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Introducing Program Director, Jeremy Myers

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headshot of Jeremy Myers
Photo of Jeremy Myers, Program Director

Jeremy has been a member of the Religion department at Augsburg University since 2006 with specific responsibilities for facilitating the University’s Theology and Public Leadership degree program, the Youth Studies minor, and the Augsburg Youth Theology Institute. He is a rostered Deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). You can learn more about his views on ministry with youth and young adults at his blog, or by reading his book Liberating Youth from Adolescence.

Jeremy has served in the field of ministry with youth and young adults professionally since 1997. He loves working with those in this chapter of life and equally loves helping faith communities become more engaged in their lives.

He believes young people today are not longing for anything different than previous generations. But the culture in which they experience these longings has grown increasingly complex and the gap between our young adults and congregations is greater than it has ever been. This gap has appeared as congregations have failed to move into this complex culture with their young people. Jeremy is certain congregations can learn and implement practices that move them into this complex public square where their young adults are seeking to navigate life and faith.

 

 

 

Resources on Vocation: Blogs, Chapel Talks, and More! 2010-2014

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Bernhard M. Christensen

“Devoutly Would He Teach: The Legacy of Bernhard M. Christensen,” Gracia Grindal, ’65, professor of rhetoric at Luther Seminary, Bernhard M. Christensen Symposium keynote address on Oct. 2, 2010

Reflections on the 5 Lessons of Bernhard M. Christensen from the spring 2010 issue of Till & Keep journal.

Blog – The Progress of Pilgrimage

Martha E. Stortz, the Bernhard M. Christensen Professor in Religion and Vocation, has a blog with her colleagues about pilgrimage.

Continue reading “Resources on Vocation: Blogs, Chapel Talks, and More! 2010-2014” →

Vocation as Path: Following the Questions

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Augsburg College hosted Seminary and Divinity School Day on October 28. This event allows regional college students to connect, reflect, and explore theological graduate study options with representatives from 18 top-notch seminaries and divinity schools.

Martha E. Stortz, Bernhard M. Christensen Professor of Religion and Vocation, gave the keynote address at the event.

Her message includes several Big Questions for reflection, and is available electronically – Vocation as Path: Following the Questions 

Welcome to Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Distinguished Fellow

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The Rev. Mark S. Hanson 

Distinguished Fellow in the Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg College

headshot of Mark HansonAppointed as a Distinguished Fellow in Augsburg’s Christensen Center for Vocation, The Rev. Mark S. Hanson leads national and international initiatives to advance interfaith dialogue, inspire peacemaking, and support the College’s commitment to vocational discernment. In addition, he serves as a major gifts advisor for “Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.”

Prior to his current appointments, Hanson served as presiding bishop of the ELCA. He was elected to this position by the Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA in August 2001 and was reelected in 2007. In 2003, he was elected to serve, concurrently, as president of the Lutheran World Federation, a position he held until 2010.

Before being elected as ELCA presiding bishop, he served as bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod (3H). He had been elected to serve a second term in Saint Paul earlier that same year. Prior to being elected synod bishop, he served as pastor of three Minnesota congregations: Prince of Glory Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; Edina (Minnesota) Community Lutheran Church; and University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis.  Continue reading “Welcome to Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Distinguished Fellow” →

This I Believe, February 2014: Jeanne Boeh

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Respect and Vocation

Jeanne Boeh is a professor of Economics at Augsburg University

headshot of Jeanne BoehAs some of you may know and some of you may even care; Adam Smith, the father of economics, is buried in Edinburgh. One of PBS’s well known and admired hosts is the travel author Rick Steve’s. I was aghast to read his explication of how to find Adam Smith’s grave in Edinburgh.

People’s Story-This interesting exhibition traces the conditions of the working class through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.  Curiously, while this museum is dedicated to the proletariat, immediately around the back (embedded in the wall of the museum is the tomb of Adam Smith-the author of Wealth of Nations and the father of modern free market capitalism(1723-1790). [i]

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This I Believe, December 2013: Melissa Hensley

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“Believing in God and in One’s Self.”

Melissa A. Hensley is an assistant professor in the Social Work department.

headshot of Melissa A. HensleyI lead a monthly “Empowerment Workshop” at a mental health agency in a nearby county.  The people who attend the group choose the topic for discussion each month, focusing on self-care, wellness, and recovery from serious mental illness.

Recently, I was facilitating a discussion on building self-esteem. The group members and I were discussing a worksheet that we’d all completed. The worksheet asked us to list positive qualities we possessed, compliments we’d received recently, and challenges that we had overcome. As we were taking turns sharing our responses, the conversation came around to a middle-aged woman seated at the back of the conference room. She stated that she could not think of anything good about herself. I was surprised at first, but I tried to respond in an encouraging way.

Continue reading “This I Believe, December 2013: Melissa Hensley” →

This I Believe, November 2013: Doug Green

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“For once, then, something”: Reflections of a Judeo-Christian Agnostic

Douglas E. Green is a professor in the English Department

headshot of Douglas E. GreenOn a spring faculty-staff retreat, about fifteen years ago, the late Dean Marie McNeff, who knew my complicated Judeo-Christian (specifically Jewish-Catholic) background, asked me what I believed.  I told her, “I’m an agnostic who prays.”

I thought I was being very clever, but in fact I was exhibiting a trait shared by a growing number of Americans. According to reports on a recent Pew poll,[1] agnostics and atheists—the “nones”—have become more and more common in the U.S.  And a lot of us non-believers pray.

Continue reading “This I Believe, November 2013: Doug Green” →

This I Believe, October 2013: Lori Peterson

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Belief and Believing In

by Lori Peterson, Associate Vice President and Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies

This I Believe: Podcast 1950's printed in front of a headshot of Edward R. MurrowA few years ago, I was part of a group of faculty and staff at Augsburg that gathered to reflect on our individual sense of vocation and our collective sense of calling as a College.  It was an inspiring, deeply reflective set of days spent reading, thinking, and sharing.  One of our culminating experiences was to write a “This I Believe” essay, based on the popular 1950’s radio series hosted by Edward R. Murrow.  The exercise of writing and the essays that emerged were powerful.  In reflection on the work of writing my essay, though, it seems to me that there is a difference between articulating what we believe (know to be true) and what we believe in.  For me, believing in something is the definition of faith.

Continue reading “This I Believe, October 2013: Lori Peterson” →