October 20-23
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The Rev. Dr. Stephen Paul Bouman was called to the position of Executive Director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission unit in February, 2008. He previously served as bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod for almost twelve years.

Pastor Bouman was born in Melrose Park, Illinois on April 14, 1947. He is a graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary/Seminex, and holds the Doctor of Ministry degree from New York Theological Seminary.

He began his pastoral ministry in 1973 at St. Jacobus Lutheran Church, Woodside, Queens. He then pastored Atonement Lutheran Church, Jackson Heights, from 1974 until 1981; and Trinity Lutheran Church, Bogota, New Jersey from 1982 through 1992. He is founder of the Diakonia ministry education program, which trains lay people for ministry in local congregations. His parish ministry also included building strong multicultural outreach, the launching of two parochial schools, and a variety of ministries of assistance and advocacy among the poor. He also served as Chair of the ELCA Board of The Division for Higher Education and Schools.

Pastor Bouman is a published author of a number of scholarly articles, books, curricula and devotionals. His most recent book, published in 2007, is entitled Grace All Around Us: Embracing God's Promise in Tragedy and Loss.

He is married to the former Janet Luce, and they have three grown children.

KEY NOTE SPEAKER

THE REV. ADELE STILES RESMER

Biography

The Rev. Adele Stiles Resmer, Ph.D most recently served as Assistant to the Bishop for Mobility and Leadership in the Grand Canyon Synod. Previously, she was a tenured associate professor of Practical Theology at the Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, her alma mater. She developed and directed The Center for Ethics out of the Division for Church in Society of the ELCA; and served as Associate Pastor of Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church in Washington Heights, NYC. She received her Ph.D. in Ethics and Society from Emory University, is the author of numerous articles on ethics and preaching ; and has several sermons published in collections on preaching. She is a transplant from northern Ontario in Canada via the northeast to the desert of Arizona where she lives with her spouse, Pastor Larry Stiles.