Pastor and Staff

Pastor  Nathan Allen   came to Tulsa most recently from Chicago, Illinois where he received his Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC).  At LSTC he completed a Biblical Studies Emphasis, a one-year pastoral internship at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and also interned in the Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations office at the ELCA's Churchwide headquarters.   

Pastor Nathan was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he attended Kalamazoo College (known affectionately by its alumni as "K").  At K-College, Nathan majored in Classical Studies and minored in History and Latin.  He was also active in the music program playing Bass Trombone in the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band. He served as director and conductor of the student-led Kalamazoo College “Fighting Hornet” Pep Band during his sophomore and senior years.  During his junior year, Nathan studied in Rome, Italy, for a semester at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies.

Preaching the Word of God and administering the Sacraments are at the heart of Pastor Nathan’s ministry at Joy Lutheran Church. To read an excerpt of Pastor Nathan’s understanding of Word and Sacrament as a means of receiving God’s grace, click here. Pastor Nathan is active in the Eastern Oklahoma Conference of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod of the ELCA. He serves as the Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Network (LERN) Liaison for the A/OK Synod and has been appointed to a four-year term as one of the ELCA's delegates to the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA from 2008-2011.

 

Secretary -- Monica DeBolt has been the Secretary at Joy since November 2005. She lives in Jenks, OK with her husband Kevin and her three kids. She has been an active member of Jenks United Methodist Church since July of 1994 and is a certified Lay Leader in the United Methodist Church.

 
Organist  --  Diana Franchini
   

Pastor's Explaination of Word and Sacraments

Word and the sacraments are fundamental to a Lutheran understanding of the means by which we receive God’s grace. Through Word and the sacraments, the people of God are reminded audibly, visibly, and tangibly of God’s grace that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. From these “means of grace,” Christians receive “the presence of Jesus Christ though the power of the Spirit as the gift of the Father.”(1) These free gifts from God of Word and the sacraments provide the grace needed for God to work through people who, though made saints through Christ’s righteousness, still struggle daily with sin. Through Word and the sacraments, God sustains Christians in our continued ministry as bearers of God’s kingdom until we reach the eternal kingdom that comes through the “final revelation.” However, until this final revelation—the second coming of Christ—takes place, God provides the church as a model, albeit an imperfect one, for God’s future kingdom.

Article VII of the Augsburg Confession defines the Lutheran understanding of the church: “The church is the assembly of saints in which the gospel is taught purely and the sacraments are administered rightly. And it is enough for the true unity of the church to agree concerning the teaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments.” (2) Therefore, from a Lutheran perspective, the church is not just a community of people—it is a community where the Word is preached and the sacraments are administered. All persons gathered for worship who have received Word and/or sacraments are empowered by the Holy Spirit through this means of grace to do God’s will in the world. Thus, the church receives the revelation of God [the Word] through Christ and in turn carries this revelation forth as a bearer of God’s kingdom.

(1)Renewing Worship Volume II: Principles for Worship “The Use of the Means of Grace: Principle 1” ( Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2002) 98.

(2) Kolb and Wengert, The Book of Concord, 43, #1-2.

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Joy Lutheran Church
9940 S. Yale Avenue
Tulsa , OK 74137

Office: 918-299-3292
Fax: 918-299-3271

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   Modified August 26, 2008