Moments for Mission. Sorrow eased by the joy that came before it. Bishop Robert D. Hofstad

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1 Bishop Robert D. Hofstad Staff Rev. Ronald Hoyum assistant to the bishop Rev. Valinda Morse assistant to the bishop Rev. Melanie Wallschlaeger director for evangelical mission Rev. Donald Fossum assembly planner Allison Ramsey office manager Rachel Pritchett editor, (206) Phone (253) Address st St. S Tacoma, WA swwsynod@plu.edu Websites lutheranssw.org elca.org Blog swwsynodelca.blogspot. com Facebook facebook.com/pages/south western-washington- Synod/ MomentsforMission Southwestern Washington Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ by empowering congregations and church leaders to grow in worship, education, outreach, stewardship and other ministries. February 2012 Address Sorrow eased by the joy that came before it By the Rev. Valinda Morse, assistant to the bishop We had the boys for the week. Life is different with a 9-year-old and a 6-year-old in your house. We had two extra dogs for the week. The house seemed less roomy with four enormous dogs and two boys with their toys. It would be our 43rd wedding anniversary during the week. A romantic getaway we went out for pizza. Quite an anniversary celebration with our kids kids and dogs. But, there was more. Our Gus, the gentle giant, our chocolate lab of nearly 14 years, was having trouble. He could hardly see. He could barely hear. He had lost his bark. His once strong back legs wouldn t hold him anymore. The love of his life, retrieving, was a thing of the past. He had slowed down so gradually that it was hard to believe this athletic specimen was old and fragile. The lump on his shoulder appeared out of nowhere, but it grew quickly, and the dry cough was troublesome. It was metastasized cancer, attacking our Gus with a vengeance. In the midst of the chaos of the week of kids and extra dogs we made our trip to the vet. There I was sitting on the floor with my high-school heartthrob, the one who has been my constant partner for 43 years. There I was sitting on the floor with my beloved boys on my lap. There I was sitting on the floor with my arms around Gus. Of course there was the pup, our yellow lab Mali, in the room as well; she needed to know what was happening to her housemate. Arms around one another and around Gus we were a sad sight, all except Mali who was busy smelling. It was one of those poignant moments of life, being so very grateful for 43 years with the finest of men, finding so much enjoyment from these two precocious boys, giving thanks for this amazing dog who had given us 14 years of the best he had to give, and crying because it had come to an end. And, of course, our busy little Mali. Life and death swirling around us. An old dog and a young dog. An old couple and two little boys. A future and a past. Joy and sorrow all mixed together. There is no sorrow without joy first. There is no old without young first. There is no death without life first. Sometimes it is hard to embrace both, especially at the same time. It was a day to celebrate and a day to weep, and we did. How blessed we are that in the midst of the joys and sorrows of life a constant, gracious and loving God walks beside us, allowing us to experience what it means to be alive, and who laughs and cries with us.

2 2 Congregations in transition Call process Position Status Pastoral care Bethany, Longview P TR Jim Flachsbart Chinook P TR Pulpit supply Christ, Belfair P TR Robin Pizanti Faith, Elma P TR Dennis Hartsook Family of Christ, Vancouver P I Janell Bethke First, Port Orchard P NV Pulpit supply Immanuel, Vancouver P NV Pulpit supply Mountain View, Edgewood AP I John Vaswig Mount Cross, University Place AP NV Dave Steffenson Naselle P TR Pulpit supply Our Saviour s, Cathlamet P TR Les Foss Peninsula, Gig Harbor P TR Art Sortland Trinity, Enumclaw P I Dennis Hartsook Key: P Pastor; AP Associate Pastor; NV New Vacancy; TR Transition; I Interviewing Call accepted The Rev. Walter Rice has accepted the call as pastor to Trinity of Enumclaw. Contract accepted The Rev. Dennis Hartsook now is serving Faith of Elma as interim pastor. Installed The Rev. Jeff Gaustad was installed Jan. 29 at Trinity of Parkland by Bishop Robert D. Hofstad. On leave from call The Rev. Doug Nemitz s last day at First of Port Orchard will be Feb. 15. Tranferring out The Rev. Chris Ode is leaving Chinook Lutheran Church and the Southwestern Washington Synod to take a call as pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church in Shoreline, in the Northwest Washington Synod. Synod notes Health assessment: Fifteen minutes is all it takes for ELCA primary plan members and spouses to take the MayoHealth Assessment, earning you $150 for your wellness account and potentially saving the synod and congregations 2 percent on medical costs; elcaforwellness.org. At the gym: The Synod and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans have joined with LA Fitness to support personal wellness of rostered leaders, church staff and congregation members. Through June, scholarships that include a $104 initiation fee waiver and a reduced monthly fee of $29.99 for rostered leaders are available. To find out more, contact the synod office. Retirement how-to at Dumas Bay: The ELCA Board of Pensions presents a pre-retirement seminar for rostered persons within 15 years of retirement from 1 to 8 p.m. Feb. 9 and from 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 10 at the Dumas Bay Centre in Federal Way. Contact the synod office. Uncovering secrets from the census: If you re interested in finding out who lives in your congregation s neighborhood, contact Communicator Rachel Pritchett, who can do some work with the Census and find out. Information about age, median ages, biggest age groups, family and household configuration and size, race and homeownership is available, free. Comparisons between 2010 and 2000 also are made, to identify where your area is headed; rachelpritchett@msn.com.

3 Synod workshop A few tips on renewing congregations OLYMPIA A juvenile-hall resident rips up his bed sheets to force a change in the dinner menu, the Rev. Doug Knutson-Keller recalls from his days helping troubled youth. But was ripping up bed sheets the best way to change the dinner menu, or was there something else the teen could have done, like talking to someone in charge? Church settings are no different, Knutson-Keller told a group of 25 that attended a workshop on renewing congregations Jan. 14 at Kuntson-Keller s church, Gloria Dei of Olympia. What is it that you want, and what are you doing to get what you want? he asked. Knutson-Keller just finished some continuing education on renewing tired and ineffective congregations at the Alban Institute of Virginia. He said the first step is for a congregation to discover its true identity. Once a congregation finds its identity, everything else it does should support that. The church council has the hard job of saying no to good proposals for activities that don t lift up the identity. At the same time, leadership should seek out things that express the identity, he said. It becomes the council's task to help focus, Knutson-Keller explained. A similar free workshop on renewing congregations takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 4 at Silverdale Lutheran Church, Ridgepoint Drive NW and will feature the Revs. Bill Crabtree and Valinda Morse. For more information or to register, contact the synod office at (253) or swwsynod@plu.edu. Some more tips in the meantime: Keep an eye on the size of decision-making groups in your congregations. Often the groups, including the council, are so big that not all voices can be heard. A decision-making group should have no more than seven members. If groups are too big, divide them up into subgroups, Knutson-Keller said. Don t let the myriad of decisions that it takes to run a church eclipse true leadership and visioning. Some of the ideas to keep managing in check so that visioning can flourish include 1) alternating council meetings so that they focus on one or the other but not both; 2) creating a separate long-range strategic planning group; 3) having a retreat for just visioning; or 4) beginning a consent agenda, where management minutia can be approved in bulk quickly. Knutson-Keller suggested two books that may help, Good to Great by Jim Collins and Inside the Large Congregation by Susan Beaumont. Rachel Pritchett 3 Become one of 1,000 Mission Friends Just $100 a year makes you one of the synod s 1,000 Mission Friends. As such, you help support new mission starts and those in need of renewal. One recipient has been Peace Lutheran Fellowship of Port Ludlow, now worshiping 40. Please consider sending a check to the Southwestern Washington Synod, Att n: 1,000 Mission Friends, st St. South, Tacoma, WA Make the check out to the synod, and write 1,000 Mission Friends in the memo line. Thank you.

4 4 Bishop s Convocation Pastors and other church leaders convened Jan. 24 and 25 at the Seabeck Conference Center for this annual Bishop s Convocation, a chance to pray, study and have fellowship. The featured speaker was the Rev. Dr. Terence Fretheim, professor of the Old Testament at Luther Seminary. Bishop Robert D. Hofstad delivered his Bishop s Report and preached. Fretheim: Church is walking in the wilderness The church is wandering in the wilderness, Fretheim told pastors, much like the Israelites who wandered through the desert from Egypt to the Promised Land. Once central, church often today is on the margin. As such, it is in a period of re-examining unchanging and narrow interpretations of biblical law, and asking whether wider interpretations can take into account a quickly changing world, according to Fretheim. Wandering in the wilderness is a time of change. The Israelites evolved from a mentality of enslavement to one of liberation in the wilderness. Ongoing revision of law emerges in the journey of the wilderness, he said. Hofstad: Smaller synod must focus on pastoral care Bishop Hofstad had numbers to illustrate that the synod, which stretches from south of Seattle to the Oregon border, and from the Cascades to the ocean, has shrunk. In 1996, 114 congregations supported a synod budget of 1.25 million. Congregations have closed or merged, thanks to the recession, and some have left over the sexuality vote. Today, 92 congregations support a synod budget of $960,000, and two more congregations may leave soon. Funding for synod s Living Stones Prison Congregation in Shelton is in jeopardy. A smaller synod has sharpened its focus on pastoral care, which must remain strong, he said. I believe the future of synod work will be pastoral care, specifically preventative care, the bishop said, adding it s needed the most now. That means assisting pastors to avert crisis before it starts, helping them when they are underpaid, and standing with them in the toughest of times. Some congregations have stepped forth with added funds to help.

5 5 KOMO-TV courtesy photos Margaret Anderson's coffin is attended by law-enforcement members at a service Jan. 10 at Pacific Lutheran University. Below, Gallimore. Anderson. News Gallimore eulogizes park ranger, one of his own TACOMA The last time the Rev. Galen Gallimore saw her was at Christmas Eve worship. On New Year s Day, Margaret Anderson, ranger at Mount Rainier National Park, was shot to death by a man fleeing authorities she had stopped at a checkpoint. Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, was being pursued in connection with a shooting earlier down the mountain. He later was found drowned in a creek. Anderson, 34, was the only female ranger of the National Park Service to be killed in the line of duty. Nine rangers have been killed since the service began in 1916, none at Mount Rainier. Anderson, husband and two small daughters had been coming to Gallimore s church, Bethany Lutheran Church of Spanaway, for a year. Spanaway is the last stop before the road narrows and winds up the mountain. Gallimore called her a woman of light, joy and beauty at a memorial Jan. 10 at Pacific Lutheran University attended by 3,700 people. Thousands more listened at a nearby church. Gallimore s words fell gently across a community still deeply scarred by the 2009 shooting deaths of four police officers in nearby Lakewood. I wish I had known Margaret better. I wish I had known more of this faith, said Gallimore, who just days earlier had been quickly called on to conduct a community candlelight vigil for the beloved ranger, and to represent the faith community as media from throughout the United States and beyond asked how this could have happened. Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, said at the service, Dozens of people were innocently enjoying that snowy morning. Ranger Anderson was doing what she did best keeping the visitors safe. Ken Salazar, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, asked how many eyes Anderson had opened to the majesty of God s creation at Mount Rainier. We know that we cannot count the flowers in Rainier s Paradise Valley on a summer s day. Rachel Pritchett

6 6 Synod Committees Proposed resolution supports ELCA malaria campaign Voting members of the 2012 Assembly of the Southwestern Washington Synod will consider a resolution to support the Malaria Campaign of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. On Jan. 2, the Synod Hunger Committee agreed to join the syond s Global Missions Committee and Women of the ELCA group in co-sponsoring the resolution in support of the campaign. The document calls on individuals and congregations to commit themselves to continue as partners in the healing ministry of Jesus by preventing and treating malaria through prayer, advocacy, education and fundraising. The resolution also calls on the three co-sponsors to provide resources for congregations. The 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly overwhelmingly voted to launch the Malaria Campaign. According to the ELCA Malaria Blog, nearly 800,000 people die each year from malaria, most children under age 5. The disease is preventable and treatable. Churches already have the structure to reach individuals and communities that other organizations can t reach, but they need financial support, and the synod participation in the campaign will address that need. On the Web: Rick Nelson, Synod Hunger Committee Upcoming Event aimed at helping incarcerated women An Empowering Life benefit to help incarcerated women prepare to exit into the world takes place fro 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 11 at St. Mark s by The Narrows Lutheran Church, 6730 N 17th St., Tacoma. Dinner, dessert, a silent auction and entertainment is planned. Women who have been incarcerated will talk about how Empowering Life helped them and their families succeed afterward. The suggested donation is $15. To make reservations, contact Joan Nelson at joan2nelson@comcast.net or (253) , or send a check to Nelson at P.O. Box 1803, Gig Harbor, WA Help for couples offered The Rev. Greg Kaurin of Messiah Lutheran Church of Auburn and wife Dr. Pauline Kaurin will present a series of courses at the church to help couples keep their relationships strong. They take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday evenings between Feb. 12 and March 15. For more information, contact Darrel Dietz at dietz1948@yahoo.com. Augustana Symphonic Band performs at PLU The Augustana Symphonic Band of Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., will perform at 8 p.m. Feb. 25 at Lagerquist Hall at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma as part of a West Coast tour. Playing since 1874, the band will present traditional and eclectic selection. No reservations are required and the concert is free. A free-will offering will be taken. For your newsletters, bulletins The content in Moments for Mission is reproducible for church newsletters, bulletins.

7 7 Upcoming Bread for the World president to keynote Tacoma event Bread for the World President David Beckmann is the featured speaker, preacher and teacher at two days worth of events in the greater Tacoma area titled Exodus from Hunger. Sponsored by Associated Ministries and area churches, Beckmann will preach on Feb. 26 at the 8:15 and 10:45 a.m. services at Mountain View Lutheran Church of Edgewood, nd Ave. E. That evening, he will deliver a community address about ending hunger from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at St. Mark s by The Narrows Lutheran Church, 6730 N 17th St., Tacoma. No reservations are necessary; donations are requested. On Feb. 27, Beckmann will be featured in a dialog, address and luncheon from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Mark's. The cost is $30 before Feb. 21 and $40 after. To make reservations, contact Michele Cotton at (253) , Ext Or, registration forms are available at Women conduct spring retreat at Dumas Bay The Rev. Jan Otto of All Saints Lutheran of Auburn is the headliner for the Spring Retreat of the Southwestern Washington Women of the ELCA, to take place April 20 to 22 at Dumas Bay Centre of Federal Way. Workshops on keeping homes free from too many chemicals and other topics will be offered. The cost is $165 and includes everything. More more information, contact Carol Fossum at (360) or carolfossum@comcast.net. Opportunities Seeking English teachers for next summer in China By the Rev. Steve Ray, executive director, chinaconnect Once again, chinaconnect is in search of volunteers to teach English this summer in China. One doesn t need to be a trained teacher, but have a willing heart to give of themselves to teach oral English to Chinese English teachers. Dates are from July 1 to 30 with an option for travel to Xi an and Lhasa, Tibet, after teaching. Cost for this program is $1,400 (not including airfare, China Visa, or after-teaching travel). Building upon last summer s success, chinaconnect is also planning a youth culture and service project this summer. Our service project will be spending three days at an orphanage near Tianjin, and six days in the city Nanchang, Jiangxi Province working with the a large high school. The dates are July 11 to 26 with sightseeing in Beijing and Nanchang area. The cost for this program is $1,275 (not including airfare and China visa). Groups and individuals are welcome to apply. For further details, please contact me at sray@chinaconnectonline.org or (253) chinaconnect looks forward to hearing from you. Join us as we serve the people of China this summer. Also save the date of April 21, where a chinaconnect evening of celebration will take place at 6 p.m. at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church of Tacoma.

8 8 Opportunities Weyerhauser Center offers lay training The Weyerhauser Center for Christ Faith and Learning at Whitworth University in Eastern Washington has two upcoming educational opportunities for lay leaders. A certificate in teaching the Bible for Sunday school teachers and lay ministers can be obtained through study between February and May. And, instruction in lay ministry takes place from June 4 to 8 and from June 11 to 15. That course of study is to help train, equip and support laypeople to serve more effectively. To learn more, contact Michelle Pace at mpace@whitworth.edu or (509) Thinking about summer at Camp Lutherwood, Oregon? Summer camps run from June 17 through Aug. 17 at Camp Lutherwood in Oregon, on 28 forested acres in the Coast Range near Cheshire. For more information or to register, visit the camp s website at or call the office at (541) Camp Lutherwood is a ministry of the Oregon and Southwestern Washington synods. Postings Lay youth minister: St. John s Lutheran Church of Chehalis seeks a part-time lay youth minister to work with middle- and high-school students. The applicant should be creative in planning and executing fellowship and service activities, as well as qualified to lead in spiritual formation. The position is 12 hours a week. St. John s has a congregation of about 400 worshipers including 40 youth. Contact the Rev. D. Randall Faro at (360) President: Lutheran Volunteer Corps, a Washington, D.C. based group that works for peace and justice, seeks a new president. A college degree and 10 years year s of experience as an executive director or program manager is required. A complete job description can be downloaded from The search is open until the position is filled. Calendar Feb. 4: Renewing-Congregations Workshop, Silverdale, see Page 3 Feb. 9 to 10: ELCA Board of Pensions pre-retirement seminar, Federal Way, see Page 2 Feb. 11: Empowering Life fundraiser, 7 p.m., St. Mark s, Tacoma, see Page 6 March 2: World Day of Prayer March 1 to 6: Conference of Bishops March 17: Southwestern Washington Women s Olympic Cluster spring celebration, Elim of Port Orchard March 24: Synod Hunger Committee Train the Trainer Event, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Good Shepherd, Olympia March 31: Synod Council, 10 a.m., Gloria Dei, Olympia April 14: Southwestern Washington Women s Fort Vancouver Cluster, Bethel Lutheran, Brush Prairie April 20 to 22: Southwestern Washington Women spring retreat, Dumas Bay Centre, Federal Way April 21: chinaconnect fundraiser, 6 p.m., Gloria Dei, Tacoma, sray@chinaconnectonline.org May 12: Southwestern Washington Women Narrows Cluster Luncheon, St. Mark's, Tacoma May 12: Southwestern Washington Women Evergreen Cluster Fair Trade Fair, All Saints, Auburn May 18 and 19: Southwestern Washington Synod Assembly, Vancouver, Wash. July 25: Southwestern Washington Women s Mt. Rainier Cluster Ice-cream Social, Mountain View, Edgewood Aug. 3: Catechumenate training, Spokane, sponsor is North American Ass'n for the Catechumenate Aug. 18: Southwestern Washington Women Bible Study Event, Christ, Lakewood Sept. 7 to 9: Women of the ELCA conference of presidents Oct. 4 to 9: Conference of Bishops, Chicago Oct. 12 to 13: Convention of the Southwestern Washington Women, Good Shepherd, Olympia