PHILADELPHIA -- For J. Lawrence House of Plymouth Meeting, PA, his appointment from Associate Director to Executive Director of the LTSP Foundation at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia is an affirmation of a professional calling.

"I have the privilege of working with incredible people who tell me regularly about the joy they get out of making a difference in other people's lives," says House, who began his advancement (fund-raising) work at the Seminary in 1991. "I am thankful that they give me the opportunity to be with them." House was appointed to his new post in April during a meeting of the Seminary's Board of Trustees. He succeeds the Rev. Dr. Kenneth C. Feinour, Jr. who left the Seminary earlier this year to assume the post of Executive Vice President of Diakon, a new social ministry agency serving central and eastern Pennsylvania.

House joined the Seminary staff at a time when LTSP was looking to expand its modest development efforts into a full-time employment initiative. "The Seminary was facing the need for a comprehensive plan to address general support needs, including the challenge to upgrade its campus facilities and add to its student aid resources," he said. For House, the career change was easy to make. "I was a student here at one time, and I loved the place," he says.

Then, too, House just loves the church. When he is not working hard at the Seminary (or on the road), he has been involved (until recently) on the Congregation Council of Upper Dublin Lutheran Church. He also serves on the Council of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where he helps a regional jurisdiction of the church manage budget and stewardship issues. When House isn't wrapped up in church activities, he likes to budget priority time with his family (wife, Karen, a school nurse; children Erik, 21; Stina, 18; and Katie, 14). He enjoys gardening, camping, and working on his home.

House didn't always relish the notion of fund-raising the way he does now. "I used to think it was a necessary evil that didn't befit the church," he says. That was when he once served as a program development specialist for Lutheran Welfare Services of Northeastern Pennsylvania. "In fact I was frightened of the idea of raising money," he says. But while developing continuing education programs for professional church leaders in Northeastern Pennsylvania, he attended a stewardship workshop he had planned, conducted by the late Rev. Richard Lee Peterman, a highly regarded speaker skilled at addressing money/faith matters. "Dick taught me that stewardship was more about faith than it was about finances," House says.

Now, House focuses on the relationship side of giving. He seeks to be a resource for helping donors make an important difference for the future of the church they love and its leaders in the making. He frequently speaks of gifts not in dollar amounts but by the names of those he considers friends ("Tom and Carolyn in California," "Francis who's been a pioneer in the church's social ministry work…").

House considers his appointment an affirmation of the difference he's made, a vote of confidence. "I'm really thrilled to be in a position to help build on the incredible growth we've enjoyed over the past decade," he says (the Seminary currently has an enrollment of about 430, nearly double the number of seminarians as 10 years ago.) "I look forward to partnering with others to assure the Seminary of a strong future in its role of educating new leaders."