An Official Announcement from the Alaska UMC DS, Carlo Rapanut: 
It is the intention of Bishop Elaine Stanovsky to appoint Rev. Jim Doepken to serve as pastor of UMC of Chugiak beginning July 1, 2021. Pastor Jim is currently serving the Seward and Moose Pass United Methodist Churches here in Alaska. He has also served the Kenai and Girdwood Chapel UMCs. Having come up in 1997, he holds the distinction of being the longest serving pastor in Alaska still in active local church ministry. Jim and his wife Julie have an adult son Samuel and two sets of twin daughters: young adults Moriah and Susannah, and teenagers Abigail and Bethany. Pastor Jim is a member of the Oregon Idaho Conference.
A Letter of Introduction from the UMC of Chugiak SPR Chair, John Abrams:
Greetings!
SPR has some great news for you! On Thursday night, Pastor Carlo set SPR up with a zoom meeting to get together with a potential pastor. We were able to read his resume’ and had a chance to talk and exchange questions back and forth with him and his wife, Julie. At the end of the meeting, SPR felt that Carlo had come up with a good fit and the 
pastor felt the same way. His name is Jim Doepken. He is far from new to Alaska. He first visited AK in the summer of 1990, when he spent some time at a village in northern AK. While there he took a youth group to Birchwood camp and he still has a fondness for Birchwood Camp. That trip convinced him that he wanted to go into ministry, and he proceeded to get his BA in religion at Wabash College. He followed that up by obtaining a master of Divinity at Duke.
His first assignment in AK was at Kenai United Methodist Church from 1997 until 2000. During that time life was challenging for them, as they had a set of twins and encountered some medical problems. This experience helped them grow into Alaska’s winter daylight, and weather. They also experienced their first life in a town which was centered around fishing and tourism.
Following that, he was a pastor at Girdwood for 13 years. He learned to work around a construction site, as the size of the church was increased under the direction of Phill Manderson. He also learned to deal with a church which had a mortgage. While there, he helped start and grow youth and adult education programs. During that time he met Pastor Rachel. In later years he has come to know Pastor Steve Lambert at conferences. Since Girdwood is a popular place for weddings, he performed a good many of those.
His next, and current, assignment was at Seward and Moose Pass. He indicated that it was a bit challenging serving two churches each Sunday, as well as during the week. While there, Jim facilitated a music program in the Seward high school. When the pandemic hit, he collaborated with the pastors of two other churches, one a Lutheran Church, and I believe, the other was an Episcopal Church. He was the tech leader for the online services which the three of them utilized. He is anxious to get church services live again, but in the meantime he has the experience to deal with virtual services. Incidentally, his wife has both vaccinations and he has his first shot, so hopefully they can look forward to some in-church services in the not too distant future.
He and Julie have 5 children. The oldest, a boy, has graduated from college and I think is working in Anchorage. The next two are the twin girls who have just finished college. The final children are a second pair of twin girls, who will be high school freshmen next fall. After coming from the flatland of Indiana, both he and his wife have fallen in love with the scenery and life which they encounter in Alaska.
Jim is familiar with some of the problems which are somewhat peculiar to Alaska, and has had experience with several different styles of Alaskan towns. They wanted to get the younger twins started in a larger high school, and the timeline fit for that.
He will be on board on July 1st and in the meantime Pastors Steve and David will carry on their respective duties.
Respectively yours,
John Abrams SPR chair