Pastor Caitlin Trussell

Born in Boston, raised in Pasadena, married a Nebraskan, and now in Denver for the past 20 years, Pastor Caitlin Trussell has covered a lot of ground literally as well as professionally, personally, and theologically. She was a Registered Nurse for 16 years, working in hospitals with families caring for children with cancer and then managing home hospice teams of RNs, Chaplains, Social Workers, and CNAs who supported families caring for dying loved ones at home. During that time, she received a Master’s in Nursing from UCLA as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Pediatric Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplant, and Pain Management. She moved to Colorado and married Rob in 1995. Their family soon grew to include their two children.

Baptized through the Roman Catholic Church while living with her first father, then baptized again through the fundamentalist Christian tradition of her step-father, Pastor Caitlin spent about ten years as a religious refugee wondering if there was a place to hang her theological hat. When their children were born, Rob’s unscathed Lutheran memories, and Pastor Caitlin’s fond memories of older church ladies, drew the Trussells into a neighborhood Lutheran church.

Pastor Caitlin was captured by God’s love that is constant as we struggle with our flaws, doubt, and despair; and as we delight in life earnestly, ironically, and irreverently. The pastor there invited her to preach which instigated Rob and their congregation’s encouragement of her to become a pastor. By 2011, she completed her Master of Divinity degree at Iliff School of Theology which includes concurrent coursework at Luther Seminary.

The two-year wait for a congregational call found her speaking and teaching at church retreats; leading funerals and weddings by referral; and preaching for various Metro Denver congregations including New Beginnings Church within the walls of the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility which she is still doing intermittently.

A pastor of Augustana since February 2013, Pastor Caitlin preaches, teaches, and leads worship in addition to providing pastoral care and congregational leadership. She is grateful that God bestows grace in and through flawed people called the church and is grateful to be both a recipient and preacher of this grace with Augustana Lutheran Church – a group of people who live into this grace together by tethering into a rich worship tradition and free to figure out what it means to be people of faith in this place and time.

Contact Pastor Caitlin at 303-388-4678 ext. 115. You can also visit her website: http://caitlintrussell.org/.

Bridge Pastor Gail Mundt

Pastor Gail first felt the call to “full-time Christian ministry” while at summer camp with her church youth group. One evening, the youth director extended an invitation to consider a call into ministry and Pastor Gail felt her heart warm and excitement at accepting that call. During college, she worked as a church youth director in Florida and Georgia. She met her husband, Randy, in Greek class at Florida Southern College! They married and moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada and attended Lutheran Theological Seminary where they both received their Master of Divinity degrees.

Pastor Gail served as an intern pastor in Richardson, Texas and then moved to Colorado with Randy where they served in God’s ministry and started a family. All three of their children were born in Pueblo. From Pueblo, they moved to Evergreen where Gail continued an eclectic work history while still volunteering in many and various ways in the church. She worked as a letter carrier, customer service manager, background screening agent, and at a credit reporting agency.

From Colorado, they moved to Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, taking their youngest daughter with them. (The older two had graduated to college.) Pastor Gail was the Operations Manager for Habitat for Humanity West Hawaii. From there, they moved to Vienna, Austria and began their calling and career in international ministry. As their youngest moved into her senior year of high school, Randy encouraged Gail that it was time to officially become ordained and continue in the path of Word and Sacrament ministry. During the years in Vienna, she worked long distance on the various requirements, as well as traveling back to Colorado to meet with the synod committees. She served a second internship at Lutheran Church of the Master (LCM), Lakewood, CO.

Pastor Gail was ordained at LCM in 2013 after receiving the call to Tokyo Union Church (Japan) as an Associate Pastor. Upon returning to the U.S., she served as a Bridge Pastor in Colorado Springs. In 2015, she and Pastor Randy were asked by ELCA Global Missions to go to Bratislava, Slovakia to serve as interim pastors and schoolteachers in bilingual Lutheran schools. Upon returning to Colorado, they served as Intentional Interim pastors in Fort Collins. From there, Pastor Gail served as a Bridge Pastor and then was called as Executive Pastor at Christ Lutheran Church in Highlands Ranch.

When that call was completed, Pastor Gail returned to her love of interim ministry, serving as Intentional Interim Pastor at Lutheran Church of the Master, Lakewood.  Interim ministry and serving as a Bridge pastor brings the joy, excitement and energy similar to working in international settings. In each, the pastor and the people know that we have only a short time together, so it is important to work quickly, faithfully and to communicate openly in order that the church positions itself in as healthy as manner possible to call the next settled pastor.

Pastor Gail loves God and God’s people. She enjoys hearing your stories of life and holy moments. She loves that wily Holy Spirit and how she comforts, convicts, and moves us to be better than we can be on our own. Pastor Gail adores her family and delights in their three grandsons!  She enjoys exercising in the pool and looks forward to trips to the beach. Her house is filled with house plants and mementoes that tell stories. She’s happy and honored to be at Augustana during this season of transition and looks forward to serving in God’s ministry alongside each of you.

Contact Pastor Gail at 303-388-4678 ext. 105 or by email.