LENS - Lutheran Earthkeeping Network of the Synods

Who was there?

It is often valuable for people to know where and how an idea started. LENS is the result of a number of ideas from some two dozen ELCA delegates attending the Eco-Justice Working Group Summit of the National Council of Churches in Estes Park, Colorado, in May 1997.

At its formative meetings LENS delegates selected both leaders and mailing list administrators to maintain the momentum of the agenda and ideas they had laid out during the Eco-Justice Working Group Conference they were attending. Those leaders were:

  • Jim Schwab, Chicago, IL
  • Steve Todd, Estes Park, CO
  • Suse and Jon Greenstone, Leesburg, VA

The original mailing list administrators were:

  • Geri Spring, Hixson, TN
  • Nancy Fulcher, Hixson, TN

One interesting fact about Geri and Nancy: They did not at the time they volunteered know how to administer a mailing list. They simply volunteered to learn. Then they went home to the Chattanooga, Tennessee, area, where they live, and persuaded personnel from Chattanooga Online to teach them what they needed to know. The mailing list was up and running within six weeks of the conclusion of the conference in Estes Park, Colorado.

The following is the list of ELCA delegates, their home towns, and their synod affiliations:

  • Dick Blomker, Madison, WI; South Central Wisconsin
  • Martha Blume, Anchorage, AK; Alaska
  • Myron & Mary Eckberg, Lakewood, CO; Rocky Mountain
  • Job S. Ebenezer, Chicago; Metro Chicago (ELCA staff)
  • Dave Erickson, Stone Mountain, GA; Southeast
  • Jim & Paula Freeman, Lakewood, CO; Rocky Mountain
  • Nancy Fulcher, Hixson, TN; Southeast
  • Irene Garliepp, San Leandro, CA; Sierra Pacific
  • Bill Grabill, Peachtree City, GA; Southeast
  • Jon & Suse Greenstone, Leesburg, VA
  • Tracey Henderson, Chicago; Metro Chicago (ELCA staff)
  • Karen Ingvoldstad, Detroit; Southeast Michigan
  • Cheryl Lander, San Jose, CA; Sierra Pacific
  • Jeffrey Louden, Englewood, CO; Rocky Mountain
  • Nancy O. Miller, Bellefonte, PA; Allegheny
  • Jim Schwab, Chicago; Metro Chicago
  • Geri Spring, Hixson TN; Southeast
  • Ruth Thom, Concord CA; Sierra Pacific
  • Steve Todd, Estes Park CO; Rocky Mountain
  • Ken Westlake, Mount Prospect, IL; Metro Chicago
  • Kim Winchell, Freeland MI; Northwest Lower Michigan