Honoring the Rev. Kara Baylor MDiv ’00, a Pastor of Courage and Joy

This semester, LSTC students will receive a meaningful gift, a set of stoles donated by the family of the Rev. Kara Frances Baylor (1970–2023), LSTC MDiv ’00. Pastor Kara lived her ministry with courageous love, first at Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church in Racine, and later as Campus Pastor at Carthage College, where her preaching centered on serving neighbors and seeking justice. After a long, grace-filled battle with breast cancer, she died on May 25, 2023, at age 52. 

Kara’s vocation was to walk alongside people as they wrestled with faith and meaning. Students remember her steady presence, honest preaching, and a deep, joyful hope that did not deny the world’s pain. In an LSTC profile, she spoke about “finding her voice” and channeling righteous anger toward constructive change, a hallmark of her leadership. 

As our students don these stoles for worship and ministry, they carry forward Pastor Kara’s witness, a faith practiced in public, rooted in compassion, and animated by justice. We give thanks for the Baylor family’s gift, and for Kara’s enduring impact on LSTC and the wider church.