The Second Annual IMA-ELCA Fall Educational Event is Monday, 9/19/2022, at September 19, 2022, 10am-1pm MST/PDT, 11am-2pm MDT. Register here for this online Zoom event, and view a PDF flyer here.
Join a panel discussion of leaders—including Rev. Kurt Fangmeier Living Christ Lutheran Church in Flagstaff—who are engaged in innovative leadership. Each panelist will give information about their specific context, and time for personal and in depth conversation will follow.
The Rev. Dr. Sarah R. Cordray has served in full time ministry for twenty-two years. She completed her D.Min in Congregational Mission and Leadership in 2017 with a passion for accompanying congregations through a process that brings adaptive change in function and God's unique mission for each church. She currently serves as senior pastor at Luther Memorial in Syracuse, Nebraska.
The Rev. Marissa Harrison serves Good Soil Lutheran Ministries, a merger of two previous ELCA congregations. After navigating the congregational merger, sale of one building, pastoral call process, and a pandemic, Good Soil entered into a two-year transformational ministry process designed to foster vitality in spiritually-grounded, intentional, and innovative ways. Good Soil is located in Rocky River, Ohio.
The Rev. Alan Blankenfeld serves as the Rural Ministry Liaison for the South Dokata Synod. As the Rural Ministry Liaison, he travels to congregations to engage in ministry over the course of two weeks. Currently, his is prioritizing congregations and parishes in rural settings who are in transition. He walks with them in this time of uncertainty.
The Rev. Dr. Beth Marie Halvorsen has addressed situations of conflict and misconduct and engaged congregations in missional renewal for the past thirteen years as an Intentional Interim Pastor. She has used her doctoral work, Centered Flexibility, extensively in leading congregations. She lives in Cypress, Texas.
The Rev. Kurt Fangmeier is pastor of Living Christ Lutheran Church, Flagstaff, Arizona. Living Christ, as part of its redevelopment process, has expanded its outreach to the LGBTQIA2S+ community and its online presence as well, reaching 800+ people weekly, with worship videos in English, Spanish, and closed captioning. Having sold the building, the church is now exploring how to be a healthy force for depolarization in the community.
Panel Facilitator is The Rev. Dr. Keith Copeland, Chair of the Board of IMA. Dr. Copeland has served 12 congregations as Interim Pastor in three different denominations and two states and is currently the Transitional Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Concord, North Carolina. He is on the faculty with the Interim Ministry Network and adjunct faculty with LuTMA.
