We were delighted to welcome Bishop William Gohl Jr. of our Delaware-Maryland Synod to our worship services on Sunday, December 13.
After the service, Bishop Gohl sat down with Interim Pastor David Mueller to tape a conversation for the Midweek Extra, which is produced by John Lasher, St. Mark’s director of music and worship arts, and then posted on our YouTube channel.
Bishop Gohl and Pastor Mueller discussed the role of a bishop in our denomination — the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America — and how it compares to a bishop in the Episcopal or Roman Catholic church.
They also discussed the “call” process, which St. Mark’s is pursuing now as we look for a new pastor, and how the church can grow and minister into the future.
Here’s a bit about Bishop Gohl, according to his profile on the Delaware-Maryland Synod website:
Bishop Gohl was elected bishop at the 2016 Synod Assembly. At the time of his election, he was pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church and intern supervisor/vice pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, both in Baltimore. Before that, he served at Peace Lutheran Church in Glen Burnie, Maryland, in vice pastorates at Our Saviour, Lansdowne, Maryland; Zion, City Hall Plaza; Faith, North Avenue and assisted at All Saints, Loch Raven, and Peoples Community in Baltimore.
He attended Gettysburg College, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1996, and earned his master’s at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in 2000. He is now between a master of sacred theology (STM) and doctor of ministry (DMin) at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.
Bill is married to the Rev. Arwyn Pierce Gohl and they have four children, Saliese, David, Andrew and Joyanne.
The Gohls make their home in the northeast corner of Baltimore City and enjoy time with their families; the Gohl side in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania (by way of Long Island, where the bishop grew up) and the Pierce side in Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
Here’s a link to the Midweek Extra on our YouTube channel:
Other videos related to this conversation (as provided by John Lasher) are listed below:
Clarence Pettit
Lutheran Campus Ministry
ELCA World Hunger
The Interim Process
Service video from Sunday, Dec. 20 (Gospel reading)
Camp Mar Lu Ridge YouTube Channel