Dear Members and Friends of St. Andrew,
I am pleased to announce the arrival of Pastor Sue Tjornehoj as Interim Transition Pastor at St. Andrew Lutheran Church. She begins on Wednesday, March 6th. As you will read in her biography below, she comes with extensive experience as a pastor and church administrator in a variety of contexts, a genuine love of people, and a strong commitment to live out the gospel within and outside the congregation.
She will be filling important roles at St. Andrew like leading worship and preaching, working with small groups and service projects, providing pastoral care, and other general duties. She also comes to us with a unique set of wisdom and organizational leadership experience of having led successfully large churches as well as worked with a variety of churches at the synod level. I believe this combination of gifts is an illustration how God brings forth candidates who fit the important and specific needs for our special context. I look forward to her partnership with us as we continue our transition together.
Please let me know if you have any questions. And when you see Pastor Sue, please give her a warm St. Andrew welcome!
God bless,
Pastor Peter
Interim Senior Pastor
Susan Tjornehoj
Colorado-raised, daughter of a pastor and a teacher, Susan Tjornehoj (pronounced churn-a-hoy) graduated from Luther College, began seminary at PLTS in Berkley and completed her M.Div. at Luther Seminary in St Paul. Pastor Tjornehoj was married and ordained on the same day, then was on her way to Alaska’s Bush to serve among God’s people in two Inupiaq villages just north of Nome on the Bering Sea Coast. She and her pastor-spouse continued their work together on the Northern Border of Minnesota until she was called to serve on bishops’ staffs in St. Paul, Minneapolis and the Northwestern Minnesota synods. Sue served a multi-lingual and multi-cultural congregation, Christ on Capitol Hill in the shadow of Minnesota’s capitol before continuing her congregational work at Christ Lutheran, a mid-Atlantic cathedral congregation in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore.
She brings with her a passion for the Gospel, a love of God’s people and a range of gifts/skills which come from serving in leadership in a variety of contexts and congregational settings, from large metropolitan and suburban congregations to multiple-point parishes, from transition/interim work to the joy of working with congregations in the Call Process and stewarding the development of mission starts. Serving with staffs and councils and the privilege of walking with families at times of birth, kids in confirmation or the depths of despair and grief, well, it is simply the rhythm of being a pastor for the past four decades.
She is married to Pr. David Wangaard who works with congregations through Global Refuge, formerly known as LIRS, has a newly married daughter Ingrid who is a 3rd grade teacher on the eastside of St Paul. She lives in Como Park. Bicycling, hiking, travel, writing, reading, doing research, meeting people and imagining the future are interests and passions. She can’t wait to begin the journey of mission and ministry with the Staff, Council and congregation of St Andrew!