Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998
From: Steven P. Tibbetts  przip@compuserve.com

I am Steven Paul Tibbetts, STS, pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
of Peoria, Illinois.  I've been serving here since Fall 1992, this being my
first call.  I am an alum of PLTS, and while there I worked at the
Franciscan School of Theology.  (The Catholics paid better, and on the side
they taught be a lot about grace!)  

I was conceived in the Missouri Synod, but by my birth (St. Patrick's Day
1959) Mom was a member of the local ULCA congregation, Lutheran Church of
the Resurrection, Canoga Park, Calif.  (That's in the West San Fernando
Valley, in the suburbs of Los Angeles.)  Baptized, first communion,
confirmed, and ordained within a 15 foot radius.  

Went to PLTS because the worst that could happen to me was being sent to
Utah, but by the time I arrived we had the "new church" with ever-changing,
uh, traditions.  Since I'd checked the "I'll go anywhere" box (I interned
at Saint John's Lutheran Church, Helena, Mont. to see if I could stand a
smaller town than the San Francisco Bay area--I could) here I am, born in
Hollywood, playing in Peoria.

In my "first life" I was a banker, briefly, for the late, lamented Sears
Savings Bank in California, and I'm an alum of California State University,
Northridge, with a B. S. in Business Administration.  I've also passed the
Uniform CPA Examination--but would need to practice in California for 2
years to get my CPA.  (BTW, the tax law I have memorized in from 1981, so
you don't want to ask me too many tax questions.)

The STS above stands for Society of the Holy Trinity, a new pan-Lutheran
ministerium for confessional and spiritual renewal.  I am one of the
founding subscribers of the Illinois Chapter.  I am also the Liason
Representative for the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau (publishers of
*Lutheran Forum*, *Forum Letter*, and several very good tracts) for the
Central/Southern Illinois Synod, ELCA.  So that puts me in the midst of the
"Evangelical Catholic" stream, buttressed by an ecclesiology born and bred
in Augustana Synod, as experienced in the Pacific Southwest Synod, LCA.  

I was introduced to ecumenism as a member of the congregational
Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogues in Los Angeles, c. 1980--it was Father
Grill who, immediately upon meeting me, first asked if I'd considered the
priesthood.  Of course, at the Graduate Theological Union one is steeped in
ecumenical relationships.  I have served as President of the Peoria Cergy
Fellowship, where I preached at the (Episcopal) Cathedral for the Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity in 1997.  I participate in the (Catholic) Peoria
Diocese Cursillo, and am helping to start the Heart of Illinois Via de
Cristo.

I've been an avid LutherLinker  since
1993 when it was still a rather intimate cyber-community, and have been a
fairly regular participant on the CompuServe Religion Forum since then,
too.  I remain a reader of science fiction (I subscribe to several magazine
of short fiction, but just don't have time to read them--I will need a long
retirement), and still want to live in space.  (I am quite sure there are
several folks who would gladly acclaim me Bishop of Luna.)  

I have a plastic palm tree in my picture window, to remind me of home,
where my parents, brother, sister, nieces, etc. remain.  Very different
from inner city Peoria.

Enough for now.

Pax et bonum, Steven
przip@compuserve.com
ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/przip/

--------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 15:08:38 -0700
From: Marc Todd   mtodd@triax.com

Hello..  My name is Marc Todd and I've been attending First Lutheran Church
in Baker City, Oregon for about 6 years now.  I was raised in the Catholic
Church, attended Catholic grade and high school, and abandoned all belief
in that Church and in Christ about the time I was a sophomore in high
school.  I delved into Eastern mysticism, moved to occultism and ended up
deep into drugs and alchohol.

About 20 years ago, following a last-ditch prayer, God graciously revealed
Himself to me and led me to become a believer in Jesus Christ.  I then
became a member of an independent fundamental church for about 14 years.  I
taught adult Sunday School and Bible studies for about 10 of those years. 
Eventually that church disbanded.  It was shortly after that I started
attending a Lutheran Church.

Even after 6 years, however, I do not consider myself to be a Lutheran.  I
find myself too much at odds with Lutheran doctrine regarding a number of
the tenants I find in the Scriptures.  I continue to worship at the
Lutheran Church because I know there are some members there who truly know
God and love Him, and it is with such that I choose to worship.

I would like to monitor this listserv, if I might, in order to broaden my
understanding of Lutheran teachings and traditions.  I would hope that I
might also be able to interject occasionally on topics that I find
important.

Thank you, Kit, for inviting me here.

mtodd@triax.com
-------------------