LSTC 2008 Summer Session:
Faculty Profiles

Kelly A. Fryer is a missiologist with nearly 20 years experience leading organizations in renewal. She is the author of the best-selling Reclaiming the ''L'' Word: Renewing the Church from Its Lutheran Core and Reclaiming the ''C'' Word: Daring to Be Church Again, (both from Augsburg Fortress). She also contributed pieces to the No Experience Necessary Bible study series. Kelly is a member of the faculty at Spertus College in Chicago, Ill., where she teaches leadership in the Nonprofit Management Graduate Program; she has also taught on the faculty of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. She is a full-time team member and co-founder of A Renewal Enterprise, Inc. which offers project consulting, missional coaching, keynote speaking, leadership training, and teambuilding events. Her newest book, Reclaiming the “E” Word: Waking Up To Our Evangelical Identity was published this spring.

Phyllis Kersten has served as Associate Pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Ill., since she earned her M.Div. from LSTC in 1996. She served as an adjunct professor at LSTC during the fall of 2005, teaching a course on Educational Ministry in the Parish. In 2007 she contributed a chapter to Christian Education as Evangelism, written by ELCA seminary professors and published by Augsburg Publishing. Her chapter was entitled, “Abiding in the Word for the Sake of the World.” Pastor Kersten has co-authored a variety of Christian education materials, including: R is for Religion, a 26-session curriculum for inner-city youngsters; Talented, Tired, Beautiful Feet, a Bible study for women, Concordia Publishing House; The School as a Caring Community; and Companions on Your Journey, the Women of the ELCA 1990 Bible Study. Her devotions have appeared in a variety of publications, including Currents in Theology and Mission.

Edgar Krentz joined the LSTC faculty in 1983 as Christ Seminary-Seminex Professor of New Testament, after many years of teaching first at Concordia Seminary and then at Seminex. In addition to his scholarly writings in New Testament and his long and distinguished teaching career (50 years in 2003), he has directed two libraries, served as associate director of the archaeological excavation at Caesarea Maritima in Palestine, chaired the Bible Division, and served as acting dean. Since his “retirement” in 1998, he has been highly sought as a teacher and lecturer, and in recent years he has divided his time between Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and LSTC.

Craig A. Satterlee occupies the Axel Jacob and Gerda Maria (Swanson) Carlson Chair of Homiletics at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He is the dean of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools Doctor of Ministry in Preaching Program. Satterlee is the author of numerous books and articles, including When God Speaks Through You: How Faith Convictions Shape Preaching and Mission (2007) and When God Speaks Through Change: Preaching in Times of Congregational Transition (2005) both published by the Alban Institute; and with Lester Ruth, Creative Preaching on the Sacraments (Discipleship Resources, 2001). He is a sought-after teacher, speaker and preacher who continues to do interim parish ministry in the Chicago area.

Michael T. Shelley is Director of A Center for Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice (CCME) at LSTC. From 1979 - 2003, Shelley and his wife, Joanne, were missionaries in Cairo, Egypt. There Shelley served as pastor of two congregations and, for the last five years in Egypt, was director of graduate studies and taught church history and Christian-Muslim relations at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo. He has also taught at the Dar Comboni Center for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Cairo; the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, England; and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. He earned an M.Div. at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, a Th.M. from LSTC, and a Ph.D. in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations from the University of Birmingham, England.

Alicia Vargas is Director of Contextual Education and Assistant Professor of Contextual and Multicultural Studies at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, where she has taught since 1997. She also serves as Associate Director of the Contextual Leadership Initiative, a collaborative program of the Western Mission Cluster that prepares Christian leaders through cross-cultural ministry experiences. Professor Vargas is currently researching Pauline studies in order to add a Latina voice to the ongoing discussion of the “Lutheran” and the “inclusivity” perspectives on Paul. She seeks to explore how, combined, these perspectives might come to bear specifically on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA’s) multicultural outreach and evangelism in the multicultural United States of America. In addition to her work as a teacher and researcher, Vargas serves the church as a member of numerous committees of the national ELCA.

Alicia Vargas es Directora de Instrucción Contextual y Profesora Asistente de Estudios Contextuales y Multiculturales en el Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, donde ha enseñado desde 1997. También es Directora Asociada de la Iniciativa para Liderazgo Contextual, un programa colaborativo del Western Mission Cluster que prepara líderes cristianos por medio de experiencias ministeriales interculturales. La profesora Vargas investiga los estudios paulinos con meta de añadir una voz latina a la conversación sobre las perspectivas “luteranas” e “inclusivas” en entender a Pablo. Ella explora cómo las dos perspectivas combinadas tienen la posibilidad de afectar el evangelio y “la labor social” multicultural de la Iglesia Luterana Evangélica en América (ELCA) en la realidad multicultural de los Estados Unidos. Además de su trabajo como profesora y investigadora, Vargas sirve a la iglesia como miembro de varios comités nacionales de la ELCA.

This webpage was last updated on April 21, 2008

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