In celebration of Caleb Crainer’s upcoming ordination this Saturday we are posting about an essay he wrote for the Proclaim community about going through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s candidacy process as an LGBTQ person.

Caleb has accepted a call at  St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in West Los Angeles, CA. Read more about Caleb’s ordination here.   Caleb is a member of Proclaim and serves as Secretary to the Proclaim Team. Caleb is thankful to ELM and the  Proclaim community for assisting him through his call process. 

Caleb writes,

“I give credit to Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and Proclaim for my eventual ordination for several reasons. The support and love that I found in this community, along with the sage wisdom from other leaders helped me navigate the various processes.  At the Proclaim retreat, I met pastors in the synod where I was assigned. It was their initiative that brought me there for the Synod Assembly, and afforded me the opportunity to meet face-to-face with synodical staff and a potential call committee. Those connections resulted in my receiving an interview and eventually a call. Proclaim helped that to happen. I hope that in the future I can be such a valuable advocate for new clergy, it really makes all the difference.” 

Caleb has already been a resource to others. While he was in the middle of the candidacy process, he took time to write a reflection piece for others in candidacy.  He shared this document on http://proclaim.elm.org/, a place for the Proclaim community to connect online. 

Caleb shared his own difficulties enduring a sometimes confusing and frustrating process. He had some particular advice for LGBTQ candidates talking about sexual orientation or gender identity with bishops and the candidacy committee; being creative and honest in paperwork; doing research about synods and congregations; and being patient.

We could all make good use of Caleb’s final piece of advice, “Take care of yourself and take the opportunity to learn some new avenues for self-care…you’ll need them someday.”

Learn more about Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and Proclaim on our website: www.elm.org.