Full of Joy Podcast - Worship Stories: Visual Arts

Full of Joy Podcast - Lutheran Stories: SOJ Core Values

Spirit of Joy’s five core values—you’re probably familiar with them if for no other reason than they hang on banners in the sanctuary: 1) Radical Hospitality 2) Passionate Worship 3) Lifelong Faith Formation 4) Extravagant Generosity 5) Bold Service They’ve been around since the first partners of our church gathered to discuss who we would be and what that vision would look like. They are woven into our purpose as Spirit of Joy to Welcome, Grow, and Send. Marnie and Eric go through the why and what of each value, and how we use these values to relate to God as a community of faith. (Originally aired November 10, 2025)

Full of Joy Podcast - Worship Stories: Common Threads

What are the regular elements of a church service that help make it feel familiar to us? At Spirit of Joy, we call these frequent pieces that help connect everything together Common Threads. Heather Wald explains all the different ways we incorporate these reoccurring segments and how our worship and visual arts teams intentionally plan out all the details. We also discuss how the lectionary helps us organize our worship services into a three-year cycle. And Heather talks about some of the different ways YOU can be involved to help with our worship (hint…there is a shameless plug to join the choir). (Originally aired November 17, 2025)

Full of Joy Podcast - Bible Stories: The Wedding at Cana

Pastor Eric is in the studio today to talk about the wedding at Cana, which is Jesus’ first sign (we’ll get into why the Gospel of John calls it a “sign” and not a “miracle”). He gives us a little background to set up the story and then treats us to a retelling of it to fill in the details. And Eric and Marnie discuss how the story is about God encountering us amid our everyday lives and saying He will be present with us. (Originally aired February 9, 2026)

Full of Joy Podcast - Faith Stories: Krista Ohrtman

On today’s episode of Full of Joy, we get to talk to our one and only pastor’s wife and potter extraordinaire, Krista Ohrtman. We hear so often from her husband it’s more than time for her to get the chance to talk to us! Krista shares about her “classic Lutheran upbringing” growing up in Detroit Lakes, MN, attending Augustana College, and working at Luther Heights Bible Camp in Idaho. She discusses how she lives her faith through empathy, kindness, care, respect and by being in service to others. And, of course, she talks a little about her life as a pastor’s wife! (Originally aired November 24, 2025)

Full of Joy Podcast - Lutheran Stories: The ELCA

Pastor Eric Ohrtman joins us to talk about the things of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that the average Lutheran probably doesn’t know. How did it get here and where is it going? We dive into the structure of the ELCA, with congregations on top, followed by synods, regions, and the churchwide national office based in Chicago. And we discuss Spirit of Joy’s work with our state synod in South Dakota. (Originally aired October 13, 2025)