The Rev. Martin D. Wells
Bishop
msmmwells@aol.com
Rev. Martin Wells was born in Greeley, CO in 1949, the son of Les and Edith Wells, both teachers and public school administrators. The family moved to Anchorage, AK in 1960 and joined Hope Lutheran Church. Martin graduated from West Anchorage High in 1967 and attended the University of Denver where, in 1971, he was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. After a two-year hiatus, Martin enrolled in the University of Puget Sound Law School where he was awarded a Juris Doctor degree in 1976. He passed the bar exam in Alaska that summer.
Having sensed a call to ministry, Martin enrolled at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA. His internship was served at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, WA. In 1979 Martin married Susan Briehl (M.Div, PLTS, 1981) and, after a year working at Pacific Lutheran University, completed seminary in 1981. He was ordained into The American Lutheran Church (ALC) in November 1981.
Susan and Martin shared one full time call to Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Bellingham, WA, from 1982-1986. Their two daughters, Mary Emily and Magdalena, were born in Bellingham. From 1986-1994 Martin and Susan served with Pr. Dan Erlander as University Pastors at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA. In 1994 Martin and Susan were called to the position of Executive Director, Holden Village, with partner Janet Grant. Martin was elected Bishop of the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod, ELCA, in June 1999. Martin and Susan reside in Spokane, WA, where Martin's interests include cooking, reading, bonsai trees, and the Great Lake Missoula Ice-Age Floods.
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The Rev. Mark J. Nelson
Assistant to the Bishop
nelsonrevmark@msn.com
Pastor Mark Nelson was born in Spokane, WA and raised in Spokane and Seattle. He attended Pacific Lutheran University, graduating with double majors in Religion and Psychology. Mark attended Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, IA. Coursework at the Aquinas Institute (Dominican), Clinical Pastoral Education in New Jersey, Internship in Michigan, and an urban ministry specialty in Denver rounded out his seminary education. He was ordained in 1980 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Seattle, WA. Mark’s first call was to the congregations of the Goodstem Cluster in Lind, Sprague, and Ritzville, WA. After seven year there he accepted a call to Grace Lutheran Church in Cashmere, WA. He was called to serve as Assistant to Bishop Robert Keller in October, 1991 and as Assistant to Bishop Martin Wells in January, 2000. Mark has had significant continuing education in conflict management, family systems, domestic violence prevention and professional boundaries. He serves the Synod in areas of vocations and candidacy, call process, and conflict management, along with leadership and support to a variety of Synod ministries.
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The Rev. Helga Jansons
Director for Evangelical Mission
helga.jansons@ewaidsynod.org or helga.jansons@elca.org
Pastor Helga Jansons was born in Adelaide, South Australia. She grew up in a Latvian speaking Lutheran congregation. Having attended Luther Seminary in Adelaide for a year as the only woman, she left home in 1989 to attend Princeton Theological Seminary to follow her calling to be a Pastor which is not possible for women in Australia. Together with 6 other Lutherans she was ordained in a Roman Catholic cathedral in New Jersey in 1992. She has served nine congregations; inner city, suburban and ethnic.
She has been trained as a Mission Developer and in Family Systems theory. When she did Mission Survey Work in the Tri-Cities, she discovered that people in the community are receptive to conversations about faith. Recently she served a thriving evangelical congregation as an interim, and learned what attracts young people to church. Her understanding of ministry has been transformed in the past few years and she is certain that the Lutheran church has a great deal to offer the world.
As the DEM Pastor Helga is accountable to both the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod and the EOCM (Evangelical Outreach for Congregational Mission) branch of the ELCA. The position is co-terminous with Bishop Martin Wells.
She is available to congregations and clusters to encourage and support them to reach out and become more missional, to inspire and preach, and to help them discover what God might be up to in the church and community. She seeks to connect with lay and ordained people who are concerned about mission and evangelism in a Lutheran style. This includes those who care about people from other ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
Pastor Helga is also responsible for providing stewardship education and resources to congregations, and help them rediscover the joy of giving.
She will continue to live in Kennewick, WA with her husband Kirk Ruehl who is an ordained Presbyterian chaplain working with hospice at The Chaplaincy, and her sons Erik and Lukas.
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Laurel Eschenbacher
Office Administrator
office@ewaidsynod.org
Laurel has served in the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod office since March 2000. Many of her current duties fall under the headings of 'Communication & Technology.' These duties include editing the synod’s monthly newsletter, the annual synod directory, developing brochures and other publicity, maintaining the synod Web site, maintaining the synod’s data bases for mailings and roster management, and maintaining the computer network in the office. Laurel and her husband Alan, pastor at All Saints Lutheran in Spokane, are the parents of three grown children, Sarah, Bryce, & Bekah, and they have three grandchildren.
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Cathy Steiner
Program Administrator
office@ewaidsynod.org
Cathy has served in the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod office as one of the Administrative Assistants since 1999. Cathy provides staff support in the areas of financial management, candidacy, and travel.
Cathy enjoys participating with and has served on the board of the Lutheran Staff Association. She is married to Mark Steiner and has two grown sons, Mitchell and Michael.
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Karla Olson
Assembly Manager
assembly@nctv.com
Karla Olson is the Synod Assembly Manager for the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod. She has served in this position since June of 2004, working with the local Synod Assembly Planning Committee to plan the current year’s assembly and negotiating contracts with hotels and convention centers for future assemblies. Since receiving her BA in Religion from PLU, she has worked in church administration for Lutherhaven Ministries/Lutheran Community Services Northwest, First Presbyterian Church, The American Lutheran Church, Agnus Dei Lutheran Church and Lutheran Institute for Theological Education. Karla and her husband, David, pastor at First, Sandpoint are the parents of 4 children.
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Margie Fiedler
Associate Vice President, Marketing
ELCA Foundation/Mission Investment Fund
margie.fiedler@elca.org
Margie Fiedler is Associate Vice President of Marketing for the ELCA Mission Investment Fund, serving the six synods in Region 1. Stewardship, youth, camping, hospitality, and global mission, are among her passions. Prior to working with the ELCA Mission Investment Fund, Margie served as Associate to the Bishop, Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod, for nine years. From 1977-1997 she served as Executive Director for Lutheran Outdoor Ministries at Lutherhaven (Coeur d'Alene, ID) and Lutheran Outdoor Ministries in Ohio. Margie is married and has two children. She is noted as having "high energy, and for caring deeply about church ministry."
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