Pastor April Ulring Larson will officially become the Interim Pastor at Good Shepherd  during the weekend of November 8-9, 2014, and will serve in this capacity until a permanent pastor is called.  She has been in ordained ministry for thirty-six years. She has served in diverse settings, from rural parishes to fulfilling her three-term limit as Bishop of the La Crosse Area Synod where she was elected as the first woman bishop in the ELCA. Pr. Larson has served on several major boards including the board of Lutheran World Relief for eight years, the Board of Regents of Luther College for sixteen years, and the executive committee of the ELCA Conference of Bishops. She recently retired after serving as senior pastor of First Lutheran Church, Duluth, MN.  Pr. Larson attended Luther College for two years, then transferred to the University of Iowa where she earned a B.Mus, degree. She received an honorary doctorate from Luther College.  She and her husband, Luther grad Rev. Judd Larson, both earned their M. Div. degrees from Wartburg Theological Seminary. They were ordained together in February, 1978. They are the parents of three children, all Luther graduates.  Their twin daughters, Katie and Amy, are both physicians.  Their son, Benjamin, died in the 2010 Haiti earthquake in his last year of seminary.

A welcome reception for Pr. Larson will be held in conjunction with the annual W/ELCA Soup Luncheon and Country Store event immediately following the Sunday service in the Fellowship Hall.  At that time, special thanks will also be extended to our supply pastors who have been invited as honorary guests.

The liturgical color for this service is red which is used to note a special occasion in the life of the congregation – the beginning of Pr. April‘s ministry with us.  It is displayed in the altar and pulpit paraments, woven by our member Barbara Berg, and the gates in the weavings on the sanctuary wall.  The chancel flower arrangement is placed in honor of this occasion and as a gift for the Larson home by the Altar Guild, Welcome Committee and congregation.

Pastor Richard Simon Hanson will preside over worship services during the weekend of November 1-2. We extend our deepest thanks to Pastor Hanson not only for being a frequent supply pastor for Good Shepherd during the transition period before Pastor April Ulring Larson begins her interim ministry but also for providing emergency services to the congregation and faithfully visiting the home-bound and nursing home members. We are grateful for the outstanding care and devotion he has repeatedly shown to this congregation.

Hanson received his BA from Luther College, majoring in music. He received his B.Th. and M.Th. from Luther Seminary in St. Paul and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Hanson taught in the Religion Department at Luther from 1963 until his retirement. He is currently serving as Chaplain at Aase Haugen Homes, Inc. in Decorah.

Congregation member Marion Pruitt-Jefferson is an ordained ELCA pastor who is currently on-leave-from call. She will preside at worship services on Saturday and Sunday, October 25 and 26. Marion graduated with a BA degree in music from Whitworth University in Spokane, WA, and then spent four years serving as an LCA missionary in Japan. She attended the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, graduating in 1995 with a Masters of Divinity degree. While preparing to be a pastor, Marion also began playing the organ, studying with Paul Manz. In 1996 she accepted a call to First Lutheran here in Decorah as an associate pastor and director of music. After 16 years of service at First Lutheran, including 4 years as co-pastor and 2 years as adminisrative pastor, she resigned in 2012.

Marion is married to John Jefferson, and together they have eight children, three grandchildren, two cats and a dog. Among her hobbies Marion enjoys sailing, bird watching, knitting, reading, cooking and playing piano and flute.

Pastor Owen Christianson will serve as Good Shepherd’s supply pastor for services of Holy Communion on Saturday and Sunday, October 18 and 19. A native of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and a Luther College graduate, Pastor Owen and his wife Linda (Norma Refsal’s sister) retired in Decorah six years ago. He received a M.Div. degree from Luther Seminary, was ordained in 1976, and served as a pastor in what became the ELCA; all his calls were in Northern Minnesota. The Christiansons are parents of two grown children, and grandparents to identical twin boys who are their pride and joy.

In his ministry, Pr. Owen was a bridge-builder. For two decades his was a ministry of healing and reconciliation in a once strife-torn parish. Greatly influenced by Professor Orlando “Pip” Qualley, he’s kept up his Greek and Hebrew through the decades. (In his military service in the late Sixties he was a Russian linguist in the Army stationed at a top secret border site in the then West Germany.)

Throughout his ministry he’d also done many Fifth Steps with those living with addictions and worked with Prison Ministries. Congregations he’d served spoke of, in effect, the wide umbrella he set up. Parishioners of varying backgrounds and viewpoints, including those who had been alienated from the Church, struggling skeptics, those with developmental or mental health issues, or those who had suffered from crime, marginalization or trauma, by their own admission sensed a ministry that welcomed and equipped ALL sorts and conditions of persons.   For twelve years he served on the Board of Directors at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, eventually becoming chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, and serving on the Executive Council.

Devoted members of First Lutheran Church in Decorah, Owen and Linda love living here in Decorah. You may know him as “the guy on the bike;” his bike became their second car upon retirement. In their everyday lives, he and Linda aim to stay fit in the variety of ways that Decorah offers. They both are Parish Visitors at the Barthell Eastern Star Home for FLC. He’s greatly enjoyed the experience of preaching and presiding at neighboring churches including their closest neighbor: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.