fall 2005 and graduated in June 2009—just two months before the ELCA assembly’s vote.
“There were definitely anxious moments leading up to the vote,” he said. A longtime active ELCA member known for his leadership in music, out- reach and preaching, Fry garnered the unanimous recommendation of Christ the Lord’s council and received the congrega- tion’s call two weeks after the assembly vote.
Fry chose Reformation Sunday 2009 as his ordination day. Bishop Wayne Miller of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod presided at the ceremony—the first ordination held at Christ the Lord.
After Fry started his tenure about a dozen members left, including some of the largest donors. Yet pledge commitments are up this year from 2010, and the church last year received 24 new members and baptized seven babies.
Jeff Johnson of First United and Ruth Frost and Phyllis Zillhart of St. Francis. The church’s actions dissuaded Erwin from going to
seminary, and its rule requiring that gay rostered leaders be celibate cemented his decision to stay away from the pastorate. Yet Erwin said he has never felt bitter because he fulfilled his calling by teaching and by helping establish a Lutheran studies program when he taught at Yale Divinity. “I was pretty influential in the formation of a number of people who are now Lutheran clergy,” he said. “That was very rewarding for me, but a little ironic since I was teaching people how to be pastors when I couldn’t be one myself.”
Erwin, who is fluent in German, got over his initial mis- givings that the 2009 policy had come too late for someone his age when his mentor, the late former synod bishop Paul Egertson, reminded him that the church had been calling him all his life. In August 2010, Erwin started his candidacy process. He is now ordained into specialized ministry at the university rather than into parish ministry.
And then there’s Fry ... Fry said he “saw the Spirit’s leading and the Spirit’s hands” in his call to Christ the Lord since he entered seminary in
“It is a wonderful example of how, if we can set aside the fears and the stereotypes, a congregation that hasn’t even had the conversation can successfully call a pastor
because of his or her gifts,” Fry said. Amalia Vagts, executive director of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, said the group intends to continue to support and build up the ELCA. “Our organization has always been about expanding ministry opportunities,” she said. “The way we do that just evolves over time.” The group built a roster of 46 people from 1990 until 2009, of which 18 were ordained after they had completed a candidacy process that mirrored the ELCA’s. “We are now focused on candidacy accompaniment— walking alongside LGBTQ people who need our resources to give them advice and coaching and provide chaplain support,” Vagts said. The ELCA rostering process, she noted, can be more
difficult for people who have cloaked their sexuality for much of their lives than for young adults who have always been out.
“There is still a great deal of education that needs to hap- pen in this church,” Vagts said.
Neither Fry nor Erwin joined the ELM roster. The two have something else in common. Each is in a long-term relationship rivaling the length of many U.S. marriages. Fry just celebrated his 20th anniversary with his partner, while Erwin is in his 17th year with his partner. M
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