COEUR d’ALENE — To listen to the compassion in David Gortner’s words presents an odd challenge, especially when he speaks about the youth of the Coeur d’Alene area.

“We are developing some strong spiritual courses,” Gortner said. “We’re developing pathways for young people to develop. But when it comes to young people, I don’t have a kind of ready-made, canned kind of program.”

That last sentence — “I don’t have a kind of ready-made, canned kind of program” — sticks in the memory banks, mainly because Gortner doesn’t seem like a man without a plan.

Reverand Gortner has a PhD from the University of Chicago and serves as Associate Dean for Church and Community Engagement at Virginia Theological Seminary. His doctoral dissertation and master’s thesis may as well be the list of required reading any Education major could recite. Varieties of Young Adult Personal Theologies and On the Question of Change and Stability in the Personality and Identity Formation of Young Adults might not be flying off Amazon’s shelves, but their respective levels of detail into how a younger generation develops values, beliefs and perspectives were written by a man who most certainly has a plan.

And now that plan has taken him and his wife to the Inland Northwest, where he will be installed in a special service Saturday as Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

“Part of what happens at first is, you first develop a body of people, and you begin to speak to one another across all generations,” he said. “If we installed some kind of cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all youth program, it wouldn’t address the needs of the congregation or the individual.”

Gortner, who’s been serving St. Luke’s in a part-time capacity over the last year, said he’s seen standardized youth programs in other churches, with mixed results, adding he wants to help St. Luke’s grow more organically.

“We’re beginning to attract more families and younger couples, as well as older couples,” he said. “That leads to an age-diverse congregation. We do have a middle service we offer that caters to young and old alike. It’s a more homey experience. We want to be immersing kids in the story of scripture.”

Gortner, who is married to the Very Rev. Heather VanDeventer, the Dean of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, said having an individual program for kids can lead to a counter-productive separation from God.

“Where we’ve seen kids separated from their parents during worship, the kids just end up being babysat,” he said. “We don’t think that’s a very fulfilling use of their time. We believe in immersing kids in the understanding of scripture...We believe in trusting the kids to open their hearts to God, just like anyone else.”

St. Luke’s Senior Warden Ann Rule said there’s excitement with this major appointment.

“After an extensive search, we are thrilled to hire Father David to lead us in service, ministry and worship,” Rule said.

Gortner came to St. Luke’s in August 2018, when the church was in what he describes as a challenging chapter in its story.

“It was a rough time for a few years here,” he said. “It was a difficult transition from their last full-time priest. Like any congregation, in times of change, things can get unsettled. We started to see factions within the church. But we came together. We have a really strong congregation that came together and got things humming along and back on track.”

That track hits an easier stretch Saturday, as Bishop Gretchen Rehberg, Diocese of Spokane, installs Gortner at St. Luke’s. Gortner said he’s looking forward to the years ahead, emphasizing that his installment is not about him. Leaders, he declared, do not drive spirituality; rather, the congregation’s communion with God and one another is what makes a church a church.

“In this last year I’ve been here, I’ve seen what these people can do,” he said. “It’s a powerfully spiritual group of people. I pray over this next year we grow closer in our relationships with one another, that we grow deeper in our spiritual life and discipleship, and that we have a wider impact in the community in and around Coeur d’Alene.”

Gortner said he’s excited about the church’s wider responsibility to the community around it.

“I think St. Luke’s is poised to do some interesting things in the community,” he said. “It’s been known as ‘the little church that could.’ Right now, we bring in about 120 people on a Sunday, but their impact in the community has been huge. Whether it’s their connection with St. Vincent’s, getting housing through HUD, working with Hospice of North Idaho, having a board position on Orchard Ridge or being involved with Family Promise, St. Luke’s has always believed that it’s not just about what happens in the church; it matters just as much when our members walk out the door and into the community around us.”

Affordable housing — or lack thereof — continues to be a challenge Gortner said St. Luke’s will tackle with love and compassion.

“One of the things that has stood out in Coeur d’Alene and Spokane is that homelessness and mental illness and poverty stick out in ways that signal to me: There is much work still to be done,” he said. “Housing affordability is a nationwide challenge right now, and we’re looking for deeper ways to connect in a city that will not stop growing.”

A free meal will be provided after Saturday’s ceremony. Members and visitors are welcome to attend the installation celebration. Bishop Rehberg will attend the proceedings at the corner of Fifth and Wallace in Coeur d’Alene. The event begins at 11 a.m.