ministry organizations. 11:30 am
argue that a good theological education from The ELCA also requires the time-honored Teaching Church History in
anywhere will prepare a leader of the church to tradition of internship — an extended period
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Nearly 3 million members
Seminary Curriculum NOLDE LECTURE
serve anywhere. We did agree on one thing: the of learning in a parish context, usually in the Benbow Hall, The Brossman turn to Thrivent Financial for
curriculum needs to be comprehensive and bib- third year of study. As faculty members, we are
lically and theologically sound and include all always impressed with how students have
Center Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Lutherans to help meet their
CONVOCATION
the disciplines that integrate theological learn- grown and matured in their understanding of Sunday, December 5, 2010 Prof. Norma Cook-Everist, financial needs. Thrivent
ing with the practice of ministry. Our friendly ministry through their internships. As intern- ADVENT VESPERS St. John’s Visiting Professor Financial for Lutherans offers
disagreements were over my belief in the ships have become more expensive, new col- 7:30 pm
importance of context, both for the seminary laborative models have developed with institu- Grace Epiphany Church of a wide range of competitive
Saturday, April 9, 2011
and for learning in context, for leaders of the tions and congregations — models that pro- Mt. Airy products and personal service.
church. vide a broad based learning environment and a www.Ltsp.edu/adventvespers Women’s Day of REST,
At the Philadelphia Seminary, we are blessed parish experience. Friends and institutions REFRESHMENT, RENEWAL We are committed to serving
to be situated in the sixth largest metropolitan center of the United have also helped to raise funds for internships like the newly created Tuesday, December 7, 2010 LTSP Campus Lutheran families, communities
States and the second largest metropolitan area on the East Coast, Lee and Dolly Butz internship for the Lehigh Valley to intersect pas- CONVOCATION www.Ltsp.edu/restrefresh
with six million people, a convenient transportation system, and a toral ministry and community economic development. Some of the 11:30 am and congregations.
rich diversity of communities, institutions, and parishes. More than best contexts for learning do not have the funds to make an intern- Teaching Theology in Seminary Tuesday, April 19, 2011
25 percent of the U.S. population lives within a 300-mile radius of the ship possible, making more funding models essential. Alliances and Curriculum FACULTY PANEL: Insights
Benbow Hall, The Brossman
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
region. Our contexts are always changing. They are becoming more collaborations can make it work. from the convocation series
religiously pluralistic, multicultural, urbanized, and diverse. There are When I would argue with my friend, I would point out that Jesus Center Experience the difference.
almost one hundred communities of faith on Germantown Avenue did not just teach in one place, but traveled all around the towns and Tuesday-Wednesday,
cities of Israel, and, ultimately, to Jerusalem, challenging the apostles Tuesday, February 15, 2011 May 3-4, 2011
alone. This means that our theological curriculum needs to adapt to
fit the changing context, especially as many of our congregations need to do the same as they were being equipped for ministry. He would CONVOCATION SPRING CONVOCATION
to be developed or redeveloped to do ministry in their changing envi- point out that the Bible is all about diverse contexts and peoples and Teaching the Practice of Ministry 2011
ronments. It also means that we need to look for the best contextual how the Gospel of God addresses them all. My friend would empha- in Seminary Curriculum
education sites available to provide the best possible practical learning size the classroom with innovative teaching from texts in a world of 11:30 am Tuesday, May 10, 2011
environments. many peoples and religions, and I would argue for integrated learning Benbow Hall, The Brossman CONVOCATION
in rich and diverse contexts. Indeed, both sides of this wonderful con- Center Social Ministry
As you explore this issue, you will learn from Dr. Charles Leonard
and others how we take advantage of our context while preparing versation need to be cultivated. We need excellent teachers in the
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 Friday, May 20, 2011
missional leaders. In Field Education, our first year students are sent classroom, and we have those at LTSP. We also need veteran supervi-
on a rotation to the best possible congregation sites in the metropoli- sors in the field who integrate the learning for our future leaders, and CONVOCATION COMMENCEMENT
Seminary Education: What the Gerald Tancredi
tan area. We discovered that an exposure to a variety of superlative we need places where our future leaders can try out their skills and ChFC, CLU, FIC
sites had great outcomes. The students experience a depth and variety make the mistakes that insure good leadership. Church Expects?
Financial Consultant
of experiences that they bring to their first calls. The second year of As you read this issue of PS, please know how grateful we are for Bishop Roy Riley
2031 N Broad St, Ste 135
Field Education provides the single parish focus that has been our pri- your constant support as preparing leaders well for the church is a Lansdale, PA 19446
Sunday-Thursday
mary practice for decades. Excellence in worship, a missional empha- costly yet worthwhile endeavor. March 13-17, 2011 215-368-4888 office
sis, good stewardship, and Christian education is necessary for any 888-520-9127 toll-free
PREACHING WITH POWER
parish to be considered as a Field Education site. Yours in Christ,
www.Ltsp.edu/preachingwithpower
Not all LTSP students are preparing for Word and Sacrament
Ministry, with students preparing for roles in Christian Education,
Youth Ministry, and other areas. These require different contextual
education locations. Our exciting new Master of Arts in Public Philip D. Krey
Leadership prepares leaders for the intersection of theology and social President
For information and updates go to www.Ltsp.edu or sign
up for @PS, our eNewsletter, at www.Ltsp.edu/enews.
20315PC R1-07 ©2010 Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
ON THE COVER: The Rev. Maritza Torres-Dolich, MDiv ’02, with neighborhood
200700713
children tending the vegetable garden outside of St. Stephen Lutheran
Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Story on page 6.
 Volume 93 Number 1 Fall ; 2010

7301 Germantown Avenue

Philadelphia, PA 19119-1794
www.Ltsp.edu

Have you remembered LTSP in your estate planning?

Alumni off
ffer
ffe
er hoop
peeful
messages in tryinng
times PAGE 6