Slideshow image

Grace, mercy, and peace in the name of Jesus!

Over the last several weeks, many of us have met at worship. Some of you have seen me on the Facebook feed. A few of us have chatted. But now, I suppose it’s time to move to the next level of our relationship. It’s September 1 and my first official day as the interim minister atLutheran Church of the Cross, so more formal introductions are in order. I’ll go first.

Yours is the fourth congregation that I’ve served as the interim leader. Like LCC, the other three are all congregations affiliated with the Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.


From 1998-2017 I served on the churchwide staff of the ELCA as the Coordinator for Missional Leadership in Region 6 (synods in Ohio, Indiana-Kentucky, and the lower peninsula Michigan). In that position I worked with synod bishops and their staffs in a number of capacities, but primarily in the area of candidacy which is our denomination’s process that candidates,congregations, synods, churchwide, and seminaries enter into to prepare those candidates to
be called to serve as either deacons or pastors in ELCA ministry settings. (Fun fact, Pr Robert was one of my candidates!) And, I also had responsibilities for campus ministries, including Ball State, so I knew Deacon Rodelyn and Warren Groeling long before I ever imagined serving as your interim. Or, any congregation’s interim! But, God has surprises!

For the first ten years (1988-98) of the ELCA, I served as an assistant to the bishop of the Northwestern Ohio Synod where I spent most of my time working directly with congregations in call process, managing congregational conflict, consulting in programatic areas of ministry (like Youth or Christian Education) and general congregational administration. I even supervised interim ministers …..with no thought of ever being one myself. Surprise!

My first years in ministry were focused on Christian education, first as a teacher in a Lutheran (Missouri Synod) elementary school, then as a writer of Sunday School and Vacation Bible School curriculum, and then as a Director of Christian Education in a congregation.

My own education has been mostly in Lutheran parochial schools (Grade 2 thru High School) and Concordia Lutheran (then Junior) College in Ann Arbor and Concordia Lutheran Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska for undergrad. My masters is in Biblical Theology and Church History from the University of Detroit, a Roman Catholic (Jesuit) university.

Growing up I lived in the Detroit area and Pensacola, FL. As an adult I’ve lived in Detroit, in or near Lima, Ohio and, for the past 18 years, in central Indiana.

My husband Bill is a retired nurse practitioner. Our daughter Meghan is an historian at the Indiana State Museum. And, our family also includes our German exchange student son Christian and family who currently live in London. So, if I say something like, “….the last time we were in London….” you shouldn’t be too impressed. We have free lodging.

So, that’s a little about me. I hope that you’ll introduce yourself to me and share something that I’d enjoy knowing about you. That will help all of us as we work together to witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ here in Muncie and through our partnerships across the globe.

How should you contact me? Well, certainly in any emergency please call or text me. For less pressing communication, please email. The contact info is below.

Thanks for the warm welcome and the opportunity to be in mission with you.

Blessings,
Deacon Marilyn
lccsmith.muncie@gmail.com