Giving voice to the divine music of the gospel

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Beloved in Christ in the Rocky Mountain Synod,

I have been blessed to serve in team ministry in many diverse settings. In two particular settings – as Director of Betela Lutheran Regional Seminary in Madagascar and as Area Program Director for West Africa, Tanzania, and Madagascar for ELCA Global Mission – I have served as team leader. In these settings I have relied on the gifts, talents, perspectives, and contributions of the members of the team to bring ministry to life. 
     
My role was to keep the big picture in mind, to create frameworks, and to provide encouragement that allowed the gifts of each member of the team to flourish. In many ways, being a team leader is like being the conductor of an orchestra or choir: it’s not about the music you make – it’s about your commitment to facilitating the ability of others to create music that is so much richer when many join together in the song.
     
When I consider the staff who will serve with me in the Rocky Mountain Synod Office of the Bishop, I envision a team whose collective role is to function as conductor for the music our synod can make together. Our efforts as a staff will have meaning only if they animate and energize your gifts as you live and serve in the congregations and ministries of our synod. Working in concert we have the amazing opportunity to give voice to the divine music of the gospel written for us through the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ himself. 
     
I am delighted to announce that Pastor Ron Roschke and Pastor Sarah Moening have accepted the invitation to join me in a newly designed staff team for the Bishop’s office of the Rocky Mountain Synod. They will be engaged in facilitating areas of our shared ministry that include candidacy, global ministries, youth and household ministry, and mobility. 
     
I am also excited that Pastor Rob Moss has agreed to serve on a part-time interim basis as we work with the Congregational and Synodical Mission unit of the ELCA churchwide office to seek applicants for a reconfigured Director for Evangelical Mission position. Pastor Moss will remain in his call at Lutheran Church of the Master in Lakewood during this period. We hope this position can be filled by February 2013. These new staff members will begin on August 15 – you’ll be hearing much more about them in the weeks to come.
     
I am still finalizing my proposal for how this team – which will include Cheryl Almquist, Willie Hobbs, Ruth Hoffman, Janice Ladd-Horkey, Pastor Kent Mueller, and Brad Wood – will serve with me as synod ministers in a dynamic, interdependent, and flexible structure. I imagine working in five broad focus areas designed to create networks of cooperation and collaboration, promote healthy leadership, facilitate the participation of all our synod’s members in ministry and mission, and connect us to the wider Body of Christ. As we live into this staffing design for the next few months, I am pleased that Linda Staats has agreed to serve under contract on an interim basis to provide continuity and follow-up on certain on-going projects and initiatives. 
    
I want to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to Pastor Dan Bollman and Pastor Jim Hytjan who have served our synod-wide ministries with passion, faith and dedication under the direction of Bishop Allan Bjornberg. They will conclude their service with the synod on August 31. I invite you to express your appreciation to each of them for their significant contribution to our synod. We pray God’s deepest blessing upon them as they enter into a new chapter of life and service among us.

It is my fervent hope that as our new team comes into place in the Rocky Mountain Synod Office of the Bishop you will be ready and excited to offer the skills and gifts with which you’ve been blessed so that our shared music may join that of the whole Body of Christ in proclaiming God’s infinite grace, mercy, and love.

Yours in Faith,
Jim Gonia, Bishop-Elect


Comments

Anonymous said…
Looks like the ELCA got what they deserve.
4:35 PM
Anonymous said…
Leaving without Grace
4:30 PM
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