Internship Newsletter: October 2009

Meeting God in the Stillness
By Rick Foss

"Be still, and know that I am God." (Ps. 46)

Motion is good. Energy is a gift. New experiences are a delight. Challenges are life-giving. Opportunities are vital. God has given us a world swirling with activity, teeming with options, and chock full of expectations. I wouldn't have it any other way. And you probably wouldn't either.

On campus, activity has picked up. Juniors, middlers, seniors, faculty and staff—all caught up in anticipation and expectations. It's a wonderful example of God's "overflowing cup" world.

And interns. New place. New position. New people. New demands. New rhythms. New frustrations. New possibilities. New self-awareness. New challenges. New identity. New needs. New...new...new. It can seem so terribly busy, so draining, so uncertain. Each of us responds to the newness in our own way: flying high, hunkering down, processing out loud, retreating within, staying close, striding out... the nuances are endless.

I don't know how this gracious onslaught of life is hitting you now. I don't know what your coping mechanisms are, or how you receive and celebrate the joys.

But the day will come when you will feel overwhelmed, one way or another. When that day comes, know that you are not alone. Find a place, find a space, find a time, find a way—and ponder the simple words of the Psalmist: "Be still, and know that I am God."

It's true. God will be with you as you fly, as you flounder, as you fail, and as you flourish. That's the promise.

God be with us all!

Intern Financial Stewardship Sermon Contest  

Would you like to pick up some extra money for a terrific sermon? Here's your chance!

The Luther Seminary Center for Stewardship Leadership Stewardship Sermon Prize 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 gifts from generous donors through the Center for Stewardship Leadership.

1.  All students who submit a sermon on financial stewardship, prepared and presented during the year of internship will be receive a $50 Luther Seminary Bookstore Voucher.
2. In addition, the sermons will be presented to a committee from the seminary which will award prizes as follows:
   -  1st Place - $500
   -  2nd Place - $250
   -  3rd, 4th & 5th Place - $150 Each
3. Sermons will be evaluated by the following criteria:
   -  Relevance to today's Christians
   -  Biblical, theological and homiletical standards
   -  Focus on financial stewardship
   -  Call for people to change the way they live in the world of everyday life.
4. The announcement of the winners and the awarding of vouchers to all participants will occur at a breakfast in the fall.
5. In the confidence that almost every text provides an opportunity to be a "financial stewardship sermon," you are encouraged to consider giving your financial stewardship sermon during a time of year that has no connection with the annual effort to gather money for the congregation.
6. Please include a paragraph about the context in which the sermon was preached.
   -  Briefly describe the congregation
   -  What do you perceive to be the culture of the congregation regarding money?
   -  How did you anticipate the congregation would receive the message before you preached it?
   -  What feedback did you actually receive?
7. You can submit your sermons as an email attachment. If you used PowerPoint, you may include this as well. Do not send sermons on video or audio tape.
8. Please footnote and properly document all your sources.
9. Your entire sermon or parts of it may be chosen to be posted on the Luther Seminary website, Stewardship for the 21st Century http://www.luthersem.edu/stewardship

The deadline for the submission of a sermon is August 1, 2010. Sermons should be submitted to jhoffman@luthersem.edu.

Lay Internship Committee Training DVD    

Lay Committees have a new and excellent tool this year: The newly produced DVD, Preparing a Pastor: The Lay Internship Committee's Role in a Holy Journey, has been sent to each internship site.

If you need a copy of the DVD, contact Kate Sterner at ksterner@luthersem.edu or 651-641-3474.

We hope that you have or will watch this DVD together and set some goals for how you would like to enhance your intern's amazing year with you. The internship year is a quarter of a student's seminary experience; many students report that internship was the fundamental and foundational year of their preparation for pastoral ministry. A well-prepared lay committee is key to that foundation!

Luther Seminary's Newest Free Resource: EnterTheBible.com    
by Kari Aanestad

EntertheBible.org, a free online resource that thoroughly explores all 66 books of the Bible in a fun, interactive and completely unique way, was recently released by Luther Seminary to the public after five years and more than 2,000 hours of preparation by more than 40 people.

"The project is a massive undertaking, but the site is truly a gift to God's church and the people of God," said Sally Peters, Enter the Bible project manager and director of the Center for Lifelong Learning at Luther Seminary. "We're blessed by an incredibly talented, educated faculty, and this site allows us to share that with the world."

The project began in 2004 when a few Luther Seminary faculty members and media consultants discussed creating new multimedia resources for studying the Bible. Nearly five years later the work of 23 faculty members, 10 staff members and at least 10 other individuals has finally culminated into a completely unique product. "There really is nothing else like it out there," said Peters.

"Thank you to whoever is responsible for offering this to the world! We need more mainline resources!" a guest of Enter the Bible commented.

What makes Enter the Bible unique is not only the depth of the information it provides on the Bible but also the breadth. Luther Seminary faculty members provided summaries, outlines, backgrounds and information about introductory issues and theological themes on all 66 books of the Bible. In total there are close to 3,000 pages of information. "The overall content on the Web site is easily an encyclopedia worth of work," said Peters.

"The Web site demonstrates that Luther Seminary takes deep, critical study of the Bible seriously," said Matthew Skinner, associate professor of New Testament. "It shows that we intend to be at the forefront of discussions about the Bible and its interpretation." Skinner serves as general editor for the site's New Testament content. Fred Gaiser, professor of Old Testament, is the editor for the Old Testament content and general editor for the site.

In addition to the summaries, the site offers other resources that allow individuals to more deeply explore each book. Faculty members have interpreted certain passages, explained important people and places and spoken about themes in video clips that can be streamed over the Web site. Centuries of artwork inspired by each book's content are available for viewing and maps of the geographical setting of each book were specifically designed for the Web site.

Anyone can visit the Web site and use its resources for free. Free membership to the site includes certain bonus features such as tracking the pages previously visited, a notepad where users can record article details and a profile allowing members access to their notes or bookmarked pages.

"I've been looking for a place I can send my members online to help them engage in Scripture. This is wonderful!" a guest of the Web site said. Another guest added, "Thank you for giving those of us working in congregations another equipping tool for opening the Bible with those in our communities."

"The site doesn't try to spoon-feed—or force-feed—people all the answers," Skinner said. "It tries to offer information and perspectives that will make people more informed and intelligent readers."

Added Peters, "There are infinite ways of approaching reading and studying the Bible." The vastness of Enter the Bible both allows and inspires infinite ways of doing just that. "The site's content was written with care and demonstrates a deep biblical knowledge. You can really trust this stuff."

Visit www.enterthebible.org and explore Luther Seminary's newest and greatest resource in biblical study!

Growing Intern Families   

Three interns and their spouses have welcomed new arrivals in the last few weeks. Congratulations to them and our prayers for God's blessings on all concerned!

• Nathaneil & Tricia Christman welcomed Zachary Tony on August 26. He was 5lbs 14oz. Nathaneil is interning at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Stillwater, MN.
• John and Sara Gabrielson welcomed Arlo Amper on September 1. He was 7 lbs. 11 ounces. John is interning at Nokomis Heights, Minneapolis.
• Chris and Katie Zuraff welcomed Emmalyn Grace on Sept. 6, 2009. She was 9 lbs 8 ounces. Chris is intern at Zion Lutheran Church of Amor, Battle Lake, MN.

In Good Form   
by Kathryn Ostlie-Olson

Now that this year's internships are off and rolling, we anticipate that the Contextual Learning email inbox will start filling up with the few forms that we ask you all to complete during the various phases of the internship. Note that the first two, a Learning Service Agreement and an Internship Project Proposal, are due within two months of the start of this adventure. Here are brief descriptions of the online forms that help document and shape the internship year.

Learning Service Agreement (LSA): The LSA is a list of learning goals and objectives for the internship year. A description is available at: www.luthersem.edu/contextual_learning/internship/learning_service. Each intern is to be in conversation with his or her supervisor and lay committee about interests and hopes for learning and connection to the needs, expectations and resources of the congregation. We ask that you submit the LSA by the end of the second month of internship, but please note that it is not a static form. The idea is that you can return to the LSA throughout internship, revising and updating goals and objectives as things change, as goals and growing edges clarify, and as it seems appropriate.

Project Proposal (PP): By the end of the second month of internship interns should have a basic idea of the planned internship project. Projects are centered in one of four areas of ministry: evangelism, stewardship, lay ministry, or ecumenism, bearing in mind that, quite often, these areas overlap. For more information and examples of past years' projects, visit: www.luthersem.edu/contextual_learning/internship/project_proposal. Project proposals are not written in stone, but they are a helpful way to focus. If, during the year, the scope of your project changes, or something interesting comes up, you may revisit your online PP for updating and revision.

Evaluations: All interns are evaluated three times during the year. The supervisor and intern complete evaluations at each of these three points. Lay committees complete two evaluations. All evaluations are completed online. This reduces the amount of paper involved and allows deployed staff to be more in touch with developments at each site. The evaluation launch page is at: www.luthersem.edu/contextual_learning/internship/eval_forms.asp. The three evaluation times are:

• Three-month evaluation: Completed by supervisors and interns. For interns with a September start, this is due around the end of November (two signature pages are required).
• Mid-year evaluation: Completed by supervisors, interns and lay committees. Submitted by each evaluator at the six-month mark (three signature pages are required).
• Final evaluation: Completed by supervisors, interns and lay committees. This evaluation is completed during the final weeks of internship and due prior to the completion of the internship. Internships aren't considered complete until final evaluations have been submitted by all evaluators (three signature pages are required).

Each intern is responsible for sending all signature pages (self, supervisor, and lay committee) to the Contextual Learning Office at Luther Seminary within two weeks of each evaluation. If you have questions about your specific role and responsibility during the evaluation process, please communicate with your internship contact person.

Learning how to do paperwork isn't the primary goal of pastoral internships, nor should it be the primary activity. We trust that these reasonable requirements for documentation and ongoing evaluation will help you think and communicate about the progress of the internship year and the varieties of the teaching, learning, and ministry that happens in your congregations and communities every day.

I'll Call You Right Back   
by Steve McKinley

For the last week I've been trying to reach a person by phone. (Don't get paranoid. It has nothing to do with internship. It isn't you.) This morning I finally succeeded.

The first time I called last Friday morning I was put through to X's answering machine, which reassured me that X would call me back as soon as possible. I left my name, my number, and the purpose of my call. No call came on Friday. Then there was the weekend, and I didn't really expect a call.

I started the process again on Monday morning. X's secretary told me that Monday was his day off, but he always checked his voice mail and if I left a message, she was sure he would call me back. I did. He didn't. Tuesday the secretary told me X was in a meeting. She took the message and said she would have him call me. He didn't. On Wednesday the secretary said he was in his office and available and I was in luck, but he didn't answer the phone and I left another voice message. No call back. Thursday X was teaching a class, but would call me back. You guessed it.

Today, the next Friday, I actually called and got him on the phone. He said he had been meaning to call me but hadn't gotten around to it. We did our business.

By then I had a definite impression of X, and it wasn't a good one. And he didn't help himself at all by saying that he had meant to call me, but didn't get around to it. That told me very clearly that I was not at all important in his eyes.

I write all this not just to bellyache. My dog is very good at listening to my bellyaching when we take our morning walks. I write this to send a message to interns. (Optimist that I am, I assume that supervisors don't need to hear this. Do they?)

The message: little things count.

You see, there are two kinds of tests you will face this year. I am confident that you will do well on the first kind of test. It is the test that comes in the times of crisis, the big moments. Maybe it will be a tragic death or the unexpected breakdown of a marriage or a fire in the church basement or even a national stirring as we felt after 9/11. Maybe you will celebrate a congregational anniversary or begin a building project. There will be a few really big worship services during the year: Christmas Eve, Easter, Confirmation. There will be big moments like that in the congregation this year. Pastoral leaders—supervisors and interns—will be taking the lead at those moments, and pastoral leaders are very good at that. We are well trained. The biggest moments bring out the best in pastors. Those are tests, but they are tests you are well prepared for.

Then there are the little tests, the everyday tests, and the success or failure of a ministry depends as much on the little tests as it does on the big ones. Returning phone calls is one of those tests. If somebody leaves you a voice message asking you to return a call, return that call as soon as possible. They will remember.

Little tests like names. Knowing a person's name tells them that they are important to you. They will remember. The other day I talked to an intern who is using flash cards to learn people's names. Terrific!

Little tests like being on time for appointments. Little tests like not phoning members of the congregation during meal times. Little tests like respecting other people's time limits. Tons of little tests you will face every day. You'll do great on the big tests. I hope you're working hard on the little ones.

Fall Cluster Meetings   

Northern Minnesota: Tuesday, Oct. 6, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Hope, Walker, Minn. (Rick Foss)

Twin Cities West Metro: Tuesday, Oct. 6, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Calvary, Golden Valley, Minn.. (Steve McKinley)

North Dakota Cluster: Thursday, Oct. 8, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Cooperstown, No.Dak. (Rick Foss)

Twin Cities East Metro: Thursday, Oct. 8, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., St. Paul, Stillwater, Minn. (Steve McKinley)

Northwest Washington: Wednesday, Oct.14, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., St. Matthew, Renton, Wash. (Julie Josund)

Oregon/Vancouver: Tuesday-Wednesday, Oct. 20-21, 7 p.m. Tuesday - lunch Wednesday, Menucha Retreat Center, Corbett, Ore. (Julie Josund)

Southeastern Minnesota: Thursday, Oct. 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Trinity, Owatonna, Minn. (Steve McKinley)

Southwestern Minnesota/South Dakota: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Shalom Hill Farm, Jeffers, Minn. (Steve McKinley)

Alaska Cluster: Anchorage, in November, date and time TBA (Julie Josund)