In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, education and training to become an ordained pastor is a four-year program. The degree received after four years of study is a Master of Divinity, usually abbreviated M.Div. Generally, the third year of one’s study to become a pastor is a full-time internship working in a congregation. There are a number of titles used for a seminarian in this internship year. Sometimes, they are called ‘intern pastor,’ or even just ‘pastor.’ Traditionally, though, in parts of the Lutheran Church, the term ‘vicar’ has been adopted as the official title of a seminarian during her/his internship year. First English has called their interns ‘vicar’ since they began having interns over 40 years ago.

The pictures and vita's listed below are for only a few vicars. We hope that members and former vicars will provide additional information.

Jordan Miller is originally from Buffalo, NY, where her parents, brother Jim, sister-in-law Kristin, and two nephews, Jake and Carson, still live. In 2004 she graduated from Grove City College in Grove City, PA, with a psychology major and English minor. During her senior year of college she decided to continue her life as a professional student (or so it would seem!) by going to seminary.

She began her studies in the fall of 2004 at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. During her two years at LSTC Jordan has thoroughly enjoyed her academic work and life in Chicago, and now eagerly anticipates life in Austin. She is excited to experience a different part of the country - one that is much warmer than she is used to, and one that will probably not require much use of the snow shovel that she carries in the trunk of her car at all times! More importantly than the nice weather, though, Jordan is looking forward to the opportunity to fully immerse herself in the life of First English Lutheran Church, with all of the new joys and challenges that it will bring.

Laila grew up in Dubuque, Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1999 with a Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree. Her major areas of study were psychology, theatre, and creative writing. After college, she moved to the Phoenix area where she worked in several different fields including the restaurant industry, in-home respite care, field admissions representative for a technical college, and finally as an administrative assistant for the Grand Canyon synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

In 2003, Laila began her studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. She can hardly believe that she is now in her third year of the Master of Divinity program! In addition to studying last semester, Laila was busy planning her June 2005 wedding to Nathan Barr.

Laila is very grateful to God for the many blessings in her life, including the opportunity to study the “many and various” aspects of ministry, and to participate in the ministry of First English Lutheran Church.

I placed my feet on the chalked line and waited for the shot. It was my senior year at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, and we wanted to beat Notre Dame more than anything. As a soccer goalie you get pretty nervous on penalty kicks. So I made the sign of the cross and struck a “deal” with God. I told him if he helped me stop this shot I would “owe him big-time someday.” I stopped the shot and true to my word ended up in seminary 5 years later.

Since college, I grew up and became a pediatric physical therapist. After five years of working with children who have the diagnosis of brain tumor, leukemia, “shaken baby syndrome,” or burns I came to realize that life is more than games. And that our greatest losses and wins happen far from any playing field. In addition, after taking a more honest look at my relationship with God I’ve come to embrace the truth that God does not wait for us to return favors but by grace sends his love and forgiveness freely, to all of us.

Amy Becker, FELC’s 38th vicar, is thrilled to be spending this formative year in her seminary education at First English. Amy is originally from Woodbury, MN, an eastern suburb of St. Paul. She attended Concordia College in Moorhead, MN and graduated with a B.A. in Elementary Education.

After college Amy moved to Tacoma, WA to volunteer at Nativity House, a homeless shelter, through Lutheran Volunteer Corps. Continuing part-time at Nativity House a second year, Amy also worked part-time as a youth director at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fircrest, WA. At the end of her time in Tacoma Amy headed to seminary, a step she knew she would be making sooner or later but that was inspired to be sooner by her work at Nativity House and Redeemer.

Amy is in her third of four years as an MDiv student at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. She has enjoyed her theological studies, but is happy to be able to put her studies into practice during the 2003-2004 year as vicar at FELC.

Trish Madden is originally from Rockford, Illinois, which is two hours northwest of Chicago. Her father’s side of the family is from that area—she, her sister and brother grew up amongst a large and lively extended family. She first moved from Rockford to attend college in St. Peter, Minnesota at Gustavus Adolphus College where she studied Religion and also enjoyed the Music and Drama departments.

Following college she spent a year with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps working with the homeless population in Washington D.C. After that, she worked as a youth director at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota and as a caseworker in a Lutheran Social Services sponsored Health Care facility in her hometown.

She began studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in the fall of 2000 and has thoroughly enjoyed the academic aspects of her education.

Prior to her internship at First English, she spent the summer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan working with the local ELCA synod, which sponsors a summer campground chaplain program with seminarians leading ecumenical worship services in the state and county parks.

Kristen Koch was born and raised in St. Louis, MO. Her parents, Norm and Jan still live there, as well as her brother, Matt, sister-in-law Tracey, and darling niece and nephew, Meridith and Jonah. Kristen received a Bachelor of Music from DePauw University in Greencastle, IN in 1995 and then went on to receive a Master of Arts in 1997 from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Following her studies in Chicago, Kristen went to Tanzania, East Africa for nine months to live and learn about life in Tanzania, as well as teach English. After she returned to the States she and Daryn Holdsworth were married and moved to Colorado Springs, CO where Daryn was a pastor. In July of 2000 they moved back to Chicago and LSTC (where they had met) and Kristen began studying for her MDiv degree and Daryn began a year-long chaplain residency with Lutheran General Hospital and Rainbow Hospice. Kristen at First English in September of 2001.

Elaine Watskey was raised in eastern Kansas and is a graduate of Kansas State University with a degree in education. During her first year of teaching, she married her husband, Joe, who is a dentist. For their first three years of marriage, Elaine and Joe lived in Japan, where Joe served in the U.S. Army dental corp. Following that tour of duty, Elaine and Joe returned to Joe’s home state of Missouri, where he established a dental practice. Living in Rolla, Missouri, Elaine started a career in real estate, eventually owning her own sales and development firm. She was a community leader in many regards, being the first woman in Rolla elected a director of a bank, and serving two terms as president of the board of education. Elaine and Joe have one daughter, who is an attorney in Kansas City, Missouri.

Like many studying for the ministry, Elaine was at first reluctant to follow God’s call to the ordained ministry. But because of God’s strong and persistant call, and Elaine’s trust in God, she moved to Chicago to begin studying at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 1998. She finished her second, or ‘middler,’ year at LSTC in the spring of 2000, and began her internship at First English in September, 2000. She will receive an M.Div. from LSTC in June, 2002.