LTSP

New Students, Fall 2001

A change of plans…

Kimberly Leffler was always an active Lutheran, but studying for the rostered ministry was not an early option. "I had my life very well planned," she says. " I would finish high school, go to a good college, enter law school and work for a prestigious law firm, get married and have two or three children." Things went pretty much as planned. But the six years in law were not what she expected. "I handled divorce cases and custody disputes, and I found myself helping people when they are most vulnerable. I really wanted to help clients beyond filing papers and representing them in court." She volunteered for a domestic violence organization and taught a class at the state penitentiary.

"All of this created a feeling I needed to do more," she says. Her marriage ended and illness caused her to stop practicing law for a while. "Instead of going to God for guidance and comfort, I found myself pulling away," she says. "But God didn't give up on me. Like the Israelites, I think I had to do some wandering in the desert before discovering what God had in store for my life." She moved to Arizona and intended to begin practicing law again, but her new course of action didn't seem right.

"I listened to what God was telling me and to my surprise felt a strong call to ministry. It seemed finally that all my experiences as an attorney, teacher, facing my illness and hospitals and bureaucracy and knowing what I knew about poverty were coming together for a purpose." She's never been east. But visiting LTSP on the internet, plus a campus visit, made a big impression on her.

Urban ministry fascinates her. "I feel a call for social justice, and I want to explore here whether I could best serve God in an urban setting."