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Valpo Adds Woman To Pastoral Staff
Abstract: Valpo alum is first woman pastor for Chapel of the Resurrection.
The Rev. Darlene Grega has been called to serve as associate pastor at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University. She will assume her new role on August 23.
Pr. Grega is a graduate of Valparaiso and the Lutheran Deaconess Program. She has a master of arts in counseling from the University of North Dakota and a master of divinity degree from Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.
Before her ELCA ordination, Pr. Grega served as director of international students at St. Cloud State University in MInnesota and as director of the international center at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She also has nine years of experience in campus ministry at colleges and universities in North Carolina, Minnesota and Texas.
Pr. Grega fills a new position on the pastoral staff at Valparaiso and will work with Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod pastors Rev. Joseph Cunningham, University pastor and dean of the chapel, and Rev. James Wetzstein, University associate pastor and associate dean of the chapel.
Pr. Cunningham said:
We are delighted that Rev. Grega has accepted the call to join the ministry team at the Chapel of the Resurrection. The ministry of the chapel benefits from the presence of a pastor from the ELCA. There are many areas of campus ministry where Pastor Wetzstein and I are looking forward to cooperating with Pastor Grega within the guidelines of our respective church bodies.
Pr. Grega had served most recently in a two-year call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Canton, Ohio. In leaving Trinity for Valpo, she has tried to reassure the community that Trinity is not closing its doors.
Downtown Canton is served by five Lutheran churches in a small area. Four of those churches will collaborate in a new parish model and share pastoral staff. Each congregation will maintain its own outreach ministries and missions. Trinity operates the Urban Ark, a food pantry and clothing outreach, and Safe Haven, a parental visitation program in conjunction with the Stark County Family Court.
