For parents and everyone who ministers to parents, let's commiserate share and learn together about the Holy Three-Ring Circus that our lives have become and how we can best support each other. On August 19, we heard from Rev. Kendra Mohn, PhD, and Rev. Jessica Harris Daum.
Rev. Kendra Mohn has been serving at Trinity Lutheran Church, Fort Worth, Texas, since 2010. First, as Teaching Pastor, and since 2016, as Lead Pastor. Rev. Mohn was raised on a farm in Iowa, where she grew up showing 4-H livestock at the fair, taking music lessons, working at the local radio station, and helping out at church. She is a graduate of Luther College (BA, cello performance and communications/linguistics), the University of Pittsburgh (MA historical musicology), and Luther Seminary (MDiv). Rev. Mohn holds a PhD in Biblical Studies from Brite Divinity School. Her academic interests include the ways gender, empire, and power intersect in the New Testament, currently the depiction of male figures in the Gospel of Matthew in light of Roman constructions of masculinity. She loves teaching and learning, as well as thinking critically with others about how the church, academy, and contemporary culture intersect. In her spare time (what's that?), Rev. Mohn enjoys reading, writing, photography, travel (pre- and post- pandemic), and cheering for the TCU Horned Frogs and Iowa State Cyclones. She is married to Rev. Erik Gronberg, PhD, who is the Bishop of the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod. They have three children and a rescue cat.
Rev. Jess Daum is currently the Director for Evangelical Mission (DEM) for the Eastern North Dakota Synod. Here are just some of the ways she identifies, in no particular order:
- Pastor - proclaiming the redeeming love of Jesus through preaching, practice, and presence; having served in 3 contexts
- Mission Developer / Vitality Strategist - tuning in to the creative energy of the Holy Spirit making all things new; having participated in 5 ELCA developer/vitality trainings
- Level 2 ELCA Coach - enabling others to connect dreams to concrete actions that create change for individuals and congregations
- Baptized Child of God - leaning on God who claimed me and made us alive together with Christ; vulnerably practicing confession and forgiveness
- Parent of Ruby (5), August & Calvin (3) / Spouse - giving and receiving grace, shaping faith with the next generation, with lots of help
Questions from our presenters to consider: If you are a person who has been balancing parenting and work in Covidtide, what have been the challenges and joys? What do you believe about Jesus' Church that could empower you to pursue reasonable balance in this time? What can you, as a coach or leader in the Church, do to support parents in the months to come?
