Rev. Dr. Lori Walke to be Installed as Senior Pastor at Mayflower UCC

Rev. Lori Walke will be installed as the Senior Pastor of Mayflower Congregational UCC on Sunday September 26th at 4:00PM. Having served as Associate Pastor for several years before being called to serve as the Senior Pastor,  Lori’s ministry is well known and celebrated. Installation into the role of Senior Pastor is an important milestone and celebration for the congregation, for Lori, and for the Conference. As we read in the Service of Installation: Installation confirms and celebrates the covenantal relationship among a local church, its pastor and teacher, and the United Church of Christ.”  It is a sign of our commitment to share mutually in the ministry of the United Church of Christ.

Services of Installation have always been limited to those who can travel and in Kansas-Oklahoma that has been challenging. The installation on Sunday is the first during the pandemic that is a hybrid service and at a time that does not conflict with  Sunday morning worship services. Persons in the Oklahoma City area who feel comfortable are invited to the in-person installation service (vaccinated and masked with the safety precautions that Mayflower has instituted) and all others are welcome and encouraged to join virtually.

We always assume that everyone knows everyone in KO, but that’s not always true. So, here’s a bit about Rev. Lori Walke:

Lori is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and in 2009 completed her Juris Doctorate from Oklahoma City University. She attended Phillips Theological Seminary where she completed her Master of Divinity in 2011 and  completed her Doctor of Ministry from Emory University in May of last year. Ordained in 2012, Lori started serving at Mayflower in the role of Associate Minister for Christian Education and moved to Associate Pastor in 2013. She is in the Next Generation Leadership Program with the UCC Pension Board, and has served the Conference on the Local Church Ministry Commission and Annual Meeting Planning Teams.

What Lori has done is important, but as we join in her installation, who she is is perhaps more important. She wrote the following:

My sense of call is a tale of two churches. I was raised by Blue Lakes Southern Baptist Church, a small, rural, conservative congregation. I now minister alongside the people of Mayflower Congregational UCC, a mid-size urban, progressive congregation. My conversion from Bible trivia princess to social gospel preacher and justice advocate is typical: exposure to new ideas and environments brought me to a theology and community that overcame the cognitive dissonance between real life and dogma that I had been taught was fundamental. While we have deep theological differences, I am ever grateful for how the people of Blue Lakes prepared me for parish ministry. This includes a deep appreciation for scripture and congregational care. I learned how to be present in life’s most difficult moments, as well as how to celebrate joy with others. Because of this, my earliest professional goal was to become a lawyer who could speak for those without a voice. But after being welcomed into the United Church of Christ, a denomination that recognizes that God has always called women to ministry, I could finally answer the call to to ordained ministry that had been there all along. Thanks be to God!

We look forward to sharing in this important moment in the life of Mayflower and the wider church in Kansas and Oklahoma.