Faith Healer: St. Luke's new leader

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April 1, 2006

Mills-Knutsen bringing together Jeffersonville congregation

By LARRY THOMAS The News and Tribune Sat Apr 01, 2006, 02:55 PM EST

It takes a visitor only seconds after entering the Rev. Jennifer Mills-Knutsen’s study to find proof of her humanity.

On the floor, a few feet from her desk, is a panoramic photograph of Fenway Park, taken April 11, 2005, the day the Boston Red Sox were presented with their 2004 World Series Championship rings.

“I’m a fourth-generation Red Sox fan,” Mills-Knutsen said. “I was living in Boston when they won. That was a great moment.”

Mills-Knutsen, 32, was named pastor of Jeffersonville’s St. Luke’s United Church of Christ in November, becoming the church’s first permanent leader in about two years. Former pastor Bruce Strotman was convicted of theft after stealing about $100,000 in church funds, leaving the 200-member congregation shattered.

“The church was really in pain,” said attorney Jack Vissing, a St. Luke’s member who served on the search committee that recommended Mills-Knutsen’s hiring to the congregation.

Vissing said the church waited 18 months after Strotman’s departure before beginning its search for a new pastor, just to give emotions time to settle.

Angela Hensley chaired the search committee, and said Mills-Knutsen stood apart from other candidates.

“We went through well over 50 profiles, each of them eight to 12 pages in length,” Hensley said. “Hers was different. It was the ‘wow’ factor that made me pull hers off to the side.

Mills-Knutsen was raised a Methodist in Virginia Beach, Va., to a family deeply committed to its church.

“We were there every time the doors were open,” she said.

Mills-Knutsen said her parents never had to encourage her to accept church.

“I was always the kid people liked to pick on,” she said. “The same kids who picked on me weren’t allowed to pick on me at church.

“Jesus was always standing up for people who got picked on. That’s what I try to practice in my ministry, as well.”

As a freshman at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., Mills-Knutsen thought she might become a high school music teacher and part-time church musician. But during her first year of college, she had something of an epiphany.

“I decided I really liked the library more than I liked the practice rooms,” she said. “It wasn’t until college that I started thinking about (becoming a pastor). God is always calling us to something.”

After earning her degree at James Madison, Mills-Knutsen headed west to the Pacific School of Religion in Berkley, Calif.

Before coming to Jeffersonville, Mills-Knutsen served as associate pastor at Boston’s Old South Church, which was founded in 1669.

“That church is located right in the heart of downtown Boston,” she said. “I was called to be the connection between the city and the church.”

Mills-Knutsen served as co-chair of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, a collection of 65 churches and organizations representing 10,000 members. She played a key role in the organization’s deal with Boston banks, which kicked off a year ago and gives church members access to more favorable banking terms.

St. Luke’s “strong sense of mission” is one of the things that made the church attractive to her, Mills-Knutsen said. On Saturdays, the church hosts Loaves and Fishes, a feeding program presented in conjunction with other local churches and organizations. One Tuesdays, a group of knitters makes sweaters that are sent to needy children throughout the world.

“Nobody is going to know God’s presence and power unless their physical needs are met,” she said.

Mills-Knutsen wants her ministry to present learned theology in terms that are meaningful to people.

“I love the scholarship,” she said. “I’m a reader; all the time. But I also like to be around people.

“In my preparation for a sermon, I can’t spend all my time in my study looking at books. I have to be out talking to people. Those two things have to come together.”

The effort isn’t lost on those who helped hire her.

“There’s a sense of energy in the church I don’t think we have seen in several years,” Hensley said. “She relates (sermons) to us. You look around now and everybody is intently enthralled with the sermons.”

“People who had not attended (St. Luke’s) for years are back,” Vissing said. “She’s just a jewel of a find. She could have gone anywhere she wanted to go, and she decided to come to Jeffersonville.”

Mills-Knutsen and husband of eight years, Joshua, moved to Jeffersonville in January and she was formally installed as the church’s pastor a month later.

Joshua Mills-Knutsen, 32, is working to earn a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Kentucky, commuting to the Lexington campus several days each week.