Woven in faith: The multifaceted ministry of Gretchen Olson
News story by Emma Maple | FāVS News
The Rev. Gretchen Olson has worn many hats throughout her life — chaplain, pastor, nonprofit leader, mother — and now a pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Spokane. The thread that connects them all, she said, is her dedication to and passion for ministry.
Her journey into ordained ministry, however, took a very slow and winding path.
Olson grew up in Moville, Iowa, as the daughter of an immigrant mother and a Lutheran pastor.
Her educational journey began in 1986 when she attended Luther College. She graduated in 1990 with a bachelor’s in international studies and sociology.
After graduation, Olson went to Chicago to serve in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s churchwide office in research and program evaluation. There, she met Sacha Kopp, who also grew up in Iowa but was finishing schooling in Chicago. Soon, they were married.
In 1995, Olson decided to continue with her education. She went on to get a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University, graduating in 1998.
After grad school, Kopp and Olson worked together in the nonprofit world, helping to finance affordable housing developments in New York and Texas.
From 2000 to 2014, Olson served as a stay-at-home mom to their two kids, Eleanor and Eli. She also assisted in many volunteer roles at First English Lutheran and led on the board of Micah 6, an ecumenical food pantry in Austin, Texas.
In 2014, Olson and her family moved to Long Island, New York. She continued to serve in the community and spent time launching a furniture bank, Open Door Exchange, through the Presbyterian congregation there.
Olson moves into ordained ministry
Fast forward to 2017, and Olson decided to enter Wartburg Theological Seminary as a distance student.
“I think God was very patient and persistent with me when it came to ordained ministry,” Olson said.
During her time in seminary, Olson served as a chaplain with North Shore University Hospital in Long Island and Creighton University’s Campus Ministry in Omaha. She also spent an internship year at Kountze Memorial Lutheran in Omaha.
Olson said part of what drew her to chaplaincy is the “process of just getting to know the Holy stories of people’s lives.”
In 2023, she graduated both from seminary with her master of divinity degree and from Creighton University with a certificate in Ignatian Spiritual Direction.
Olson said one reason it took her longer to follow the call to ordained ministry is because she grew up watching her father’s role as a pastor in a Lutheran congregation.
“I knew the breadth and depth of what that can look like, to say yes to ordained ministry,” Olson said.
“I am incredibly grateful to now have said yes,” she said.
God brought Olson to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
After graduation, Olson moved to Spokane to be with Kopp, who had gotten a job as Gonzaga University’s provost and chief academic officer in 2022.
In December of 2023, Olson started as a chaplain at Sacred Heart Medical Center. In June of this year, she started as one of the three pastors serving at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church.
“I think both St. Mark’s and I felt like the spirit brought us together in a way that really surprised us both,” Olson said.
Olson’s first experience with St. Mark’s came because St. Mark’s was looking for supply, or substitute, pastors during Advent. Someone at St. Mark’s reached out to Olson to see if she would be available to supply preach and lead a Bible study, which is part of the supply preaching responsibilities.
“The process of meeting the people of St. Mark’s and preaching there was just a beautiful experience,” Olson said.
Edwin Weber, one of the pastors at St. Mark’s, said that Olson seemed to fit into the church the minute she stepped foot through the doors.
“She preached such a wonderful sermon that a lot of people were touched and moved by,” Weber said.
Around that time, Weber said the leadership team at St. Mark’s determined there was a “ministry need” in the congregation. In 2023 St. Mark’s lead pastor, Lori Cornell, was diagnosed with lung cancer. She went on medical leave in October.
To help address the needs of St. Mark’s, Weber said the congregation decided to call a one-year term pastor.
“Gretchen was the one that God put in our path,” Weber said.
‘A warm hug from somebody that you love‘
After Olson’s experience supply preaching, St. Mark’s invited her back to do a women’s retreat for around 30 women in the congregation.
“She did such a wonderful job,” Weber said. “There were tons of people who came back and said, ‘Why can’t we call Gretchen? Why can’t she be our pastor?’”
By the end of the women’s retreat, St. Mark’s leadership was thinking the same thing as their congregation. Weber said the leadership was in conversation with the synod’s bishop, Bishop Meggan Manlove.
“We mentioned to her we were interested in Gretchen as a possibility,” Weber said. “And she came back to us and said Gretchen would be a good fit.”
“Everything seemed to unfold from there,” Olson said. “We all shake our heads that this emerged with such ease.”
“I think we have a lot of peace that it was spirit-led together,” Olson said.
At St. Mark’s, Olson will be in the preaching and worship leadership rotation. She also will provide support for families with young children, share in programming adult forums, do some retreat work, share in confirmation duties and support the pastoral care.
Weber is excited to have Olson on the team both due to her personality and the skills she brings to the table. He said Olson has “world class pastoral care experience.”
For her personality, Weber described Olson as “a warm hug from somebody that you love.”
Weber also praised Olson’s skills for leadership, music, administration, chaplaincy and her “wonderful gift with young children.”
“Gretchen fits into [St. Mark’s] ministry [and] into that work that we’re already doing in such a wonderful way,” Weber said.
“It is a joy to get to know the St. Mark’s community, from the very youngest people … to its elders,” Olson said.
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