The Anchorage UU Fellowship called the Rev. Gary Holthaus to settled ministry by vote of the congregation on April 22.
Rev. Holthaus is an author and poet, nonprofit administrator and educator. He has been a proponent of sustainable agriculture, arts and the humanities, and served for nearly 20 years as executive director of The Alaska Humanities Forum. He has had a wide ranging career as a speaker, consultant and facilitator.
Rev. Holthaus is an ordained minister in the Methodist Church and served several churches as an undergraduate and seminarian. He was co-pastor of the Kenai Parish in Alaska (Kenai, Soldotna, Tustumena, Ninilchik, and North Kenai) and recalls being a consultant to the Anchorage fellowship in 1970s or 1980s; he has been an occasional speaker there in years since.
Rev. Holthaus notes, “These parishes involved all aspects of ministerial work: hospital visits, counseling, preparing for services, Sunday morning services, weddings, funerals, community activities, fundraising, administration, etc… Since 1963 I have been on voluntary location (ordained but without a church appointment) in the Methodist Church.”
Though he has lived in Red Wing, MN, and elsewhere for several years, he has maintained close ties with Alaska and has children and grandchildren there. He will begin service to AUUF this fall.
Anchorage UU Fellowship will ordain Ruth Greenwood on July 15. Ruth, a member of AUUF, is completing her M.Div. at Meadville Lombard Theological School and has been granted Preliminary Fellowship by the UUA Ministerial Fellowship Committee.
The Rev. Heather Christensen, also a member of AUUF, was accepted into Fellowship by the UUA Ministerial Fellowship Committee after completing a lengthy process to transfer credentials. She is a former Presbyterian minister.