Pastoral Transition
UPDATES!
August 2025
August 26, 2025
Dear Friends in Christ,
Earlier this month, the Call Committee recommended Pastor Brian Ferguson to the Church Council for approval to send his name to the congregation as the next Senior Pastor at St. Luke’s. It pleases me to inform you that on August 25, 2025, the Church Council unanimously approved the Call Committee’s recommendation.
Pastor Brian grew up on a farm in Northern Illinois. He has been in the ministry since 1997 and has served churches in Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio. He has a passion for holistic stewardship and creating community connections. You can learn more directly from Pastor Brian about himself at one of the following times:
On September 3, Pastor Brian will join us for our community meal at 5:00 p.m., and he will remain for the Town Hall meeting scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. On September 7, Pastor Brian will be with us that morning for our Sticky Sunday/Rally Day celebration. On both days, he will be able to answer any questions you might have.
To complete the call, the congregation must vote to approve Pastor Brian as the Senior Pastor by a two-thirds majority. That vote will take place at St. Luke’s on September 14, 2025, at noon. You will be able to attend both the Town Hall meeting and the congregational meeting on Zoom. The links for those will be emailed to you in the weekly Happenings. A link to his biographical information, and recorded sermons, will also be included in Happenings.
I would like to thank the Call Committee for its hard work in this process, and everyone else involved in getting us to this point. Please join me in praying for the Spirit to guide Pastor Brian and our congregation in this important decision for our future.
Yours Truly in Christ,
Paul Kinne
St. Luke’s Church Council President
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Congregational Meeting & Vote | Sunday, September 14, 12:00pm
A Zoom option will also be available through the link here.
Meeting ID: 817 1868 4286
Passcode: 287726
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Click HERE for a brief Biography of Pastor Brian
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Worship Links
The below links will let you see Pastor Ferguson lead worship at his most recent long-term call in Cincinnati, as well as helping lead worship for a Sunday in Sun Prairie. There are also many other worship videos available online.
First Lutheran, Cincinnati, May 19, 2024, Pentecost (sermon 38:55 – 48:40)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2kZFbX9gV8
First Lutheran, Cincinnati, July 7, 2024, final worship (sermon 4:15 – 17:25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7mbDEoaWcI&t=1s
Our Savior's, Sun Prairie May 4, 2025, pulpit supply (sermon 18:55 – 35:20)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9gJrFGWTO4
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October 2024
The Transition Team's Work is Complete!
The Call Committee met with the Bishop in mid-August, and we've had several meetings since then to get organized, orient ourselves to the call process, and review the Ministry Site Profile (MSP). The MSP is a standard form used throughout the ELCA which we'll use to compile information of St. Luke's history, ministries, strengths, opportunities for growth in meeting the needs of our community, and identify the gifts we believe will be most important for our next Senior Pastor to lead us forward.
The Transition Team gathered much of the information we'll need to complete the MSP, but we want and will need more input from the congregation -- along with your continued prayers both for us and for our Senior Pastor to be called. We're planning two input sessions in November. The first, is on November 17th, to make sure we capture our congregation's understanding of who we are and our mission. The second session, on November 24th, will be to identify our most critical ministry tasks and the gifts our Senior Pastor will need to lead us. Sessions will be at 9:00 & 10:00 on those mornings.
In the meantime please ask questions and share insights with the Call Committee members on any given Sunday. Our Call Committee includes Sylvia Donaldson, Julie Edgar, Kate Gravel, Joe Kiel, Lisa Rogers, Shawn Stauske, Dennis Turke, Audrey VanBendegom and Martha VanBendegom. We hope to be easy to spot with our yellow-colored name tags, and we intend to be available at The Hub between worship services.
June 2024
The Transition Team's Work is Complete!
The Transition Team began their work in November 2023 and completed their report in June 2024. The Transition Team’s focus was on three questions:
Who are we?  What is our history, and how does that inform our present?  While large corporate churches have a tendency for high turnover of pastors and ministry leaders, the overall character of an established congregation tends to remain relatively unchanged. 
What do we do?  What are our mission and current ministries?  We looked at our guiding principles and reviewed the past few years of ministries and outreach, including noticeable trends as we transitioned from pre-COVID to post-COVID. 
Where are we?  What is the context of the community that we serve?  What changes and trends do we see?  This group focused on the community beyond St. Luke’s, including changes to the city and school district. 
You can read their complete report here
Thank you to the Transition Team for their great work: Aimee Solheim, Andrea Orlowski, Craig Pynn, David Miller, Elijah Lynch, Kate Gravel, Michele Stanley, Paul Raisleger, Sammie Endean, Shawn Stauske, Stephanie Spieker, and Pastors Naomi Garber and Julie Krahn. 
NOW the Call Committee begins their work. The Senior Pastor Call Committee will meet with Bishop Joy Mortensen-Weibe in July for the orientation to the process. The call process is a multi-step process and does take time. Please include the Call Committee, the continued transitional time, and the person God is preparing to be the next Senior Pastor of St. Luke’s for the Spirit’s wisdom and guidance.
The Senior Pastor Call Committee is:
Shawn Stauske and Kate Gravel (Transition Team members).
Audrey VanBendegom, Lisa Rogers, Julie Edgar, and Dennis Turke.
Martha VanBendegom and Sylvia Donaldson (Council Representatives).