When tracking down a three generational Lutheran Pastoral Family, I was referred to the family historian and the granddaughter of the First Lutheran Pastor in the Stephens family, Augusta.

When one grows up a block from the church and then is offered employment by the church, even with changing locations and changing responsibilities, how does one say no??? From a teenager working for the neighborhood pastor, or a staff person, working at 2900 Queen Lane, to working and going to seminary, to encouraging her deceased partner in life and ministry to attend Mission developer’s school, Bishop Patricia Davenport’s life has revolved around family and the church. Bishop Davenport served in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Church in America and was the first Black woman elected bishop in the ELCA. She retired after serving one term.

It took two interviews, a technological lesson  or two for the blogger to get this interview posted.  Yet Pastor Capers showed me the patience he gave to the people he served in multiple locations in the ELCA as a Lay Associate, Seminarian, Mission Developer, Staff Person, Composer, Collaborator and small town pastor in central Indiana…in retirement…Ha…….

A member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ELCM), Pr. Capers died on January 23, 2025 at the age of 76. He served as interim pastor at Salem Lutheran Church In Indianapolis, Indiana, from December 2016 until he joined the Church Triumphant on January 23, 2025.

From the obituary on the ALCM website: Pastor Capers is probably best known in Lutheran circles as the composer of setting II in This Far by Faith, an African American worship resource. Published in 1999 as a joint project of the ELCA and LCMS, This Far by Faith was conceived as a worship resource that would supplement the principal worship books in use at the time within those denominations as well as future resources that might be developed. In addition to composing setting II, Pastor Capers served on the project’s music subcommittee.

Redeemer and Harrison give emotional send off to beloved ‘PK’

By David Pierini, Staff Reporter,, North News, North Minneapolis

Pastor Kelly Chatman’s pulpit was at Redeemer Lutheran Church, but he never believed his ministry was the four walls of the sanctuary.

For more than 20 years, Chatman saw his church as the Harrison neighborhood. He brought housing and job training to its needy, built youth programs that nurtured scholars, artists and musicians and mentored a new generation of ministers ready to stand with people to combat racism, LGBTQ discrimination and other injustices.

The neighborhood came to him Saturday, Feb. 22, packing the pews and balcony to say goodbye to the pastor affectionately known as “PK.” Chatman gave his last sermon on Feb. 16. He is forming a new nonprofit in North Minneapolis to train local churches to uplift and support their neighborhoods much as Redeemer has.

Redemeer has begun a search for a new pastor and will also need to find an executive director for Redeemer Lutheran Life Center, the nonprofit Chatman started to bring transitional housing, youth programs and workforce development, such the bike and coffee shop known as Venture North.

“If there is one word that describes Pastor Kelly, it’s prophet,” said Mark Hanson, an ECLA bishop emeritus. “He is not the kind of prophet that sees the future. He is the kind of prophet who speaks his mind and truth in cultures of deception and lies. You are a prophet with enormous heart that breaks open again and again with compassion and mercy.”

Hanson was just one of a line of speakers who paid tribute to Chatman during a twohour service in late February. Ministers paid tribute to a humble servant, whose only lapse in humility is when he makes chili (he thinks his is the best).

Musicians performs songs wrote especially for the sendoff. An artist stood near the front of the church, painting a canvas symbolizing how the church helped the community blossom.

Chatman had the day off from speaking; he needed all the strength he could muster to dole out hugs. In a video tribute, Kelly expressed gratitude in his characteristic understated manner.

In 2012, he was among a group of religious leaders who stood against a proposed marriage amendment in Minnesota. “I want people to strive to make this world on this day a better world for the next day,” he said. “I love god and I love people.”

source: https://mynorthnews.org/stories/2020/3/2/redeemer-and-harrison-give-emotional-send-off-to-beloved-pk

Karen Battle comes from a Baptist Tradition, and an Apostolic Tradition, and a Catholic Tradition, and is a Lutheran Pastor. She started in Columbus, with stops in Chicago and a resting place in Pittsburgh, where she serves in both Presbyterian and Lutheran settings. She keeps her mind and yours racing to keep up…

A college education in the Upper Midwest brought this native Kentuckian to the Lutheran Church, Higher Education and an adult life lived in service to the church as an educator and administrator. Dr. Green came out of retirement to serve as interim president of United Lutheran Seminary until December 2019.

His pastor didn’t let him see his hearing loss as a disability but as an asset for his own education, and later as a vocational specialization in the church.  He was a part of the 100th Year Celebration for St.Philips, Philadelphia, and still serves in Stouchberg, PA.

As college classmates, Bishop Hicks and the reporter [Rich Stewart] have known each other for over 50 years.  Talking about and to the church is nothing new for either of us, but it is good to have reflections that are not your own and experiences that different than the path of the reporter.

The Rev. Dr. Thomas Minor, Pastor, Campus Pastor, Army and Air Force Chaplain now retired. A Chicagoan who became a Texan and Chaplain in Houston.

The Rev. Dr. Craig Lewis was recruited to be a leader. His education toward the law was interrupted by encounters with Krister Stendahl and Vernon Carter. He has served the church from a small mission start in Cleveland, Ohio, to agencies, to staff in the LCA, to community development in the banking industry, to Pastor of Central Lutheran in Minneapolis. He is retired in Florida.