On the Road. Again.

I leave tomorrow morning for the second leg of my travels. I will first go to Chicago, the location of the main offices for the ELCA. My time in Chicago will be incredibly busy, but I'm also looking forward to it. My first interview is with the head of Global Missions for the ELCA. She is a lay leader within the denomination, and I'll be asking her about lay leadership, and hopes and expectations for diversifying the denomination.

My second interview will be with the head of Asian American Pacific Islander ministry within the Office of Multicultural Ministries. From this second interview, I will then participate in a roundtable discussion with seven other Asian American leaders within the denomination. I hope that we'll talk about hopes and expectations for Multicultural Ministries, especially with budget cuts impacting the ELCA.

I will then travel to Minneapolis/ St. Paul, Minnesota, where I will speak to an ordained Asian American pastor. Why Minnesota? Honestly, why not? One of the reasons for selecting Minnesota is its historical ties with Lutheranism, as well as being the home for Luther Seminary, the largest ELCA seminary. Part of my visit to the Twin Cities is to see contextual education at the largest ELCA seminary and how they're training future church leaders in "multicultural ministry."

After Minneapolis/ St. Paul, I'm then headed to Los Angeles, which is the location of my home congregation and home synod. I'll be meeting with the head of Asian American Pacific Islander ministry for the Pacifica Synod. I'm also hoping to attend a bilingual church service in Arcadia (English and Chinese).

After returning home from ATSI in Philly, I've worked on simple, open-ended questions. Here they are, in no particular order. They'll be ordered by the time I make it to Chicago...

1. Who have been your role models/ mentors?

2. Can you tell me about yourself, your ministry experience, and your call process?

3. What are your hopes and expectations for Multicultural Ministries?

4. Dreaming big and without limitations, what would Multicultural Ministries do to diversify the church?

5. Define your personal sense of pastoral identity (for ordained ministers)?

6. Define your personal sense of Incarnational identity (for ordained ministers)?

7. What do you think should be the primary focus of Multicultural Ministries, particularly in light of recent ELCA budget cuts?

8. How do you define Lutheran identity in your personal context?

For those of you perusing the blog, how would you answer these questions? Feel free to leave your answers in the comments!