Pastor Jean was ordained in 2002 after her earlier career as the program director and lead teacher of an alternative school for teen parents in Polk County, Oregon. Although she’d expected to return to the PNW, Pastor Jean’s first congregation was in Bentonville, Arkansas, where she served for five years.

Over the next twelve years, she supported congregations in many ways, including training congregational teams to lead processes to explore the changing dynamics of the church in society and to remain vital communities of faith amid rapid societal change. She did this work and served as a stewardship specialist in a combined position as bishop’s associate/deployed church-wide staff — first in the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod and then in the East Central Synod of Wisconsin.

After determining the value of returning to congregational ministry to live into the work/discernment she’d been encouraging congregations to engage, Pastor Jean accepted a call that began mid February, 2020, with Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Vancouver, Washington.

Yes, she began a month before “all shut down,” and everyone had to learn and adapt to that incredibly challenging time we all faced.

After starting in a time of worldwide challenge/learning, the last 20 months of her call with BSLC included all the complications that come with building-wide devastation, as occurred when a roofer did not provide adequate protection against rain after opening up the roof during a re-roofing project.

As the congregation was nearing re-entry into their building after just shy of two years in exile, Pastor Jean discerned, somewhat to her surprise, that she needed to step away and allow for new vision and energy to guide the congregation into their new phase of ministry.

More personally: As a blended family, Pastor Jean and her husband John have seven children now living across five states. John has Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and while disabled, has provided invaluable support to Pastor Jean over the various renditions her call to ministry has taken. When not working, Pastor Jean enjoys gardening, reading, walking, and recently, working on genealogy through Ancestry. She and her husband both enjoy time immersed in nature at Lake Merwin Campers Hideaway and being part of the cheering team for grandchildren in Beaverton.

Pastor Jean looks forward to sharing “conversations and coffee” with you so that she can learn your stories, answer your questions, and join together as community for a new season of ministry and life. Let’s see what God has in store for us