Deaconess Intern

My name is Stephanie Kinley.  I will serve as the deaconess intern at Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School this year.  On the school side, I will teach religion in all 18 Kindergarten through 8th-grade classrooms with a curriculum that I'm writing and adapting based on the book Joining Jesus On His Mission, as well as Christ-centered lessons on pro-social behaviors for our younger classrooms and mental health skills for our middle schoolers, and all classrooms will learn and review a monthly character trait.  Outside of the classroom, Vicar Chad Van Meter and I will partner for a weekly mentoring group with the 7th graders.  I will also provide all of the school counseling for the school in the form of one-on-one and group support.  

Before Holy Cross, I lived in Virginia with my husband, Daniel, and five children.  Initially, I received my Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in children, then went on to become a TF-CBT-trained LMHC in Massachusetts.  After about 20 years in the field, we moved to Fort Wayne so that my husband could attend Concordia Theological Seminary.  I began the deaconess program shortly after we arrived and will graduate with him this spring.  Our two youngest children attend school here at Holy Cross and our elder daughter works in the After-Care program here, so we have become a Holy Cross family over the last three years and are very excited to spend another year here. 

On the church side, I will be offering supportive counseling and other mercy work, as well as leading a class during the Equipping Hour this fall on Adoption.  Of my five children, four are adopted, and I have fostered a total of 13 children as well.  My mother was also adopted, so it is a topic near and dear to my heart. 

I am eager to support those who have adopted or are considering adoption, as well as those who have been fostered or adopted themselves because I believe that when we open our hearts to the blessing of adoption, we follow in the heart of God, who has adopted us all into his family. 

I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you!