Dr. Vine Deloria, the Rev. Roger Gieschen, the Rev.
Dr. Ronald Johnson, the Rev. Jennifer Thomas, and
the Rev. Dr. Maxine Washington will be honored
February 11 for their visionary leadership and faithful
service to the Gospel. Awards will be presented
during the annual Alumni Banquet.
“The Alumni/ae Board of LSTC is pleased to
honor these five outstanding awardees for their
dedication to mission and ministry in the 21st
century and to their seminary, the Lutheran
School of Theology at Chicago,” said Pastor David
Abrahamson, president of the LSTC Alumni/ae
Board.
The Peace and Justice Award will be presented
posthumously to Vine Deloria, Jr., a widely-known
Native American theologian, teacher and activist.
He earned a master of theology degree at Augustana
Seminary, Rock Island in 1963 and a J.D. from
the University of Colorado. Deloria’s more than
20 books on Native American history, cultural
identity, and theology include Custer Died for Your
Sins and God is Red. A recognized leader in many
Native American organizations, Deloria also taught
at the University of Arizona and the University of
Colorado at Boulder. After his retirement in 2000,
he continued to write and lecture until his death in
November 2005.
The Rev. Roger Gieschen will be honored with
the Lifetime Achievement in Church Leadership
Award. He received his master of divinity from
Central Seminary and was ordained in 1958. He
then developed and led several congregations, drawing
on his passion for outreach and evangelism. For
five years Gieschen served in the Lutheran Church
in America’s Division for Ministry, and then was
elected president of the Central States Synod, where
he served from 1978-88. In his retirement, he serves
on the board of Baptist Trinity Lutheran Legacy
Foundation, a community health organization,
and is active in the ministry of his congregation in
Kansas City, Mo.
The Rev. Ronald Johnson will receive the
Distinguished Service in Parish Ministry Award.
Johnson graduated from Augustana Seminary, Rock
Island in 1963. In his more than four decades of
ministry, he served as Secretary to the Bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania and led
congregations in Chicago and south Minneapolis.
His ministry was characterized by compassionate
pastoral care, creativity, solid scholarship, and a
concern for the poor and oppressed. He encouraged
his congregations to engage theological issues and
to reach out to their local and global communities. Johnson has been recognized by other organizations
for leadership in service, ministry and stewardship.
The Rev. Jennifer Thomas will be honored with
the First Decade Award for excellence in ministry
following her graduation from LSTC in 1998. In her
first call, she co-pastored Lake Park Lutheran Church
in Milwaukee, where she was very active in the community,
synod, and larger church. There Thomas
chaired the MICAH clergy caucus, a community
organizing entity which works for immigrant
civil rights. She is a member of the ELCA Church
Council, and was recently installed as senior pastor
of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kansas City, Mo.
The Rev. Dr. Maxine Washington, class of
1986, will receive the Faithful Servant Award, in
recognition of her faithful witness for justice in pastoral
ministry. She currently pastors Bethel West in
Chicago, a growing congregation very active in community
and social justice ministries. Washington
serves on the board of directors of Bethel New Life,
heads the Lighthouse Partnership revival week, and
is active in CeaseFire, an anti-violence movement in
Chicago. She also served on the liturgy sub-committee
for the African-American Lutheran hymnal This
Far by Faith.
For more information or email us at:
leadershipconference@lstc.edu.
