Meet the new players

One of the blessings of our integration with IM is the additional human resources that will be used to meet ministry needs. A complete listing of the IM staff can be found at im.life/our-staff. We’d like to introduce three of the key players who will have large roles in carrying out the work that WELS Prison Ministry has historically undertaken. These are Rev. Phil Henselin, executive director; Rev. Ed Frey, director of ministry; and Mrs. Tricia Parkhurst, volunteer coordinator. Short job descriptions for each are provided at the link above. Here’s a bit more detail with respect to the integration:

As executive director, Phil Henselin has overall responsibility for ensuring that the integration goes smoothly by assigning the appropriate IM personnel to integrate the new IM tasks with the existing IM work. He keeps the IM Board of Directors informed of all integration activities and works with Joel Gaertner and IM financial staff to take care of the transition of financial support.

Ed Frey, director of ministry, has responsibility for making sure the correspondence ministry and other aspects of WELS Prison Ministry continue and, Lord willing, expand under IM leadership. Ed will work to maintain the library of studies and add to it. He works closely with the volunteer coordinator to ensure the resources are available to get the ministry’s work done.

Volunteer Coordinator Tricia Parkhurst is integrating IM’s volunteer recruiting and support system with that of WELS Prison Ministry. She will support Amy Rich and Beth Kretsch, who will continue to operate the New Ulm office and direct the volunteers there. Tricia coordinates other resources, including IM’s HelpReturning resource database to assist released inmates. This integrates well with our “Mentoring a Returning Citizen” training course.

As this work moves forward, we pray that the LORD of the Church continues to bless this integration effort.