Lutheran Church in the Foothills selects leader after 22-month, 11-candidate search
Pastor Scott Peterson is the new minister at the Lutheran Church in the Foothills.
Scott Peterson was in ninth grade when the pastor of his church wrote him a letter suggesting he might make a good pastor himself someday, if that was a line of work he wanted to consider.
At the time, the young student had more pragmatic concerns.
“I filed the letter away and thought about ‘how can I make the most money by doing the least amount of work?’” Peterson recalled, laughing. “I was thinking at that time about pursuing psychology because I understood an hour for a psychiatrist is only 50 minutes long.”
But as the years progressed and Peterson — who’d grown up in a church-going Lutheran family just outside Minneapolis — grew more deeply into his faith, he came to think maybe his pastor had been onto something.
His decision to study religion and philosophy in college, and later seek an advanced degree from Minnesota’s Luther Seminary, would begin a spiritual path that would lead Peterson to work first among remote, rural churches in Montana and later spend 17 years at Prince of Faith Lutheran Church in Calgary, in the Canadian province of Alberta.
Pastor Scott Peterson is the new minister at the Lutheran Church in the Foothills.
Last week, that path brought Peterson, wife Gina and 13-year-old daughter Sophie to La Cañada’s Lutheran Church in the Foothills. The church celebrated his first worship service to a full audience Sunday, ending a 22-month search for a permanent leader.
Anita Stoker, president of the Church Council and a member of the call committee charged with the task of selecting a new pastor, said church officials interviewed several candidates in the process of replacing longtime Pastor Bruce Johnson, who retired in 2014. While the search was on, Interim Pastor Jim Bullock led Sunday services.
Working with a list of preferences and requirements collected from a congregation-wide survey, the call committee was looking for a solid preacher who could convey complex spiritual teachings in a way that resonated with the general public.
“Over the course of 22 months, we interviewed 11 different pastors,” Stoker said. “We wanted someone who’d be able to work well with both the older members of the church but would also be welcoming and inviting to young families that might be interested in joining our congregation.”
Though he’d become close to his congregants in Calgary, Peterson requested to be considered for a church opening in the Southwest, because he wanted to be closer to his father, who winters in Arizona. When the family heard from the Southwest California Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommending a Los Angeles-area church, they were taken aback.
“Southern California wasn’t even in our thought process because we knew this is one of the more difficult places for a pastor to get into,” Peterson said, explaining how most senior leaders opt for churches in sunny climes.
After a remote video interview via FaceTime, and an in-person visit, Stoker said Peterson fit the committee’s list of qualifications. In addition to having a strong background in Lutheran theology, the youthful candidate had a good sense of humor and natural way with people.
Now, the Petersons are in the process of finding a home and seeing that Sophie settles into classes at La Cañada High School 7/8. The pastor is learning the ropes at Lutheran Church in the Foothills and finding that the congregation’s proliferation of native Midwesterners is making his arrival seem like a bit of a homecoming.
“We may be in Southern California, but there’s a bunch of Minnesotans in the church — so that’s sort of calmed our culture-shock fears,” he said, adding, “This will be home for the next while.”
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
