Staff Directory

Hope Highlights

Events at Hope

February 2012

Staff Directory

MEET PASTOR MITCH JONES
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Pastor Mitch Jones, born in Scotland and has worked for the Lutheran Church since 1972. He has served congregations in Japan, California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Wyoming. He comes to Hope Lutheran as our Intentional Interim Lead Pastor during our transition time and will help Hope in the process of moving toward the call for a new Lead Pastor. Part of his ministry will be working with staff and looking at ministry development during this Interim time. He is certified as an Intentional Interim by the ELCA and The National Association of Lutheran Interim Pastors (NALIP). His call is held by the Synod. Please feel free to set an appointment with him to talk about this process and our future.

PASTOR TIM SPRING
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Part Time Interim Pastor - Tim Spring
Pastor Timothy Spring began serving as Lutheran Campus Pastor at Montana State in 2002. He is based at the Christus Collegium, the ecumenical Center for Campus Ministry. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he spent most of his life on the East Coast, except for a year as a wrangler on a cattle ranch in Eastern Wyoming. He has a B.A. in Philosophy from Penn State and an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School. He interned with the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Penn State.

First call to parish ministry was as pastor at Zion’s Lutheran Church, Trevorton and St. Peter’s Lutheran/UCC Church, West Cameron, Pennsylvania. Before coming to Bozeman, he was Associate Pastor in Hampton, Virginia at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church and School for ten years.

At Montana State, Tim serves as a community member of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. He also serves as a member of the Montana Synod’s First Response Team for Sexual Misconduct Prevention

Tim and his wife Pam have two adult daughters, Hilary and Bethany, both living in the Bozeman area. Tim enjoys skiing hiking, travel and spending time with his family.

Pastor of Outreach - Jennifer Wilson
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Pastor Wilson's family homesteaded in Montana, drawn to the western frontier for all the dreams and struggles it promised to deliver. Sheep and cattle ranchers for over 60 years in Petrolia County, the hardy, practical Montana "do it yourself" attitude pervades the Wilson family. Pastor Wilson is deeply rooted in the Montana landscape, with parents born in central and northeastern Montana, who met and married after greaduating from Montana State University.

Pastor Wilson was born in St. Paul MN, lived in Great Falls and Billings MT for seven years in childhood and graduated from high school in MN. Pastor Wilson was raised in a nominally Methodist family, where faith was a point of tension rather than a unifying factor. Her family stumbled into the Lutheran church because Pastor Wilson was attending Fellowship of Christian Athletes that met at the church next door to her middle school. Pastor Wilson's college years at the University of Michigan were a time of faith exploration, where she not only experienced God's life-giving, all - loving presence but also asked questions and dug deeper in the Bible.

In college, Pastor Wilson grew through personal trusted relationships with others who had been on different turns in the journey of faith than she. It was in unpacking the faith experience of Martin Luther in her mid-twenties, that she realized her head needed to catch up with what her heart had experienced, at which point she applied to Luther seminary in St. Paul MN. In the fall of 1993 she studied at the Luther Theological in Hong Kong. Pastor Wilson was called as an ordained Pastor in 1998 and served at a mission start church in Brainerd, MN until November of 2007. Since January 2008, Pastor Wilson has been serving as Outreach Pastor at Hope Lutheran Church, guiding the process of expanding God's mission through the congregation in the Gallatin Valley. In July of 2007 she traveled to China to adopt her one year old daughter Eva who, Pastor Wilson says, "inspires me to be fully alive and fills my heart with gratitude!"

Interim Director of Adult Choirs - Eric Funk

We are pleased to announce the appointment of noted composer, conductor, and keyboard artist Eric Funk as director of Adult Choirs for the 8:30 am traditional service. The terms of employment are for nine months, September, 2010 through June 5, 2011.

Well known for his organization and direction of the Emmy Awared winning Montana PBS-TV series, 11th and Grant with Eric Funk, Eric has had extensive experience as director of the Helena Symphony, Helena symphony chorale, and Gallatin Chamber Orchestra. During the 1980’s and ‘90’s, he was Director of Church Music for Pilgrim Congregational Church, Bozeman. Eric’s works have been performed world-wide. As of this date he has composed 114 major works, one-third of which were commissioned, including nine symphonies, four operas, sixteen concerti, five string quartets, numerous large and small choral works and chamber works.

Director of Youth and Family Ministries - Paul Goodman
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Paul Goodman is originally from Cleveland Ohio. He graduated from Capital University with a bachelor’s degree in education. For the past 10 years Paul has worked in various ministry capacities including outdoor ministry and most recently as director of youth and family ministry in a Lutheran Church in Florida. While working in Florida, Paul met his wife Heidi. Paul has a musical background and plays the saxophone and guitar.

Paul is very excited to begin ministry with Hope Lutheran Church and is excited about the possibilities for future ministry opportunities with children, youth and young adults.

Operations Director - Pete Astrup
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Pete and his wife Nancy have been members of Hope since 1990. Pete has worked in the church office since August 2007 and is responsible for managing the church office staff, the facility and day to day finances.

Administrative Assistant - Dar Ellingson
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Dar has lived in Bozeman since August, 1994 and has been a member of Hope Lutheran Church since February, 1998. Dar and her husband Tom raised four children together. Two of Dar's sons and their families live in Minnesota, a third son lives in Boulder, Colorado, and daughter Sarah and her family reside in Bozeman. Currently Dar is the Administrative Associate at Hope. In addition to secretarial work, Dar keeps the website up to date, edits the Hope Herald, plays in the handbell choir, and other miscellaneous activities as requested. Dar holds a Bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College and a Masters degree in Education from St. Mary's University in Minnesota.

Special Projects - Judy Opperman
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Judy has worked in the church office since 2003. As Special Projects Secretary, her responsibilities include maintaining the church membership database, creating and updating special reports for the pastors, and editing, for example, the Annual Reports and Vespers programs. Judy and her husband Fred have been members of Hope since November 1999.