Secretary Chris Boerger (Churchwide Representative) The Rev. Wm Chris Boerger was elected Aug. 16, 2013, to a six- year term as secretary of the ELCA at the Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh.

Ordained June 18, 1978, Secretary Boerger served as lay mission developer/ at Lutheran Church of the San Juans in Friday Harbor, Wash., from 1975 to 1980; pastor of Central Lutheran Church in Everett, Wash., from 1980 to 1990; and pastor at North- lake Lutheran Church in Kenmore, Wash., from 1990 to 2001. He was elected bishop of the ELCA Northwest Washington Synod based in Seattle in 2001 and served two six-year terms.

Secretary Boerger earned a Master of Divinity degree at Christ Seminary SEMINEX, St. Louis in 1975, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication arts at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., in 1971.

Secretary Boerger served on a variety of boards and committees, including: Pacific Lutheran Theological Sem- inary Board of Regents; liaison bishop to the ELCA Church Council (2011-2013); ELCA Northwest Washington Synod Council; Interim Ministry Association, Advisory Bishop; Washington Association of Churches Board; Lutheran Advocates for Maritime Ministry Advisory Board; and Synodical and Churchwide Relations Com- mittee.

Rev. Dr. James Nieman ( Study Leader) James Nieman has served as the President of the Lutheran School of The- ology at since August 2012. A professor for over twenty years, he teaches about leadership in religious organizations, qualitative contextual research methods, and various topics in the area of practical theology, in- cluding homiletics. His recent research focuses on how to discern and use local theological claims in congregations, and on the recovery of phronesis (practical judgment) within and for theological education.

He is past president of the Association of Practical Theology, past secretary of the International Academy of Practical Theology, a member of the board of directors of the Louisville Institute, and co-editor of the Interna- tional Journal of Practical Theology. Besides many journal articles, Nieman is author of Knowing the Context: Frames, Tools, and Signs for Preaching (2008), co-editor of Church, Identity, and Change: Theology and Denomi- national Structures in Unsettled Times (2005), and co-author of Preaching to Every Pew: Cross-Cultural Strate- gies (2001).

Prior to his arrival at LSTC, Dr. Nieman was first on the faculty of Wartburg Theological Seminary for thirteen years, and then on the faculty of Hartford Seminary, where he also served as academic dean. He has been ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for three decades and served as a parish pastor in congregations in Iowa and Alaska prior to his doctoral studies at Emory University.