Leadership
Introduction
The roots of Pasadena Covenant were in home meetings where lay people sang hymns and read Scripture apart from the official state church of Sweden. While early Covenanters respected their pastors, they also valued the leadership of the laity, many of whom were responsible for the new vibrancy and spirituality of these home meetings. Shared leadership between laity and clergy became a hallmark of the Covenant denomination and led to a variety of leaders flourishing at Pas Cov.
Another factor that has led to leaders thriving in Pasadena Covenant has been the proximity of the church to Fuller Theological Seminary. Some Fuller students, attending Pas Cov while living in Pasadena, discovered our denomination. In addition, many longtime members of the congregation, not just the pastors, have had theological training, either as part of their professional training or out of personal interest, and have in this way enriched the church.
The fact that this post highlights leaders in the church and in Christian ministry does not mean to imply that they are more important in God’s kingdom than those who serve in secular jobs, or more valuable than those who have worked without receiving recognition in newsletters and annual reports. The Bible teaches that God values us regardless of what we accomplish for him and that the humble will be exalted. But the body of Christ has definitely been built up by these leaders and we are grateful for their service within, through, and beyond Pasadena Covenant.
(Scroll down to the end for a list of staff members over the decades.)
It is challenging to write about leaders in the church knowing that we can only include a few of the names of those who have significantly served here and beyond. Feel free to mention others in the comments.
leadership within the church
In this section we’ll highlight examples of people using their gifts for the sake of the church (focusing on the decades of the 1940s through 1970s because of good documentation). Some gifts were related to professional skills. For example, Bill Erickson was a general contractor who took over the construction of both Sunshine Hall and the new church plant in Monrovia. He ordered, prepared, and cut the materials and lumber for both buildings to facilitate the one-day barn-raisings. Roy Johnston was a structural engineer by vocation; he supervised building projects from Carlson Hall to the Corner House (in addition to serving in many areas such as church leadership and Sunday school).
Others in the church used gifts that went beyond their weekday jobs. Bengt Junvik was the owner/operator of an aircraft parts company, but at church he chaired the Board of Trustees, served as treasurer, and much more. Gene Lowe owned a furniture business, but his work in our church involved supervising and teaching Sunday school as well as leadership in the area of missions. Harold Peterson owned a shoe store, but chaired the trustees, oversaw stewardship, and more. Ray Hahn Jr. was sales manager for Maytag appliances on the West coast, and also a beloved Bible teacher in adult Sunday school for over a decade. John Racine, a dentist, did everything from teaching Sunday school to chairing the church board. Elmer Fredrickson worked in the field of petrochemical plant design, but his church leadership included music and almost every elder or trustee office. These forefathers remind us that service in the church can be an avenue for creatively using our God-given capacities.
Women in leadership
The Covenant denomination has a strong commitment to supporting and advocating for women in ministry, and Pasadena Covenant has had several outstanding female leaders across lay and pastoral areas.. You might recall that the church was founded mainly by women domestics from Sweden. Betsy Peterson and Christine & Anna Mangney did not just clean houses—they were catalysts for the birth of the church. Naomi Johnston (1916-1986) taught mothers in the Cradle Roll program, and she also taught several different Sunday school classes, including the Couriers class for young couples for 17 years. Even when it was not the norm in most churches to have women teaching men, her class had several male Fuller Seminary professors in it, and attendance was upwards to 75. Lucille Peterson Johnston (1916-2018) was an energetic leader in women’s ministry, taking charge of the Lucia breakfast, an event in December that reached close to 700 people, as well as meals for Campus Club. Lucille also had a way of seeing gifts in others and recruiting (allowing no refusal, some might say) them to serve.
In 1984, the church elected Marilyn Nixon as its first female chair of the Trustees, the group of lay leaders that govern the church. Her administrative gifts were outstanding as she led the church through challenging times, and she is also remembered for her care for her husband Jim, after he’d had a debilitating stroke. Since then, many trustees have been women and other trustee chairs have included Diane Woods, Anita Sorenson, Jamie Knauss, and Susan Maljian.
Diana Trautwein is another woman who was encouraged to assume leadership. She recounts how Lucille told her in the 1980s, “Diana, I see gifts in you. Leadership, teaching, and hospitality gifts. Would you consider joining me on the leadership team for our women’s groups?” That was the beginning of a journey that eventually prompted Diana to attend seminary and add to her service of family and women in the church, working for the church as a whole. Encouraged also by Roland Tabell, a group of female friends from the church, and her husband, Diana was ordained in 1997. She served our church as Pastor in Residence for a few years and when the Trautweins moved north, she was associate pastor at Montecito Covenant Church for 14 years.
In our own church, many women have been on our staff. To highlight but two, Laurie Cornell was associate pastor from 1992 to 2010 (and is presently Secretary of the Covenant Ministerium for our denomination), and Anita Sorenson began her service as a licensed minister in 2014, continuing our tradition of a multigendered leadership team.
Behind the scenes leaders
We also have people serving in the church in less high-profile but significant ways, from counting offering money to helping with kids to visiting the homebound. Without them, the church would have withered long ago. One representative quiet leader was Alice Anderson, wife of the church custodian Albert. She vacuumed, dusted, taught Sunday school, prepared meals for youth events, and made giant pots of coffee for church functions for more than 40 years. A few other leaders working with coffee, as ushers, in the sound booth, and in the kitchen are pictured here. I wish we had photos of Caryl Tyberg arranging flowers or preparing supplies for communion, Nancy Stuckey setting up for our hospitality time, Kim Dorman working in the office, John Herring moving our signs, and more. Is there someone whose service you’ve especially appreciated? Give them a shout in the comments.
Leadership flowing out from the church: through and beyond
We can be encouraged by the many people—surely more than 100—who came through Pas Cov and went on to become pastors, missionaries, and other church leaders around the country and the world.
Those who discovered the Covenant denomination here (often while studying at Fuller) and went on to serve it include Wayne & Mary Anne Weld, the first Covenant missionaries to Colombia, later teaching at North Park; Gary Copeland, who started churches in San Rafael, CA, and Arvada, CO; Ron Short who has planted and coached multiple churches in his 35 years since Pasadena; Randy Roth, who pastored in Portland, OR, and Oakland, CA, before starting a Christian nonprofit to help improve the education of children in the Oakland public schools; Greg Asimakoupolous who became a chaplain for Covenant retirement communities; Peter & Ruth Dutton who served as missionaries in Thailand and Laos as well as in denominational leadership; Joe Thackwell, now directing InterVarsity’s Faculty Ministry Leadership Team; and many others. The list could go on.
Speaking of studying at Fuller, we should remind ourselves of the international students we mentioned in a previous post who came through Pas Cov. They include Mossai Sanguma, who on his return to DRC became head of the Congo Covenant denomination (CEUM) from 2003 to 2012 and is now rector of Ubangi Protestant University. His wife Sabuli founded Congo Voice, which supports orphans. Bitrus Audu is director of Christ Missionary Outreach, serving with his wife Monica, in Nigeria. Bitrus Sarma is president of ECWA Seminary; he and his wife Sanatu have recently also been serving those affected by terrorism in Nigeria.
There is also an impressive list of our church’s own youth who have been called into full-time ministry.
One we mentioned in an earlier post about cross-cultural ministry was Joan Christensen Gustafson, who went to Thailand with her husband Jim. Many of the young men were called through the discipling ministry of Warren Thompson. Here are a few examples of Thomps’ influence on people, each with their own wide circle of influence for Christ: Rob Johnston was the provost and dean of the seminary at North Park University, the Covenant’s school for educating church leaders. Curt Peterson pastored Montecito Covenant before becoming the head of world mission for the Covenant denomination. Dave Hicks has just retired after a career as a leading pastor of youth and adults in several different churches. Ken Larson pastored several Covenant churches, most recently Faith Covenant in Michigan. Burton Swardstrom became pastor of the large Covenant church in Rolling Hills. Cliff Bowman is pastor of Glendora Alliance Church. John Nyquist was head of Campus Crusade in Europe before becoming the evangelism professor at Trinity Evangelical Seminary. Jeff Maljian was our youth pastor for eight years before becoming a public school principal.
More recently, we can point to Anna Cornell Maloney, pastor of student and family ministries at Bloomington (Minnesota) Covenant Church, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, associate director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture.
Leaders in other professions
Others in the church exercise their leadership in fields such as education, art and design, medicine, health, media, fitness, finance, law, science, engineering, business, transportation, and the home. Although we haven’t recounted their impact on their professions, workplaces, and colleagues here, they too are living out Colossians 3:17: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Conclusion
Pasadena Covenant has been known for decades as a church with both strong pastoral leadership and strong lay leadership. The vocation—the calling—of both these clergy and lay leaders has been the same: to love our Lord Jesus Christ by helping to build the Kingdom of God through servant leadership in the church and in the wider society.
Beyond 100
What kind of leaders will be needed—both in the church and in the world—over the next 100 years? Ryan McAnnally-Linz writes, “Pas Cov was such a formative community in my life. It’s where the heart of my theological vocation took shape.” How can we ensure that everyone who passes through our church cultivates their God-ordained vocation here? How will we develop and support them as leaders of all ages and for all contexts?
We are so grateful to the many who have sought to follow God over the past century,
and now we seek to imitate their faith for the next hundred years.
Please join us in giving to this legacy of faithfulness!
Bonus history lists
Lead Pastors
(the number of dashes approximates the length of their time in the position)
Axel G. Sporrong 1923--------1930
Reuben C. Dahl 1931-----1935
C. J. Ledin 1936-1937
Mel Dahlstrom 1938------1943
C.G. Westerdahl 1944—1946
Arvid Carlson 1946-----------------1963
Paul E. Larsen 1964--------1971
R. Neiman 1972
Mel White 1974---1976
John Bray 1977--------1984
Michael A. Halleen 1985-----1990
Charles Barker 1991------------------2008
Tim Dally 2011------2016
Steve Wong 2018-----now
Other Pastoral Staff (associate, visitation, administrative, outreach, etc.—partial list)
D. H. Scott, Edwin Cory, Norm Crider, Kurt Miericke, Robert Verme, Richard Sandquist, Wayne Carlson, David Mark, Sharon Smith, Laurie Cornell, Warren Thompson, Diana Trautwein, Jim Tyberg, Anita Sorenson
Ministers of Worship and Music (partial list)
Les Hedman, Norm Johnson, Roland Tabell, Joan Reeve Owens, Thomas Hale, Dan Radmacher, Dan Huang, Mindy Gustafson. For more see this post.
Pastors and Staff who have Served in the area of Youth, Children, or Family (partial list)
Worth Hodgin, Jon Braun, Don Erickson, Gary Copeland, Curt Peterson, David Hicks, Jim Larson, David Stoop, Charles Barker, Laurel Morrison, Ed Simonson, Judy Bareman Wipf, Jeff Maljian, Susan Aoki, Barb Pettit, James McMillan, Brittany Burian, Tami Millard, Joel Harrison, Vikki Randall, Mindie Moore, Dave Rinker, Christy DePree, Andrew Mark