At a time when many nonprofit groups are cutting back to survive, the new executive director of Tacoma-based Associated Ministries is adding programs to prevent homelessness and help people apply for public assistance.

Just Friday, the Rev. Chris Morton announced an initiative to support sex offenders re-entering the community in Pierce County so they won’t re-offend.

“We’re not going into this naively,” Morton said. “We get that there is a lot of risk here.”

Tackling the community’s most pressing needs on behalf of religious congregations has long been the work of Associated Ministries, Washington’s largest Christian ecumenical agency. Those needs are increasing as unemployment remains high and donations shrink. This is the challenge Morton faces.

But in his first four months on the job, Morton, 48, is pressing ahead with the mission forged by his predecessor, the Rev. David Alger.

Alger, 64, retired in June after leading Associated Ministries for nearly 30 years. He expanded the Hilltop-based nonprofit from an annual budget of $58,000 in 1980 into an organization with a budget of $3.7 million and a membership of more than 200 congregations, religious groups and interfaith partners.

Associated Ministries runs and funds a wide range of programs, including emergency shelter, disaster assistance, training to prevent domestic violence, painting the homes of seniors and people with disabilities, and helping people move from welfare to work.

In 1998, Alger started reclaiming homicide sites in Pierce County through Moments of Blessing. Morton has already led three blessings since he took over.

READY FOR THE JOB

Morton previously worked as director of organizational development – the No. 2 position – at the Minnesota Council of Churches, based in Minneapolis. He started there in September 2005.

He has more than 20 years of experience as a manager for programs helping the hungry, people with developmental disabilities, and those with chemical dependencies. He’s been a fundraiser and pastor, and is an ordained minister with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

“I’m just really excited that he’s here,” said Jan Leng, former longtime associate director of Associated Ministries who’s known Morton for more than 20 years. “I think he’s going to be able to take David’s vision even further.”

Leng, who returned to work part-time for Associated Ministries in 2008, knows the difficulties Morton faces.

“I think it’s a challenging time for all nonprofits,” Leng said. “Dollars are drying up from previously reliable sources.”

At the Minnesota Council of Churches, Morton often filled in for his boss, the Rev. Peg Chemberlin. She travels extensively as a leader of the National Council of Churches and will be installed as its president this week.

Chemberlin praised both Morton and Alger in an interview in September. While expressing regret over Morton’s departure, she said he’s ready to lead an ecumenical agency.

“Tacoma is better for it,” Chemberlin said. “He has big shoes to fill out there.”

The Rev. Jim Lewis, president of Associated Ministries’ board of directors, said Morton was far and away the best candidate for the job.

“We were extremely pleased that he was willing to come,” Lewis said.

Morton moved from a region with significantly higher church attendance than the Pacific Northwest, which has one of the lowest rates in the nation.

But so far, Morton said, he hasn’t noticed the difference. He’s been busy meeting religious and civic leaders, and dealing with his agency’s own financial challenges.

Foundation giving has held up for the most part, he said, but donations from member congregations and individuals have dropped.

“We’re getting squeezed with the decline in donations,” Morton said. “While we struggled in 2009, we will struggle even more in 2010.”

So far, however, he hasn’t been forced to cut.

“I don’t assume growth and expansion,” Morton said. “What we need to do is ask, ‘How can we be a servant?’”

It’s a similar question to the one he asks during his daily time of prayer and Bible reading after rising at 5:30 a.m.

“‘God, how can I be of maximum service to you and all people?’”

Morton said most of the new programs are either volunteer-based or are government-funded. For instance, a new effort to help people avoid becoming homeless is backed with federal stimulus money.

Diane Powers, Homeless and Housing First coordinator for the City of Tacoma, is working with Morton.

“I think he’s extremely competent,” said Powers, formerly deputy director for Associated Ministries. “He knows a lot about nonprofits. He seems like an excellent leader.”

AN EXPLORATION OF FAITH

Morton comes from a diverse spiritual background.

He was baptized as an infant in the Presbyterian Church. His father, George Morton Jr., died of emphysema in 1969 at the age of 42. Chris was 7. His mom, Phyllis Morton, now 82, raised him as a single parent.

“My father’s death was a defining event,” Morton said.

“It created a vacuum in me and by my late teens and early 20s, I needed to find a way to fill that emptiness with some meaning,” he said. “Part of searching for that meaning was beginning to explore faith.”

Explore he did.

He learned about Martin Luther in a public high school, worshiped with the Church of the Nazarene, joined a United Methodist study group, studied with a group known as The Way, returned to the Presbyterian Church, took part in an Episcopal community and visited a Jewish temple.

By his late 20s, Morton had found his spiritual home in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In that Protestant denomination, he said he found a clear and relevant message, an open community, and a commitment to each person living out his or her faith journey.

Morton said his spiritual journey, along with his professional experience, have prepared him for his job in Tacoma.

INTERFAITH PARTNERSHIPS

Morton also credits Alger, the agency’s 27 staff members and its many volunteers for building Associated Ministries into one of the nation’s top Christian ecumenical agencies.

Relationships between Christian churches and interfaith partners are fostered at the monthly meeting of the agency’s ecumenical relations commission.

United Methodist, Episcopal and Assemblies of God ministers joined with Morton last week at Life Center in Tacoma.

“We’re doing it because we believe connecting with other local church pastors is important,” said Jordan Lee, pastor of connect ministries at Assemblies of God-affiliated Life Center. “There’s only one church in Tacoma and we’re all part of the same church.”

Another minister at the table, the Rev. Martin Yabroff , said Morton is asking the right questions to determine how Associated Ministries should move forward.

That means continuing to strike a balance between social service projects and dialogue on faith issues, said Yabroff, rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Tacoma.

If churches don’t act out their faith, they will become secular clubs, he said, “and we’ll fade away.”

Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647 steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com

The Rev. Chris Morton

Age: 48

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Ohio University; master of divinity degree, Lexington Theological Seminary.

Family: Wife Kathy Hintz, who is a geriatric social worker, and two children in college, Amy, 18, and Luc, 20.

Enjoys: Playing tennis.

Prior jobs: Second-in-command for the Minnesota Council of Churches ($4 million annual budget); executive director, Minnesota Food Association and Minnesota Food Share; and national director of corporate, foundation and government relations for the Hazelden Foundation.

Current job: Executive director, Associated Ministries ($3.7 million budget). Annual compensation is $90,000, including salary, a housing allowance, pension and health insurance.

Other: Ordained minister, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Steve Maynard, The News Tribune