A B O U T    U S

The Pacific Southwest District cares deeply about its professional church workers and their families. Recently the Board of Directors of the District created a Healthy Leader/Healthy Workers position which expands the former work done under the name of Care for Professional Church Workers. This new ministry will resource church workers so that they may become healthier leaders in mind, body and spirit. This ministry also seeks to nourish worker's marriages and strengthen worker's families. We believe that healthy leaders make for healthy congregations and schools. Deployed staff person for the District, Rev. Ron Rehrer, has oversight of this ministry area. This includes direct counseling of worker families, referral to other counseling resources throughout the District, and providing prevention and educational workshops and resources (including this website) for the greater wellness of all leaders of our congregations and schools. We look forward to serving you.

At RonRehrer.com you will find many resources for individual, couple and family health.

Who We Are?

Since 1987, Ron Rehrer has served the Pacific Southwest District in his role as Counselor for Professional Church Workers throughout Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. He received his Master of Divinity degree in 1973 (Concordia Seminary, St. Louis), and his Masters degree in Marriage, Family, Child Counseling in 1980 (California Family Study Center, Burbank, through Azusa Pacific University). In 1984 he received his license as a Marriage, Family, Child Counselor.

In 2000-2001, Ron completed a Study Sabbatical on "Prayer, Healing, and Psychoneuroimmunology" which took him throughout America, Canada, and Europe, where he interviewed some of the leading figures in prayer, healing and mind-body medicine.

One of those persons he met was Rev. Bill Dasch, a Lutheran pastor from Texas who will be co-leading this workshop on healing with prayer. The workshop with Bill will incorporate some of Ron's study sabbatical findings.

Ron's career has included a worker-priest ministry to Casino Employees (Harrah's, South Lake Tahoe), directing a half-way house ministry for drug addicts (Renewal House, Los Angeles), providing educational workshops in chemical dependency and criminal justice (Renewal Outreach Project, Lutheran Social Services of So. Calif.), teaching Urban Studies (California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA), and a parish pastor ministry in the black community of South Central Los Angeles (St. Paul's Lutheran Church, at 9th and Adams, L.A.).

He has done numerous workshops on clergy burnout, anxiety, depression, crisis intervention, grief work, couple communication, and has authored articles on these and other topics. His book, Now What Do I Do? A Guide for Youth in Alcohol and Drugs, was published by Concordia Publishing House.

Ron believes that healing is very important in people's lives, including emotional, spiritual, physical and relationship healing including the healing of memories. He believes that healing comes through prayer.

E-Mail Ron at: ron@ronrehrer.com

Rachel Klitzing has been aiding the district in providing many support services.

E-mail Rachel at: rachel@ronrehrer.com

Pacific Southwest District of the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) operates out of the Los Angeles area.

Contact the District at: www.psd-lcms.org