E-News, Special Announcement
Lin Carlson
Preach, Pray, Preside & Polity

This retreat is for LAY LEADERS, especially, but not limited to, those going through Montana’s Lay Ministry Associate program OR Luther Seminary’s Lay School Certificate or Graduate Certificate programs. 

Special Announcement, E-News
Lin Carlson
2025 Bishop's Fall Convocation

October 13-15 in Richland, WA
Registration will begin soon.

Event, E-News
Lin Carlson
2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly

The ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the primary decision-making body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is a process of communal spiritual discernment. When the ELCA Churchwide Assembly convenes, its voting members meet with confidence in God’s grace around word and water, wine and bread, to carry on their work on behalf of the entire church.

E-News, Event
Lin Carlson
Portico Webinars for Region 1 this August

All ELCA-Primary Health Plan options are changing for 2026. Before Annual Enrollment begins, you’ll want to understand how the new plans will work, what factors you should consider to determine what’s best for you, and how to navigate the new tools we’re creating to help your decision process.

E-News, Educational, Event
Lin Carlson
Not-Your-Average Boundaries Training

LeaderWise’s online boundaries training workshop is lively and interactive, full of reflection and conversation. Attendees have given us feedback that our boundaries training was a great experience, AND caused them to re-evaluate some of their own practices.

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Who Is Jesus?

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I spent the first two weeks of June leading summer staff training sessions for Luther Heights Bible Camp in the Sawtooth Mountains and Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp south of Glacier National Park in Montana. I led sessions on Lutheranism 101 and then took the counselors on deep dives through the Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Bible Studies.

The text for Day 2 Who is Jesus? Is John 15:1-17 (the vine and branches passage). Because we were at the beginning of staff training at both camps, biblical passages about community were also used for worship and devotions.

These passages included 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (the body of Christ). I found it wonderful to juxtapose these two passages with the summer staffs, but I also find it helpful as I begin my call as bishop of our synod. In the passage from John, Jesus uses a metaphor that highlights interrelationships and is nonhierarchical. Perhaps most significant, the branches are also anonymous; nothing distinguishes one branch from the other. The only measure of one’s place in community is to love Jesus. Period. Contrast that with the Apostle Paul’s metaphor of the body in his letter to the church in Corinth. Instead of anonymity, Paul has an abundance of specificity. What both passages share is an emphasis on interdependence, with God in Jesus and with one another.

Rev. Dr. Meggan Manlove Elected as Bishop

At our 2023 Assembly, Rev. Dr. Meggan Manlove was elected to succeed Bishop Kristen E.M. Kuempel as Bishop of the Northwest Intermountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Rev. Manlove currently serves Trinity Lutheran in Nampa, Idaho.  Rev. Manlove graduated from the University of Chicago Divinity School, was ordained in September 2004, and holds a Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary.  She will officially assume the duties of Bishop in July 2023.

a Bishop’s work is a Calling

By now, word has gone forth that NWIM has a new bishop! Many of you in the days since synod assembly have been reaching out with words of thanks for my six years of ministry with you as bishop & voicing concern about how I’m doing with the outcome of the election.

First of all: thank you for your kind words. It means a lot of hear how the ministry I oversaw was helpful for you & that I will be missed.

Secondly: what happened at the Red Lion in Pasco was not so much an election as it was a call process. The Spirit was invoked, and the Spirit moved, and the Spirit indicated that Bishop-elect Manlove is the one to lead the synod into the future. And while her election was not the outcome I had hoped for going into the assembly weekend: it absolutely is the necessary outcome. If the synod needs her leadership gifts & style to move into the future, it concretely doesn’t need mine!

Synod Assembly Recap

We had the privilege of undertaking an election for bishop. After six candidates, four ballots, and a lengthy Q & A, the gathered assembly elected Pastor Meggan Manlove as the next bishop of the NWIM Synod.  We are grateful to all the candidates (with the support of their congregations and families) for letting their names go forward. And I am excited for Bishop-Elect Meggan and her leadership. The Bishop-Elect is currently serving at Trinity Lutheran Church in Nampa, Idaho, where she has been for the last 12 years. You can read more about her and all the candidates here. The Assembly gave a standing ovation to Bishop Kristen in gratitude for her 6 years of service in that office. Bishop-Elect Meggan will start her term July 1. Her installation is scheduled for October 7 at Cathedral of the Rockies, Boise, ID. 

  • We also had the privilege of undergoing an election for two officer position on the Synod Council: vice president, which is the highest lay office (lay = not pastor or deacon) in the synod, and synod secretary, a role that may be held by a lay person or a rostered minister. Lisa Therrell, member of Faith Lutheran, Leavenworth, WA, was elected as our next vice president. Her term will begin September 1, 2023. Randy Darst, member of St. Mark’s Lutheran, Spokane, WA, was elected as synod secretary. His term will begin September 1, 2024.

    Continue for full recap…