Nebraska Synod ELCA

Pastor Scott took some time to answer some questions about himself and some reflections during his transition from Midland University’s Campus Pastor to Bishop of the Nebraska Synod.

Where are you originally from?

I grew up on a family farm in Wakefield, Nebraska, just across the road from where my great-grandparents first farmed when they moved to Nebraska in the early 1900s. I was baptized and confirmed at Salem Lutheran Church in Wakefield.

Where did you receive your education?

I was one of 18 out of a class of 32 who attended Wakefield Public Schools from Kindergarten through 12^th grade – small-town Nebraska education in all its glory. I received my Bachelor of Arts in the Classics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1998 and my Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary in 2003.

Tell us about you. (family, pets, hobbies, etc.)

My wife Kristin and I met at Luther Seminary and were married in 2004. Kristin is a Deacon with specialties in youth and family ministry and lifelong faith formation. We have two daughters: Ainsley (15) and Alanna (14) who are students at Fremont Public Schools. We also have a black lab mix named Jack who’s been with our family since we adopted him in 2009.

My immediate family all live in Nebraska. My parents built a house in Wakefield 10 years ago, and they are both enjoying retirement together. I have two younger brothers: my middle brother and his wife are educators at Wakefield Public Schools and currently live out on the farm where we grew up, and my youngest brother is a banker with Pinnacle Bank in Columbus, where he lives with his wife and daughter.

I’m an Enneagram 7, which means I’m usually managing about 3 hobbies too many just to keep things interesting. I’m a voracious reader, particularly in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Before feeling called to ministry, I was a music major with plans to become a band director or a professional trombonist, and I’ve tried to keep active in local community bands over the years. Since moving to Fremont I’ve been playing in the Omaha Symphonic Winds and with the Midland University Concert Band as needed. I’ve also played guitar for a number of years and I enjoy a lot of artists in the folk or singer/songwriter genre. I love to putter around our house; mowing, redoing some of our landscaping, building a bookcase for our youngest daughter, and generally trying to keep a 100 year-old brick colonial functional.

When did you realize you were called to ministry, specifically Word & Sacrament ministry?

I was a summer camp counselor at Carol Joy Holling during college, and one night during my second summer on staff, Pastor Roger Sasse asked if I’d ever considered going into the ministry. Like a lot of people, I hadn’t up to that point, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards. I’d begun to realize that I didn’t have the passion it would take to be a professional musician or a music educator, and the more I thought about ordained ministry the more it seemed as though God was pulling me in that direction. I’ve very rarely felt as though ministry was not where I was supposed to be.

What has been your greatest joy professionally? Greatest challenge?

My greatest joy has been the privilege of accompanying people through all sorts of life experiences and doing my best to help them see what God might be up to in all of it. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, ordinations, anniversary celebrations, congregational recognitions – I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that God is doing something in the world in those moments, and ministers get to be witnesses to God’s action in a lot of special ways. I keep a record of those events, and every time I open up that book to make another entry I spend a bit of time looking through the pages and remembering some of the special events that have been part of the ministry I’ve been lucky enough to carry out.

As to challenges, I’ve had plenty, some of which have come about because of my own mistakes or ignorance and some of which came about through other forms of dysfunction or simple bad luck. The hardest challenges to face have been the moments when something I’ve said or done has deeply hurt another person. It’s one thing to acknowledge that a situation or circumstance isn’t great: it’s another thing to acknowledge that I’ve caused pain and suffering and have no excuse or justification. Letting people down is a miserable experience for most of the ministry leaders I know; it certainly has been for me. At the same time, I’ve learned something through each challenge I’ve faced, either about myself or about some other element of ministry in God’s church; one thing I’ve definitely learned is the value of owning your own mistakes and apologizing for them.

What is your favorite hymn?

There are so many I’d love to put here! I’ve loved “Gather Us In” ever since I first heard it at the Lutheran Center in Lincoln way back in my college days, as well as “Day By Day” and “Thy Holy Wings.” But in the end I’d have to choose “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” as it was arranged for acapella choir by F. Melius Christiansen – if you haven’t heard the version that the St. Olaf Choir recorded for their “Great Hymns of Faith” CD series, it’s worth a listen.

Aside from the Bible, what other books have influenced your life?

On the fiction side, I’d definitely lift up The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien; I first read it during high school and have probably read it close to 20 times over the years. American Gods and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman are also on my list of favorites, as well as pretty much everything Stephen King has written over the years, particularly The Stand and Insomnia.

On the theological/non-fiction side, two theologians who have definitely shaped my theology, life, and ministry have been Gerhard Forde and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. On Being a Theologian of the Cross by Gerhard Forde was a defining text for me during most of my seminary education, and Bonhoeffer’s books Discipleship, Life Together, and Ethics have grown in influence for me in the years since seminary. I’d also raise up A Failure of Nerve by Edwin Friedman – this is a book about leadership and family systems theory that I’ve read and reread every few years since becoming a pastor, and one I may begin again this fall as I settle into this new calling.

What is your definition of leadership?

Right now I’d say this: leadership is identifying and using the gifts God has given us to support, draw out, develop and enhance the gifts God has given to others, all for the sake of the inbreaking of God’s presence in the world. It’s more than this, of course, but that’s been sort of a developing idea for me over the last few years, both through some really good professional development experiences and a lot of personal reflection.

How have you been preparing for your role as Bishop of the Nebraska Synod?

I’ve been praying. A lot. 🙂 Aside from that, it’s been a lot of juggling priorities as I’ve also been closing out my time at Midland and taking some planned vacation time with our family. I feel very fortunate that the Nebraska Synod has the financial capacity to allow me to shadow Bishop Maas for a few weeks; this is not the case in some of the synods of the ELCA, and I think it’s going to help me get up to speed much more smoothly than it would have been otherwise.  Now that I’m in a place where I can focus my energies entirely on one call instead of two, there will be a lot of reading, a lot of meetings, and a lot of listening as we settle into this new way of doing things.

What are you most looking forward to as Bishop of the Nebraska Synod?

I’m excited about seeing the panoramic view of all that we do together and figuring out how to be a vocal supporter for the good work that’s already afoot in the Nebraska Synod. That’s just one part of it, however: I’m excited to work with our strong Synod staff, and to help encourage and raise up new leaders in the church, and to learn more about what ministry looks like on the synodical and churchwide level after spending most of my career in local ministries in congregations and campus ministries. As an Enneagram 7, boredom is one of the things that I tend to avoid – I know that boredom will not be a problem for quite some time in this new call, and that’s exciting as well!