Ask a pastor

“Ask a pastor” is a place for you to obtain honest, thoughtful, pastoral answers to the questions you’ve been pondering.

Is there anything you’ve always wondered about your faith and what it means to be Lutheran? Or perhaps there’s a tough question you’ve been grappling with about your faith? Maybe you’re just curious about a passage of Scripture or a tradition of the church. Or do you have another question you’d like to ask of an ELCA pastor?

Send your questions to livinglutheran@elca.org, and you might see it answered by one of our pastors.

Meet our pastors:

• Neddy Astudillo
• Elizabeth Eaton
• Anne Edison-Albright
• Ron Glusenkamp
• David Hansen
• Brian Maas
• Monica M. Villarreal

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Neddy Astudillo



Neddy Astudillo is an eco-theologian, a graduate of McCormick Theological Seminary (master of divinity) and a candidate for a doctorate of ministry degree on eco-justice ministries and eco-spirituality at Drew University. Neddy, a Venezuelan-American, is the pastor of an ecumenical — ELCA and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — Latino ministry in Beloit, Wis. Neddy lives in northern Illinois with her husband, Tom Spaulding, and their three teenagers. They moved to Illinois 11 years ago to help start the Angelic Organics Learning Center, an exciting and engaging place to learn about food, farming and caring for the earth. Neddy shares her passion for God’s creation through worship, workshops and a Spanish website: eco-justicia.org.

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Elizabeth Eaton



Elizabeth Eaton was born in Cleveland and received her bachelor’s degree in music education from The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, and her master’s of divinity from Harvard Divinity School. She was ordained in 1981 and began her ministry as pastor at All Saints Lutheran Church in Worthington, Ohio. She served as interim pastor at Good Hope Lutheran Church in Youngstown, Ohio, from 1990-91. In 1991 she accepted a call to become pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Ashtabula, Ohio, where she served until her election as bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod in December 2006. She was a co-founder of the community organization Imagine Ashtabula, and also received the NAACP President’s Award. She and her husband, Conrad Selnick, an Episcopal priest, have two daughters, Rebeckah and Susannah.

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Anne Edison-Albright



Anne Edison-Albright is the pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Stevens Point, a college town in the middle of Wisconsin. She earned a master of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School in 2008 and studied for a year at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. She served as an ELCA missionary in Slovakia and China and, before divinity school, was a high school English teacher. She loves her congregation’s lively Lutheran worship, teaching confirmation, and enjoying time with her husband, Sean, her son, Walter, and her dog, Hank. She’s looking forward to reading and learning from your questions!

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Ron Glusenkamp



Ron Glusenkamp serves as senior pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church, Cherry Hills Village, Colo. He and his wife, Sue Ann, have been married for 36 years and have three adult children. Ron is an avid baker, walker and reader. He spent a three-month sabbatical last year in London attending 25 plays and 90 worship services. He is very interested in church and culture issues coupled with secularism. One of his favorite artists is Van Gogh. He often collaborates with Peter Mayer on devotions during Advent and Lent. You can find the devotions at h2odevos.blogspot.com.

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David Hansen



David Hansen has the great joy of serving as the pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Brenham, Texas. He received his bachelor’s degree in theology from Roanoke College and his master’s degree from the School of Theology of Sewanee: The University of the South. Not satisfied with being a theology-geek, David also loves technology and is passionate about exploring how the church can use digital media to help grow the kingdom of God.

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Brian Maas



A graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University and Yale Divinity School with a certificate of studies from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Brian Maas was ordained in 1992. He served three congregations: Emmanuel Lutheran, Tekamah, Neb.; Immanuel Lutheran, Kansas City, Mo.; and First Lutheran Church, Lincoln, Neb. He was elected bishop of the ELCA Nebraska Synod in June 2012. Maas and his family live in Lincoln, Neb.

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Monica M. Villarreal



Monica M. Villarreal is a mission redeveloper and pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Flint, Mich. A 2011 graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and 2007 graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in cultural anthropology and specialization in peace and justice studies, she enjoys practical theology, cultural studies, and is an avid bowler. She is passionate about people, inner-city ministry and social justice. Her congregation will tell you she is always asking, “What is God up to? What is God calling us to?”