Joseph W. Ellwanger is a retired Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor. He served nine years as pastor of an African American congregation, St. Paul Lutheran, 1958-67, in Birmingham, Alabama. From 1967 through 2001, he was pastor of Cross Lutheran, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the central-city African American community, leading the congregation from 95 percent white in 1967 to 75 percent black by 2001. The author s deep hope is that this book will feed the faith and stoke the fire of courage for that holy struggle of living the Gospel and doing justice, a struggle that never ends as long as we are on this earth.
