complete intro section - Central States Synod

Special Guests & PresentersGuestThe Rev. Dr. Margot Kässmann, Special Envoy of the Evangelical Church in Germanyfor the Reformation Anniversary Celebration 2017Margot Käßmann (Kassmann), born 1958, studied Theology at Tuebingen, Edinburgh, Goettingen andMarburg. She was ordained in 1985 and finished her doctoral studies in 1989 at Ruhr-University inBochum.After her work as a pastor and later as secretary general of the German Protestant Church Congress, themother of four was Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover from 1999 until 2010. In 2002,she received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Hanover and in 2009, the German FederalRepublic Cross of Merit.From 2009 until 2010, she served as Chairperson of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). Between August and December2010, she accepted an appointment as a visiting professor at Emory-University in Atlanta (USA).In 2011-2012, she taught and undertook research as a guest professor for ecumenical studies and social ethics at the Ruhr-University Bochum (Max Imdahlguestprofessorship). Since April 2012, she has served as Special Envoy of the EvangelicalChurch in Germany for the Reformation Anniversary Celebration 2017.GuestThe Rev. Joseph Chu, Associate Program Director, Lutheran Disaster ResponsePastor Joseph Chu is the Associate Program Director of Lutheran Disaster Response, ELCA.Ordained in 1990, he has served various congregations in Illinois and California.Between 2004 and 2009, he served as the Program Director for Asia and the Pacific at ELCA’sGlobal Mission Unit. Before that, he was the Director of Fundraising and Marketing for a socialservice agency serving people with development disability in the San Fernando Valley, CA. Inaddition, he has been a teacher and a social worker.Joe is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, CA, and Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA. Healso holds the degree of Master of Pacific and International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego. Joe and hiswife Elizabeth have two teenaged children, Jaina, 16, and Isaiah, 14.GuestPr. Bradn Buerkle, Pastor at Evangelical Lutheran Mission of Lower Saxony(ELM)The Rev. Bradn Buerkle, a mission worker from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,has served in Russia since 2001. His first year was spent in Velikij Novgorod, a historic cityapproximately 200 km southeast of St. Petersburg; there, he served as the vicar of St. NikolaiLutheran Church. Bradn retained pastoral responsibilities in this small congregation for approximatelytwo years time and, in the spring of 2003, took on teaching responsibilities at the TheologicalSeminary in Novosaratovka. Bradn is currently responsible for classes in Church Historyand Christian Ethics at the Seminary.Bradn, a native of Plevna, MT, U.S.A., holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (summa cum laude) from St. Olaf College, in Northfield,MN, where he graduated in 1998 with majors in Russian, Russian Studies, and English literature. He is a 2002 graduate of theMaster of Divinity program at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, California. Bradn’s academic interest isRussian religious philosophy of the late 19th/early 20th century (generally), and, particularly, the ethical implications ofSophiology as developed in the works of the Eastern Orthodox thinkers Fr. Pavel Florensky and Fr. Sergei Bulgakov.Central States Synod, ELCA Assembly 2013, Introduction Section