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The North Carolina and South Carolina Synods have affirmed Pastor Ruth Ann Sipe and Pastor Ray Sipe to serve in a shared position as disaster coordinators and network builders for both the synods.

Pastor Ruth Ann Sipe has worked as a construction estimator, project manager and manufacturing customer service manager. She was active in the NC Synodical Women’s Organization, serving on the NC SWO Board and as a delegate to two triennial gatherings.

She graduated from Montreat College with a B.B.A. in 1998, and from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary with an Master of Divinity degree in 2008. She also received a spiritual direction certification from LTSS in 2022.

She has served the NC Synod congregations of Becks, Lexington; Mt. Zion, Richfield; and St. Stephen’s, Gold Hill. She has served on the NC Synod stewardship team and the planning team for the Lutheran and Moravian Women in Ministry retreat.

She spends her spare time knitting or crocheting.

Pastor Ray Sipe has worked as a hardware and software engineer, customer service manager and in international sales. He is a life member of NC Lutheran Men in Mission.

He graduated from Illinois Central College with a degree in electrical engineering technology in 1983 and from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary with an Master of Divinity degree in 2008.

He has served the NC Synod congregations of Becks, Lexington; Prince of Peace, Salisbury; Mt. Gilead, Mt. Pleasant; and St. Martin, Concord. He has also served as Chaplain for Trinity Place in Albemarle.

He has served on the synod’s team for specialized ministry and as president of the Stanly County Ministerial Network. He also has served as president of the Stanly County Amateur Radio Club.

Together, during seminary, they spent January 2006 as volunteers with Lutheran Disaster Response following Hurricane Katrina at Christus Victor, Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

They returned to the Gulf Coast to serve their internship year (2006-07) with LDR in Bayou La Batre, Alabama and St. Paul’s in Mobile, Alabama.

As their internship project, they developed a program on personal and congregational preparedness which they offered to ELCA congregations in Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.

They have two children and six grandchildren — including a set of twins and a set of triplets — all of whom reside in South Carolina.