The Jordan Project is a highly structured program for women clergy and SAM’s that is 100% funded by Thrivent and the Ely Lilly Foundation. It is hosted by Grandview University, an ELCA college in Des Moines. Through our work together each month, we will develop an outreach project for which we will receive a $750 start-up grant.
I am one of 13 colleagues, and our church is one of 13+ congregations participating in The Jordan Project in 2026-2027. Most of the women are ordained clergy, there are a few SAMs and one is a Presbyterian Clergy serving an ELCA congregation. About 1/3 of us are older: 60+, 1/3 middle age, and about 1/3 under 35. None of us are serving in our first call. Except for one. She is newly ordained, began her first call August 1 and participating in the Jordan Project was a requirement for her call. Some were invited by their Bishop, others by other colleagues. We are from Illinois, that’s me, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and North Dakota. Most are rural congregations; one is near Minot, North Dakota, a city of 50,000. All are bright, insightful, dedicated, and gifted for ministry in many ways. Ethnically, most of them serve congregations with Danish Lutheran Roots, which is different from our area where most congregations are of German Lutheran descent. I expect to learn a lot from these colleagues.
Our coach is Pastor Sarah Ciavarri, a gifted speaker, leader in coach. Pr Sarah is from North Dakota and now lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. We will learn a lot from her.
Integral to The Jordan Project is a leadership team. So far, we have six on our Leadership Team. Neal Booth, Bob Doerr, Rich Kelly, Jody and Tony Kluender and Kay Tucker. Please include these folks in your daily prayer and please include another question. I’m not sure if our leadership team is closed with these six people or if the Holy Spirit is still calling one or two others to join us. Please pray that the Holy Spirit guide me in that decision. The time commitment for the leadership team is on average, 2 hours a month. If all of this interests you and you would enjoy being a large part of this adventure, talk to me. If you feel excitement or curiosity stirring, that may be a nudge to you from the Holy Spirit, so, please, talk to me. The leadership team will have an organizational meeting in a couple of weeks so that when September comes, we can hit the ground running. The leadership team does not need to be closed before that meeting. If you join the team later, we’ll just fold you into the process.
Pastor Jan
Tentative Jordan Project Schedule
Tuesday, August 18 at 6:30 P.M. – organizational meeting
Tuesday, September 15 – 5:45 – 7:00 P.M.
Tuesday, October 13 – 5:45 – 8:00 P.M.
Monday, November 9 – 5:45 – 7:00 P.M. (Shift to Monday because I leave the next day for an Icon workshop)
Tuesday, December 8 – 5:45 – 8:00 P.M.
Tuesday, January 5 – 5:45 – 7:00 P.M.
Tuesday, February 9 – 5:45 – 8:00 P.M.
Tuesday, March 9 – 5:45 – 7:00 P.M.
Tuesday, April 13 – 5:45 – 8:00 P.M