Leadership
Rev. Dr. David Carlson, Co-Chair, NE-MN EcoFaith Network
The Rev. Dr. David Carlson is pastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Duluth, MN and co-chair of the Northeastern MN Synod EcoFaith Network. Originally from Denver, CO, he holds theological degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and Luther Seminary. "Earth Stewardship and the Missio Dei: Participating in the Care and Redemption of All God Has Made" is the title of his Doctor of Ministry thesis, which he defended in 2016. Pastor Dave believes the church in general and Lutherans in particular are well suited to help society address ecological needs and the problems of climate change, and that congregations are ideal settings for modeling the kind of earth stewardship needed for a more sustainable world.
Rev. Kristin Foster, Co-Chair, NE-MN EcoFaith Network
Over the course of her ministry, Rev. Kristin Foster served in school settings in Virginia and New Hampshire, and parishes in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) and Minnesota (Cloquet and Mountain Iron, where she served over three decades). A graduate of Yale Divinity School, she has always looked for the intersections between Word and world, between the Gospel and the grit of life. Over three decades as pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Mountain Iron, she developed several church-based community initiatives, including the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability, as well as the interfaith, ecumenical Congregations Caring for the Earth.
Officially “retired” since 2020, she has channeled her deep concern for the environmental crisis and her passion for bringing people together for the common good into the work of the EcoFaith Network. With co-chairperson the Rev. Dr. David Carlson, she leads a team of 20 people in finding ways to mentor leaders and nurture a growing network of congregations and other companions in living out God’s call to be stewards of the earth for the sake of the whole creation. She is the founding editor and coordinator of the Green Blades Preaching Roundtable.
Rev. Bob Lehner Co-Chair, Saint Paul Area Synod Care of Creation Work Group
Pastor Bob Lehner is a retired ELCA pastor living in Vadnais Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. He grew up on a farm in central Minnesota and, as an ordained pastor, served several congregations in the Southwestern Minnesota Synod, the most rural synod in the ELCA. He is a husband; father; grandfather; brother; neighbor; and resident of God's good earth. He is currently a member of Christ, the Servant Lutheran Church in Vadnais Heights and a member of the Care of Creation Work Group of the St. Paul
Area Synod.
Rev. Beth Pottratz, EcoFaith Network Communication Coordinator
Since being ordained in 2016, Rev. Beth Pottratz has served in various capacities in Northeastern MN Synod as a called pastor, contracted pastor, pulpit supply, and as a hospice and hospital chaplain. Before entering ordained ministry, Rev. Beth was a high school Spanish teacher in south Minneapolis. These days, she finds herself in a season of life primarily called to be a stay at home mom and is blessed to add the EcoFaith Network Communication Coordinator work in January 2025.
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Rev. Beth lives outside of Motley, MN with her husband, four daughters, three dogs, and fifteen chickens. When she can find free time, she enjoys all sorts of handicrafts like knitting, spinning, pine needle baskets, and hardanger and hand embroidery.