Bishop Meggan has invited me to write liturgical texts for the season of Advent in response to deep grief and loss—from wildfire, from civic turmoil, and even from COVID. I plan to call this liturgy Kindled: Expectant prayers following grief and loss.

Join DEM Liv Larson for five weeks of discussion. We will meet on Wednesday evenings via zoom, 6:30pm Pacific/7:30pm Mountain. Beginning Wednesday October 21 and continuing through November 25.

You may submit a request for a Daily Bread Grant beginning October 1st. Feeding Ministry funding requests will be accepted through October 21st at midnight central time and they are for $500.

the Micro-Grant process is now closed.

Youth musicians in grades 8-12 are invited to Lutheran Summer Music (LSM) 2027 at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN! LSM is the nation’s premier faith-based music academy for high school students. Churches from around the country send students to LSM for an unforgettable summer of musical growth and connections in faith and community.

Have you downloaded our Registration Workbook yet? This resource walks you through the registration process, required forms and all the policies surrounding registration.

Wandering around El Cajon, Calif., you will be amazed that the common language is not English or Spanish but Arabic. The city’s immigrants and refugees are Muslim, Orthodox Catholic and even Lutheran. With such a rich cultural community, it seemed only natural to plant a new church to meet the need for Christian faith formation, so Bethlehem Arabic Lutheran Church was born this year.  

Synod Assembly over Zoom on May 25, 2027
5:30pm PDT/6:30pm MDT.

This coming spring the Northwest Intermountain Synod will be holding three Regional Gatherings spread across the Synod territory. The Regional Gatherings will be one day events, and provide opportunity to worship, learn, and deepen relationships together.

“The Joy of Generosity” is a new, free annual-appeal resource from the ELCA Stewardship office.
Its four-week program — with Scripture, stories, social media and projection slides — will be accessible to anyone and can be fully customized and implemented by a congregation of any size.

Saturday, October 24th from 9am-4pm
Wartburg offers you the opportunity to explore vocation and discernment with others.Housing and meals are on us! Help for travel expenses is also available.

October 13, 2026
4-6pm PST, 5-7pm MST

Learn to describe intergenerational trauma and how patterns of stress, loss, family experience, and coping can affect physical, livelihood, emotional, social, and spiritual needs across generations. Then be able to apply Spiritual First Aid Triage to identify a person’s most pressing unmet Primary Need rather than assuming what matters most.

I am pleased to announce that Pastor Tricia Christman has been hired as the NWIM Synod’s Candidacy Manager.

An informational session will be on Zoom, Tuesday, October 13
11:00-11:30am PST Noon-2:30pm MST.

I find myself returning to Jesus’ I Am statement that he is the vine and we are the branches. Most often I think of all of us followers of Jesus and the many ministry sites as the branches, but during the fall meeting season the metaphor is stretched to include our NWIM Synod Council and the Conference of Bishops and the work each of those bodies does—growing out of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Register now for the Byberg Preaching Workshop in Seaside, Oregon.
January 25-27, 2027

Registration Workbook: Have you downloaded our Registration Workbook yet? This resource walks you through the registration process, required forms and all the policies surrounding registration

Fairfield Community Church will host a free Dementia Friends informational program on Sunday, October 25, from noon to 1:00 p.m. The hour-long presentation will be led by Rev. Brad Buff, a retired Presbyterian pastor with a special interest in older adult ministry.

Your donation towards the much-needed SOLAR KITCHEN at Tumaini Lutheran Seminary in Tanzania will be matched dollar-for-dollar by an anonymous donor up to a cumulative total of $20,000 through November 15, 2026!

Have you wondered about visiting our companions in Tanzania? Here is another opportunity to do so! October 26-November 11, 2027

This year’s event will be held January 5-8, 2027, in Scottsdale, AZ at the Franciscan Renewal Center. This event is designed for ALL leaders who work in faith-based ministry settings (not just pastors!).

Join us October 10, 11:00AM - 1:30PM for a luncheon.

Are you thinking of seminary?
Join us for a Zoom virtual discernment event with representatives from all seven ELCA seminaries.
Sunday, September 27, 1-3PM (PT) / 2-4PM MT

This time of Sabbatical served as a reset for me as well. I don’t mean to imply that I was driven like a slave in my work pre-sabbatical. Nor am I suggesting whatever burdens I was bearing were anywhere close to the burdens the ancient Hebrew people bore during the 400 years of slavery in Egypt. But this Sabbatical time did offer “a break or change from a normal routine (as of employment).”[1] Additionally, these past three months have given me an opportunity to take in some of the grandeur and beauty of much of the northwest enabling me to experience the rhythm of creation firsthand.

October 26 to November 11, 2027
Here is another opportunity to visiting our companions in Tanzania. Planning is underway for 2027.

The Prayer and Presence in Public Life Working Group is happy to share with you the attached For the Common Good: Prayers and Resources for Congregations in Public Life. Enclosed are suggestions for how this could be shared with your ministry site. 

This is an alternative disaster training option put on by the United Methodist Church Disaster Ministries of Oregon-Idaho.

Growing up in Custer, South Dakota, Labor Day weekend always marked the end of the major tourism season that shaped so much of life in the Black Hills in the 1990s. Of course, Labor Day celebrates much more than that, and in 2026 it can hold many meanings.

Can you imagine the blessing in truly knowing our siblings in Christ, partners in ministry, in our sister synod, the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese in Tanzania?

Twelve of us had these experiences and so much more this past June when we visited our companion synod.

Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) is glad to offer an “Introduction to Disaster Response” webinar for the Northwest Intermountain Synod on Thursday, September 10 at 11am PT/12pm MT. The webinar will last 90 minutes and include time for questions & answer.