Call Committee - Associate Pastor

Documents & Call Committee Updates

• Ministry Site Profile (MSP)
• March 5 Update

May 25 Update:

Thank you for your ongoing prayers, support, and encouragement of our Call Committee.  We are in the midst of interviewing candidates and have completed a first interview with three pastors selected from our applicants.  We are impressed and excited about the candidates we have interviewed and our next step is to invite two of them back for a second interview which will occur over the next few days.

Pray that the Holy Spirit will be working through our Committee and in these pastors, helping all of us discern God’s  plan for filling our Associate Pastor position. 

- Monte Johnson on behalf of the Immanuel Lutheran Church Call Committee 

April 25 Update:

At our most recent Call Committee meeting on April 25, we again welcomed Pastor Craig Pederson, Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational Vitality - Minneapolis Area Synod, ELCA, who delivered to us the Rostered Ministry Profiles (RMP) of several pastors who are interested in our associate pastor position.

In the same way that the Ministry Site Profile we created gives these pastors some detail about who we are as a Church, the RMP for each of these individuals gives us a window into the life, work, beliefs, and talents of these pastors, and serves as a starting point in our process.  Our initial impression is that we have attracted the interest of an excellent and diverse group of candidates.  We are spending some time reviewing each of these RMPs individually, and will come together for our next Call Committee meeting on May 7, where we expect to have some conversation about each and begin planning for an initial round of interviews over the following couple of weeks.

Please continue to pray for each member of our Call Committee:  Kim Rathjen, Monte Johnson, Wendy Wurscher, Blake Sipek, Kari Totall, Sharon Peterson, Grace Held, Allison Ranallo and Pastor Paul.  Please also pray that God's Holy Spirit will continue to be present and at work through this Call process, leading us to the right pastor to love and serve our congregation and our community.

- Monte Johnson on behalf of the Call Committee

Please keep our Associate Pastor Call Committee in prayer:

Kim Rathjen, Monte Johnson, Wendy Wurscher, Blake Sipek, Kari Totall, Sharon Peterson, Grace Held, Allison Ranallo and Pastor Paul.

The Call Committee was installed on Sunday, March 5.

Church Council Approves Call Committee

January 10, 2023

The Immanuel Church Council, at its January meeting, approved a motion to charge a call committee, working with the Minneapolis Synod of the ELCA, to identify candidates for call as an associate pastor. In formulating the parameters of this call the Council:

• carefully considered the work of the Visioning Team that was convened by our Council Vice President, Julie Maes.
• examined the ministry needs of Immanuel, our existing ministry staff, and how we can best meet our ministry needs with current and new staff.
• considered the availability of candidates interested in such a call and the financial position of Immanuel to provide sustained support for an associate pastor at various effort levels (including half time, three quarter time, and full time calls).

Based on these discussions, the Council has decided to call a new Associate Pastor to Immanuel for 25 hours per week, with the associate Pastor on site or providing caring ministries at least Sunday through Wednesday each week. Moving forward with this call and with ministry staffing at Immanuel, our goals are three-fold:

1. Meet the ministry needs of Immanuel, particularly related to welcoming fellowship and relationship building.
2. Continue to grow both vibrant outreach through our social ministry efforts, and compassionate in-reach through our Caring Ministry Team.
3. Maximize our staff while meeting a sustainable budget.

The Associate Pastor, along with Senior Pastor Paul Nelson and Deacon Savannah Olaphson, will form our ordained ministry team at Immanuel.

Leadership Teams

Immanuel members are actively involved in congregational leadership, serving on committees, Church Council, Executive Committee and working closely with staff.

The Church Council is our governing board:

• Council members also serve as committee chair-people leading specific ministry areas in partnership with the staff.
• The Executive Committee is made up of president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, financial secretary and pastors.
• Council & Exec. meeting minutes are posted online.
• Council President's update
• Pastor's update

Committees of the congregation are: Adult Faith Formation, Children's Ministry, Evangelism, Fellowship, Middle School, Senior High, Social Concerns, Stewardship, Properties, and Worship, Music & Arts