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Internship
Newsletter: March 2007
Jean Larson Steps Down in Region 1
 The
Rev. Jean Larson, CLI Deployed Associate in Region I since 2005, has
resigned as of February 28 to accept a call as pastor of Our
Savior’s Lutheran Church in Bonner, Montana.
In accepting her resignation, Director Randy Nelson stated that Jean
“…brought excellence, energy, resourcefulness, insight, and
dedication to her work along with a generous spirit and a clear
commitment to the well-being of students and supervisors and the
health of the church.”
A search is already underway for Jean’s successor. In the meantime,
other staff members will pick up her responsibilities.
A Message from Jean 
Good-bye CLI: interns, supervisors, colleagues, and friends. I’m
being called back to the front lines (“recalled”?) as pastor with
the good folks at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Bonner, Montana. I
will have started there by the time you read this, on Fat Tuesday —
just in time to hunker into the journey. I am glad. And I’m glad to
have been working with you through the joy, anticipation, agony,
adjustments, questions, questions, questions, and, sometimes,
fulfillment of the internship adventure. Thank you for your
excellence, your passion, and your hope. I am grateful to have seen
this particular embodiment of the church, and to have been inspired
by some of the finest pastors around. Blessings and peace to you
always.
Those who read the monthly Parish Caller newsletter at First
English Lutheran Church (FELC) in Ortonville, MN readily recognize
this acronym created by Intern Dan Forsgren. It stands for "Pastor
in Training." Supervisor Pastor Marlene Elmstrom is generally not
very well versed in racing vernacular but often feels like ministry
in this rural but Spirit-filled congregation is on the fast track.
She says that, "while I've never aspired to being a 'pit'
supervisor, this is working out very well!" FELC, a congregation of
900+ members in a community of 2,200 people, is a good place to
learn and grow — not only as a P.I.T. but also as a child of God.
 Dan,
originally from the Twin Cities area and a student at Luther
Seminary in St. Paul, MN, his wife, Sarah, and their 2 year old son
Donny, moved to Ortonville mid-August — just in time for the annual
Corn Fest celebration — and in plenty of time to experience the
intense heat of the prairie! Just as he was beginning to adjust to
the challenges of an office without air conditioning and a summer
worship schedule of Wednesday evening contemporary worship and
Sunday morning traditional worship, September arrived. Temperatures
cooled, schedules changed, and the pace of ministry life increased.
But since Dan indicated from the beginning that he was looking for
an opportunity to be involved in as many aspects of pastoral
ministry as possible, he has not been disappointed. Nor has the
congregation. After less than six months of his engaging humor and
willing spirit, many are already asking out loud, "what will we do
when he has to leave?"
Located geographically "at the bottom of the bump" [on the map of
Minnesota,] Ortonville is a sister city to Big Stone City, SD
which is only a river (or lake) away to the west — Big Stone Lake
being the headwaters of the Minnesota River. Ortonville boasts of
being on the "fly way" for Canadian geese and other water fowl, so
is known as a hunting and recreation mecca. It is also the county
seat for one of the rockiest counties (hence the name, Big Stone
County and the abundant resource of tons of granite,) but also, is
the only county that boasts that it does not have a single traffic
light.
While the build up of industries such as the power plant and
ethanol plant in Big Stone City have increased the ethnic diversity
of the area somewhat, FELC considers its Scandinavian roots to be
one of its greatest assets. The annual Scandinavian Food Fair,
orchestrated by the FELCW (women of the church,) and held in early
November is not only an area cultural event that serves the most
interesting open faced sandwiches, (topped with everything from
fruits to herring,) and accompanied by lefse, krumkake, and other
Scandinavian delights (sorry, no lutefisk!) but it is also a
marvelous evangelism tool. Since it takes many hands and hearts to
turn 1,500 pounds of potatoes into the tasty packages of lefse that
are sought after by individuals from as far away as the Twin Cities,
Fargo, and even places in Wisconsin, Dan and Sarah were invited —
as are all newcomers to the area — to share in this annual assembly
line production of rolling, turning, and packaging — all of it
accompanied, of course, by good humor and fellowship and a chance to
sample the product with a good strong cup of Scandinavian coffee
(made in the past with egg shells cooked in the pot, but now
replaced by a more modern version of select grounds).
While Ortonville is certainly rural in context, (80 miles to the
closest WalMart — not to mention a branch bank for Dan’s financial
needs!) it is not remote in its quality of life and opportunities
for a variety of ministries. Blessed to have a health care system
that rivals many of the larger, more urban communities — with not
only a well staffed clinic and hospital but also a dialysis unit
that serves a large geographical radius — the health care system
also recognizes pastoral care as a vital aspect of holistic healing
and health. Supervisor, intern, and even the volunteer parish nurse
from FELC are part of the chaplaincy program at the hospital and
nursing home, rotating call schedule with other members of the local
ministerium. And while the declining population of young people in
rural areas such as this has certainly offered its challenges to
school systems and churches alike, FELC is blessed to not only have
an active youth ministry program for kindergarten through 12th
grade, but also a seasoned Director of Youth and Family Ministries,
who, as a former parochial school teacher/principal is helping the
saints of FELC recognize how all of our gifts are applicable and
valuable in many vocations of life! So while growing and learning as
an intern pastor in such a remote area might have it’s challenges,
it also has its rewards, not the least of which is getting to know
and love some marvelous people of God, as well as learning how to
work and share as part of a staff ministry team.
Giving Feedback
by Randy Nelson
For many internship teams this time of year is mid-year evaluation
time. That is true for internship committees as well. Recognizing
that many committees may already have completed this task, I offer
some comments, nonetheless, on how to approach your work and, if it
is too late for the mid-term, perhaps it can be useful when the time
for final evaluations arrives.
First a word about the evaluation process in general. The evaluation
is intended primarily as feedback for the intern, especially at
mid-year, but it applies whenever feedback is given. What you are
doing first of all is providing a snapshot for the intern of your
impressions as a committee at this point in time.
Second, a three part scale does not leave much room for nuances. Two
things sometimes happen: one is a tendency to inflate the ratings in
order to affirm an intern who is doing well. The other is to think
of the ratings in terms of a comparison with other interns or other
pastors. I think it is best if such comparisons can be avoided. It may
also be helpful to avoid responding with reference to expectations.
In other words, try, if possible, to give an answer to the question
at face value. Is the intern competent as a worship leader? Is the
intern competent as a preacher? That does not mean our own
judgments, expectations, values, etc. won't enter in, but the
response should be in relation to what the task requires rather than
in comparison to anybody else. No matter who is doing the
leading — pastor, intern, bishop, lay person — is the task being
performed in a competent manner?
When asked and answered in that way, a rating of competent is not a
matter of average or above average but of being able to do what the
job requires and, in that sense, a rating of competent represents
strong affirmation. "Exceptional" implies one who does the work
extraordinarily well, and most interns probably have some growth to
achieve in most areas in order to reach that level. The other thing
to remember is that the same form with the same scale is used in
both the mid-year and final evaluation. Hopefully, the intern will
become stronger in at least some areas as the internship progresses
and it is helpful if the feedback process allows for noting that
growth.
In the final analysis, subjective judgments cannot be eliminated but
what you are providing is best thought of not as a grade but as
feedback designed to affirm strengths and to encourage growth at the
same time. In many respects, your written comments are more valuable
than the rating and it is worth spending more time on the comments
than on the three part rating.
Thanks for your dedication,
commitment, and work. The internship program is stronger because of
what you do.
From the Editor: Reset Your Clocks!
by Steve McKinley
If you are anal about doing everything perfectly, you will get
out of bed at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 11 and set your clocks one
hour forward. (Assuming that you are in bed, and not pulling an
all-nighter writing the Sunday sermon.) Most of us average folks
will just do the spring ahead bit before we go to bed on Saturday
night. The law has been changed, so that now Daylight Savings Time
will begin on the second Sunday in March, rather than the first
Sunday in April. This is not a completely bad thing. I can remember
a year or two in which that first Sunday in April coincided with
Easter, meaning that you were springing ahead on the night before
the Sunrise Service, precisely a night on which you would really
rather not spring ahead.
I am not an anti-DST person, but I am amused by some of the
arguments put forward in support of this change. I particularly love
the congressperson quoted in the newspaper the other day as saying
“I think the American people will appreciate having another hour of
daylight.” I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that isn’t how
it is going to work. We aren’t getting an additional hour of
daylight. March 11, 2007 will have the same amount of daylight that
March 11, 2006 had. It will just have some daylight later in the
day. Same amount. Different distribution. We can pretend that we are
getting an additional hour, but, in fact, we are not. As always, it
is important to define reality.
 Max
DePree, no slouch when it comes to thinking about leadership, once
said that “the first task of the leader is to define reality.”
Pastors are forever defining reality for their congregations, and
interns are learning to be reality definers — or they should be.
Pastors have the opportunity to help the congregation recognize
reality, even when that reality is not what the congregation would
like it to be. Often that has to do with figuring out what time it
really is.
There are those congregations in which it is commonly believed
that it is 1972. The idea is that such-and-so worked so well when we
did it in 1972; surely it would work just as well if we did it
today. It is a blissful thought, but not grounded in
reality. The world in which we are carrying out mission in 2007 is
vastly different than the world of 1972, and the pastor and intern
need to patiently but firmly and stubbornly insist that this is
really 2007 and not 1972, and call upon the congregation to look
clearly at what is real today. Trying to do ministry today the way
it was done in 1972 is a serious mistake. It is impossible for my
children to believe and hard for me to believe, but I thought I
looked pretty sharp in that polyester leisure suit in 1972, but I
wouldn’t be caught dead in it today. We need to steer our
congregations away from polyester leisure suit ministry. (By the
way: every now and then a person runs into an extraordinary
congregation in which it is believed that next year will be 2025.
These lovable saints also need a reminder of what year it really
is!)
When you reset your clocks on March 11, you might also give some
thought to making sure the congregational calendar is set on the
correct year.
 Congratulations
Elba!
Congratulations to Elba Selby, administrative assistant in the
CLI Berkeley office, who recently became a grandmother when her
daughter gave birth to Paige Ann
Goodson, born February 12, weighing 7 lbs. 7 0z. and
measuring 21 inches!
Spring Cluster Meetings
Western Wisconsin/East Metro: April 17, 2:00 - 8:00 pm
(optional
overnight) at Carondelet Center, St. Paul
North Metro: April 19, 2:00 - 8:00 pm (optional overnight)
at Episcopal
House of Prayer, Collegeville
Alaska: April 23-24, Anchorage
Oregon: April 24-25, Menucha Conference Center
Washington: April 26-27, Dumas Bay Conference Center
Northern Minnesota: April 26 - 27 Camp Knutson, Cross Lake
South Metro: May 1 at St. Mary Magdalene, Savage
Arizona: May 3-4
Northern California: May 7-8
North Dakota: May 7-8, Camp of the Cross, Garrison
Southern Minnesota-South Dakota: May 10, Shalom Hill Farm
Denver Area: May 10, Abiding Hope Lutheran Church,
Littleton, CO.
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