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.

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