L-R, Susan Smith Administrative Assistant, Rev. John Allen, Associate to the Bishop,
Bishop Jessica Crist, Rev. Dave Peters, Director for Evangelical Mission, Susan Hedahl, Executive Assistant

The Bishop:  The Rev. Jessica Crist is Bishop of the Montana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  A resident of Great Falls, she is married to Turner Graybill, a retired attorney.  They are members of Bethel Lutheran Church in Great Falls, Montana.  They have two children—Rhiannon, who is a doctoral student in Hebrew Bible at UC Berkeley, and Raphael, who is a Rhodes Scholar studying Political Science at Oxford.  Bishop Crist grew up in Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Divinity School.

Prior to assuming the office of Bishop, Pastor Crist served as Associate to the Bishop for 5 years, and Director of the Northern Rockies Institute of Theology for 18 years.  She served congregations in Great Falls, Montana, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started in ministry as a campus pastor.  She served on the Transition Team that helped put together the Montana Synod from the predecessor churches, and was elected Synod Secretary at the Constituting Convention.  She served in that capacity for 12 years.  She has worked with the Montana Association of Churches for many years, including serving as President, and as part of the teaching staff for the Lay Ministry Institute.

Her community service over the years has included chairing boards for the local YWCA, the PTA and the hospital’s Women’s Health Board.  She writes a monthly column for Montana Woman Magazine.

She currently serves on the Board of the Montana Association of Churches, on the Board of Luther Seminary, and on the Board of Lutheran World Relief. 

She is a member of the ELCA Task Force on Communal Discernment, the Bishops’ Liason Committee for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, and the Bishops’ Domestic Ready Bench.  She is an ELCA delegate to the National Council of Churches, and represented the Lutheran World Federation at the Global Christian Forum. 

“I am honored to serve as the Bishop of the Montana Synod.  As I travel the Synod and visit your congregations and ministries I get to function as an ambassador.  I get to meet you and listen to your stories.  And I get to share the story of the wider church with you.  I pray for every congregation and every pastor and AIM each week.  And I hope you will join me in praying for the whole church.” 

The Associate to the Bishop:   Pastor John D. Allen brings 30 years of parish ministry experience to his work as associate to Bishop Crist, beginning in 2009.

Most recently he was pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Great Falls, MT for 13 years from 1996 to 2009. He also served Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Kalispell, The Saco-Hinsdale Lutheran parish, and Hope Lutheran Church in Anaconda. He was ordained into the former American Lutheran Church in 1979.  He is also a Chaplain, Lt. Col., serving the Montana Air National Guard since 1990.  During that time, he has been deployed to Kunsan Air Base, South Korea; Landstuhl Medical Center, Germany; and McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

Pastor Allen received a BA in Christian Religion from California Lutheran University in 1975 and a Master of Divinity degree from Luther Theological Seminary in 1979. In 1980, he married Ruth Wagnild, and they have three children (Julie, Cynthia and Jim), two sons-in-law (Ron Ramirez, and Matt Semple) and one grandson (Conner Semple). 

As Associate to the Bishop, Pastor Allen’s duties include candidacy, mobility, administration, out-reach, consultation with rostered and lay leaders, Synod Council, First Call Theological Education, the Lay Pastoral Associate program, and other duties.

Director for Mission, EOCM: Pastor Peters has served small, mid-sized, and large congregations in Montana, Washington, and Wisconsin; he has been a missionary in Indonesia; and he has served as a hospital chaplain and as a director for a non-profit whole person health care clinic.

He is married to Deborah Anderson Peters, who serves as Director of the Health Administration Program and Associate Director of Grants and Sponsored Programs at Montana State University, Billings.  They are parents of Bina, a lawyer with the Montana Water Court, and Aria, a teaching assistant at the Evergreen School in Seattle, Washington. 

Executive Assistant: Susan A. Hedahl is the Executive Assistant for Administration for the Montana Synod. She started with the synod in January of 2002. Her experience comes from 25 years of work in the legal community, both with lawyers and a District Court Judge.

Susan oversees the office operations, the annual Montana Synod Assembly, the roster, communications, Synod Council meetings, and with administration and finances.

Susan has a Paralegal Associates Degree from the University of Great Falls. She has been involved on the congregational level and served on her church council (First English Lutheran, Great Falls). Susan became a Lay Pastoral Associate in 2010. An avid quilter, she is the mother of an adult daughter living in Seattle.

Administrative Assistant:   Susan Smith is originally from Texas and has worked in the Synod office since September 2008.  She brings with her a variety of job skills and experiences from her travels with the military.  Susan works as the office receptionist and also as an administrative assistant.  She works with the MT Synod Mission Table, candidacy, RLP’s & MSP’s, LPA’s and LPA training program, special events coordinator and registrar, and general office support.

Susan earned her Associate’s degree in Paralegal Studies in May 2009.  She volunteers her free time to Special Olympics and Spay of the Falls Spay/neuter animal clinics.

Officers

• Bishop Jessica Crist (2013)
• Vice-President Mike Young (2015)
• Secretary Peggy Paugh-Leuzinger (2014)
• Treasurer Harold Spilde (2015)

Clusters

• Bearpaw Cluster – Ms. Sue Ost (2014)
• Beartooth Cluster - Rev. Kim Wilker (2012)
• Crazy Mountain Cluster - Ms. Cindy Larsen (2014)
• Five Valleys Cluster - Mr. Scott Southwick (2012)
• Flathead Cluster – Ms. Bev Larson (2014)
• Fort Peck Cluster – Dr. Christine Holler-Dinsmore (2013)
• Golden Triangle Cluster – Ms. Cheryl Muncy (2013)
• Great Divide Cluster – Mr. John Mundinger (2013)
• Northeast Cluster – Rev. Al Beyer (2012)
• Russell Country Cluster – Mr. Tom Gossack (2012)
• Shepherd Cluster – Rev. Amanda Liggett (2013)
• Southeast Cluster - Ms. Karen Olsen Beenken (2014)
  

Youth Representative

• Mr. Wayne Young (2012)