Alsgaard, Erik J.
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NOV~.09-' 94
WED 14 : 00 I D:BRANDON TWP. LI BRARY TEL NO: OMNI FAX 3 13_
_
1:1
p
6 27 9974 013 0 1
NovembQr 9, 1994
Kay DmMo~a
Editor, Michigan Christian Advocate
Dear Kay:
Th~nk
you for gr~cious spirit in this time of tran•ition. I look
forward to l~arning from you and working with you in ths waek~
ahead.
What follows
is~
brief oioQraphy/information factoid ••••
Born July 27. 1959 to Rich•rd and M•ir <Godwin)
Alsga•rd in
Midland,
Michigan.
Two brothers:
D•vid and Ian' one si&ter:
Sheila
<Nye). Married Marcy Erick&on on January a,
1982 at
Midl•nd First UMC. Two children; Zachary, 10. Sarah JanQ, a.
Gradu•ted Midland High S~hool
in
1977.
Gr~duatQd
Central
MichiQ•n Univer2ity
with B.S.
in
Communications in 1981.
Gr•du~ted United
Theological Seminary <Dayton, Ohio)
with M.Div
in 1986. OrdAinQd Deacon in l98b . Ordained Eld~r in 1988.
Experience;
Detroit
Conferanc9
Communications
CommittsQ
1992
to pres~nt.
Busines•
Manager,
D•troit
ConferenCQ School of Christian Mission, 1992 to praaent. Editor•
Communior•m,
North
C~ntral
Jurisdiction
A•sociation
of
CQmmunic~tors
Newsletter,
1993 to
present.
Corre~pondQnt,
~ichigan Christian
Advocate, 1987 to pre~ent. Pastor, Detroit
ConfErenca,
1986 to present
<5ervic~ at
Akron/UnionvillQ UMC,
1986-1987a Akron/Caro UMC 1987-1988; Manchestar:5haron UMC 1988
to SQpt. 1991; Seymour L.ake UMC on th~ Flint District from Oct.
1991 to pres~nt). I
have al&o worked at s~ver•l radio st•tion~.
mo~t recently WTAC-AM in Flint.
Chairp~rson,
Puring the interview with the search committQe, I
talked •bout
MCA beinQ th~ newspaper for United Methodists in Michigan
that fulfills one of Jesus• les~Qr known, but vitally import~nt,
comma~d~ ~·· tn ·John 11:44, aft9r Ja5US ha• raised L~zarus from the
dead, Jesus;•
command• the people to "loowen" him, or "unwrap"
him. Jesus vividly shows here that i t is the community of faith"s
ta•k to enable the new lif~ to come into being. Je~u• calls forth
the new lifeJ we caus~ it to gr~w.
l believe th.at Jesua is still calling people to new life
today. Th9 MCA needs to be telling the storie~ of the people of
Sod c:alhrd Unitad Methodist that .are "unwra.ppinQ" th;z nQw life
around tham. Now some peopl~, lik~ Martha in the biblical story,
will s•y that this new life will stink, and we •hauld not touch
it. The MCA also must be the place where the bad news storie~ ara
tald, but not to make th~m worse than thay already are.
th~
NOV- 09- '94 WED 14 : 02 ID:BRANDON TWP. LIBRARY
TEL NO:OMNIFAX 313-627- 9974 ~014 P01
I believQ that readers of the MCA want to read thes~ storie•
of faith in action.
I also b~li~ve that rQad~r& need
to read
stories that will challQnQs them a~ well as inspirQ them.
The Michigan Christian Advocate is in a Gtrong position to
continue it~ witness and ministry into the 21•t contury.
Kay
DaMoss has ovmr~een a tramandous amount of chanoe in h&r ~ev•n
year~
•~ editor, and laaVQ5
the new•paper poisad for growth. A
new desktop computer
publi~hing
system has
recAntly bean
in•talled, and the flexibility it affords will be an axciting
exploration in the future.
A system of state-wide contributing
editors was created under Kay•s leadership, and provides a wide
variety of viewpoints on the new• and personal faith experience~ .
In tha future, I see the Advocate providing more local news
storims, p~rsonal experience columns, and more ministry tools for
local churche•. In short, I ~ee the MCA continuing to be the
voice of United Methodi&m in the $tate of MichiQ&n.
<Kay - I hope this will work okay for the pre~s release.
I'm not sure wher~ you're gending the pr•ss rsle~se to, but
could that include The Midland DailY News? It's my hometown
papRr. Address: 124 s. McDonaldw PO Box 432 Midland 48640.
Thank~~!~
~
Erik
P.S. - · r•11 have the
mestings in the mail shortly.
minutgs of
the last
two board
MCA W
o~s
WHO
The Rev . Erik Al sgaard, pastor of the Manchester
Sharon UMC for 1112. years , is an MCA correspondent.
Beyond the local church he serves as secretary of the
Michigan Christian Advocate Board of Trustees and as
business manager for the Detroit Conference School of
Christian Mission .
Erik and wife Marcy have two children , Zachary, six, and
..
Sarah , four . Before seminary Erik worked as a radio disc
~..
jockey and news announcer in Midland, Bay City and
Saginaw.
After he earned a degree in interpersonal communications from Central
Michigan University, Erik's mother suggested seminary for him . Raised a
Catholic, he began attending the UMC when he met Marcy. He found Midland
First "alive, warm, and welcoming. "
Erik attended Union Seminary in Dayton . He was the first deacon ordained
on stage at Adrian College's Dawson Auditorium, and the first elder to be ordained with laity participating (i 988).
Current hobbies include reading murder mysteries, watching sports , and
taking Zachary to high school basketball games .
r
MCA WHO 'S WHO
Marcie Alsgaard, MCA correspondent, grew up in Midland First UMC. She sang in the choir, was in youth group,
and her parents were youth group leaders. She knows
every nook and cranny of that church!
With a B.S. in math, science, and EQglish from Central
Michigan University, Marcie has taken a graduate English
course at the University of Dayton , and several foreign
languages.
"I'd like to put myself into writing ," she says. Partner
Press in Livonia has accepted some of her fi nger plays
fo r children. They are poetry. This press publishes early childhood materials
fo r educators.
In her primary family, " I'm the youngest by eight years," Marcie says. " I' m
like a second family.". Now Marcie and husband, Erik Al sgaard , pastor of the
Manchester Sharon UMC, have two children, Sarah , five, and Zachary, seven,
as well as a dog, Windsor. The family enjoys going to museums.
Marcie directed summer Bible school last year, has been in the choir, and
goes to UMW. She has her own social service outreach, which includes volunteer work at the Assault Crisis Center in Ypsilanti. She has served on the
abuse awareness committee in Manchester, and has done story hours at the
library.
Her main concern for the church is "that it continue to meet people where
they are and help them to gr.ow; that is continue to be relevant.
"I want to be creative about my purpose in the church, apart from my husband and his role as a minister. I have to have that flexibility."
Marcie welcomes an opportunity to " voice some of the things I feel I'd like
to express to the church as a whole, some of the things I run into in my social
work."
ti//OL/fro
d stress
Marcy Alsgaard
Pastor's spouse
Manchester: Sharon
The "appointive system"
spells freedom for me. People working in other professions can become trapped ·
in their home towns where
narrow-minded people may
not allow them to change
and to grow. Someone once
compared
parsonage
tam lies to the pioneers. She
stated that we get the rare
ppportunity to explore various communities across
the state of Michigan with
the added benefit of being
a,lmost immediately included into the lives of many
families in that community.
Attitudes and lifestyles differ even between neighboring communities, and learn- I
ing to recognize and understand these differences is
an interesting and challenging task .
One of the drawbacks to
this system is that we are
forced to leave close friends
behind. Even though it is
possible to maintain contact
through letters and occasionally through visits, it is
very difficult to continue
long-distance relationships
over time. Sometimes these
friendships can interfere
with the effectiveness of the
pastor who .follows .
The Rev. Erik Alsgaard, assistant general secretary of
communications at the United Methodist Board of Church and
Society, has been named editor of
Newscope, the weekly churchwide
newsletter produced by the United
Methodist Publishing House. His
new job is effective Sept. 15. He will
also edit FaithLink, a weekly
church-school publication. Alsgaard
has been with the board since 1998,
and his duties have included editing
Christian Social Action magazine.
Former Newscope editor Victoria
Rebeck resigned in June· to work for
the Minnesota Annual Conference,
and retired editor Rich Peck has
handled the newsletter in the interim. Alsgaard is a clergy member of the Detroit Conference and
former editor of the Michigq,n Christian Advocate.
1
A new page /1C: tl..
W
hen one thinks of
moving, it is usually
expressed in terms
of miles, or from
one town to another, or from
church to church. This one is
from one page to another. Let me
explain.
Most readers know that Kay
DeMoss is leaving her post as
Advocate editor. The first woman
and first diaconal minister to lead
the Advocate 'in its 121-year history, Kay, a certified Christian
communicator, has creatively and
capably guided the newspaper through
a critical phase
in its life. In
her seven and
one-half year
tenure she has
overseen
a
L - - - - - - - ' transition to
complete computerization, a maior downsizing and realignment of
staff, a phase-out of an auxiliary
iob printing operation, and a
move to full-color capabilities.
Kay has continuously sought to
improve our product through stylistic , la yout and editorial
changes. In this reader' s eyes, she
has succeeded magnifice ntly.
Yet in spite of all these successes, Kay has felt she needs to
start a new page in her life. A daily commute from Lansing (where
she lives with pas tor-husband ,
L ynn) to Adrian has been an
increasing strain. The lure of
sharing more full y in the life of
Lansing: Central UMC and of
pursuing other forms of ministry
led to her decision to leave the
Advocate.
Selecting a new editor is a major task. A search committee
comprised of eight M CA trustees
has been at working sifting
through resumes, references, and
writing samples; interviewing
candidates; and , finally, selecting
one indivi~nal to lead this voice
-,of Michigan· United Methodism
into t?e twenty-first century.
As It turns out, it iiwoives a
move of only a page or so: Erik
David
Wiltse
Alsgaard , familiar to Advocate
readers for his writing of issues
and ideas over the last seven
years , has been selected as the
twelfth editor of the Michigan
Christian Advocate. and will take
up residence on p~ge three from
his accustomed place on pages
four or five. Bishop Ott has announced the appointment, effective January 1.
Ironically, or perhaps appropriately, it was Kay who recruited
Erik in 1987 as a contributing editor. "She nurtured, encouraged,
and really helped me grow as a
writer and a pastor, " he says.
Although Kay did not participate
in the editor selection process, he
adds , "She deserves a lot of credit
for finding this person who now
follows her.''
In his interview with the search
committee, Erik spoke of the
Advocate as a "vehicle which provides people 'new life' to unwrap" - giving its readers new
ideas, new challenges, and new
directions. Erik brings a unique
blend of experience and talents to
this job of presenting the news:
a bachelor' s degree in communications form Central Michigan
University; eight years of pastoral minis tr~ in the Detroit Conference, currently at Seymour
Lake U nited Methodist Church ;
chair of the Detroit Conference
Communications Committee; and
15 years of experience in radio
broadcasting. Active in jurisdictional communications, he is curre ntl y t h e editor of Co m muniGram , the newsletter of the
North Central Jurisdiction Association of Communicators, and
has assisted in reporting the 1992
J u,ri sdictional Conference at
Adrian and the 1994 Wisconsin
Annual Conference at Madison.
Erik, his wife Marcy and children Zachary, ten , and Sarah
Jane, eight, will move to Adrian
some time after the first of the
year. W e welcome them as ,
together , we Michigan United
Methodists begin a new page of
a proud tradition.
-David Wiltse
Trustee president
•
The Advocate staff looks forward to working with the new editor come Jan. 1. (L-r) Kathy Goolian,
Kay DeMoss, Erik Alsgaard, Bonnie Emerson and Diana SeU.-mca photo/Lynn DeMoss
•
•
Erik Alsgaard is greeted by Trustee president, David Wiltse (c). Other MCA trustees smile their
approval of the choice of new editor: (1-r) Arlene Porter, Mary DeDolph, Frank Sheldon, Dave
Nelson, Bob Roth, Laurie Haller, Grove Grimes and Louise Ott- mea plzoto/Ka_v DeMoss I J J :J.I/'1 '/:
Trustees name Erik Alsgaard next
e.~itor of Michigan Christian Advocate
ADRIAN (MCA)- Erik Jon Alsgaard will become the editor-publisher of the Michigan
Christian Advocate effective Jan. 1, 1995. He was confarmed by the MCA board of trustees
at a meeting held Nov. 7 in Okemos. He is the twelfth editor since the Advocate became
the connectional link for Michigan Methodists in 1873.
Alsgaard moves to the editor's
desk in Adrian as Kay DeMoss
completes eight years there. She
leaves at the call of new opportu·
nities for service in Lansing- coordinator of adult ministries of Central UMC and executive of Blodgett Press.
Erik has pastored Seymour
Lake UMC (Flint District) since
1991. Serving in the Detroit Conference since 1986, he has also
been appointed to Akron/Unionville, Akron/Caro, and Manchester: Sharon UMCs. During
these years he has been an MCA
contributing editor and chair of
the Detroit Conference Communications Committee.
ERIK IS A native of Midland.
He graduated from Midland High
School in 1977 and then earned
a B.S. in communications from
Central Michigan University. Or-
dained an elder in 1988, Erik
completed his M.Div. at United
T heological Seminary in Dayton,
Ohio.
Erik married Marcy Erickson
in 1982 and they have two children, Zachary, ten, and Sarah
Jane, eight.
" I believe the readers
of the MCA want to
read stories of f aith in
action. I also believe
that readers need to
read stories that will
challenge them as well
as inspire them. ''
-Erik Alsgaard
Work at several radio stations,
most recently WTAC-AM in
Flint, is part of Erik's background in communications.
Another point of connectional
service within the Detroit Conference is his two years as business
manager of the Conference School
of Christian Mission.
DAVID WILTSE, chair of the
Advocate's Board of Trustees and
head of the search committee,
praised the vision and ideas
Alsgaard brought to his recent
" We are confident
interview.
that our choice of editor ensures
a strong future for the Advocate,''
Wiltse said. "Erik brings the
kind of enthusiasm and creativity
we think is needed to serve new
generations of readers."
Bishop Donald Ott says of this
choice: "I am pleased with the
board 's selection. I sense in Erik
an energy and a commitment to
keep the Advocate positioned in a
strong and growing way as a key
communication link for Michigan
United Methodists. His close ties
with the MCA and his long commitment to increased communica-
•
tion, within the church and to the
community, will be a valuable
asset."
THE EDITOR-ELECT believes that the Advocate "fulfills
one of Jesus ' lesser known, but
vitally important commands.'' He
cites John 11 :44 as the foundation
of his vision for the Area 's newspaper: "After Jesus has raised
Lazarus from the dead, he commands the people to loosen or unwrap him. Jesus vividly shows
here that it is the community of
faith's task to enable the new life
to come into being. Jesus calls
forth new life but we cause it to
grow. The M CA needs to be telling the stories of United Methodists who are unwrapping the new
life around them.''
WHAT DOES Erik think the
future holds for the Advocate? "I
believe the readers of the M CA
want to read stories of faith in action. I also believe that readers
need to read stories that will challenge them as well as inspire
them.''
More local news stories . . . more
personal
experience
columns ... more ministry tools for
local churches. That's Erik's
checklist for the months to come.
·· ' 'In short," he says, " I see the
M CA continuing to be the voice
of United Methodism in the state ·
of Michigan ."
0
ADVOCATE
ISSUE DATEDEADLINE
Nov. 24
Dec. 5
Dec. 8
Dec. 19
Jan. 2, 1995
Jan. 16
Jan. 30
Feb. 13
Feb. 27
Mar. 13
Mar. 27
Dec. 22
Jan . 5
Jan. 19
Feb. 2
Feb. 16
Mar. 2
Mar. 16
•
-
Alsgaard takes
new post
o'"V
7/'4
The Rev. Erik Alsgaard, former editor of Newscope, and
John W. Coleman Jr., a marketing communi- .........-..,...,..,_,--.
cations consultant with the
United Methodist Board of
Global
Ministries, became
co-directors
the BaltimoreWashington Annual Conference's department of communications on July 1.
Alsgaard - a clergy member
of the Detroit Annual Conference and former editor of the
Michigan Christian Advocatehas been an editor for the
United Methodist Publishing
House since 2001, and was
responsible for the newsletter
Newscope and the Sunday
school publication FaithLink.
He previously was assistant
general secretary of communications for the United Methodist Board of Church and
Society.
t