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Internship Newsletter: April 2008

The Final Paragraph   

Congratulations! You've made it to the end of internship! (Well, almost...) As the last few weeks or months of internship approach, all of you interns, supervisors and lay committee members will turn your attention to the final - and most important - evaluation.

Similar to the other evaluations, the final internship evaluation is used to assess an intern's growth and development over the course of the internship year; it follows the same format as the six-month form, with one additional section: the summary recommendation.

This extra section becomes a vital part of the student's approval and assignment process. The summary paragraph contains valuable information about the student's internship experience - including unique gifts for the ministry and growth areas for the future discovered on internship - that will be shared with the bishops when students are assigned. The recommendations made in this section also have the potential to affect a student's approval process.

The summary recommendation section is at the beginning of the final evaluation but is best filled in after the remainder of the evaluation is complete. It is divided into two parts: recommendation to the seminary and summary paragraph.

The recommendation to the seminary has three ranks, "unconditional," "conditional" and "not recommended." A "conditional" or "not recommended" notation should include the reasons for the ranking. Such a ranking typically should not come as a surprise to the intern, but should be based on unresolved issues or concerns raised in previous evaluations and discussed with the intern. The student's seminary would follow up on either of these ranks.

The summary paragraph section allows for 500 characters (including spaces and punctuation) to describe/recommend the student for ordained ministry. It should give a thumbnail sketch of the student's gifts, strengths and growing edges.

While general glowing recommendations can be nice for the student's confidence, they are not very useful for bishops or others whose only knowledge about the candidate's internship may be what is written in these brief statements. They're glad that you loved Vicar Jane, but they need to know why. Give specific examples of what she excelled at and loved to do, what she struggled with and needs to work on, what types of ministry settings might best work for her when she is ordained.

Space is limited, however, so brevity is required.

Consider the following examples as good models:

• "We highly recommend Janet for pastoral ministry. Her sermons are excellent, and her speaking style is clear. She relates well with congregation members of all ages and has good listening skills and the discipline necessary to multi-task."
• "John is a person of deep faith and clear call. He has great skills in listening and being present with people. His preaching has become more engaging and gospel centered. He works well on a team. He needs more training and experience with stewardship and evangelism."
• "Internship provided me with a great deal of opportunity to develop my pastoral presence through visitation, weekly worship leadership, regular preaching, and teaching numerous adult and confirmation classes. I found teaching to be a core element of my sense of call which I plan to make a central part of my future ministry."

If you're still struggling with what to write, try asking yourself the following questions:

What would you want a congregation to know about this person if they were considering calling him as their pastor? What could they expect from him?

What would a bishop need to know about this person in order to decide whether or not he has any congregations that might be good matches for her first call? What distinguishes her from the rest of the candidates out there? Would she prefer to work and/or excel as a member of a pastoral team or as a solo pastor (or could she adapt well to either setting)?

All three summary paragraphs - the student's, the supervisor's and the lay committee's - are put on the Form D, which becomes a part of the student's package that is sent to ELCA bishops as part of the assignment process. The Form D also contains summary recommendations from the faculty at the student's seminary and her/his candidacy committee, but only you can speak directly about student's internship work.

On Competitive Cooking   
By Steve McKinley

Now and then I curl up in my recliner and spend some time with the Food Network. It's something like looking at the latest Ferrari catalogue. I carry plenty of pork on my frame, no doubt about that, but I wouldn't dare eat Paula Dean's deep-fried dandies or the kind of high-fat grub that shows up on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." It is fun to look at just the same.

Spending time with the Food Network has exposed me to this new concept that is serious competitive cooking. Oh, I knew about state fairs and the Pillsbury Bake-off and that kind of thing, and now and then dropped in on a church supper where Mrs. Anderson was out to show that her potato salad was much tastier than Mrs. Johnson's, but now I have discovered Iron Chefs and Throw-Downs and all that. I make a pretty good pot of baked beans if I do say so myself, but I say it softly lest Bobby Flay show up in my kitchen and challenge me to a throw-down. This is serious stuff with significant prizes and maybe a spot on the menu at TGI Friday's at stake.

Entertaining, but I do not love competitive cooking. I prefer the kind of cooking that has the whole family elbowing each other in the kitchen trying to get everything just right, or the smell of my wife's cinnamon rolls, or our daughter whipping up Shepherd's Pie for the whole family, or our son's special paella. One of my wife's friends was in charge of the soup supper at her church one week during Lent, and was headed to church early in the morning because this would be home-made chicken noodle soup, and she had to get to church early to make the noodles! That's what cooking is about, friends: food that nourishes and gives joy. Forget the competition.

I feel the same way about mission. Every now and then a person runs across a church that is competitive, which makes about as much sense to me as competitive cooking. First Lutheran Church is determined to have the "best youth ministry in town." Word has it that the folks at Trinity Lutheran have upgraded their youth ministry, so the gang at First has to do even better, so that they can still say they have the "best youth ministry in town." And so with choirs, organists, lutefisk suppers, etc. Which is not even to touch on the topic of the competition between the First Lutherans and the First Baptists.

(A digression - but then again maybe not: A few years ago the local church softball league was holding its season-ending playoffs. The league had two divisions and the divisions played off against each other. Finally came the championship game, which we hung around to watch even though we weren't playing in it. The championship game never finished because it degenerated into a brawl between the two teams. They were both from the same church. I couldn't make this stuff up.)

As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself: churches competing with each other to see who can have the biggest and best whatever? Who can have the biggest attendance or the most new members? Please. We can do better than this.

Quite a few years ago a noted mission planter reminded one of his congregations that "...we are not fighting against principalities and powers, but against the world rulers of this present darkness." First Lutheran's competition isn't Trinity Lutheran or First Baptist or St. Joseph Roman Catholic. Rather First Lutheran and Trinity Lutheran and First Baptist and St. Joseph Roman Catholic are all together trying to reach people with the incredible good news of what God is up to through Jesus Christ in our world today, to live out God's love in the world, and to invite people to get with the movement. Mission is not something we do in competition with other Christians; it is something we do in partnership with them and when we make it competitive, we only weaken its overall impact.

The best mission is no more competitive than the best cooking is.

Intern Financial Stewardship Sermon Contest   

We are getting close to the deadline for the Intern Financial Stewardship Contest for those on internship in 2007-2008. It is designed to enrich and strengthen the practice of stewardship in the church by advocating preaching and teaching that promotes the stewardship of financial resources. The prize is made possible by a grant from the Arthur Larson Stewardship Education Fund and is sponsored by the Center for Stewardship Leadership.

All interns who submit a sermon on financial stewardship as prepared and presented during the year of internship will be given a $50 bookstore voucher, either for the Luther Seminary Bookstore or the GTU Bookstore. In addition, all sermons will be presented to a committee which will select the prize winners. First place will earn $500, second place $250, and 3rd, 4th, and 5th place will earn $150. In addition the first prize winner will be asked to preach the sermon in chapel during his or her senior year.

The sermons will be judged on the following criteria:

• Relevance to today's North American Christians.
• Biblical, theological and homiletical standards.
• Focus on financial stewardship that is reflected in gratitude, responsibility, generosity and willingness to give back with increase.
• Call for people to change the way they live in the world of everyday life.

Insofar as almost every text provides an opportunity to be a "stewardship sermon," you are encouraged to give your financial stewardship sermon during a time of year that has no connection with the annual effort to gather money for the congregation.

Sermons should be sent to:
Jerry Hoffman, Director
Center for Stewardship Leadership
2481 Como Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108
e-mail: jhoffman@luthersem.edu

Please include a paragraph describing the congregational context for the sermon. You may submit your sermons on a CD or as a written text. If you used PowerPoint and/or video, you may include those as well. Please footnote and properly document all your sources.

All submitted sermons become property of the Center and may be reprinted in seminary publications and at the Stewardship for the 21th Century Web site without compensation to the author but with recognition.

The deadline for submitting a sermon will be June 1, 2008.

Spring Cluster Meetings   

• Northern TC Metro Cluster - April 3, 2-8 p.m., with option of overnight at Episcopal House of Prayer, Collegeville, Minn. (Laure Schwartz)

• Wisconsin Cluster - April 8, 1 p.m. to April 9, 3 p.m., at St. Bede Retreat Center, Eau Claire, Wis. (Gary Wilkerson)

• East TC Metro Cluster - April 10, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., at Carondelet Center, St. Paul, Minn. (Laure Schwartz)

• Oregon-SW Washington Cluster - April 24-25, Menucha Retreat Center, Corbett, Ore. (Julie Josund)

• Southern California Cluster - April 29-30, Mary and Joseph Retreat Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (Sherwood Glover)

• Washington Cluster - April 29-30, at Palisades Retreat Center, Federal Way, Wash. (Julie Josund)

• Southern Minnesota-SE South Dakota Cluster - May 1, Shalom Hill Farm, Windom, Minn. (Steve McKinley)

• Northern California Cluster - May 6-7, San Damiano Retreat Center, Danville, Calif. (Sherwood Glover)

• South & West TC Metro Cluster - May 8, Christ Church Lutheran, Minneapolis, Minn. (Steve McKinley)

• Denver Cluster - May 13, Our Savior's Lutheran, Greeley, Col. (Sherwood Glover)

• Arizona Cluster - June 3, Community Lutheran, Las Vegas, Nev. (Sherwood Glover)