Title: Earl Mummert, ELCA Church Council Member, Dies ELCA NEWS SERVICE
October 23, 2006
Earl Mummert, ELCA Church Council Member, Dies 06-155-MRC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Earl L. Mummert, 61, a member of the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Oct. 20 at the Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pa. Mummert also served on the ELCA Blue Ribbon Committee on Mission Funding.
In an Oct. 23 e-mail to staff of the ELCA churchwide organization the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, said Mummert died after a long struggle with depression. A funeral service will be held Oct. 25 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Camp Hill, Pa.
"This church has lost a passionate leader and a good friend," Hanson told the ELCA News Service. "Throughout his life Earl not only spoke the gospel, he lived it. His years of dedicated service on the ELCA Board of Pensions, the Church Council, the Blue Ribbon Committee on Mission Funding and the Lutheran World Relief Strategic Thinkers Council, and his strong advocacy on behalf of the disadvantaged, marginalized and oppressed throughout the world embodied the meaning of servanthood," he said.
The ELCA Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 2001 elected Mummert to a six-year term on the Church Council. He served on the council's executive committee and chaired the budget and finance committee.
Prior to his term on the council, Mummert was on the board of directors of the ELCA Board of Pensions from 1995 to 2001, serving as chair in 1999 and 2000. He was partner and vice president at Conrad M. Siegel, Inc., Harrisburg, Pa.; a council member and treasurer of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania, Harrisburg; and chair of the compensation and benefits committee, ELCA Lower Susquehanna Synod, Harrisburg. Mummert also served as a volunteer missionary in Slovakia on behalf of ELCA Global Mission.
Mummert served on a variety of boards and committees and chaired multiple fundraising campaigns throughout his career. He was a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and an enrolled pension actuary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Mummert served as vice chair of the Foundation Board of the Lutheran School of Theology at Philadelphia, council member of the ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission, vice chair of the Leadership Harrisburg Area, finance chair of the Metropolitan Arts of Central Pennsylvania and the Harrisburg Symphony, and co- chair of the YWCA annual appeals.
Mummert earned a bachelor's degree in economics from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa., and conducted graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
"The church has lost a great advocate and fellow worker in Christ," said Carlos Pena, ELCA vice president, Galveston, Texas. "Earl Mummert served on the ELCA Church Council's executive committee and as chair of the budget and finance committee. He served willingly and gladly, and was well-respected as a guiding force and leader," said Pena, who chairs the ELCA Church Council.
"I was privileged to work with Earl on the council and even more fortunate to have traveled with him recently on our journey to Palestine, West Bank. As businessmen and bank directors we had a lot in common and enjoyed each other's company, sharing wit and wisdom. Like me, Earl's trip to the West Bank was a transforming one. He told me how deeply our journey (there) affected him and his views on life in that part of the world. Earl expressed to me that his trips to Africa and the West Bank opened his mind to the real plight of people there. Ever since, he became a strong advocate for the worldwide mission of the ELCA," he said.
"The news of Earl's passing has greatly saddened me, as I am sure there was more good work ahead from him. He will remain an inspiration to me," Pena said. "I believe Earl will still be guiding me through the example he set. My deepest sympathies go to his loving wife, Chris, and family," he said.
Mummert was an active member of Tree of Life Lutheran Church, Harrisburg. He is survived his wife, Christine, their two adult children, Dan and Laura, and one grandchild. - - -
Memorials may be directed to the ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission or the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg.
Information about the ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission is available at http://www.ELCA.org/fundforleaders on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog