April 2026 Bishop’s Report to Assembly – Kennewick First Lutheran

Scripture and Metaphors: During our 2023 bishop election, I said that I was guided by Galatians 5:13-14, ¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence,^[c] but through love become enslaved to one another. ¹⁴ For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That we are freed from sin and death and freed for love of neighbor has been a guiding conviction for me long before I was a pastor and guides me today as a bishop. 

To this I have added other metaphors. Shortly after I began my term as bishop, your synod staff starting using the phrase Wellsprings of God’s Love to describe our many and varied ministry sites. Though each ministry site makes known God’s love differently, you all do this beautifully and contextually, even if imperfectly.

And to these two I will add our Synod Assembly theme, Peace at the Now, a twist on the Peace at the Last liturgy written to help those accompany the dying. The liturgy was created by a team at Lake Chelan Lutheran, served by Pastor Paul Palumbo, who told us during a deans’ meeting that some people in his life said the liturgy is great, but they were also yearning for Peace at the Now. Together, in Kennewick, WA, we will give thanks together for the peace only Jesus Christ can bring. 

Connectedness and Communication: Your synod staff loves to visit congregations in person or through online meetings. Thanks for the invitations and keep them coming. We also are intentional about what is included in our twice-per-month electronic newsletter. And you can follow my adventures at http://www.megganmanlove.com.

Call Process: A large part of Assistant to the Bishop Phil Misner’s portfolio is tending to the mobility process. Pastoral (and one deacon call) vacancies filled since online Assembly in 2026 (as of April 7): Christ Lutheran in Walla Walla, Faith Lutheran in Leavenworth, Salem in Spokane, Lord of Life in Kennewick, Trinity in Pullman, and American Lutheran in Newport.

Candidacy: Our interdependence as ministry sites, NWIM Synod, and the ELCA Churchwide office is clearly lived out through Candidacy, the process for people becomes pastors and deacons. See Candidacy Chair Cory English’s report for more.

Thanks to the congregations that have raised up and supported one of our ministry candidates: Our Saviour, Pinehurst; St. Luke, Spokane; Salem, Spokane; Kennewick First; Immanuel, Grandview; King of Glory, Boise; Immanuel, Boise; New Day, Idaho Falls; Our Savior’s, Twin Falls; and First Lutheran, Ellensburg.

Thanks to congregations that have served as an internship site in the last two years: Grace, Wenatchee; Lake Chelan Lutheran; Immanuel, Grandview; Christ the King, Goldendale; and Advent, Spokane Valley.

I am grateful the Northwest Washington Synod is part of the Candidacy Reimagined Pilot and giving us a preview as they live into competency-based candidacy. One synod from each of the nine ELCA regions is part of this pilot.

Campus Ministries: Our campus ministries are all taking new shape.

Lutheran Campus Ministry (LCM) at Eastern Washington University called Pastor Emily Kuenker with a goal of broadening the ministry beyond Cheney into Spokane. It is now Grace Commons Spokane serving college students and young adults. Board members include Pr. Joel Skindlov (President), Diane Zemke (VP), Jody Harris (Sec/Treas), Pr. Tom Inch, and Ellie Powers.

Deacon Karla Neumann Smiley has served LCM at U of I for many years and more recently began serving at WSU (half time with each ministry). For decades, the ELCA and six other denominations have owned The Center, where Deacon Karla’s office is, adjacent to the campus in Moscow. Deeper collaboration is coming to campus ministry on the Palouse, but I will let Karla tell you about it in her own words during Assembly.

Two years ago, the PCUSA, UMC, and ELCA in the Boise/Treasure Valley area restarted a dormant Methodist campus ministry. The UMC had a board and income from property rentals. The board has undergone healthy transformation. UMC Pastor Hannah Andres is ¾ time at Whitney United Methodist and ¼ time as campus minister. ELCA board members are Pr. Mariah Mills (Redeemer, Boise and Grace, Horseshoe Bend) and Tom Trotter (Immanuel, Boise).

Companion Synods: Thanks to everyone who offered hospitality to Pastors Moses and Ezekiel last fall. I am excited for you to read about the solar kitchen project for Tumaini School. At closing worship of Assembly, we will bless our travelers to the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese this summer. Read more in the Global Mission report.

All 65 synods have one or more companion synods, and all 65 synods also relate to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. So, every bishop is offered the opportunity to visit the ELCJHL. The bishop trip has been postponed several times since fall of 2023 but a group of us finally visited in January 2026. Hopefully you have read my reflections on my blog or in the synod newsletter. I am grateful that ELCA Sumud’s Program Director Maddi Froiland will be with us at Assembly.

Cultivating Leaders

Cohorts

One way we as a synod staff try to keep you equipped and adapting to the changing world is by connecting you to cohorts of our own or cohorts organized by trusted partners. 

• Stewardship for All Seasons with GSB Fundraisers
• College for Congregations by the Spokane Episcopal Diocese
• Land Stewardship by the Spokane Presbytery
• Living the Resurrection (currently in progress)
• Congregation Leads Initiative (partnership with ELCA Churchwide and MT Synod)

Plus every month it seems I can nominate pastors and deacons for various regional and national trainings, cohorts, or experiences.

Discipleship Formation 

Several people have taken online classes through neighboring Montana Synod’s long running Lay Ministry Associate program. And we also have welcomed those who’ve completed Luther Seminary’s Lay Leadership School one-year certificate. Two lay people are currently enrolled in Wartburg’s pilot program for Synod Authorized Ministers.

At Assembly we will commission those who have completed the online coursework and attended our in-person retreats: Preach, Pray, Preside, and Polity.

Thanks to faculty who have come from our synod:

• Pastor Yvette Schock (Riverview Retirement Community)
• Pastor Jim Johnson (St. Luke)
• Pastor Sierra Westerman (Emmanuel, Moscow)
• Pastor Kimmy Meinecke (St. David’s Episcopal)
• Pastor Andrew Hamblen (Our Saviour, Twin Falls)

Thanks to our hosts: St. Mark’s Lutheran-fall 2024 and the Grunewald Guild-fall 2025

We will be at the Monastery of the Ascension in Jerome, Idaho, May 29-31 and hopefully somewhere in Eastern WA again in the fall of 2026.

Gary Bracht (Holy Trinity, Ephrata) and Sheri Brown (LCM in Coeur d’Alene) are leading two workshops on pathways to lay leadership during Assembly.

New Ministries/Strategic Ministries: The ELCA has created new categories for the ministries that can receive grants from ELCA Churchwide, so if you haven’t been to an Assembly in many years, this language may be new.

Cultivating Justice in Wenatchee is a Synod Authorized Outreach Ministry. Zoe Jaspers is the mission developer, supported by ELCA Pastor Dane Breslin (UCC and Brethren Church in Sunnyslope) and Jess Ingman (Faith Action Network).

New Day Lutheran in Idaho Falls began as a Synodically Authorized Outreach Community after First Lutheran in Idaho Falls left the ELCA. It remains a Strategic Ministry.

Kitchen Tables is a very new ministry exploration in the Airway Heights neighborhood west of Spokane. Pastor Arianna Arends (Zion Lutheran, Deer Park) is leading this exploration.

Congregational Constitutions: Lisa Kraft (King of Glory, Boise) is now leading the team of people reviewing your constitutions. She is leading two workshops at Assembly. Our congregation, synod, and ELCA constitutions are excellent documents. Revisit Chapters 2-4 in your constitution if you need to plan a devotion for a council or committee meeting. 

CaSTLE Grant: We applied to Wartburg Seminary’s CaSTLE Grant Project in the rural ecumenical experimentscategory for 2025 and received $20,000. We organized three rural ecumenical gatherings called United at the Font: Partnering for the Future. We leaned on the 1992 World Council of Churches’ document Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, sometimes called the Lima text because the council met in Lima, Peru. Rebeca Hoyt and Lauren Hackman-Brooks are our facilitators. We gave participants pre-readings and pre-YouTube videos to watch and then we gathered at:

• Immanuel Lutheran, Moses Lake, WA
• Our Savior Lutheran, Clarkston, WA
• First United Methodist Church Pocatello, ID

Five coaching cohorts came out of these gatherings. The coaches are meeting online with the teams, helping them deepen relationships and work on whatever they decide to do collaboratively in their rural area.

We also used grant funds to bring together a UCC Conference Minister, two Episcopal bishops, a Presbyter, a Stated Clerk, two UMC District Superintendents who will start this summer, Pastors Phil, and Liv, and me for three days at St. Gertrude’s Monastery. Each denomination had an hour to teach about our denominations’ preaching, worship, and governance. 

We purchased 64 copies of Mark Elsdon’s anthology Gone for Good? The Coming Wave of Church Property Transitions—a copy for every congregation that participated in the fall events. We know this has led to at least one ecumenical book study in the synod.

With the last dollars, we purchased midweek worship bundles and full series bundles from Barn Geese Worship for several of our rural congregations who already worship with ecumenical siblings during Lent. 

We applied for a second grant for 2026 from Wartburg and received $30,000.

We asked for funds for three more United at the Font events:

• Lake Chelan Lutheran (Wenatchee to the Canadian border) – May 16
• First Lutheran, Sandpoint (Coeur d’Alene & Deerpark North) – June 27
• Ontario, OR (Malheur, Canyon, and Payette Counties) – Oct. 10

We will host half-day follow up events in Moses Lake, Clarkston, and Pocatello.

We received funds for more team coaching. 

Following Assembly, we have a one-day event planned for ELCA pastors serving other denominations and those of you from other denominations serving ELCA ministries. Pastor Liv has planned our time for mutual learning, worship, and meals together. Phil, Liv, me and 11 pastors are staying.

Region 1: We share a Financial Services Office which employees two staff in Mill Creek, WA. All six synods now plan and participate in First Call Theological Education (for pastors and deacons in their first three years of ministry). Region 1 staff meet and collaborate regularly. We had a generative all-staff gathering in March to deepen partnerships.

Serving the Larger Church

PLU Board – Three Region 1 bishops serve on the PLU board, something I did for my first two years as bishop. 

ELCA Church Council – I gave up my position on the PLU board and now serve as the Region 1 liaison bishop to ELCA Church Council.

I finally went on a bishop seminary visit (to Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago). 

I also continue to serve on several committees and task forces:

• Seminary Debt Reduction Task Force of the ELCA Church Council
• Outdoor Ministry Sites-ELCA Affiliation Task Force of the ELCA Church Council
• F.S.I.C. Standing Committee of ELCA Church Council (same committee Rev. Dr. Barb Rossing sits on)—A new ELCA social message on rural life should come out in 2027!
• Good Samaritan Committee of the Conference of Bishops 

Mission Support: Thank you to the congregations who faithfully give Mission Support dollars to the synod, a portion of which we send on to ELCA Churchwide. Over the past several years, I have asked over 15 specific congregations to increase Mission Support, not to be confused with general benevolence, and you have responded positively! Your Mission Support is helping our synod staff and council serve you. It is also supporting other ministries. SAMPLING:

• Creation of our newest ELCA Social Statement: Faith and Civic Life
• Vital ministries that will never be self-sustaining, like those on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska
• Administrative costs for ELCA World Hunger and ELCA Disaster Relief so your donations go straight to relief
• Young Adults in Global Mission
• Solidarity with our colleagues in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
• New ministries reaching new Christians or Christians who were harmed by other churches
• Administration of record keeping on a national level (it is hard to explain how valuable this is for synod staff members)
• Access to legal help on a national level (around buildings, personnel, navigating new national, state, and local policies and laws)