ELCA NEWS SERVICE
April 21, 2011
Valparaiso University Appoints ELCA Pastors to Campus Ministry Roles
11-059-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Valparaiso (Ind.) University has appointed the Rev. Charlene R. Cox as university pastor.
Cox, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was appointed this week and will join the staff of the Chapel of the Resurrection in mid-July, according to the university.
Last month, the university appointed the Rev. Brian T. Johnson, also an ELCA pastor, to the new position of executive director of campus ministries. Johnson will join the Valparaiso University staff June 6.
Both Cox and Johnson have extensive experience in campus ministry.
Cox will succeed the Rev. Darlene E. Grega, who pioneered the role of ELCA ministry leadership at the university. Grega died in April 2010. The Rev. Phyllis N. Kersten, Forest Park, Ill., has served as interim pastor during the 2010-2011 academic year.
"Part of what drew me to Valpo (Valparaiso University) is that Valpo is trying to model how to do something different," Cox said. "After hearing President Mark Heckler's concept that we must move beyond hospitality and embrace a table large and wide and fully include all voices in faith and the search for truth, I'm very excited to be a part of an institution and academic community with such a central focus."
Cox will work collaboratively in chapel ministry alongside the Lutheran Church Missouri-Synod university pastor, the Rev. James Wetzstein, and the chapel staff.
For the past two years, Cox has served as campus pastor at Grand View University, Des Moines, Iowa, one of 26 ELCA colleges and universities. From 2004 to 2009, Cox was campus pastor at Waldorf College, Forest City, Iowa, formerly of the ELCA. She was campus pastor for University Lutheran Ministry at Illinois State University, Normal, from 1997 to 2000. She also served ELCA congregations in Bellevue, Wash.; Richland, Wash.; and Brooten, Minn.
Johnson has served 15 years as campus chaplain and as artistic director of "Christmas in Christ Chapel" at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn. He is widely recognized for his work in enhancing worship, music and the arts.
Previously, he was chaplain at the Lutheran/Episcopal campus ministry at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, pastor of St. James Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, and chaplain at United Hospital, St. Paul, Minn.
