University Congregational Picks Interim Ministers

University Congregational Church has selected the Revs. Franklin W. Kelsey and Luther William Youngdahl to serve as interim ministers for the next eight to 18 months.

The two retired United Church of Christ ministers are scheduled on Jan. 3 to join the ministerial team of one of Seattle's largest churches.They will serve until two new permanent ministers can be called, said Margaret Klockars, the church moderator.

They will replace the Rev. Paul Flucke, who resigned as senior minister in September, and the Rev. David Grishaw-Jones, who will leave his associate minister's post Jan. 24. Grishaw-Jones said he and his wife, Dr. Kate Grishaw-Jones, have been planning for the past year to relocate to California or the East Coast, where their families live.

Youngdahl, 65, is former pastor of First Congregational Church in Eugene, Ore., and First Congregational Church in Palo Alto, Calif. He was serving as interim minister of Niles Congregational Church in Fremont, Calif., before his retirement July 1.

Youngdahl, a native of Minneapolis, began his career as a Lutheran minister before becoming pastor of the First Congregational Church in Minneapolis in 1970. He served an internship at Gethsemene Lutheran Church in Seattle in 1952-53 and was the first pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Federal Way in 1955.

His father, Luther Wallace Youngdahl, was a three-term governor of Minnesota, and his cousin is the Rev. Jon Nelson, pastor of

Central Lutheran Church in Seattle.

Kelsey, 67, was organizing pastor of Eastgate Congregational Church in Bellevue, co-minister of Fauntleroy Community Church in West Seattle, pastor of San Lorenzo Community Church in the San Francisco Bay Area and associate minister of the Washington-North Idaho Conference of the United Church of Christ. He also worked as a career counselor, founding the Center for Life Decisions in Seattle.

A native of Northfield, Minn., Kelsey has been active in volunteer social service work here and is the co-chairman of Caring Neighbors, the food-voucher program serving the homeless and poor on Capitol Hill and First Hill.

Kelsey and Youngdahl will join the Rev. Gail Crouch, who is associate pastor at University Congregational Church.

University Congregational has 1,300 members.