Church #38. Meet Sister Emily Lalor – Clamser. She is a deacon on leave from call and located in the North Carolina Synod of the ELCA. Pastors, deacons, and children, youth and family staff know the conundrum of helping people connect faith to daily life. "It's a real struggle!" said Clamser. People long to understand … Continue reading Faith@home or Faith@Go

Church #37. Meet Carmen Retzlaff. She is the solo pastor at New Life Lutheran Church in Dripping Springs, Texas. The interesting thing about this congregation, which has an average worship attendance of 60 on a given Sunday, is that everything they do is outside: worship, Sunday School, gardening camp. And guess what? Like many things … Continue reading Growing Worship Outdoors

Looking for my first call to be a pastor, I decided to check out the numbers in my area of responsibility at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Minneapolis. I know, I know, numbers don't tell the complete story, but they do say something. In five years, Children's Ministries grew in leaps and bounds. … Continue reading Doubled and Tripled

Church #36. Meet Pastor Rebecca Sullivan. She is the solo pastor at Lakeview Lutheran Church in Maplewood, MN. With an average worship attendance of 65 on a given Sunday, Lakeview describes themselves as a "friendly little church that seeks to grow on our faith journeys by coming together and serving the world around us." One … Continue reading A Storytelling Sunday

Church #35. Meet Joel Folkemer. He is the lead pastor at Union Evangelical Lutheran Church in York, Pennsylvania. With averaging worship attendance of 70 on a given Sunday, Folkemer describes Union as an urban church in a small city. Union’s purpose statement is “Sharing the Good News of Jesus with our neighbors, as we grow … Continue reading Finding Purpose

Two children's books are on my reading list for this weekend. Not by choice and kind of reluctantly. (At least, the first one...) First. My kids are in a French immersion program at their middle school and high school. My youngest son's class is reading Pieter et Dan: La Vie en Noir et Blanc by … Continue reading Being Reluctant

Church #34. Meet Stephanie Luedtke. She is a deacon with responsibilities in faith formation and worship at  St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Minnesota. With an averaging worship attendance of 200-250 people on a given Sunday, Luedtke’s position allows her to mix her passion of children, youth, and family ministry into meaningful worship. Before Luedtke’s … Continue reading Kids Leading Worship

Church #33. Meet Tiphanie Dirnberger. She is the Director of Children's Ministry at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Hopkins, Minnesota. With an average worshiping attendance of 300 people on a given Sunday, Gethsemane has been integrating FAITH5 into the fabric of the congregation. FAITH5, or Faith Acts in the Home, was developed out of the work … Continue reading Storytelling FAITH5

Church #32. Meet Judy Nuehring. She is the Director of Youth and Family Ministry at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Villa Park, Illinois. With an average worshiping attendance of 200 people on a given Sunday, St. Paul is a church where community is at the center of their mission. Nuehring, a veteran in youth ministry, … Continue reading Starbucks, Students & Study?

Now what - Post-resurrection. What do we want our households to do with this new fresh faith? Children, youth and families at Good Shepherd are doing a couple of things to stretch our faith legs: We just started an Easter FAITH5 season together during the education hour (really 45 minutes). People of all ages gather … Continue reading Mason Jar Devotions