June 2016

Internship Update

Dear Partners in Ministry,

I’ve been getting questions from parishioners about our new intern.  I’m glad that people are getting excited about having a PLUM intern.  So, fresh from the Supervisors Workshop at Trinity Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, I’m now able to provide more information about our intern and the internship process.  Vicar Karyn Kost (pronounced CAR-IN COAST) will be joining the PLUM pastoral team as our intern this fall.  She began her working life as a chemical engineer but soon discerned that her true calling was to the ordained ministry.  She hails from Indiana with a recent stint in Wisconsin before heading to Ohio for seminary.  She comes to us from the East Central Synod of Wisconsin, ELCA.

Vicar Karyn is serving at a Lutheran church camp this summer as Activities Director and will be arriving in Pittsburgh on August 18.  Her internship will last until May of 2018 when she will graduate.  Vicar Karyn is among the first group of seminarians involved in a new approach to seminary education at Trinity.  Instead of undertaking 3 years of academic work at Trinity and a 1 year internship, Vicar Karyn and her fellow seminarians have completed 2 years of academic work and will serve a 2 year internship during which they will complete an additional year’s worth of academic work via online courses and intensives at the seminary.  It’s called a 2 + 2 Program.

Vicar Karyn will be residing in the parsonage at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Canonsburg.  Office space will be provided at Bethany Lutheran in Dormont and that central location will be her base of operations.  While she is coming to Pittsburgh to learn how a cooperative like PLUM operates and participate in a pastoral team, she is required to focus on one congregation’s ministry in order to gain experience in the administrative aspects of pastoral leadership (such as, parochial reports, record keeping, staff support, council meetings, etc.).  Just as Pastor Melba was given a base of operations at Trinity, Mt. Oliver during her internship, yet rotated through all the congregations, Vicar Karyn will also rotate through the parishes and participate in all aspects of life in PLUM.

While I am serving as the official internship supervisor, Vicar Karyn will benefit from the experience of all the pastors serving on our pastoral team.  As some PLUM members know, she was in Pittsburgh for a brief visit during her spring break over Palm Sunday weekend.  While here she was put to work assisting worship at Bethany Lutheran and East Liberty Lutheran, touring the parsonage in Canonsburg, and eating stuffed cabbage at Christ Lutheran.  She then had the opportunity to attend the pastors’ Monday morning meeting before she headed back to Columbus.  The good news is, she’s looking forward to coming back!

A Lay Internship Committee representing all the congregations is being formed to serve as a support group for our new Vicar.  One of the plans already in the works to welcome Vicar Karyn is a House Warming Shower to provide her with pantry and small household items she will need as she gets settled into her new living quarters.  More information on the date, place and time of this event will be available soon.

It has been a goal of the PLUM Board to provide internships for seminarians in order to train up pastors in what we consider to be an important model for congregational ministry.  We are excited that Vicar Karyn will soon be ministering in our midst.  Let us remember her in our prayers as she anticipates this next step in her preparation for service as a pastor in our church.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Beth