Bishop Vivian Thomas-Breitfeld

In an interview with Bishop Vivian Thomas-Breitfeld, during the African Descent Lutheran Assembly, prior to her resignation. We noted that in separate decades, we both served on the Candidacy Committee in Upstate New York. Dr. Ed Perry, her Bishop, encouraged her to give seminary a try, as her husband was a student in Chicago, IL at McCormick Seminary.

Sr. Ramona dancing

Sr. Ramona Daly

Even as Sr. Ramona has aged, her desire is to float and glide others through their lives and their worship of God.  A member of the ELCA Deaconess Community, she has served in a variety of contexts. She has carried the burdens of those congregations, chaplaincy’s, always with a spirit that not only lifts the person, but sometimes encourages them that there is still movement in lives that seem sedentary.  Movement and Prayer seem to have been central in her life and ministry.

The Rev. Michael Vinson

Pr. Vinson is one of the few interviews of someone I have never met face to face.  He, when on Facebook, shares the strong ideas of someone who has not only an idea but a plan for how life, church, ministry and football should be planned and directed.  When a conversation partner, be prepared to clarify/defend your position, because it may be challenged, always with the Love Of Jesus.

The Rev. Angela Shannon

With a Broad range of Pastor and Church Leadership positions, Pr. Shannon is an enthusiast of Girl Trek and slowing down to be a Benedictine Oblate and Womanist Theologian.

She is proud, and rightfully so, of her ministries in multiple locations, in multicultural settings.

She is extremely proud of the “Monarch Sanctuary” on the property of her call to Bowie, MD and she always notes the walking trail on the church property that highlights her own personal stake and activity in personal wellness. You might want to see her ‘Weather Reports’ no matter where she is in the world.

Bishop Callon Holloway (ret.) was almost ‘Bahn Luteran” with family roots in Fredrick Lutheran Church, St. Thomas. With a broad based Christian upbringing and family channeling, church work may have been on his family’s agenda, but not in the forefront of his mind. Continuous involvement seemed to set a path toward ministry. Involvement in church, guides – both in the congregation and beyond – helped to shape and raise up this minister who have served the church.

The Rev. Michael Cobbler

Whenever there was a gathering of clergy, Michael always seemed to have a trombone in his Bible case… As usual there was a ready smile and a word of encouragement. Most gatherings have plenty of music and Pr Cobbler was a central part of the music at any gathering of the church. Currently an interim at United Church of Christ congregations, he has served with great dignity and tremendous humor. When you hear the ready laugh, there is music soon to follow. He still plays with the symphony in Indianapolis, IN.

From Philadelphia, Pr. Leonard has been able to make forays into almost all parts of ministry in the church. Growing up the trajectory was one of service. After college and seminary, he served a parish in North Philadelphia, while fulfilling his ROTC requirement as a Navy Chaplain that did not end for 18 years. He learned Dutch in the Netherlands to equip him to serve as Missionary in Suriname. Upon completion of his service there, graduate education and service as an administrator at Uppsala College, Union Seminary kept him moving up and down the New Jersey Turnpike. A call to Contextual Education at his Alma Mater, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (now United Lutheran Seminary) brought him back to his home town, and he has continuously been connected to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. Gasoline and energy seem to never be in short supply.

The Rev. Dr. Emanuel F.Y. Grantson is the first person I know who was knowledgeable of the life, education, and history of service to the Church of Anton Anselm Amo.

While Dr. Grantson has served in his native Ghana; Christ, Philadelphia; St. Michaels Truth Lutheran Church, Mitchelleville, MD; as well as taught at the seminary level. He continues to have a heart for the people he services. We shared impressions of the church’s work among people of color and with African nationals. Our collective knowledge of Anton Anselm Amo kept our conversation going.

Anton Anselm Amo, a Ghanaian, in the early 1700’s was taken to Germany, where he was a companion to the children of Duke Anton Ulrich Brunswick- Wolfenbüttel, and sons Wilhelm August and Ludwig Rudolp. In this home, Amo was influenced by Augustus Hermann Francke and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz.

Learn more about Anton Amo.

Lynell Carter and Rich Stewart met at a “new” Urban Pastor’s Conference at Northwestern University in 1972. Like a lot of us who were scattered throughout the church, we made minimal contact. But on occasion, we would connect and remember that one week at Garrett Seminary where we, along with Wilson Wu, were the only pastors of color Studying Urban Ministry at the event.

Lynell had served in Islandic Lutheran Churches in Canada, but he was asked to serve in Baltimore. For many years he served Pastor of Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Yonkers, NY, and most recently was the Pastor of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tremont in The Bronx. He retired in May 2012 and died in August 2013. Please see the video tribute prepared in his honor.

It was not an obvious path to being a Bishop, but loving his church, serving as a lay leader, and being the Spanish voice of the Cleveland Indians does not seem to be a normal path to being a Pastor in the Lutheran Church. Yet it is the path of Bishop Abraham Allende. He shares his path to ministry in the ELCA in this interview.