Pr. Elyse serves as Associate Pastor for Worship Arts and Mission at St. John’s.  Pr. Elyse graduated from Wellesley College, MA, with a Religion major in 1995 and then headed to The Divinity School at The University of Chicago where she received an M.Div. in 1999.  She also completed a Certificate of Studies at The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 1999. She then moved to Cairo, Egypt, where she worked at an ELCA-supported refugee ministry as education director and served as pastoral intern, both at St. Andrew’s Church, an international and English speaking congregation in the heart of Cairo.  In 2003, she and her family returned to the United States where she was ordained and began her first call as a pastor at St. Paul Lutheran in Dearborn, Michigan, where she served until August 2006.  In addition to parish ministry, especially with youth in the congregation, she co-chaired the interfaith Dearborn Area Ministerial Association and chaired the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land’s Task Force of the Southeast Michigan Synod. 

At St. John’s, she works with the Worship Arts, Social Action and Open Door Missions Ministry Teams; supports the work of St. John’s Women Board and leads a monthly Friday Evening Faith Club for women; and teaches and preaches within the congregation.  She also serves on the Delegate Executive Committee of Advocate Bromenn hospital and the Worship Subcommittee of the Central-Southern Illinois Synod. 

Elyse has also enjoyed writing for Lutheran Women Today and Cafe: Stirring the Spirit Within, both Women of the ELCA print and web publications:

“Active Waiting,” Lutheran Woman Today, December 2009

http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Ministry/Women-of-the-ELCA/Lutheran-Woman-Today/Articles/2009/December/Active-Waiting.aspx

“When Words Collide,” Lutheran Woman Today, December 2007

http://www.lutheranwomantoday.org/back/07issues/1207article2.html

“Faith Reflections,” Vol. 3, Issue 8: Balance, April 2006

http://www.boldcafe.org/0308/hottopic.html

“Faith Reflections,”  Vol. 2, Issue 4: The Faith & Feminism Issue, March/April/May 2005

http://www.boldcafe.org/issue0204/hottopic.html

Her husband, Stewart, is an associate professor in Illinois State University’s Department of History and they are parents to 9 year old Catherine and 7 year old Daniel.