Lutheran CORE names new executive director
The Rev. W. Stevens Shipman, pastor of Southern Clinton County Lutheran Parish (ELCA) in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, has been appointed as director of Lutheran CORE, effective January 1, 2012. He succeeds the Rev. Mark Chavez, who recently resigned to accept a call as North American Lutheran Church (NALC) general secretary.
“Lutherans in North America, along with most of the traditional Christian groups, are at a crossroads,” Shipman said. “Lutheran CORE has a unique opportunity to help pastors and congregations grow in becoming more Christ-centered, mission-driven, traditionally-grounded, and congregationally-focused.
A graduate of Susquehanna University with a major in English, Shipman attended the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and was ordained by the former Central Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in America in June 1973. He earned a master of sacred theology degree from Gettysburg Seminary in 1989 under Lutheran scholars Robert Jenson and Eric Gritsch.
Shipman’s involvement in Lutheran CORE dates from its founding in 2005, when the Rev. Paull Spring invited him to serve as the organization’s secretary.
He was one of the founding members of the Evangelical Lutheran Confessing Fellowship (ELCF), a group that brings confessing Lutherans together for mutual support. The ELCF continues to be a Lutheran CORE member organization.
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