Love Out Loud 5

Prologue

Prior to the return of Fall athletes to Trinity on August 14th, several happenings involving members of the TLU and ELCA community transpired. Among them:

* Alyssa and Amanda Norman struck a deal with Teri Short (Kailen's mom) to rent her house in Whitefish Bay for the 2020/2021 academic year, moving in (with help provided by their parents, sister, and the owner's daughter) on August 1st. Kristie and Sam Mueller planned to move into the house on the 15th, giving them a few days back in the Milwaukee area before campus opened for Winter and Spring athletes and incoming freshmen on the 20th. As part of the deal, Kailen would be living on-campus this year, rooming with Shelley Zembruski.

* On August 9th, Marc led worship at All Shepherds Lutheran Church in place of Jared Capshaw, as the congregation would be gathering after service to vote on extending a call to the Indiana University and Southeastern Lutheran Seminary graduate. True to his practices at Trinity, Deacon Schmidt asked Leah and Chloe Prosser to serve as lector and organist, respectively. The aforementioned meeting was spirited as factions of church members offered their opinions about the candidate before them as well as the process the call committee utilized in getting to this day. Some felt the committee didn't really consider other candidates before settling on Rev. Capshaw as their first choice, while others were critical of him for being a potential like-for-like swap for Aaron Prosser instead of the more progressive leader they wished All Shepherds to call. Following 45 minutes of debate, the congregation voted to call Jared as their full-time pastor by a 163-68 margin. Jared's installation at All Shepherds is scheduled for August 16th at 2pm, with Bishop Paul Emerson presiding.

***

During Monday's opening meeting for Trinity Lutheran University's faculty and staff, interim President Jan Gifford dropped a bit of a bombshell on the athletic department, naming Marc as a special assistant to athletic director Jamie Krueger, piling additional unnamed responsibilities onto the ones he already carried as Chaplain and Executive Director of the Urban Coaching Institute. Following the meeting, Marc asked Jamie and Ally to meet with him on Wednesday to go over the potential shuffling of duties between the three of them. He also contacted Alyssa as he felt there could be a need for her to step into a more active role within his office.

At 1pm on Wednesday, the four of them gathered in the athletic department conference room, where Marc led off the discussion.

Marc: Before we get down to what we've come together to discuss, can I vent JUST a little bit about being put upon by Jan to add more to my plate in what already is going to be a VERY busy semester with what I ALREADY need to oversee and do between now and the start of 2021?!?!

Jamie: I did NOT know Jan was going to spring that on you without speaking with you first. When she contacted me a couple of weeks ago to see what needs the department had given its current leadership and my Fall duties with volleyball, I mentioned that there were a couple of projects that needed to be completed within the next three months or so and that we could use an extra set of hands to manage them on my behalf. With Pam (Kucharski, associate athletic director/head women's basketball coach) leaving after this year and seemingly uninvolved in much beyond event management, and Ted (Thurman, assistant athletic director) more or less promised the promotion to associate athletic director upon her departure, Jan didn't want to create a short-term contract position for the eight-to-ten weeks this "assistant to the AD" would be working. Therefore, she asked if we had someone on campus who could step in. I had to be honest with her and say that, for one of the two projects, the only person on this campus capable or even conversant in the issues regarding the sport, Division III athletics, and schools' academic and social profiles was you. Again, she was supposed to feel you out first, or at least given me a chance to broach the subject, before making the announcement on Monday.