Interim Update
6/19/2025
Next steps
The Transition Team has begun to prepare the Mission Site Profile (MSP) which will include and reflect much of what was shared in the CAT, as well as in other conversations and discoveries. The MSP will also include demographic trends of our congregation and outside community. It is hoped that this important document could be completed and approved by Council in the coming months. Upon council approval, a special meeting with the congregation and a representative of the Bishop’s office would be scheduled. Completing these steps will set the stage for the selection and commissioning of a Call Committee to begin the Spirit-driven process of seeking out that pastoral leader who will best walk with St. Barnabas through the next chapter of exciting mission.
Please continue to stay informed and in prayer for your leadership and for God’s continued direction in this process. We are moving through a very important time of discernment right now. It is critical that we don’t rush through this neutral zone, but be thorough and clear about the things we have learned. Fully understanding the ministry context and culture and being able to honestly convey them on the MSP is so important. Truly matching the technical and adaptive skills of candidates to St. Barnabas’ unique community and mission will hopefully avoid a mismatch in the calling of that new leader.
Exciting staff update….
Karl Smith, Lay Minister for Property since 2018, will be expanding his support role at St. Barnabas starting in July supporting Brenda Ericson in our office and working directly with the Lead Pastor. His additional responsibilities will include managing church technology, renter, partner and vendor contracts, as well as the security and safety of our building. Among other important ministry support tasks, he will provide leadership and oversight to the office financial volunteer team, human resources, and volunteer scheduling needs. Karl brings with him a deep business background in addition to a keen knowledge of our congregation, the community, and our facilities.
I remain grateful to be walking with you in this holy time of discernment and change.
In peace and deep gratitude,
Pastor Tom Olson, Interim
6/12/2025
Thank you to the members of St Barnabas who attended the CAT Executive Summary meetings last week! We met on Monday, June 2 and Sunday, June 8. Our Transition Team did a great job of walking through the report and identifying some of the most important things we learned from the CAT survey and how they have either changed or remained similar over the past 11 years since the church first participated in this inventory (Feb. 2014). You can find a link to the Executive Summary in the blog entry below.
It was also good to have some open time to share hopes and dreams for the future ministry and mission of the church. These are critical conversations and are necessary in discovering the key attributes that the Transition Team will highlight in both writing the Mission Site Profile (our resume) as well as look for in potential pastoral candidates. Please don’t forget that God is good and the Spirit is very much present in our time of discernment. I for one am very excited to see where this process will lead St Barnabas in the coming months as we journey openly and honestly with each other.
Next steps are preparing the MSP, getting council and synodical approval, and selecting a call committee. It is going to be a busy summer! I will post weekly updates here and have hard copies available at the “Transition Process” portion of the kiosk found in the narthex, near the ministry center doors, allowing you to stay informed.
In the meantime, please continue to hold St Barnabas in daily prayer and be supportive of the great lay leaders God has blessed your church with for this very moment in her history. All will be well!
In peace and gratitude,
Pastor Tom, Interim Lead Pastor
6/06/2025
Pentecost Sunday reminds us that the Holy Spirit is very much present today as it was that day in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago. If that weren’t true, I don’t believe the church would have endured. But it did! and that same Spirit journeys with us in this time of transition and call process. Believe it.
Next steps: Information from the CAT and our interpretation meetings (held on June 2 and June 8) will significantly influence the writing of our Ministry Site Profile (MSP). The Transition Team will be prepare the MSP with additional current statistical information on St. Barnabas and the Plymouth community. Once this document is approved by the Council, the Call Committee will be appointed by the Executive Committee and Council, and then installed during a worship service. The work of the Call Committee will be to solicit candidate nominations from the congregation, review candidates provided by the Minneapolis Area Synod, and conduct interviews of candidates. The interview process often includes multiple interviews and, if the committee wishes to pursue a candidate further, a worship visit at the candidate’s current congregation to hear them preach. Once the call committee reaches a consensus on a final candidate, they submit their recommendation to the Council President. A decision to offer a call to a candidate is voted on by the congregation at a special congregational meeting. Knowing how critical it is to do our due diligence in selecting the next pastor of St. Barnabas, we cannot offer an accurate timeline. What we do know is that there is a LOT of work to do, and the leadership of St. Barnabas remains grateful for your support and participation, as well as your heartfelt prayers.
Peace,
Pastor Tom, Interim
6/03/2025
Thank you to our first group of attendees at the CAT executive summary gathering on Monday night! Great feedback and conversation. We will repeat this meeting for others on Sunday, June 8 at 10:45 am in the Garden View Room. Copies of the Executive Summary will be available and the Transition Team will walk through the summary with you as we did on Monday evening.
Please look to the “Transition Process” side on the spinning kiosk in the Narthex, just outside the Ministry Center. There will be regular updates and copies of this Executive Summary there as well.
Please continue to hold our church in thought and prayer.
Peace,
Pastor Tom, Interim
Correction — We will meet at 6:30 pm on MONDAY, June 2 for the first conversation. Sorry for confusion!
5/29/2025
Happy Summer St. Barnabas! You will have the opportunity to be part of a conversation with the Transition Team focused on the recent CAT Executive Summary. Join us on Wednesday, June 4 at 6:30 pm or Sunday, June 8 at 10:45 am (during coffee times after worship). The team will use these conversations to continue in preparing the Mission Site Profile, our next step in the journey. Please continue to hold our church in thought and prayer.
Peace, Pastor Tom, Interim
5/13/2025
On Wednesday, May 7 members of the Council and other leadership teams gathered for an interpretation of the CAT vital signs report. This report was generated from all the completed surveys done during Lent. That evening we were joined via Zoom by one of the trained consultants of HolyCow! Consulting. Rev. Susan Czolgosz has worked with over 500 church leadership teams using the CAT. She worked with our team for almost three hours and gave us some excellent insights into what all the numbers mean for our next discerning steps in the transition. An executive summary will be presented in early June, on both a Sunday morning and a weekday evening. All will be welcome to attend. The next steps for the Transition Team are the writing of the Mission Site Profile and presentation of that document to be approved by council. At that point, the Call Committee can be selected and commissioned by the congregation to begin looking for possible pastoral candidates. In the meantime, we have much to do! Please continue to hold our church in thought and prayer.
Peace, Pastor Tom, Interim
5/02/2025
Leadership and the Transition Team will be doing a ‘deep-dive’ on the Vital Signs report from our recent use of the Church Assessment Tool survey (CAT). We will meet virtually with a trained consultant from Holy Cow Consulting, offering both an interpretation of what the results mean as well as what they might point to in looking toward a vitalized future… including some indication of where best to focus resources and what type of pastor might be a best fit. The congregation will have the opportunity to see the ‘high level’ interpretation through an Executive Summary. This will be shared a ‘to-be-determined’ date prior to summer. Next step will be the preparing of the Mission Site Profile for the ELCA.
Thank you for the trust and opportunity to walk with St. Barnabas at this important time. It has been my joy getting to know you!
Peace, Pastor Tom, Interim
4/19/2025
Thank you St. Barnabas! The Church Assessment Tool survey closed on April 13. Our members REALLY stepped up and we received over 94% participation in our recent Church Assessment Tool survey! (This percentage was calculated based on our most recent average Sunday worship attendance.) We have yet to receive the initial “Vital Signs Report”, but will be sharing an Executive Summary of the findings with the congregation in early May. Leadership will go through a formal, in-depth interpretation of the report on May 7. Again, this is all very important information for creating an accurate Ministry Site Profile and continuing our process of creating the best ministry model for St. Barnabas.
Today is Holy Saturday and tomorrow, along with thousands of other Christian churches, we have the privilege of celebrating the center of our faith: Resurrection hope! How we celebrate that radical Easter promise of God’s enduring love in Jesus Christ tells the world who we are and whose we are. And by living as if we are God’s beloved and as if God claims us for this very moment, ANYTHING is possible. I don’t know about you, but that is pretty exciting! All will be well.
Blessed Easter! Pastor Tom, Interim
4/12/2025
Thank you to our members who have taken the time to complete the online CAT (Congregation Assessment Tool)! The Transition Team has also received a number of hard copies that are being transferred to the online portal.
The survey closes tomorrow night, April 13, at midnight! Please take the 20-25 minutes to participate if you haven’t yet. The link is found here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SAINTBARNABASLC
Like a doctor’s check-up, the assessment is an important tool for understanding the health of any church. When in times of leadership transition, a thorough check-up is that much more important! Leadership will receive a Vital Signs interpretation in the week after the survey closes. We look forward to sharing the findings and will also use them in preparation of the MSP (Mission Site Profile) — St. Barnabas’ resume in the calling of the next lead pastor.
Below are some questions you may have after taking the Congregation Assessment Tool™ (CAT).
Why was it necessary to survey the congregation?
It is always important for leaders to know the perspectives, experiences, and aspirations of the people they lead. This is especially true when major decisions will be made regarding the future of the church.
Don’t leaders know what members are thinking through their regular interactions with them?
Research shows that leaders do not have a broad enough level of interaction with members to accurately gauge the perspectives of the entire church. Their natural tendency to relate to a relatively small percentage of the congregation results in a view of the entire congregation that is skewed.
Why was the survey so long?
When major decisions are being made, it is important to have a comprehensive picture of how the church is doing in the many different aspects of its life. We can shorten the survey by making assumptions about different areas of the church’s ministry, but this requires that leaders guess about the views on the congregation. Those guesses are not always accurate.
Some of the questions are negatively worded and seem to imply something is wrong. Why can’t the questions all be positive?
When people respond to surveys, they need a variety of questions that will keep their minds engaged. One of the ways to keep a person’s mind engaged is to ask both positively and negatively worded questions. This does not imply that there is something wrong with the church.
Some of the questions seem to fit our church better than others? Why is that?
The Congregation Assessment Tool© is a standard instrument that has been used with hundreds of churches. By using a standard instrument, some questions will apply in certain churches better than others. But the benefit is that you can use the results to help you understand your church in comparison to other churches like you. Customized questions designed by your leaders specifically for your church have been added to the survey.
When I was taking the survey, it was hard to imagine how the information I was providing would be useful in our planning or search process. Was it?
The information found in the survey report generated from the responses is useful on a number of levels. If you are engaged in planning, it can help leaders get a comprehensive picture of where the church is now. If you are preparing for a search, it will guide your leaders in determining the characteristics of your next Pastor, help them develop your church profile, enable them to manage your transition, and also provide a good foundation for the start-up of your next Pastor. A survey is a lot like a camera. It takes a picture of who you are as a church. Like a camera, it is very difficult to guess what a photograph looks like from simply looking at the camera. In the same way, it is difficult to realize the value of the snapshot taken of your church simply by looking at the questions in the survey.
Will each member of the congregation be given a copy of the survey results?
The report generated by the assessment is called Vital Signs©. This report is over 20 pages long and, like reading a medical lab report, requires a professional interpretation. For this reason, a one or two-page summary of the results is generally provided to members of the congregation. However, the full Vital Signs© report should be available in the church office or library for those who would like to review it.
Thanks again to our transition team for their hard work and to all of you for sharing your time and passion with your church!
Blessed Holy Week and Easter! Pastor Tom, Interim
4/2/2025
With Pastor Stephanie’s ministry closing on March 23, the Transition Team and Council moved quickly and are excited to welcome Bryce Bommersbach as a part-time pastoral assistant to Pastor Tom and our ministry team. Bryce is a recent graduate of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA. He interned at Oak Knoll Lutheran in Minnetonka, so has been familiar with the landscape of ministry in the Lutheran churches of the west metro. Bryce grew up in Grand Forks, ND (as did Pastor Tom!) and studied Social Work at UND. He also was a Young Adult in Global Mission through the ELCA — serving in Madagascar. Bryce’s YAGM year abroad was in 2019-20 and like everything that year, was cut short by the global pandemic. We are excited to have him at St. Barnabas in this time of transition. I hope you will have an opportunity to connect with him soon.
3/21/2025
In times of transition, one of the best ways to discern God’s path is by listening.
The Church Council recently decided to move forward with the Church Assessment Tool (CAT) during the season of Lent to collect and understand the range of views that exist at St. Barnabas and the possibilities, willingness, capacity and energy for moving our ministry into the future. These important indicators will also become a key part of our search for our next Lead Pastor.
St. Barnabas has used the CAT in 2014 and in 2019. As you know, a few things have changed since then!
During the coming 3 weeks, from March 24 through April 13, please consider sitting down at your laptop, tablet or desktop computer and completing the assessment. Your voice matters and will be instrumental in providing a clearer picture of who we are as a congregation and what directions are most important for our future.
• If you have provided us with a current email address, within the next few days, you will receive a unique web link to complete the assessment online.
• If we do NOT have your current email address (if you are not receiving the weekly St. Barnabas e-newsletter, that is an indication that we don’t have it), we would appreciate it if you would share it with us. Simply send an email to Brenda Ericson at Brenda@stbarnabaslutheran.org.
• If you do not have access to a computer, we will have a church laptop available to you after worship services on March 30, April 6 and April 13.
• If you would prefer to take the assessment using a paper copy, please stop by the office, and we will provide one for you. It will just need to be returned by April 13.
NOTE: If there is only one email address for all members of your household, it may be tempting to have one person take the survey on behalf of the family. However, please note that all household members aged 16 & older living in your home have an opportunity to complete the survey. Individual input is key to our gaining insight into overall perceptions and experiences.
Please set aside enough time to answer all the questions. This will take about 20-25 minutes. All survey responses are strictly anonymous. We will close the survey on April 13 at noon. There will be a presentation of results for leaders and the congregation on Wednesday, May 7 from 6 - 9 p.m.
Here’s the challenge: In 2014 and 2019, St. Barnabas had 80% participation – help us hit 90%!
Thank you for your willingness to be a part of this congregational assessment and for helping to chart the course for St. Barnabas’ future.
In gratitude,
Your Transition Team:
Brett Turnquist Eric Boyd Denise Holmquist Pastor Tom Olson, Interim
2/25/2025
Message shared by Transition Team member Denise Holmquist on Sunday, Feb. 23 at worship: Our Council has asked us to go on a journey! This is an important journey, one of reflection and growth through the Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT). This assessment is an opportunity for every voice to be heard, helping us better understand our strengths, challenges, and hopes for the future. It’s been 6 years since we’ve done this and your input will help shape our path forward, guiding our leadership in making informed decisions that align with our values and vision.
The tool will be distributed on-line and also available for those off-line starting March 9th through March 30th.
As a fun kick off for this journey, we’ve set up a map in the ministry center for us to learn more about the breadth of our community. If you would please take a pin and mark on the board where you live, it’ll help us get a feel for the communities we touch in our daily lives.
You’ll be hearing more about the CAT survey from our team over the next couple weeks. Every response matters, and together, we can build a stronger, more vibrant community. Thank you!
The Transition Team is Denise Holmquist, Brett Turnquist, Eric Boyd and Pastor Tom Olson.
2/06/2025
“Jesus Christ remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
Churches are living, emotional organisms. Just like each of us, they go through times of growth and decline, joy and sadness, success and failure. Through all of those ups and downs, it is always the ‘lived-out mission’ of connecting God’s welcome, forgiveness, and love of one another that allows a congregation to thrive. Pastors, worship styles, staff leaders, programs and ministries; they will come and go. The mission will remain.
One of the first metaphors shared with me as I considered entering interim ministry was that of a “sliding a mirror” in front of a given faith community, where everything becomes visible; strengths and growth areas.
We are entering a next step of that discerning process—of sliding a mirror in front of St. Barnabas. The Transition Team has decided to engage the use of what is called ‘organizational intelligence’. You will be hearing much more about that initiative in the coming weeks. In the context of a church, organizational intelligence (o.i.) refers to the ability of a congregation to actively gather, analyze, and interpret information about its own health, demographics, needs, and community impact. Discovering this information allows leadership to make informed decisions and adapt strategies to better serve its members and fulfill its mission effectively. O.I. allows for the church's capacity to "understand itself" and respond to the community intelligently. O.I. involves asking questions, listening, praying for guidance, and then, only then, forging a path.
Consultant J. Russell Crabtree, former director of Holy Cow! Consulting, makes this connection: “All twelve step programs have, as their fourth step, the exercise of making a fearless moral inventory. In many ways, organizational intelligence is precisely that same exercise engaged at the congregational level. It builds on the previous steps of acknowledging powerlessness, believing in God’s ability to help us, and turning our lives over to God. Congregational sobriety is freedom from the internal demons that unconsciously sabotage its best intentions. Only when it has done that penitential work can it finally get to the twelfth step: carrying its message to others.”
Thanks again for the opportunity to walk beside you in this exciting chapter of building St. Barnabas’ future. Peace to you!
Pastor Tom, Interim
01/24/2025
Transitional times are when organizations, like people, are forced to check their own level of health, resiliency, and vision… especially when it is difficult to corral the anxiety of change.
What is congregational health? Noted church consultant Margaret Marcuson writes that “(Congregational health) has little if anything to do with the size of the congregation. Churches of any size can be vibrant communities. Long ago, I worshiped several times in a tiny Methodist church in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. You knew as soon as you walked in the door that this was a community with a lot of life in it. The pastor never preached longer than six minutes, and it was always good. The choir of six sang enthusiastically. People seemed happy to be there.”
Marcuson goes on to raise what she deems to be “nine indicators of a healthy congregation.” They are:
Mature leaders, clergy and lay, who know who they are and what they are about in their lives and ministry.
Leaders who can articulate their vision and direction.
The ability to tolerate difference.
Leaders who can take a stand with people (staff or church members) who are not functioning well.
The ability to take the long view. (Most things of value in church take time to happen.)
An appreciation for the past without being bound by it.
A lightness of spirit – people who don’t take themselves too seriously.
Resilience – the congregation can recover from setbacks.
Genuine spiritual maturity, growing out of the prayer and worship practices of the leadership and congregation.
During the season of Epiphany we are preaching on the theme of Building Trust through how we treat one another. Honoring boundaries, being reliable, accountable, honoring confidentiality (vault), having integrity, being nonjudgmental, and being spiritually generous to one another are community health supplements! When all of us are engaged in tending to our own spiritual health, the gathered church gets healthier too. Thanks for you partnership in this exciting time. A flow chart of the Pastoral Leadership Transition can be found on the information kiosk by the Mission Center doors, in the Narthex. Peace to you!
Pastor Tom, Interim
01/15/2025
Epiphany season began on January 6. An epiphany tells us something has changed or is new, maybe even if it is only our perspective. One thing that in NOT an epiphany is the fact that St. Barnabas has been and is blessed with a wealth of committed and gifted members and leaders! Thank you to so many of the them for stepping up in this busy season of your church’s life.
The Transition Team has been selected to work beside me — Brett Turnquist, Denise Holmquist, and Eric Boyd. Nancy Walczak will assist near the end of their process with the writing of Mission Site Profile. She was integral in preparing this document two years ago when calling Pastor Stephanie as associate pastor. The Transition Team will begin the first of the “three great listenings” by deciding upon a process to best answer important questions like “Who are we as a congregation? What are our strengths and growth areas? Where do we find satisfaction and energy? What does our current staffing model allow us to do and impede us from doing in growing our mission?”
Once the best method for answering those questions is chosen, YOU will likely be asked to dream and share your feelings and thoughts on some iteration of those questions. We hope for great participation. Then, alongside updating demographic work, the Transition Team will hopefully dial in on the leader skill sets and competencies that will best fit the church and its culture. They will then prepare the MSP and hand it off to the council for approval. This document will be used by the eventual Call Committee. Please keep this team and all of your amazing lay leadership in your prayers as they work so hard on this process. We have a lot of work ahead of us.
This is an exciting time and I am so grateful to be able to walk beside you in it. God is good! I hold you all in my thoughts and prayers. Thanks for yours.
Pastor Tom, Interim
01/03/2025
Happy New Year! We celebrate the Epiphany of our Lord this Sunday, Jan. 5. Matthew’s gospel tells the story of the Magi visit to Bethlehem following only a star. I imagine upon encountering a toddler Jesus in very humble surroundings, those astrologers were as surprised as anyone else as to the identity of this Messiah — to whom that star had directed them!
As we continue this journey of discovery in this time of transition for St. Barnabas, perhaps we too can be open to both surprises and where those surprises might be leading us. Now that the holidays have passed, the important work of listening continues as I continue to learn the story of this great faith community. Again, feel free to connect with me and share your story as well. As this process continues, here are a few simply ways you can make a difference: 1) Be regular in your worship attendance and your financial support, 2) when asked to participate in some way, big or little, please do so if you can, and 3) hold St. Barnabas, your leaders, and the call process in your daily prayers. It really makes a difference!
In Christ,
Pastor Tom, Interim
12/17/24
The church council met with Rev. John Hulden, Bishop’s Assistant from the Mpls Area Synod on Monday, December 9th. He reviewed the call process and unique position of St. Barnabas. Since there was no formal interim period in the past senior pastor transition, it was encouraged that leadership enter a season of deep discernment and action involving “Three Great Listenings”: 1. Listen to those coming to church, 2. Listen to the Community outside the church, and 3. Listen to God. It was then decided to appoint a small transition team to both decide the best methods to get this vital information and then begin these ‘listenings’ -- hopefully in early 2025. That team would also prepare the more formal Mission Site Profile (MSP). The MSP when complete, would be approved by both the council and our Bishop (at a congregational meeting – likely later in the spring of 2025) before being given to a Call Committee or any potential candidates. The wheels are turning! Our prayer at this point is for our church members and friends to participate in this process as asked and to keep St. Barnabas and our leadership in your prayers! – Pastor Tom Olson, Interim