Education
1999-2002 Doctor of Ministry, Chicago Theological Seminary
Specialization in Cross Cultural Ministry & Native American Theology
1985-1986 Master of Sacred Theology, Lutheran School of Theology/Chicago
Specialization in Process Theology/ Religion and Science
1980-1984 Master of Divinity, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
Specialization in Systematic Theology/ Religion and Science
1971-1975 Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN.
Major in Philosophy, Minor in Classical Guitar
1974-1975 Pedagogishe Hochschule in Reutlingen, Germany
History of Germany, Art History, German Language studies
Professional Experience
2014- present Pastor, Grace Good Shepherd, NcKinleyveille, CA
2009-2014 Executive Director, Navajo Lutheran Mission, Rock Point, AZ
For the past five years I directed a K-6 grade school for seventy Navajo children and a health clinic for the community in Rock Point, Arizona. It was in one of the least populated and isolated communities on the Navajo Reservation. We ran over 50% unemployment, about a third of the people have no access to electricity or running water. Some of the older people could'nt speak English and many people’s primary occupations are as Shepherds. I also helped my wife pastor the House of Prayer an ELCA congregation housed at the Mission and provide music for the services each Sunday. Basically, we helped care for hundreds of very poor Navjao people in the middle of a vast desert with a staff of some twenty Navajo people at the Mission. We were truly a Mission in the old and true sense of the word: a place where people come for help and understanding, for shelter and education, for health and for hope.
2004-2009 Pastor, Eden Lutheran Church (ELCA), Munising, MI
Functioned as a Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and also founded and directed the Turtle Island Project a nonprofit organization that promotes dialogue between Christian and Native American communities. I also founded the Grand Island Conference and Retreat Program offering courses in Religion and Science, Health and Healing, and Ecological Theology.
2001-2003 Spiritual Director, Alternative Treatment Centers, Mundelein, IL
Provided spiritual counseling, clinical workshops, spiritual retreats, small group counseling, community reintegration programs, and multi-cultural worship services for juvenile sex offenders and their families.
1997-2000 Director of Development, Institute for World Spirituality, Chicago, IL
Chief Development Officer and Program Manager for the IWS. Initiated and coordinated national and international conferences, including twelve presentations of the IWS for the second Parliament of World’s Religions in Cape Town, South Africa.
1994-1996 Pastor, Caribbean Synod, ELCA, St Croix, U.S.V.I.
Served as interim pastor for two afro-Caribbean Lutheran churches on the island of St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands.
1993 Development Director, Parliament for the World’s Religions, Chicago, IL.
he Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions was created to cultivate harmony among the world's religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world. It traces it’s origins to the first World’s Congress of Religions at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. A Centennial celebration was held in Chicago in 1993, bringing together over eight thousand religious leaders from around the World.
1987-1992 Assistant Dean of Rockefeller Chapel, University of Chicago
Liturgist in charge of all services, including preaching on a regular basis. Served as development officer and financial manager for the Chapel’s operational budget. Helped supervise and fund raise for the restoration of the chapel’s E.M. Skinner organ, over saw a multi-million dollar restoration of the Chapel. As the Gradate Assistant to the head of the Systematic Department, I taught classes in process theology and religion and science at the Lutheran School of Theology.
