We have wonderful news to share with you. Pastor Lars Hammar has accepted a call to Christ Lutheran Church.

Pastor Lars will let us know when he makes a decision regarding his arrival date. It will likely be mid-to late June after his children have finished their school year. We will share that information as soon as we have it. Meanwhile, Pastor Deanna will be our bridge pastor through the end of April. Pulpit supply will be arranged if necessary to fill a gap between Pastor Deanna's departure and the arrival of Pastor Lars.

Thank you for your prayers regarding this call. Please continue to keep Pastor Lars and his family in your prayers as they prepare for their move to Walla Walla.

With joyful hearts, Church Council and Call Committee members

Call Committee Update: A Pastoral Candidate will be visiting Christ Lutheran on January 21st and 22nd. The congregation will have an opportunity to meet the candidate and chat informally over coffee on Tuesday, January 21st, 11:30am, in the Fellowship Hall. We will have a Congregational Spaghetti Dinner on Wednesday, January 22nd, from 6-8pm, in the Fellowship Hall. There is a sign up sheet in the Narthex for contributions to the dinner. If you have any questions about the dinner, speak with Janet Mobley. If you have Call Committee questions, feel free to ask!

Sara, Judith, Leslie, Dan, John, Kurt" 

“ The Call Committee has extended an invitation for an on site visit to a pastoral candidate. Details are being finalized (December 29, 2024)

Call Committee update: The committee met for an initial interview with a Pastoral candidate via Zoom earlier this week (December 12, 2024)

Call Committee Update: Following the on-site visit, the call committee has discerned that God is not calling Pastor Mary to CLC. The call committee continues to work with the NWIM Synod on finding additional candidates for consideration. If you have a recommendation, please reach out to Pastor Phil at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.;or 509-838-9871. 

We will be having an on-site visit for a pastoral candidate on Sunday, November 10. If you want to meet them, please plan to attend Coffee Hour to meet them! A biography for the candidate will come out in the November 1st and November 8th eblast along with paper copies that will be available in the narthex. 

The Call Committee received a slate of four candidates from the Synod on September 9th. We have been reading through their Rostered Minister's Profiles and supporting documents as well as revising our interview questions. Interviews have been scheduled for the candidates and will take place via Zoom.

Bridge/Interim Pastor update The Church Council hopes to hire an interim/bridge pastor soon, with a starting date of November 1.  Watch for updates in the Friday e-blasts and Sunday bulletins.

 Following 15 months on the call committee, three members have decided to step down to due outside circumstances. At the August 13 council meeting, the council elected Judith Hedberg-Duff, Kurt Hoffman, and Leslie Anderson to replace Kari Isaacson, Michelle Summers, and Jonathan Holce. Judith, Leslie, and Kurt are being brought up to speed so that they are ready to go when our new slate of candidates arrives. The current Call Committee roster has been updated on the Call Process Bulletin Board.  

 That being said, we are still awaiting a slate of candidates from the Synod. Pastor Phil anticipates having one to present to us within a month.  

It is with heavy hearts that we announce Pastor Lydia has decided not to continue with a call from Christ Lutheran. Calling a pastor is a two-way discernment between the pastor and the congregation. In preparing for a congregational meeting, we checked in with Pastor Lydia to see where she was in her discernment process. After much thought and prayer, Pastor Lydia discerned that while she absolutely loved meeting everyone at Christ Lutheran Church and was inspired by our ministry, our geographical location is too far from her very important support system—a sentiment many of us can understand.

Moving forward, Pastor Phil Misner (Assistant to the Bishop) is working on compiling a new slate of pastors to present to the Call Committee. He anticipates having a slate together for CLC in August. If you have a pastoral candidate that you would like to be considered, please reach out to Phil at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 509-838-9871.

Dan, John, Jonathan, Kari, Michelle, and Sara

Following the extensive call process with interviewing four candidates and reviewing videos of candidates preaching, the Call Committee has unanimously agreed to recommend that Christ Lutheran Church extend a call to Pastor Lydia Ziauddin. 

To issue a call to a prospective pastor is a 3-part event. First, the call committee makes the recommendation to the church council. The recommendation was brought to our church council this Thursday, July 18. The second step is for the church council to approve the recommendation from the call committee. This was accomplished at the July 18 council meeting in which the council unanimously approved the motion to extend a call to Pastor Lydia Ziauddin. 

The third step is for the congregation to vote to extend a call.  Arrangements will be made in the near future for a congregational vote to according to our church constitution. The vote will also require a representative from the NWIM Synod Office to be present to validate the voting results. We will  update the congregation when arrangements are made, allowing for a two-week notice of the meeting and vote. The vote will use a written ballot and require a 2/3 majority to pass. Attendance for the meeting will be very important for our church. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Sara Pinkerton 

Save the date! The Call Committee is inviting everyone to meet a pastoral candidate on July 14th during Coffee Hour. The candidate will be in Walla Walla for an on-site visit and there is an opportunity for the congregation to meet them during Coffee Hour. 

The Call Committee has been hard at work for the past month! On May 11th, we received a slate of four candidates from Pastor Phil Misner, the NWIM Assistant to the Bishop. Since then, we have interviewed the four candidates via Zoom using questions derived from our "Top 5 Ministry Tasks" in our Mission Site Profile. In combination with our interviews, we've also watched several worship services of the prospective pastors via their services posted on YouTube or Facebook. 

On June 7th, the committee narrowed down our slate to two candidates, based on our interviews and their preaching videos. We currently have second interviews scheduled with each candidate  and based on those results, will most likely extend an invitation for an on-site visit to one of them. 

Throughout this process, we have been asked by the Synod to not reveal any identifiable traits to any person not on the call committee, including the candidate's race, gender, age, location, etc. which has been extremely challenging but we are following the guidelines we were given and doing our best. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask a member on this committee. Thank you all for your patience during this busy time. 

Signed: 

John Funderburk             

Dan Grinstead             

Kari Issacson             

Michelle Summers         

Jonathan Holce               

Sara Pinkerton