ELCA NEWS SERVICE March 25, 2004 Furst, Director for Lutheran Disaster Response, Retires 04-050-MR CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Gilburt B. Furst, director for Domestic Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and director for Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), a ministry of the ELCA and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), will retire at the end of June. "This church is deeply grateful to Rev. Furst for embodying the love of Christ to victims of natural and human-caused disasters. He has been director of ELCA Domestic Disaster Response and of Lutheran Disaster Response for nearly eight years. Throughout this time he has brought the ministry of the church to thousands of people in hundreds of communities, has offered a pastoral presence to caregivers and established a solid network of partner organizations working to prepare for and respond to disasters. Gil Furst is a gift of God to this church for which we give thanks," said Rebecca S. Larson, executive director, ELCA Division for Church in Society. Furst was born June 2, 1941, in North Fogelsville, Pa. He graduated from Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., in 1963. He earned a bachelor of divinity degree in 1966, a master of sacred theology in 1975, and a doctorate in ministry in 1983 from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP). Muhlenberg is a college of the ELCA; LTSP is a seminary of the church. Furst was pastor of ELCA congregations in Freemansburg, Schuylkill Haven, and Cetronia, all in Pennsylvania, before serving as executive associate to the bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Wescosville, Pa., from 1983 to 1996. During that time, Furst also became involved with Lutheran Disaster Response. In 1991 he worked as a consultant in the aftermath of earthquakes in Los Angeles and hurricanes in the U.S. Virgin Islands alongside the Rev. Leon A. Phillips, LDR director. In 1996 Furst was named associate director for ELCA Domestic Disaster Response. He became director for ELCA Domestic Disaster Response and succeeded Phillips as executive director for Lutheran Disaster Response in 1998. LDR works to serve survivors of a disaster in "a timely, compassionate and competent manner" through a coordinated, community-based system involving Lutheran congregations, social ministry organizations and others. Formal agreements and memberships are maintained between LDR and the American Red Cross, Church World Service and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. Furst and his wife, Fern, have two grown children, Jonathan and Jennifer, and one grandchild, Amalie. -- -- -- Domestic Disaster Response has a home page at http://www.elca.org/dcs/disaster/ on the ELCA Web site. Lutheran Disaster Response has its home page at http://www.ldr.org/ on the Internet. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news