The Rev. Susan Langhauser

Denomination: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Organization: Advent Lutheran Church, Olathe, KS

The Rev. Susan Langhauser is the Senior Pastor at Advent Lutheran Church in Olathe, Kansas. Pastor Langhauser received her B.A. in Speech and Theatre from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. and her Master of Divinity with honors from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, Ca. She was ordained into the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in July of 1990.

Prior to entering seminary, she was the Director of Chapter and International Affairs for the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and travelled extensively internationally. Nationally, she has served on the ELCA Church Council and Executive Committee, andchaired the Planning and Evaluation Committee. She was a member of the Communal Discernment Task Force and the editor for their final document which is used by the wider church.

Pastor Langhauser has supervised pastoral interns since 2002, from both Luther Theological Seminary in Minneapolis and the Lutheran School of Theology at Gettysburg, as well as mentoring numerous first-call pastors in the KC metro area as they moved from seminary into the first year in their congregations. She has also served as a Chaplain for the Overland Park (Kansas) Police Department for almost 20 years.

Since the publication of her book, Blessings and Rituals for the Journey of Life (Abingdon Press, 2000), she has led many workshops and seminars on blessings, worship and preaching around the country, as well as being a guest lecturer for the Pastoral Care course at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. She has continued to contribute to preaching journals and educational and devotional publications for 1517 Media, the publishing arm of the ELCA.

Until his election as Bishop of the Central States Synod (ELCA) she and her husband, the Rev. Roger Gustafson, served the congregation of Advent as co-pastors for 23 years. They have one grown son, Andy, who is married to Megan, parents of two perfect grandchildren, Henry and Vivian.