Staff Profile: Randy Nelson
At It Was from the Beginning   

In 1975 Randy Nelson joined two other newly-called colleagues to form the first Contextual Education staff at either Luther or Northwestern Seminaries. He’s still at it. He was a pioneer then, and he is a pioneer now.

Randy is a native South Dakotan as is his wife Joy, a Minneapolis Public School social worker. They grew up in rural communities 80 miles apart and met at Mt. Carmel Bible Camp. They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last summer.

Randy attended Gustavus Adolphus College and the Lutheran School of Theology, now at Chicago. He later earned his PhD in Ethics and Society at the University of Chicago. While in Chicago he served part-time in a congregation and on the staff at LSTC. Randy and Joy welcomed their first two children in those Chicago years. Their third child was born in Columbia, South America and was welcomed into the Nelson household at age 6. All three of the Nelson children are married and live in the Twin Cities. Randy and Joy have two grandchildren, and he would be happy to show you pictures!

Here are some numbers to dazzle you: Serving first as an Associate Director of Contextual Education and later as Director, Randy has made 990 site visits on 582 sites in 38 states and 11 foreign countries. (The rest of the staff is now conspiring to get him ten more site visits, so that he has an even 1000.)

Some people, settled into a groove like that, could never leave it without a fight. But Randy Nelson is not “some people.” When the Contextual Leadership Initiative was born a few years ago as the first visible manifestation of the Western Mission Cluster, yoking Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Luther Seminary, Randy stepped forward as Director of the Contextual Leadership Initiative and all of a sudden was doing things in a new and different way, working with students all over the West (in fact, all over the country). He has been a bold pioneer in making the CLI work, at home and respected on campuses in both St. Paul and Berkeley. We all know that we are lucky to have him.

All work and no play and all that. Randy says that “I have played summer softball for as long as I can remember but two recent surgeries with one still to come this spring have convinced me that I will need to stick to bicycle riding for my summer exercise. Leading cross-cultural immersion trips to Mexico City for almost 20 years has also resulted in a growing collection of obsidian statues and folk masks with designs painted by indigenous peoples. Music of all kinds, Broadway plays, movies, spectator sports and novels (especially spy stories and mysteries) have occupied some of my non-work hours.”

Summing up his years at this work, Randy comments: “Today, as when it began in 1975, the purpose of the work of Contextual Education is to provide students contextual opportunities to grow into their calling by learning through serving in congregations, institutions and agencies throughout the church. I came to Contextual Education somewhat accidentally, but it has proven to be a good fit for my gifts. It is probably fortunate for many people that having a good memory is not one of my gifts. O, the stories I could tell—if I could only remember them!”

For the Lay Committee:
Past the Middle, Looking Toward the End   
By Kate Sterner

The standard internship year is more than halfway through. Before you know it, the intern and supervisor will be filling out in their nine-month evaluation reports. Lay committees don't participate in that one, but you might ask your intern at this month's meeting whether they have looked ahead at the questions that will be asked, or whether they have any thoughts to share on the year-long evaluation process.

By this time, your intern will be fairly free to organize work and operate independently. You may see signs of confidence, of personal ministry style taking shape. Spend time discussing what you see. What kind of pastor do you think your intern is becoming? An excellent administrator? A gentle listener? A liturgical whizkid? A deep well of biblical and theological knowledge? A savvy social ministries pastor? Encourage your intern to acknowledge and develop those ministry strengths.

As a committee, you may wish to discuss how the mid-year evaluation process went, and whether you can improve your group's process in coming to a consensus for the committee chair's report. Having been through the mid-year evaluation process, you may have ideas that will help your group on the year-end final evaluation. The questions are the same on both, except that the final evaluation also asks the committee to create a final recommendation summary, which must be concise and yet descriptive. Be thinking of what you'll say collectively in that paragraph.

Speaking of year-end processes, it isn’t too soon to be thinking about how the internship will wrap up. Talk to your intern about any concerns they may be anticipating about leaving your congregation after what has most likely been an intense and formative learning experience. Your intern and your congregation have formed a bond. What are healthy ways to prepare for the departure of a person who has had a significant impact upon your spiritual community?

Finally, if the weather is getting nice, plan a picnic meeting! Do something fun together. Make your meetings comfortable, enjoyable, supportive and worthwhile. Enjoy these opportunities for rejuvenating fellowship!

Editor's Column: If I Had Saxophones   
By Steve McKinley

So there I was, motoring my way home after the recent North Dakota Internship Cluster Meeting, massaging my spirit with some of my favorite sacred music, the collected works of the Rev. Dr. Jimmy Buffett. The old CD player skipped its way to one of my favorite Jimmy songs, “If I Had Saxophones.” In this 30-year old classic, Jimmy bemoans (then) years of commercial non-success. He admits that he always relied on acoustic guitar and that this instrument was not showy and spectacular enough for him to get recognized and played by local DJs. He knows that situation would turn around “if I had saxophones.” With saxophones the DJs would love him and he could wow the crowd at the local club. “If I had saxophones.” Without the saxophones, success is far away.

I pushed the “repeat” button on the CD player and rode along thinking of all the pastors I’ve known over the years who used up huge chunks of time and energy wishing for saxophones, convinced that their ministry would take off “if they had saxophones.” Maybe it wasn’t exactly saxophones they were wishing for. Maybe it was a youth director, a new organist, an associate pastor, a new secretary…or even an intern! Maybe it was a nicer church building or a larger church building or a better location. Maybe it was even a different church. (“I would be a terrific pastor if I were in that congregation.") Maybe it was a contemporary worship band or screens to project hymn lyrics. Maybe a new organ or a new computer system or a new sound system or a new church bus. “If I had saxophones.”

And maybe, just maybe, there are interns out there in the field who have learned to wish for saxophones. If I had a church in the city. If I had a church in the suburbs. If I had a church in rural America. If I had a different supervisor. If I had a better lay committee. If I got to preach more often. If I didn’t have to mess with youth ministry. If I had a nicer apartment. If I were closer to friends and family. If my supervisor would just tell me what I’m supposed to do. If my supervisor would give me more freedom. Then I would be a truly magnificent intern and would have a lot more fun. “If I had saxophones.”

Some words for saxophone-wishers:

• Go recruit some saxophone players or learn to play the saxophone yourself. Rather than simply bemoaning your situation, act to change it.
• But recognize that once you’ve got the saxophones, you’ve got to learn to work with them, and that ain’t always easy. (Once upon a time the saxophone I was wishing for was an expanded church building for the congregation I was then serving. We got it. I had not anticipated how hard the building expansion would be on me mentally, physically, psychologically and spiritually.) There’s a price to be paid for saxophones.
• Further recognize that the saxophones we dream of do not automatically bring miracles. That expanded church building made some things easier, but we were still the same congregation we were before we got the new building.
• Along the same lines: After you get the saxophones, you will still, for better or worse, be you.

There’s nothing wrong with dreaming of saxophones in your spare time. You may even wind up with a plan for getting saxophones. In the meantime, it would be a better stewardship of your time to invest your energy in what you do have, rather than dreaming of what you don’t have. How can you be the best pastor/intern in the real congregation you are in right now, even without the saxophones? Don’t preoccupy yourself with tomorrow so much that you miss out on today.

When we have time, I will tell you about “Cheeseburgers In Paradise.”

Season of Resurrection   

During these days of celebrating the resurrection, our two seminary communities have grieved the deaths of three significant members of our campus families.

JAMES BURTNESS

James Burtness, Luther Seminary professor emeritus of systematic theology, died April 10, 2006 from injuries sustained from a serious fall in January.

Burtness' primary work was in the field of Christian ethics, but he was best known for his scholarship of the life and works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. From his first sabbatical in 1966, spent in Berlin with students who knew Bonhoeffer, to the many years he served as an officer in the English language section of the International Bonhoeffer Society, Burtness explored Bonhoeffer's writings, sermons and theology thoroughly.

Burtness began teaching at Luther Seminary in 1955 as an instructor in New Testament Greek and systematic theology. In 1960, he became an assistant professor, and was named a full professor in 1972. He served as editor of both Word & World (1979-81) and dialog, A Journal of Theology (1969-71). He also chaired the Aus Memorial Lectures Committee at Luther Seminary. Burtness was a visiting professor of New Testament at Gurukul Theological College, Madras, India (1963-64), ATS Fellow at The Free University of Berlin (1966-67), and Lutheran tutor at Mansfield College, Oxford, England (1973-74). In 1998 he retired from full-time teaching.

ROBERT H. SMITH

Robert Smith’s memorial service at PLTS’ Chapel of the Cross on Saturday, April 8 was an outpouring of cherished memories and deep emotions of thanksgiving and grief from our community. President Phyllis Anderson preached and Pr. Elizabeth Ekdale, PLTS’ Board Vice Chair, presided. His wife, Pr. Donna Duensing, former Director of Contextual Education at PLTS, and his daughters and grandchildren shared with students, colleagues, and hundreds of friends beautiful personal accounts of their loving grandfather, father, and husband.

Smith’s students and friends can read part of the service found on the PLTS website. Since 1983 when Prof. Smith joined the PLTS faculty as a Christ Seminary-Seminex professor of New Testament until just less than a week before he died, he dedicated himself to nurturing the biblical preparation of so many church leaders that have taken his love for the Gospel texts with them to so many places in the course of their ministries. Prof. Smith will be missed, and very much so. He will also be remembered, very much so, as an inspiration in reading, teaching, preaching, and loving the Jesus of Mark, the Jesus of Matthew, the Jesus of Luke, and the Jesus of John.

Also, now, he left with us in a just-completed book manuscript The Jesus of Thomas, the wounded Jesus that Thomas recognized because of his wounds. That is the Jesus that ascended to heaven, according to Smith’s reading of the so-called “doubting Thomas” passage in John 20—the Jesus with whom our beloved professor is talking now about the wounded world that he, too, touched with his love, compassion, kindness, conviction, and vision of justice. The PLTS community was blessed by Prof. Smith for a long time that does not seem long enough. PLTS graduates and his colleagues and friends will be blessed by his memory forever.

JON ANTTILA

Jon Anttila, director of accounting at Luther Seminary, died April 13, 2006. He was surrounded by his family who were called to the hospital to be with him.

Anttila had worked in accounting at Luther Seminary since November, 1981. Jon viewed Luther Seminary from a unique perspective, by the numbers. He was treasured as a colleague, friend and professional by faculty, staff and students, all of whom considered him a friend and a person who would be ready to solve any and all problems regarding accounting.

Can You Believe it? Nine-month Report Time!   

Nine-month reports from supervisors and interns are almost due now! That means almost three-fourths of the internship year has already gone by. Are you still thriving? Are there some catch-up areas on which to focus the remaining time?

After this briefer nine-month report there will only be the “final” evaluations. There should be no surprises then. Nobody wants surprises at the end. So this nine-month report is another opportunity to take the pulse and talk about it.

Internship committees do not need to fill out evaluations this time, but, of course, we recommend that intern and committee check again how things are going, and look ahead to the final quarter. So many relationships, experiences, projects to bring to fruition, to celebrate, to plan for continuity, and yes, even closure. May God continue to bless all your learning and service among God’s people.

Spring Cluster Meetings