There was a time last spring when I thought I would spend Oct. 13, 2023 flying to Moorhead, Minnesota for my 25th college reunion at Concordia. But the Northwest Intermountain Synod Candidacy Committee needed a Saturday to meet (tomorrow) and then I got appointed/volunteered to sit on the Pacific Lutheran University Board of Regents, which met yesterday and today. Three bishops from ELCA Region 1 always take three seats on the board. I honestly cannot believe that I have been a pastor in Region 1 (Alaska, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and a little of Wyoming) for almost 13 years and had never been on the PLU campus before Thursday. The first summer I served as the resource pastor at Luther Heights Bible Camp, at least half of the staff was from PLU. Families from my former congregation have sent children to PLU. For Lutherans in the west, PLU and California Lutheran University are the big two options for Lutheran colleges.

There were three of us new regents who had an orientation Thursday. Other regents, the veterans, were able to spend Thursday morning sitting in classes. We got a sneak peak of the Rieke Classroom Renovation (previously a big lecture hall). We all got to hear from faculty and this morning I had breakfast with religion professor Dr. Marit Trelstad. I also reunited with a few other ELCA colleagues: PLU Campus Pastor Jen Rude (who was in a Thriving Leadership Cohort with me a few years ago but we’d never met in person) and Pastor Lamont Wells, executive director of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities (Lamont and I were in the Lake Institute Certificate in Religious Fundraising online small group together back in 2021).

The strangest part of the two days was how much I ended up talking about my alma matter Concordia, Moorhead. There are very loyal Cobbers (yes–that’s really our mascot if you didn’t know, let the jokes commence) and there are Cobbers who go to every Christmas Concert and do all the things. I have some Concordia swag in my closet but I haven’t even started wearing my ring again, which I took off near the beginning of the pandemic. But these last two days I spoke with quite a bit of pride and gratitude for my two religion classes, the percentage of our student body involved in musical ensembles, the classes in disciplines I was not crazy about but had to take, my history courses, and the bibliographies in my English literature and writing classes. Those two departments of History and English, which were home to my two majors, opened my world up in ways that I have only truly appreciated in the last few years.

Having just come from my first Conference of Bishops, I also told people with a little pride that there are five women in the COB right now who are Concordia graduates. I have no definitive conclusion about what that says about Concordia past, present, or future, but think it is, as a Luther college grad friend would say, intriguing.