This four-minute video slide show contains many photos of members of the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries roster, as well as a brief introduction to our mission and work. To watch the video, make sure your sound is turned up and click on the “play” arrow at the lower left-hand corner of the screen.
Rev. Jay Wiesner, ELM, elected Dean of the Central Philadelphia Conference
We received the following news this weekend from ELM volunteer Candidacy & Credentialing Chair Fred Wolfe, a member of University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation in Philadelphia:
“In one of the less observed, but just as significant events of the Southeast Pennsylvania Synod assembly, the Rev. Jay Wiesner, ELM pastor of University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation, was elected Dean of the Central Philadelphia Conference. This is significant in that Jay was not there as a voting member, as well as that he ran against two other pastors. Outgoing Dean Tim Poston announced the results to thunderous applause in the over-crowded break-out-room. The Holy Spirit was indeed busy in Franconia PA this weekend.”
ELM in DC Again
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries Co-Chair Pastor Erik Christensen and Executive Director Amalia Vagts (pictured at right) were in Washington, D.C. last week for the Human Rights Campaign’s Clergy Call. Pastor Erik and Amalia joined several hundred others, including ELM friends Pastor Jim & Diane DeLange and Pastor Bradley Schmeling, for the two-day conference and lobby day.
The first day consisted of speakers and conversation about transgender issues (including information about HRC’s new transgender curriculum) and diversity; and an update on marriage equality; and updates from President Obama’s Council on Faith-based Initiatives. The day ended with a lively two hour interfaith service.
The group met with members of Congress to discuss legislation that would add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and disability to federal hate crimes legislation and the Employee Non-Discrimination Act, which would make prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
ELM Pastors in DC
Pastor Jay Wilson (ELM) and Pastor Megan Rohrer (ELM) joined hundreds of other transgender faith leaders in Washington, D.C. this past week for the National Center for Transgender Equality’s Religious Leaders Summit and Lobby Day.
Pastor Jay and Pastor Megan met with members during a critical week as the U.S. House debated the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H. R. 1913), moving one step closer to the passage of the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people in a positive way. This bill would add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and would allow federal involvement in instances when the local government is unable or unwilling to address hate crimes.
Get the story directly from Pastor Megan here: queerbiblestudy.blogspot.com
(Photo: Rev. Megan Rohrer)
Save the Date Chicago!
Dazzling Bouquet
ELM will host Dazzling Bouquet, an afternoon of socializing with Chicago-area ELM supporters, on Sunday, July 19 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. The event is at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, Chicago, IL (Chicago’s LGBT Center).
Tickets are $35-$50 per person. There will beverages, dazzling hors de oeuvres, and a silent and live auction featuring many one-of-a-kind items and services.
Plans are underway for the event!Those interested in being listed as a sponsor of the event with a gift of $100 or more, each sponsor of $100 or more will receive one complimentary ticket.
Please contact Rachael by Friday May 22 to be listed as a sponsor at 773-235-0610 or operations@elm.org.
New Covenant Circle Members
ELM welcomes the following new people to volunteer leadership roles with Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.
Fred Wolfe (Philadelphia, PA) – Candidacy and Credentialing
A long-time member of University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation in Philadelphia, PA and currently serves as Administrator. He is active on the SEPA South East Pennsylvania Synod’s LGBTQ Task Force, serving as Camp Director for “Wonderfully Made,” a camp for LGBTQ high school youth, and has been active with the YES! Coalition, a Delaware Valley Inter-Faith LGBTQ organization. Fred lives in Philadelphia with his partner, Gary Bronson.
Rose Beeson (Phoenix, AZ) – Congregations & Ministries
Currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona and is a member of Faith Lutheran Church. Rose was central in her congregation’s process to open calls to the ELM roster. She serves as Secretary of Lutherans Concerned/North America and is a past Regional Coordinator for LC/NA. Rose is moving to Berkeley, CA this summer and will begin a master of divinity program at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in the fall.
Vance Blackfox (Tulsa, OK) – At large member
A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, lives in Oaks, Oklahoma and serves as Director of Annual Fund for the Oaks Indian Mission. Vance was very active in the Lutheran Youth Organization, including service as the President of the Churchwide Board of the LYO and serving on many planning teams for the ELCA’s Youth Gathering. Vance is moving to Chicago this summer to begin his studies toward a Ph.D. at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago this fall.
Pastor Paul Egertson (Thousad Oaks, CA) – Vocational Support & Oversight
A retired ELCA pastor and bishop emeritus of the Southwest California Synod of the ELCA. He 
resigned as bishop in 2001 after presiding at the extraordinary ordination of Pastor Anita Hill. He is currently the only ELCA bishop who has presided at an extraordinary ordination while in office. Pastor Paul Egertson resides in Thousand Oaks with his wife, Shirley, and serves as senior lecturer at California Lutheran University.
Favorite food dish
Fred: I’m dying to taste candied grapefruit rind dipped in dark chocolate. I have more of a bitter tooth than a sweet tooth. Don’t know what that means.
Vance: Korean BBQ!
Favorite Film
Rose: Running with Scissors, Tipping the Velvet, Real Women Have Curves, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Paul: Anchors Aweigh (I saw it 12 times as a kid).
Favorite hobbies
Fred: When I’m not at church, I always seem to either have a camera in front of my face or a trowel in my hand, sometimes both at once. Most of our garden grows in containers, either on our roofs or in the yard (to keep out of the path of the dogs).
Vance: I am a movie watcher! A weekly trip the theater, with friends or alone, is a must if at all possible.
Rose: Traveling, volunteering with the theater, participating in a bi-weekly Socrates Café, meeting friends at a bar after the Socrates Café to discuss the definition of words.
Paul: Reading and exploring the Internet.
Holy Week Blessings
A blessed Holy Week to you from Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries…
During this time of reflection and anticipation, we invite you to virtually visit some of the pastors on the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries roster as they examine and experience Holy Week in their own communities.
Pastor Megan Rohrer is on her annual Lenten Street Retreat. Follow her Street Retreat blog.
Pastor Donna Simon is blogging here.
Pastor Erik Christensen is posting his sermons here.
Pastor Dan Hooper is blogging here.
May these pastors’ words bring insight, reflection and connection to your week.
Rev. Megan Rohr featured in the news!
Recently, Rev. Megan Rohrer, ELM roster (pictured left, in a photo by Gabriela Hasbrun), was the featured pastor in the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion & Faith News, which is emailed to
thousands of people. In the profile, readers learn about Pastor Megan’s work with the homeless through the Welcome Ministry, especially her outreach to the many GLBT-identified homeless in the Polk-Gulch neighborhood. Pastor Megan is also currently featured in the exhibit, Polk Street: Lives in Transition, that explores San Francisco’s Polk Gulch neighborhood from the 1960s to the present.
Two New Roster Members!
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries enthusiastically welcomes two new members to its roster, the Rev. Paul Brenner and the Rev. Steve Robertson. Rev. Brenner and Rev. Robertson were approved by the Twin Cities ELM candidacy panel on March 9.
Rev. Brenner has been involved with hospice work for over 30 years. He served as interim pastor at St. Francis Lutheran Church and has also been very active in music ministry.
Rev. Robertson served nearly 25 years as an ELCA pastor. He is currently serving as a Spiritual Coordinator/Bereavement Counselor for AseraCare Hospice, Bloomington.
Pastor embraces challenge to grow congregation
Logan Square church is surviving, growing under leadership of openly gay minister
Rev. Erik Christensen clutches a 64-ounce Diet Coke while a parishioner fixes a rusty slop sink–it’s a double Big Gulp kind of day for the pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square. The minister knows that what his century-old church with its neo-Gothic flying buttresses really needs is tuck-pointing. This is just one of many obstacles Christensen and the congregation have faced. Both have been told by Lutheran church administrators they shouldn’t exist: Christensen, 35, because he is an openly gay minister, and the congregation because membership had dwindled to about a dozen.
But over the last two years, Christensen has nearly tripled the congregation. And the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the country’s largest Lutheran denomination, announced last month it is considering allowing gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy members.
John Brooks, spokesman for the Chicago-based Lutheran church group, said that if gays are allowed to be clergy it will likely be at the discretion of each church. Christensen said he appreciates that the group is showing flexibility. “It’s about creating a policy to reflect what is already happening for years in a fairly unspoken way,” he said.
But his main focus is on continuing to grow St. Luke’s, where the threat of closing still looms.
Some of Christensen’s methods can seem non-traditional. While he tries to reach people from the pulpit, he also posts his sermons on Facebook and it’s not unusual to find him on the dance floor of a club. His congregation members say they appreciate his trying to blend tradition with liberal thinking.
Libby Ahearn, 24, said that’s why she and husband Brian Gilmore, 23, joined St. Luke’s more than a year ago after a long search. “We were getting desperate to find a church,” said Gilmore. “We went to five churches, even as far as away as Lincoln Park, and couldn’t find any one we liked. But then we found St. Luke’s and Erik.” The couple liked the small, friendly congregation and Christensen’s down-to-earth sermons. “He always seems to tailor his message to our needs,” and to the neighborhood, said Ahearn, who now serves as the Sunday school teacher, the first the church has had in many years.
St. Luke’s path has been anything but traditional for a long time. After swelling to 800 members in its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s, it declined as the neighborhood changed and families moved away. Before Christensen, the last full-time pastor left in 1991 and the church limped along with only 10 to 12 parishioners regularly attending services.
By June 2001, the church council recommended St. Luke’s close. But the remaining stalwarts were adamant that it stay open.
“We virtually had no kids, but there was a core group of us that were very stubborn and wanted to give it one last chance,” says Judi Keippel, 64.
They sold the parsonage in 2004 and used $390,000 from that sale as seed money to redevelop the church. They put on a new roof, installed a boiler and began searching for a full-time pastor.
After years of searching unsuccessfully to find a pastor through traditional methods, Keippel noticed a mailing advertising pastors from Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, which helps ordain and place ministers regardless of sexual orientation.
“I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say a few old-time members don’t care for the idea” of hiring an openly gay pastor, Keippel said. “But most are accepting and like Erik’s enthusiasm, energy and ability to organize and his outreach to the community. His spiritual gifts are phenomenal, and he really seems able to relate to people.”
“Besides, we’ve always been known as the church that never really follows directions,” Keippel’s husband, Bill, said.
“Some refer to us as that feisty congregation,” he quipped. “And I love that.”
Christensen had been ordained by ELM after being kicked out of a mainstream seminary for being gay. He had worked for a couple of years helping homeless youths in non-profits in Washington and Atlanta before returning to a more spiritual life.
He was offered the St. Luke’s post in October 2006. Until that point, only eight ELM-ordained people had ever been called to serve parishes.
“[Parishioners] actually felt like there was a place for them in Logan Square and that they weren’t ready to give up,” Christensen said. “And I could relate.”
Since then, membership at St. Luke’s has grown to 30 or more regular members, a testimony to Christensen throwing open the church doors to the community, including non-Lutherans.
The church now houses a Boy Scout troop, Elijah’s food pantry, Narcotics Anonymous and a Weight Watchers group. There is also Teatro Luna, a Latino-women run theater company; a music program for grade-school children available through a partnership with DePaul University; a bilingual Fine Arts for Tots music program; the Chicago Community Chorus; and a yoga and tai chi studio.
Christensen said members originally thought the church would need to close some time this year. With revenue from these groups, Christensen now estimates that St. Luke’s has enough money to stay open for two years.
Phil West started attending services at St. Luke’s three weeks ago with his fiance, Liz Garvey. He said he is not concerned about the size of the congregation or that Christensen is gay.
“It’s the warmth that you feel,” said West, 33, who is “church shopping.”
“People are people. It doesn’t matter your sexual orientation. … Times are changing and people are becoming a little more open.”
So, hopes Christensen, is the Lutheran church.
“My dad told me that everybody is called to be something,” said Christensen, who grew up in Des Moines, the son of a choral conductor. “Lutherans believe that.”