Late Summer News from PLTS

David Armstrong-Reiner (MA/MDiv 1996) is the author of the new Book of Faith Bible study on the Book of Revelation. David received his PhD from Emory University in 2008 and wrote his dissertation on Revelation. He and Mary Armstrong-Reiner (MDiv 1995) just celebrated six years of co-pastoring Resurrection Lutheran in Bloomington, Illinois.

Howard Baumgart (BD 1955) wrote, "In June 2010, my wife Loree and I journeyed a second time to Norway. Part of the trip was to attend a centennial celebration in the community from which my great-grandparents left for America long ago. Along with visiting distant cousins, a personal memorable moment for me was reading the scripture text and delivering a brief homily in English in the Fluberg church, at the invitation of Pastor �ystein Wang. I immediately liked him when we were introduced and he was a wonderful person with whom to work. He and his wife are accomplished pianists and he has published a number of CDs in various genres. I was given a CD as a gift, along with a book published in 2003 on the occasion of Fluberg's 300th anniversary. It is the oldest church in the district of Land, Oppland County and dates at least into the 14th century. I shall always cherish the emotion I felt and the memory of preaching in the very building where my great-grandparents were baptized, confirmed and exchanged their wedding vows, 16 January 1872."

Jeremy McLeod (MDiv 1978, formerly Lorn Brown) will be serving as one of a team of writers providing materials for the UCC's new Faith Practices curriculum (http://www.ucc.org/education/practices/faith-practices-resources.html). He's working on Worship, Art, Music, and Story resources for modules in FP's " Working for Jusitce." This is a very similar role as when Jeremy was the Liturgical Coordinator for the ELCA's Congregational Social Ministry program.

Dan Carlson (TEEM student) was ordained on Sunday, August 15th, at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Excelsior, Minneosota, and has been called to serve Public Safety Ministries Inc. in Excelsior.

John Cummings (MDiv 2010) will be ordained on Sunday, September 26th at 4:30 pm at his home church, Mt. Carmel Lutheran, in San Luis Obispo, California.

Joel Langholz (MDiv 2009) and Becky Herhold (MDiv student) were married on June 12, 2010 at First Lutheran Church in Palo Alto, California. The couple now lives in Southwest Minnesota. Joel begins his second year as Associate Pastor of First Lutheran Church in St. James and Becky will start her fourth-year internship at Augustana Lutheran Church, also in St. James.

"The Bible's Got Talent" was the theme of the 2010 Summer Sundays at Thanksgiving Lutheran Church in Santa Rosa, California. Jean Lebbert (MDiv 1992) lined up as contestants biblical characters whose stories don't appear in the lectionary. Presentations included group readings, youth skits, and old-fashioned storytelling; bag lunch Bible studies held on the Monday preceding allowed participants to gain deeper insight into each character's contribution to the story of living abundantly in the divine. On the final Sunday, the congregation were invited to cast up to ten votes for their favorite story. Monies were sent to the organizations matched to each character. "I think I had more fun than anyone with this theme. I got to do a lot of bible study," comments Pastor Lebbert, confident that if the preacher is having fun and is grounded in scripture, it's okay!

Joseph Leon (TEEM 2002) recently returned from a mission trip to Tia Juana, a Mexican border town near California. He helped to build a house for families in the community and chaperoned youth from Prince of Peace Lutheran and his two daughters, Mirian and Noemi. He wrote, "What a great experience to re-energize and find myself in a community that is so rich in non-earthly possessions, but yet so happy. I encourage anyone to take this trip to Mexico and make a difference in the lives of so many.The food was great, the people were hospitable and new friendships were made. My two girls really enjoyed the experience; they signed up to go along with Emanuel Los Altos, Los Altos Lutheran and St Luke from Sunnyvale to help with VBS."

Eric Luedtke (MDiv 2010) has been called to serve as solo Pastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Knoxville, Tennessee. Eric's ordination and installation will be at Gloria Dei on Saturday, September 4 and will feature Jonathan Rundman's "A Heartland Liturgy."

Sarah Meckler (MDiv 2006) has been called as the new associate pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Lodi, California, and was installed on July 25.

Sheila Michaels (TEEM student) was ordained on Sunday, August 22nd, at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

Bonnie Novak (TEEM student) will be ordained on Saturday, September 11th, at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Nashua, Montana.

Breonna Roberts (MDiv 2010) was ordained on August 25 at her home congregation, American Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tucson, Arizona. She has been called to serve as assistant pastor at Christ Lutheran Church, Baltimore, Maryland.

Clay Schmidt (GTU PhD 1994) is entering his eleventh year of teaching preaching and worship at Fuller Seminary and is heavily involved in producing events for the Third Lausanne Congress for World Evangelism, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa in October. His two latest books are Sent and Gathered: A Worship Manual for the Missional Church (Baker Academic, 2009), and Praying the Hours in Ordinary Life (Cascade Books, 2010).

Craig Schweitzer (TEEM student) will be ordained on Thursday September 16th at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Martha Neff Stum (MDiv 2010) has been called to Galilee Lutheran Church in Kelseyville, California, and will be ordained there on September 12th.