St. Andrew Lutheran Church lost its leader, the affable Rev. Jim Stender. Described as a warm, thoughtful man who radiated love, he was a stalwart advocate for the homeless and disadvantaged.
Stender, who hailed from Bellingham, became pastor of the Orchards-area church in 1998. He died Thursday night of a heart attack. He was 67. He is survived by his wife, Mary Stender, three children and four grandchildren.
A vigil was announced late Friday afternoon and — despite the wintry weather forecasted — people packed the church a few hours later to remember Stender. Besides congregants and members of other churches, there were staff and board members from Share and Council for the Homeless, a testament to Stender’s deep involvement in issues of homelessness and affordable housing.
“What a gift to have experienced such an incredible person of faith,” said the Rev. Adrienne Strehlow, pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in the Vancouver Heights area. “For me, he was a mentor, he was a pastor, he was a friend and a colleague and he was a father figure. … I learned how to be a pastor from him.”
Strehlow said she’s known the Stenders for a couple of decades, and St. Andrew was her hometown congregation.
“The number of lives he touched just by mentoring future pastors is huge,” she said. “If I could be half the pastor he was, I would be pleased.”
The love and thoughtfulness he showed his congregation he also showed the community, she said. He saw a need to serve people experiencing homelessness “not just in words that are pretty but actions that are powerful,” Strehlow said.
Stender was instrumental in getting a Winter Hospitality Overflow shelter established at his church. When the program began 16 years ago, it rotated to a different church every week, which was difficult for homeless clients. Stender volunteered his church to be one of two regular sites. It has a gym, showers and is located on a bus line, so it made sense. Every year, between the beginning of November and the end of March, St. Andrew shelters families and women.
In a 2017 Columbian article, Stender said the WHO was a miracle: “We need to have between 1,300 and 1,500 volunteers to pull this off. … I think it shows the heart of the community.”
Stender led a group of local Lutheran churches in building a Habitat for Humanity home that was completed in 2003. And for the last five years, Stender was a Share board member.
“He was a leader on our board. People looked to him for his opinion,” said Diane McWithey, executive director of the nonprofit. “He was always so warm.”
McWithey remembered how, when there was pushback about the original concept of a day center for the homeless, Stender helped her weather the criticism. Stender always considered the perspective of Share’s homeless clients, asking how any potential changes would benefit those served by the nonprofit, McWithey said.
The board met recently, so the news of Stender’s death was a shock.
The Rev. Gary Lazzeroni of St. Joseph and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic churches had exchanged emails with Stender on Thursday, arranging a breakfast get-together. The pair of friends were going to catch up and talk about Stender’s retirement plans.
“Knowing Jim was a real privilege. He was such a talented pastor on so many levels. … His care for the people of St. Andrew was palpable,” Lazzeroni said. “I’ll miss him a lot.”
One of his favorite memories is when their churches joined forces to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. There was prayer and music at St. Andrew, and later the two had a conversation before a few hundred at St. Joseph, discussing how the Catholic and Lutheran traditions had enriched each of their faiths.
The two met several years ago and were part of an interfaith clergy group. They worked on opening the aforementioned day center, which eventually landed at Friends of the Carpenter and has since evolved into the Vancouver Navigation Center in central Vancouver.
St. Andrew member Denny Scott worked closely with Stender on getting the faith community more involved in tackling homelessness and affordable housing. Forums and discussions eventually led to the creation of Faith Partners for Housing. Scott said working with homeless people was part of Stender’s DNA.
“I found that there was always a message for me in his sermons to help me grow as a humanitarian and as a Christian who was called upon to act out faith,” Scott said. “I think as a pastor, one of his huge strengths was to empower others.”
Even if he was busy working on a sermon, Stender would welcome people into his office for encouragement and counsel. He liked to sing loud on Sundays, regardless of whether he was in key.
Stender planned to retire at the end of June, aiming to spend more time with his family, and sent the congregation a letter explaining the transition. Scott said a church committee had already been working for a few months on the process of finding a new pastor when Stender died.
St. Andrew is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Its Southwest Washington Synod will supply an interim pastor.
Strehlow plans to speak at Stender’s memorial service, scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23 at St. Andrew, 5607 N.E. Gher Road, Vancouver. She reflected on the legacy Stender left behind.
“Jim Stender was a person who was completely grounded in his faith in Christ,” she said. “The way that we can honor him is to continue sharing that love and building that legacy.”
