After a week in Minneapolis Sept. 30-Oct 7 (ELCA Church Council, Installation of Presiding Bishop Curry, and Conference of Bishops) I had a day at home to wash some clothes and repack.

I set out to Seattle on a Thursday for my final Pacific Lutheran University board meeting Thursday and Friday. Afterwards, I reflected, “Honored to have served on the PLU Board of Regents for two years. It was a joy to serve on the task group (led by Scott Barnum) that led to the sunsetting of the corporation and the start of the Board of Regents Committee on Congregational Relations. I also served on the Admissions and Student Relations Committee, chaired by Jaynee Groseth and then Sheila Radford-Hill. Today, I got to have lunch with former Luther Heights camper and counselor Logan Denen, finishing his MSW and starring in the Instagram show Boyish Charm (teaching viewers how to make good meals with food pantry ingredients). Grateful to board president Pastor Mark Griffith for his leadership. My heart is full of gratitude. Now I hand off this board role and lean into ELCA Church Council Region 1 liason bishop.” I was surprised at how sad I was to leave this group of people. I am proud of PLU and hopeful for its future.

Bp Shelley Bryan Wee, also serving on the board and the colleague who’d kindly picked me up from the airport, and I continued our journey south to Olympia, WA for the installation of Southwestern WA Bishop Keith Marshall. We started Friday evening with a dinner with Keith, his family, and much of the synod staff. The installation was held at Gloria Dei Lutheran in Olympia with ELCA Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry preaching and presiding, Bp Curry’s first installation of another bishop. The bishops all went to dinner on the water that evening. Then Bishop Tim Oslovich and his wife Sinje took me back to SeaTac Airport. They headed to Anchorage for Tim’s first installation of a pastor while serving as Alaska bishop and I flew to the Tri-Cities.

Sunday morning I drove over and presided at Immanuel Lutheran in Grandview, WA, served by Pastor Jake Schumacher. They have moved into a partnership with the PCUSA church in Sunnyside (Pastor Jake serves both churches) and this year they are an internship site for Luther Seminary student Lori Tharp. I was warmly welcomed and grateful to hear the gospel proclaimed.

Bishop’s Fall Convocation with Rev. Dr. Anthony Bateza, St. Olaf College, was Monday through Wednesday. We started with a beautiful worship service with Dr. Bateza preaching at First Lutheran, Pasco and then moved to a hotel on the Columbia River over in Richland. This is one of my favorite weeks of the year–just learning and spending time with the pastors and deacons in our synod and this year was no exception.

The synod’s cluster deans stayed an extra night and we met at Lord of Life, Kennewick, with the synod’s Eco-faith Action Network meeting down the hall. After hearing updates from the various clusters, we spend a lot of time laying the groundwork for our 2026 in-person Synod Assembly at First Lutheran in Kennewick.

DEM Pastor Liv Larson Andrews drove us to Leavenworth for dinner and then we went on to the Grunewald Guild. Friday was a day to catch up on email, walk, and rest and do some laundry and then participants and leaders for our Preach, Pray, Preside, and Polity retreat started arriving. Liv put together a great group of teachers and the lay people showed up ready to learn. The Grunewald Guild was a great setting with amazing food!

I preached and presided on Sunday with Grace Lutheran and St James Episcopal in Cashmere, WA. Pastor Rob Gohl serves both congregations but was at diocesan convention. The two congregations worship together every Sunday, alternating buildings.

After Liv finished up at the Guild, she picked me up in Cashmere and we headed to Spokane, home for her, and one night more for me. On Monday afternoon we had a gathering for retired pastors and deacons and spouses at Riverview Retirement Community in Spokane. It was a simple time of catching up with one another and hearing some updates from me about the synod and the larger ELCA. I flew back to Boise Monday evening. On Sunday and Monday, I started getting texts about an ICE raid in Wilder, Idaho.