ReClaim Resources Board of Directors

 

 

Rev. N. Craig Werling, Milbank, SD, Board President
Craig is from Fort Wayne, IN, graduated with a BS from the United States Military Academy, and Master of Divinity from Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 1988.

 

Craig served a four-point parish in Langford SD from 1988 to 2001 along with his wife, Rev. Janine Rew-Werling, and at American Evangelical Lutheran Church in Milbank SD from 2001 to 2010. He now serves as pastor of Living Word Lutheran Church in Milbank, SD (LCMC). He and his wife have three children.

 

Prof. Gracia Grindal, St. Paul, MN, Board Vice President, Editor-in-Chief
Gracia, Professor of Rhetoric at Luther Seminary, has taught the history of hymnody and worship since 1984. She was named professor of rhetoric in 1992. She came to the seminary from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, where she was a member of the English department faculty from 1968 to 1984.

 

Gracia earned an undergraduate degree from Augsburg College, Minneapolis, in 1965 and a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) from the University of Arkansas in 1969. In 1983 she earned a master's degree from Luther Seminary.

 

She has served on several boards: the Hymn Society board in the mid 1970s, the hymn text committee of the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), as a consultant to the United Methodist Hymnal of 1989, the ecumenical committee of the American Lutheran Church (1984-1988) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (1988-1992) as well as the Task Force for the Study of Ministry in the ELCA (1988-1993). She edited The Rose Magazine for six years.

 

This summer her book on 7 Lutheran women hymn writers, Preaching from Home, and will be published in the Lutheran Quarterly series at Eerdman's publishing company.

 

She has published many articles on the history of Scandinavian-American Lutheran hymnody. In addition, her hymns and hymn translations are published in hymnals of several mainline churches, including Episcopalian, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist and Presbyterian. She is currently working on a study of the parsonage traditions of Lutherans in America, specifically the Scandinavian Lutheran parsonage.

 

Rev. Carl L. Fiskness, Culver, MN, Board Secretary
Carl currently serves as the pastor at Hope Lutheran Church (LCMC) in Floodwood, MN. He travelled with the Minnesota All-State Lutheran Choir and sang in the Saint Cloud State University Choir. Carl led summer campfire worship services as a counselor at Green Lake Bible Camp near his hometowns of New London and Spicer, MN.

 

Upon graduation from college, Carl studied at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN.  While in school, he occasionally led worship and served in Christian Education at Galilee Lutheran Church in Roseville, MN. He completed a year of internship at Immanuel-Trinity Lutheran Church in Fond du Lac, WI in 2005-06.  From 2007-2011, Carl served as the pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church of Brookston and Faith Lutheran Church of Culver, MN (ELCA).  

 

Mr. Norm Fredin, Albert Lea, MN, Board Treasurer
Norm is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Ag Education. He taught high school AG for fifteen years, Feed Specialist for Land O Lakes for eight years, and taught Farm Management at the Albert Lea Technical College for fifteen years.  He is currently the manager of the Freeborn County Fair (a non-profit organization) and member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church (ELCA), Myrtle, MN, at which he served several times as president and call committee chair.

 

Mr. Rolf Berg, Sherman, TX, Board Member
Rolf is in the Culligan Water Conditioning business and has been since 1970.  His franchises include Luverne, Minnesota, Pipestone, Minnesota, and Denison, TX.  As a Culligan dealer he has received numerous awards for leadership in sales and marketing.  He currently lives in Sherman Texas where he continues to manage his Texas Operation.  He and his wife Sharleen (Shar) are members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Sherman Texas where he was served as congregational president and currently as the Council Representative for Stewardship. 

 

Rolf is a 1967 graduate of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with majors in education, speech-drama and a minor in religion.  He and Shar have 3 sons, and 4 grandchildren. 

 

Dr. Phillip Wold, Mankato, MN, Board Member
Phil earned his B.A. at Augsburg College (chemistry and math majors), and M.D. the University of Minnesota Medical School, with Residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Minnesota Hospitals.  He was certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine as of June, 1974 and served as an adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Family Practice and Community Health, at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

 

Phil is a Past President of Christ the King Lutheran Church, Mankato, Minnesota. He served as a physician consultant to the Cameroon, Africa, in 1997. Within the ELCA, he served as a Voting Member at the 1999 Churchwide Assembly in Denver, CO. 

 

Phil currently serves as a Board Member of WordAlone Ministries, ReClaim Resources, and Mankato Salvation Army Corps. Phil is a Charter member of Resurrection Lutheran Church, Mankato, MN (a mission start LCMC congregation, June 2010). Phil is married and has 2 children, and 9 grandchildren

 

Rev. Norman P. Olsen, Starbuck, MN, Board Member, Content Committee Chair
Norman graduated from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN and received his seminary education at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. He retired after 35 years of parish ministry, having served in six parishes and as a part-time synod minister in SW MN. He has written several hymns with one published in five hymnals. Currently he writes and edits lectionary prayers for ReClaim's weekly online worship resource.

 

Norman is an original member of the ReClaim Committee and chairs the content committee. He serves on the Board of Congregational Services for the Augustana District (LCMC) and as an advisor and functional pastor for Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, a LCMC mission start in Morris, MN. Norman and his wife, Ramona, have four grown children.

 

Rev. Robin K. Nice Bjella, Silver Bay, MN, Board Member
Robin is currently a retired pastor (LCMC) living in Silver Bay, MN. Previously she has served Shelly-Marsh River, Bethany and Zion Lutheran churches in Shelly, MN; and First Lutheran Church, Little Falls, MN.

 

Robin is a graduate of Concordia College, Moorhead, MN (magna cum laude) and Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary in St. Paul, MN. She received a specialized certification in Gerontological Pastoral Care at Luther Seminary in St. Paul.

 

Robin worked with Gerhard and Joan Krodel to raise funds to build a Lutheran Seminary in Novosaratovka, Russia. As a consequence of her involvement, she was invited to be a guest of the ELCROS (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia and Other States) in 1994, attending the first ever general synod assembly since the fall of Communism.

 

Robin is married to Tim Bjella and they share their home on the North Shore of Lake Superior with a beagle pup named Grace.

 

Mr. Don Karger, Mansfield, OH, Board Member
Don owns and operates two (2) Culligan (Water Treatment) franchises in North Central Ohio since 1984.  He previously spent 10 Years managing Company Owned Franchises in various cities in USA and spent 7 years as Regional Manager for Corporate Owned Franchises.  Has held all the Officer Positions for the Culligan Dealers Association of North America and has been an active member of the association for the last 26 years. He has held all the officer positions in the Tri-State Culligan Dealers Association and has been a member of the association for the past 26 years.

 

Don is a 26 year member of the Kiwanis Club of Mansfield and currently serving a third term on the Board of Directors. He is currently the treasurer for Christ Lutheran Church of Lexingtion, OH (ELCA) and is serving on the Church Council, having also served as president.

 

Along with 45 years of business accounting and management experience, he graduated from Wadena Junior College 1965 with Certificate of Accounting. Additional accounting credits were earned at the University of Minnesota. His life has been blessed with one marriage for 46 years, 3 sons and 8 grandchildren.

 

Rev.Janine Rew-Werling, Milbank, SD, Board Member
Janine Rew-Werling was born in Mitchell SD, graduated with a BA from Augustana College in Sioux Falls SD. She attended Princeton Theological Seminary and graduated Master of Divinity from Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. She served along with her husband Craig Werling as pastors in a four-point parish in Langford SD, and at American Evangelical Lutheran Church in Milbank SD.

Janine served on the Augustana College Board of Regents from 1997 to 2009. She is now rostered with LCMC and serves as Development and Marketing Officer for Volunteers of America Dakotas in Sioux Falls SD since October 2010.  She and her husband, N. Craig Werling, have three children.

 

Rev. Daniel Baker, Albert Lea, MN, Executive Director of ReClaim Resources
Dan earned his BS in Physics at the University of Minnesota, and M. Div at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. He has served Bethlehem and Deer Creek Valley Lutheran Church Parish of rural Glenville, MN for seven years before coming to serve as Associate pastor for Adult and Education ministries at First Lutheran Church in Albert Lea, MN (ELCA).

 

Dan has served on the synod council of SE MN, ELCA Churchwide Assembly voting member in 2001, president of the Freeborn County Ministerial, and on the board of Faith in Action, a local non-profit organization. He has also helped found and co-chair the Albert Lea-Austin WordAlone Chapter in SE MN, serving as a synod point of contact and an education committee chair for the WordAlone Network.

 

At First Lutheran, Dan has served as electric and acoustical guitarist in the contemporary worship band, overseen technological updates to the sound, video projection, television, and computer networks as well as other building, education, and ministry projects or programs. He and his wife, Karina, have two children.