Concordia Seminary Magazine | Fall 2017

Anniversary Service

Grace Alone. Faith Alone.

Scripture Alone.

faith

... LIVING, DARING

CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S GRACE

FAITH: THE NEW BIRTH

BY GOD’S WORK

LIVING, DARING CONFIDENCE THROUGH EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE

SPECIAL SECTION: REFORMATION 500

faith

... LIVING, DARING

CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S GRACE

FAITH: THE NEW BIRTH

BY GOD’S WORK

LIVING, DARING CONFIDENCE THROUGH EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE

SPECIAL SECTION: REFORMATION 500

first look

“God, the Maker of all things. … We pray Your blessing upon our new students.” Seminary President Dr. Dale A. Meyer asks the new students to place their arms around one anothers’ shoulders before leading the congregation in prayer during the Opening Service Aug. 25, 2017. Photo: Jill Gray

FALL 2017

ON THE COVER

Joseph Glombicki, a new Specific Ministry Pastor student, helps in the English Cave Community Garden in St. Louis as part of a servant event during Orientation Aug. 23 2017.

Photo: Jill Gray

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MANAGING EDITOR Melanie Ave ART DIRECTOR Jayna Rollings

Dr. Mark Seifrid describes the “saving significance of faith” found in the New Testament.

LIVING, DARING CONFIDENCE THROUGH EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES Two of Concordia Seminary’s students share their own faith-building experiences.

PUBLISHER Dale A. Meyer EXECUTIVE EDITOR Vicki Biggs

FAITH: THE NEW BIRTH BY GOD’S WORK

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IN EVERY ISSUE 5

From the President

18

Student Spotlight

20

News Worth Noting

25

Faculty Focus

28

Support Your Sem

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Alumni and Friends

THE REFORMATION 500 YEARS LATER: BEING RELIGIOUS Dr. Erik Herrmann explores how Luther’s actions on Oct. 31, 1517, are still deeply felt today, 500 years later.

DESIGNER Michelle Poneleit WRITERS Vicki Biggs Erik Herrmann Kim Plummer Krull Travis Scholl Mark Seifrid Kendra Whittle

PHOTOGRAPHERS Melanie Ave Jill Gray Sid Hastings Harold Rau Bridgette Sharp Kendra Whittle

OUR MISSION Concordia Seminary serves church and world by providing theological education and leadership centered in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for the formation of pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars and leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

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Copyright ©October 2017, Concordia Seminary, 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105. All rights reserved.

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and ‘Good Deeds’ as the way to heaven.” “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Barna’s president, David Kinnaman, sums it up: “Americans’ dedication to Jesus is, in most cases, a mile wide and an inch deep.”

“But who do you say that I am?” Think back to when America was “Christian” America. Most people went to church, or at least knew they should go to church. Most people knew about the Bible and its main characters. Most people knew who Jesus was. And years ago public morality was based on the Ten Commandments. In that environment the things of God and the things of public society were easily mixed together, homogenized. The distinctiveness of following Jesus could get lost. But now “Christian” America is gone. Today we’re living in a new time, an opportunity to understand anew, or understand for the first time, the radical nature of faith in Jesus.

president FROM THE

Seminary President Dr. Dale A. Meyer shares statistics about American’s beliefs about Jesus from the book, Barna Trends 2017, during the Opening Service Aug. 25, 2017. Photo: Jill Gray

Adapted from the sermon for the opening of the 179th academic year: Jesus asks His disciples two questions. First, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Then He narrows it down. “But who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:13, 15 ESV). These two questions capture the essence of the mission before us. First, know the mission field. Second, know what you believe.

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Barna Trends 2017 summarizes “5 Popular Beliefs about Jesus.”

First, “The vast majority of Americans believe Jesus was a real person.” Second, “Younger generations are increasingly less likely to believe Jesus was God.” Third, “Americans are divided on whether Jesus was sinless.”

Fourth, “Most Americans say they have made a commitment to Jesus Christ.” In light of doubts about His divinity and sinlessness, what does a commitment mean? And fifth, “People are conflicted between ‘Jesus’

In the Bible, faith has two aspects. One is internal, subjective, how we feel about something. This is the way most Americans understand faith — ­ whatever’s in your heart.

The second aspect of faith in the Bible is something outside of us, not in us, something objective, not subjective, something we look to, something we focus on, something that shapes who we are and how we live life. What is that external focus of faith? Not health or family, although both are gifts from our Creator. Not a more “Christian” America; we’re not going back to the 1950s. Not Martin Luther, though God continues to bless us through Luther’s work.

The focus of faith is Jesus Christ. “‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:16-17 ESV). Martin Luther: “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. This knowledge of and confidence in God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith.”

“Glad and bold and happy!” The future of the church is not on our shoulders; it’s Jesus church, His cross, His resurrection and His coming again to take you and me to heaven. “Come, follow me” (Matt. 19:21 ESV)!

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS 5

faith

THE NEW BIRTH BY GOD’S WORK

BY MARK SEIFRID In his Preface to Romans, at the beginning of his

will get me through all that comes to me in this life

discussion of faith, Martin Luther complains that “faith

with His invincible love! In contrast to this confession,

is not the human notion and dream that some people

our culture conceives of “faith” in a “human notion

call faith.” As every Christian knows, we can say the

or dream” as simply believing. It doesn’t matter what

same thing today! How often do we hear those who

you believe, just believe! Whatever works for you! Your

experience struggle, disappointment or sorrow say:

believing will get you through. The more you believe it,

“My faith will get me through it!”

the truer it becomes, or at least, the truer it is for you.

We all have our own “truth.”

My inward reaction is, “Really?” Sometimes, I suppose, this response is meant to be a confession of faith in

It is hard to imagine a conception of faith that is more

Christ, couched in other terms so as not to be offensive.

distant from what we find in the Scriptures! Especially

Our culture has a hard time tolerating or even

when we open the pages of the New Testament, we find

understanding an open confession of Christ. Here is

a virtual explosion of the language of faith, as one scholar

the time to be offensive! Christ got me through — and

has observed. The significance — the saving significance

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— that is attached to faith is not found elsewhere, not

might be proclaimed. In the Scriptures, and especially

in early Judaism, not in the surrounding Greco-Roman

in the New Testament that proclaims Jesus’ coming,

culture. Even the Old Testament, which speaks of faith,

saving faith is always determined by its object.

does not speak of it with the same frequency and concentration that we find in the New Testament.

The Scriptures recognize that people put their faith in all sorts of things. But only faith in the one, true God,

As Paul tells the Galatians, faith is not merely a general

who has fulfilled His promises in the crucified and risen

faith, it is a faith that has now come. It has come into

Jesus, is true, saving faith. Faith is a confessional faith.

the world. And it has come to them (Gal. 3:23, 25).

Brief confessions of faith — and calls to such faith —

Why is this so? It is because Jesus has come. He came

appear throughout the New Testament. “You are the

proclaiming the kingdom of God that was present in

Christ, the Son of the living God!” (Matt. 16:16 ESV).

His teaching and in His work. He came in order to go

“We have heard for ourselves, and we know that this

to the cross for us. He came and died on that cross to

is indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:42 ESV).

be raised in three days. He came that His saving work

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 > CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS

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and believe in your heart that God raised him from the

It calls each of us, as Luther puts it, to a “living, daring

dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9 ESV). It would be

confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain” that we

easy to multiply examples!

would “stake (our) life on it a thousand times.”

This confessional faith is not merely for the head, but

These confessional invitations serve as calls to faith

also for the heart. As Luther puts it in his Preface to

alongside the earliest proclamation of the Gospel.

Romans, “faith is a divine work in us that changes us

They are not merely for unbelievers! Mary and Martha

and causes us to be born anew of God.” It is not enough

already had welcomed Jesus into their home and knew

to know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that He

Him. They are calls to return to Jesus afresh, to believe

died on Calvary, that He was raised on the third day.

in Him afresh, to grasp afresh the Christ who has made Himself ours in Baptism. The confessions of faith that

Saving faith is the faith that God’s Son “loved me and

we find in the New Testament reach into the depths of

gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20 ESV). Paul speaks these

our hearts. They call us, again and again, to respond in

words not merely about himself. They are for each one

living trust in Jesus and God’s saving work in Him. Paul calls this response of faith “the obedience of faith.” The very purpose of his apostolic mission is to effect this “obedience of faith” among all the nations (Rom. 1:5, 16:26). According to the apostle, faith is the one true obedience that God desires from the human being. When Paul speaks about the conversion of the Roman Christians, he describes their faith precisely in this way: “You who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed” (Rom. 6:17 ESV). True

“ We are saved by

God’s work, which brings us a faith.”

-

DR. MARK SEIFRID

obedience is obedience from the heart. Consequently, as Paul exhorts the Roman Christians in a very practical matter, “For whoever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23 ESV). This same truth appears elsewhere in the Scriptures, as in Isaiah’s confrontation with Ahaz (Is. 7:1-25), Jesus’ call to confess Him before others (Matt. 10:32-33), Jesus’ call to abide in Him as the true vine (John 15:1-8), and the admonitions and encouragement of the letter to the Hebrews.

Luther came to recognize and cherish this truth. For him the first commandment, “You shall have no other

of us. He invites each one of us to fill in our name in

gods before me,” is the fundamental commandment

this verse. The same is true of Jesus’ word to Martha

that is present in all God’s commands. And the sense

in John 11: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever

of this commandment, as Luther instructs us in the

believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and

Large Catechism, is nothing other than, “to require true

everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

faith and confidence of the heart, which fly straight to

Do you believe this?” Jesus’ Word calls not only Martha.

the one true God and cling to him alone.”

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“ But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.”

(ROMANS 6:17 ESV)

If, then, faith is the one true obedience that God

teaching.” The Word itself performed its work in them.

requires, am I saved by my believing? Faith is not a work, of course. But if faith is true obedience, am I

Through the Gospel, God created faith in their hearts.

saved by my true obedience? If that is so, there is no

Paul conveys the same truth when he describes Baptism

longer a “justification of the ungodly,” but instead, a

earlier in the chapter: In Baptism we are baptized into

“justification of those who are godly in their faith.”

Christ’s death, so that we may share in the new life of His resurrection, both here and now in our new obedience,

As we might expect, Paul himself provides us an answer

and finally in the resurrection from the dead (Rom. 6:1-4).

to this question. We need only turn again to his description of the conversion of the Roman Christians

Our new obedience of faith, the response to the Gospel

and read a bit more of the context, “But thanks be

that has been given to us in Baptism and proclamation

to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have

is not our work, but as Luther puts it, “It is a divine

become obedient from the heart to the standard of

work in us which changes us and makes us to be born

teaching to which you were committed” (Rom. 6:17 ESV).

anew of God.”

Paul gives thanks to God for the conversion of the Romans. It is God who has performed His work in them.

They were slaves of sin when they heard the Gospel.

They could not free themselves. If they were to be freed from this slavery, God had to free them. And that is what He did: The Roman Christians were delivered over to the Gospel, that “standard of teaching” — the confession of Christ! — that was proclaimed to them.

Here is a paradox! We are called to respond, yet our response is nothing other than the Word of the Gospel performing its work in us. We are not saved by our own obedience, but by God’s work in us. And we are not saved by our own little believing, as our contemporaries might think. We are saved by God’s work, which brings us a faith, as Luther reminds us, that is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so

Paul makes his point here by turning the normal

sure and certain that we might stake our life on it a

expression upside down. Normally one spoke of

thousand times!

delivering a tradition or teaching to people. But here Paul tells the Roman Christians: “It was not the teaching that was delivered to you, you were delivered to the

Dr. Mark Seifrid is professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS

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LIVING, DARING

CONFIDENCE

through extraordinary experiences

BY KENDRA WHITTLE

The 72-acre campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis is a place where faith abounds. Theological study is second nature here. The Word of God is taught and preached far beyond the walls of the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus.

For many students, some of their most profound and faith-building encounters have come before they became seminarians. For others, the experiences occur during their Seminary years. These spiritual experiences bring the idea of “living, daring confidence of God’s grace” beyond a mere Luther quote to a reality, where stepping out in faith comes with both risk and reward and leads to an assured reminder that the God they serve reveals Himself in awesome ways.

“Through these kinds of experiences, students receive opportunities to meet people outside the church who do not know Jesus, and they learn how to share their faith with them,” said Dr. Timothy Saleska, dean of Ministerial Formation. “This promises to shape them into pastors and deaconesses who will witness boldly to their Lord and Savior wherever they will be called in the future.”

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SEMINARIAN ENDURES SPIRITUAL HIGHS AND LOWS ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL In July 2016, Jared Townley stood at the summit of Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, and marveled at the beauty before him.

“You walk up a mountain and on to the ledge, and you look out and you wonder — how can people say there is no God?” Townley recalled.

It was the culmination of a grueling five-month climb on the Appalachian Trail, the longest hiking-only footpath in the world, spanning 2,190 miles and 14 states. Townley, who never considered himself an “outdoorsy” type person, decided to hike the trail before he began taking Master of Divinity classes at Concordia Seminary in fall 2016.

“Several pastors I know encouraged me to have some kind of real-world experience before coming to the Seminary,” Townley explained. After earning his undergraduate degree, he moved back Jared Townley sits atop McAfee Knob on the Appalachian Trail. Photo: Courtesy Jared Townley

in with his parents for a year, worked at a Sam’s Club and topped off the time with the hike. He said he was attracted to the idea of hiking the Appalachian Trail for the sheer challenge of it. He also wanted to meet people from all walks of life.

That moment atop Mount Katahdin is a favorite of Townley’s, but he admits that day-to-day life on the trail was strenuous and challenging. He walked an average of 15 miles a day, oftentimes alone, carrying 20 to 30 pounds of gear and supplies. He had to purify his water and boil his food. At night, he usually slept in a wooden shelter alongside other hikers. He climbed through snow in March in Georgia, broke his eyeglasses and his cell phone, and nearly lost his backpack rain cover, forcing him to chase it across a field in wind and rain. However, Townley said the biggest test for him was spiritual.

“I didn’t go to church once for five months,” Townley said. “I missed a very important aspect of my life in not taking the Sacraments, and that was a big challenge. On top of that, I ran out of energy to do anything else besides walk. So that meant I didn’t feel like I had time to read the Bible in the morning before heading out on the trail because that extra half an hour meant the difference between doing 15 miles and 20 miles before dark.”

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Journaling along the way, Townley referred to his time on the trail as a “spiritual desert.” He wrote wrenching prayers and felt isolated from God. Townley referred to faith in Christ as a “taboo topic” on the trail and deeply missed the support of a Christian community. He even felt anxiety about attending the Seminary, concerned that he didn’t have the spiritual fitness.

Even so, Townley said he found two spiritual outlets during his trek. He most felt God’s presence in creation.

He was awed over and over by the scenery along the trail. Comfort also came in the form of a fellow hiker.

“ When people go through seasons of doubt or despair in their faith, I’ll be able to be there for them. I’ve been there too.”

— JARED TOWNLEY

“His trail name was ‘Sooner or Later,’ and he was a pastor in New Hampshire,” Townley said. “He talked about faith quite a bit. I was always looking for people to engage with and with whom I could talk about faith. We had some good talks. Those conversations encouraged me.”

Now, over a year after returning home from the trek, Townley calls it a teachable experience and plans to use it in future ministry. He’s already used it as a sermon illustration in his Homiletics I class and says he has plenty more stories to share. Looking ahead to vicarage next year and eventually his first call, Townley says the tough spiritual times he has experienced will be beneficial in providing confident pastoral care.

“When people go through seasons of doubt or despair in their faith, I’ll be able to be there for them,” Townley said.

Seminarian Jared Townley spent five months hiking the Appalachian Trail. Photo: Courtesy Jared Townley

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“I’ve been there too.”

DEACONESS STUDENT BOLDLY STEPS UP FOR THE UNBORN When she is not taking classes or studying, deaconess student Rachell Highley works with Coalition for Life in St. Louis, which offers free services to women and families through pro-life organizations in a nonconfrontational and Christ-centered way.

Highley works one-on-one with pregnant women in the Coalition’s Women’s Care Connect program, where she counsels them and tries to help them with their needs during and after pregnancy, such as housing and employment.

“Most of the women want to be able to keep their babies, but they just think they can’t,” Highley said.

“So it’s about educating them and empowering them

becoming a deaconess in The Lutheran Church—

Photo: Kendra Whittle

to make the decision they want in the end.”

Missouri Synod, she sought out a position that would

Rachell Highley

Pro-life issues are close to Highley’s heart. After arriving at Concordia Seminary in 2016 to pursue a Master of Arts in Spiritual Care with the goal of

allow her to serve women and families. She said showing the love and grace of God when counseling

“She was convinced that was the only option for her,

women goes beyond discussions about continuing

but she was struggling internally about it. She knew it

their pregnancies. She also helps to prepare them for

wasn’t right,” Highley said. “We talked every day for a

the responsibility of supporting and attending to their

week, texting and calling, and I was just there for her as

babies’ needs and well-being. She said this work has

a sounding board. She would specifically ask for me to

opened her eyes to the struggles some women in the

pray for her, and I would pray for her then and there.”

St. Louis area have during their pregnancies.

That woman delivered a healthy baby boy in September.

“So many women are homeless or jobless or don’t

Highley says her work at Coalition for Life proved

have the support they need,” Highley said. “Sometimes

something to her — that God has worked through her

the mothers’ parents or the fathers of the babies want

to step out boldly in faith to minister to women who

them to get an abortion. Some just don’t have anyone

are hurting and alone, no matter their situation. She

to support them.”

While her job is mainly to help connect women to the services they need to carry their babies to term, she

says that is something she’ll carry with her through the rest of her Seminary studies and when she receives a call as a deaconess.

said God also has given her the opportunity to help women grow in their own faith. One of those women initially planned to abort her baby.

Kendra Whittle is a communications specialist at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS

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500: THE IMPACT OF THE REFORMATION TODAY

THE REFORMATION

500 years later: being religious

BY ERIK HERRMANN

Martin Luther’s impact and influence on Western society is still deeply felt even now 500 years later. Never would he have guessed that singular act on Oct. 31, 1517 — posting an invitation for an academic disputation on the theology and practice of indulgences (the so-called “95 Theses”) — would have led to the tumultuous movement that we now recognize as the Reformation. After all, calls for reform were not infrequent throughout the church even before Luther. But it would seem that the arrival of the little monk from Wittenberg was auspicious. Europe was “charged like the atmosphere with electrical tensions before a thunderstorm. With the advent of Martin Luther the lightning struck. Fire fell from heaven” (The Protestant Reformation, 1517-1559, Lewis Spitz, Page 58).

Over the past year in the Concordia Seminary magazine we’ve highlighted some of the far-reaching impacts of Martin Luther. Sure, we all know that Luther gave us the Christmas tree, nine-pin bowling and the “News from Lake Wobegan,” but we’ve tried to focus on those aspects that were a bit more intentional and less incidental. Because Luther’s reforms occurred at a time when church, society and politics were deeply and intentionally enmeshed, it was impossible for the Reformation not to have an enormous impact on all facets of life. Luther did not just unravel that which was intertwined, but he reordered it so that all of life — social, economic, political — was animated by a renewed vision of God’s love. While we tend to distinguish Luther’s influence on the church and spiritual life from secular life, for Luther such a distinction meant something quite different than what we tend to mean by it. Our society often relegates religion to private life. It’s something we are free to pursue within the confines of our souls, but publicly, religious opinion is to be muted, an unwelcome voice in the secular sphere. Such a compartmentalized view of life into spiritual and secular would have been strange to Luther. Indeed, the modern notion of the “secular” has been called by some a “Christian heresy.”

So what was at the foundation of Luther’s reform? We often summarize it as a seeking after a gracious God,

or a search for the good news of faith in Christ. These descriptions are not wrong, but I think we can extend it into a larger question, namely, what does it mean to be religious? For Luther, the world he lived in was too religious — and not religious enough.

In the late-medieval context, to be “religious” had a very specific connotation. It meant that one had taken monastic vows and lived a specifically defined “religious” life. This also meant that within Christianity, there were essentially two-tiers: religious Christians and nonreligious (or lessthan-religious) Christians. The top tier was the spiritual elite represented by members of the monastic life and, by derivation, the priestly office. After martyrdom, monasticism was long regarded as the religious ideal of Christianity. In

“Luther’s reform of

religion still begins

and ends with Christ.”

— DR. ERIK HERRMANN

an attempt to embody the more sacrificial, radical tenets in the Gospels, the monastic distinguished himself from the ordinary Christian by his vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The Ten Commandments were important, but “if you would be perfect” said the Lord, “sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matt. 19:21 ESV). Thus, the monastic ideal was to live as a beggar — both a physical and a spiritual beggar. Physically, his worldly possessions were forsaken for the cloister. Spiritually, he lived as a penitent, confessing sins sometimes daily.

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500: THE IMPACT OF THE REFORMATION TODAY

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achievements and leaving others in despondency. Still, when the common people sought a more religious, devoted life, monasticism was the primary standard. In the 15th and 16th centuries, lay piety grew into a so-called “modern devotion” (devotio moderna), an adaptation of certain habits and practices found in the monastery to the common person. People would imitate the monks by starting their own communities that would focus on reading the Scriptures together or carrying out works of charity. Sometimes particularly pious married couples sought to raise their religious standing by making vows of celibacy. Regardless, what seemed clear was that religious life was not common life. The common and ordinary was de facto not religious.

It is here that we touch upon perhaps the most far-reaching impact of the Reformation; namely, its subversion of the saint, its redefinition of the religious life, its sacralization of the secular.

And Luther did this through a single, biblical assertion: Neither ordination nor religious vows make one spiritual or religious; rather, it is faith. Against prevalent piety, the common people are spiritual. The common people are the priesthood. All Christians are called to be “religious.”

“Christians live not in

themselves, but in Christ and their neighbor.”

— MARTIN LUTHER

On the surface, when Brother Martin Luther, the observant Augustinian friar, argued that all ordinary Christians ought to be spiritual and religious, this was not necessarily that unusual.

Devout, observant monastics were often calling all Christianity into a more authentic, religious observance. But because Luther argued that faith rather than love made one spiritual and religious — faith in God’s promise in Jesus Christ — and faith alone — he had redefined religious life at its core.

For Luther, the renunciation of the monastic person, expressed in his vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, was now the radical renunciation of everything that belongs to oneself — giving up even one’s own righteousness — so that by faith one can be found in Christ. As he notes in his treatise on The Freedom of the Christian, 1520: “Christians live not in themselves, but in Christ and their neighbor. Otherwise they are not Christian.

They live in Christ through faith, in their neighbor through love. By faith they are caught up beyond themselves into God. By love they descend beneath themselves into their neighbor.”

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So it was that Luther focused so strongly on bringing the Word of God to the common person. Only through God’s Word could a person come to faith. Whether through his sermons, devotional treatises, catechisms or the translation of the Bible into German, Luther was devoted to bringing this center of religious life to all people. In doing so, Luther was not an advocate for a lay piety or a secular spirituality; rather it is better to say that he brought religious life into the world in a way that his predecessors could not. All people are spiritual beggars before the Word of God; all are penitents confessing their sin; and all are saints, justified by the free grace of God in Christ Jesus. Perhaps it should be no surprise to us that thesis number one of the 95 Theses began with this theme: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘repent!’, he willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” Nor should we wonder at the fact that his final written words, reflecting on the inexhaustibility of the Holy Scriptures, would close with a similar echo on the religious life: “We are beggars. This is true.”

Perhaps it good to remember that 500 years later, in spite of all our prosperity and progress, Luther’s reform of religion still begins and ends with Christ, “that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9 ESV).

Dr. Erik Herrmann is director of the Center for Reformation Research, associate professor of Historical Theology, chairman of the Department of Historical Theology and director of theological resources and special projects at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

500: THE IMPACT OF THE REFORMATION TODAY

EVENTS

500th Anniversary of the Reformation Service Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, 7 p.m. (CDT) Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Watch the service live at www.csl.edu/live.

RESOURCES

Concordia Seminary magazine

The Reformation’s impact on …

Society — Summer 2017 Religion — Winter 2017 Life Today — Fall 2017 Politics — Spring 2017 Find archives at www.csl.edu.

500: The Impact of the Reformation Today

Free documentary, video series and Bible study for laity, congregations and students interested in learning more about the history and significance of the events of the Reformation and the impact they continue to have on the world 500 years later. Watch the videos at reformation500.csl.edu. Download the videos at vimeo.com/concordiaseminary.

RECOMMENDED READING

BY SEMINARY FACULTY

The Genius of Luther’s Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church (Baker) By Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand

Martin Luther: A Life Reformed

(Pearson Longman) By Paul W. Robinson

The Annotated Luther Series (Fortress)

“On the Councils and the Church,” in Volume 3: Church and Sacraments

Editor Paul W. Robinson

“The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,” in Volume 3: Church and Sacraments; “Preface to the Wittenberg Edition of Luther’s German Writings,” in Volume 4: Pastoral Writings

By Erik Herrmann

Martin Luther and the Enduring Word of God (Baker) By Robert Kolb

LEARN MORE

Find more resources from the Seminary’s Center for Reformation Research, including annual lectures, at reformation500.csl.edu.

500: THE IMPACT OF THE REFORMATION TODAY

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS 17

Father, son start Seminary journey together

BY KIM PLUMMER KRULL

When a new academic year begins, it’s not unusual for first-year students to include those following in a family member’s footsteps. But while Joshua LeBorious treks the same pastoral ministry path as his grandfather and two uncles, he’s also starting his Concordia Seminary, St. Louis journey at the same time as another relative — his father.

points in their lives, they share the same goal — serve as shepherds to God’s people.

“Everyone in our family is very supportive of us — although at first, my mother was moderately concerned that my dad might be ‘stealing my thunder,’” Joshua said with a laugh.

The younger LeBorious, 22, assured both parents he was

Pete LeBorious, a Director of Christian Education (DCE), and his wife, Sonja, were already praying about whether he should enroll in the Seminary’s Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Program when Joshua — their eldest son and a college student — changed his focus from mathematics to ministry.

DISTANCE PROGRAM OPENS DOOR TO ORDINATION FOR VETERAN DCE

“EVERYONE IN OUR FAMILY IS VERY SUPPORTIVE OF US.” Photo: Kendra Whittle

— JOSHUA LEBORIOUS

Joshua LeBorious

happy and “not at all surprised” when Pete LeBorious, 50, announced a few years after his son that he, too, planned to enroll at the Seminary.

This fall father and son each began journeys to become pastors, but through two different academic programs.

Although they decided to pursue ordination at diverse

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“As our church looked forward, I was looking forward to what I wanted to do ministry wise,” said Pete, in his 10th year as DCE at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Warner Robins, Ga., and in his 26th year serving in congregational ministry.

With hearts for parish ministry, the couple felt God leading them toward the four-year SMP distance education program. The online academic classes and short-term residential courses meant that Pete need not move his family, which includes five sons, the youngest being 16-year-old twins. He also could “continue to serve the congregation I’m blessed to be at now.”

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Mount Calvary’s youth provided another nudge toward ordination. Their DCE pondered “how great it would be to not only walk with them through their high school and college years,” Pete said, “but also to perform their marriage ceremonies, baptize their children and be a pastor to them into their adult years.”

Pete sees the retention of LCMS youth in the church as a priority. He’s excited about his SMP classes, an opportunity “to reshape and develop more tools for doing ministry.”

Michael, who’s in his 70s and working with a mission congregation, “got me thinking about serving beyond my 60s,” Pete said. “He’s a retired pastor but not retired.”

SWITCHING GEARS TO TEACH WHAT ‘IS MOST IMPORTANT’ “If I’m going to teach, shouldn’t I teach what I think is most important?”

The answer to his own question prompted Joshua to switch gears when he was a college sophomore planning for a career as a high school math teacher. Three years later, he’s a residential Master of Divinity student preparing to serve as a pastor and proclaim the Gospel.

“Although I enjoyed my education studies and mathematics classes, I began to battle with a feeling of ‘Why am I bothering with this?’” Joshua said of his initial major.

He called the Seminary and Rev. Bill Wrede, director of Ministerial Recruitment and Admissions, helped Joshua determine that he could finish his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University and meet Seminary admissions requirements with the addition of a few classes, including biblical Greek and Hebrew.

Today Joshua enjoys the academics at the Seminary as well as the “spiritual and friendly campus climate.

Photo: Harold Rau

Tackling those courses while continuing his DCE duties will, no doubt, be demanding. He’s been encouraged by other Seminary graduates — Rev. David Brighton, Mount Calvary’s pastor and LeBorious’ SMP mentor, and Rev. Gerhard Michael, LeBorious’ father-in-law and former president of the LCMS Florida-Georgia District.

Pete LeBorious

“The material here, the readings, everything is more relevant to what we’re going to be doing,” he said. “It’s also more relevant for me as I take a look at my own spiritual life as well. Guys will be standing outside and talking about something from a class or an aspect of faith, and they catch you up so you can join right in.”

Conversations with peers also made him realize how daunting the decision can be to pursue pastoral ministry.

Growing up the son of a DCE made him “less hesitant,” Joshua says, to what some see as the challenges of a vocation that can leave little separation between professional, family and spiritual lives.

But in his household, Joshua says, he saw his parents “not only hurdle any such obstacles but thrive.”

He also gleaned encouragement from the other pastors in his family, including Michael, his grandfather, and uncles, Rev. Greg Michael and Rev. Tim Droegemueller, also Seminary graduates.

“I’ve benefited from getting to listen to them and ask them questions,” said Joshua, who’s already looking forward to holiday dinner table talk with his family.

Kim Plummer Krull is a St. Louis-based freelance writer.

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS 19

New Bible study explores Reformation’s biblical foundations COMPANION TO DOCUMENTARY ON IMPACT OF LUTHER’S ACTIONS ON TODAY’S WORLD

500: THE IM PA THE REFORM CT OF ATION TODA BIBLICAL FO Y UNDATIONS — A Bible Stud y by Dr. Timo thy P. Dost

In celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation this year, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis has developed a Bible study in conjunction with a thought-provoking documentary on how the Reformation continues to impact religion, politics and most aspects of the modern world.

“500: The Impact of the Reformation Today — Biblical Foundations” is a five-part Bible study by Dr. Timothy P. Dost, associate professor of Historical Theology at the Seminary.

Groups are encouraged to use the Bible study as a companion to the Seminary’s “500: The Impact of the Reformation Today,” the documentary featuring some of the world’s greatest scholars on Martin Luther.

Topics explored in the Bible study include the Reformation teaching that lay Christians also have important vocational standing before God — one no less important than that of called clergy — and how the Reformation helped spread the truth of God’s Word in the most effective manner possible, leading to a laity better equipped to understand the Word of God and more resistant to superstitions.

Visit reformation500.csl.edu to download the free Bible study and watch the accompanying five-part video series.

Videos also can be downloaded at vimeo.com/concordia seminary.

Summer calls announced Congratulations and God’s blessings to the six students whose calls were recognized in chapel July 20, 2017!

Those recognized included two Master of Divinity students: Alexander “Alec” Fisher, First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Odenton, Md.; and Adam Carnehl, Immanuel Lutheran Church in Fairmont, Minn.

Two Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology (EIIT) students: Ejaz Abid, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Albany, N.Y.; and Gem Gabriel, The Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer in New London, Conn.

Six students received calls this summer. From left, Director of the Master of Divinity and Residential Alternate Route Programs Dr. Richard Marrs, Director of Placement Dr. Glenn Nielsen, Alec Fisher, Provost Dr. Jeff Kloha and Director of Certification Rev. David Lewis. Not pictured: Adam Carnehl, Ejaz Abid, Gem Gabriel, Timothy Norton and Juan Benito. Photo: Bridgette Sharp

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Also announced were Cross-Cultural Ministry (CMC) student Timothy Norton’s call to Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Navajo, N.M., and Center of Hispanic Studies student Juan Benito’s call to El Buen Pastor Lutheran Church in Kansas City, Mo.

NEWS WORTH NOTING

The class of 1967 and their wives. Photo: Harold Rau

Welcoming back alums for Alumni Reunion The Seminary campus enjoyed welcoming back to campus our alumni from class years ending in “7” and “2” for the 2017 Alumni Reunion, held Sept. 21-22, 2017.

The reunion included a special recognition in chapel of the jubiliarian class of 1967. Tim Townsend, a reporter and editor whose beats have included religion and public life, led an informative discussion about the research and process of writing Mission at Nuremberg, the gripping true account of a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Army chaplain sent to minister to the Nazis incarcerated at Nuremberg.

Dr. Erik Herrmann, chairman of the Seminary’s Department of Historical Theology and director of the Center for Reformation Research, led an entertaining presentation about his role as historian during the filming of this year’s “Martin Luther: The Idea that Changed the World.” Herrmann shared insights and anecdotes regarding this historic and acclaimed movie.

The next Alumni Reunion has been set for Sept. 20-21, 2018, with a special invitation to graduates from classes ending in “8” and “3.”

First Responders Appreciation Day held Concordia Seminary honored first responders Sept. 29, 2017, during a special service in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus. Police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) attended.

Rev. Kyle Castens, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Festus, Mo., and chaplain of the Festus Fire Department, preached. Clayton, Mo., Mayor Harold Sanger attended and addressed the congregation. The Erin Bode Group provided special music. A reception followed the service on Chapel Plaza.

Student Nils Niemeier talks with first responders. Photo: Kendra Whittle

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS 21

Choir fall tour celebrates Reformation anniversary

Members of Laudamus, from left, Christian Einertson, Geordie Denholm, Matthew Bohlmann, Micah Drengler, Jon Jahnke, Nicholas Schram, Andrew Zobel, Benjamin Hayter, Daniel Clemens and Joshua Mork. Not pictured: Jacob Tuma Photo: Sid Hastings

Laudamus, a select choir of seminarians preparing for service as Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) pastors, brought music celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation to LCMS churches and schools in four states in October as part of its fall tour. The choir name comes from the Latin Laudamus te, which means “we praise.”

The choir’s fall tour included worship services and performances at St. John’s Lutheran Church and School in Mattoon, Ill.; Our Savior Lutheran Church and School in Louisville, Ky.; Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church in Loudon, Tenn.; and St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Jackson, Mo. A second tour is set for the spring.

Learn more at www.csl.edu/laudamus.

Gospel of Mark presented in Missouri, California Missourians and Californians had an opportunity this fall to experience the dramatic presentation by Concordia Seminary, St. Louis known as The Gospel of Mark.

Presentations were held Sept. 30, 2017, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Raymore, Mo.; Oct. 13 at Town and Country Lutheran Church in Sacramento, Calif.; and Oct. 14 at Zion Lutheran Church in Piedmont, Calif.

The Gospel of Mark is a dramatic presentation of Mark’s Gospel, which principally uses the English translation of the New Testament’s second Gospel by Dr. James W. Voelz, the Seminary’s Dr. Jack Dean Kingsbury Professor of New Testament Theology and one of the presenters.

Members of the Seminary’s The Gospel of Mark, from left, Dr. David Schmitt, Dr. Kent Burreson, Dr. Dale A. Meyer, Dr. Michael Zeigler, Dr. James W. Voelz and Dr. Ron Rall.

Photo: Jill Gray

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Additional performances of The Gospel of Mark are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. April 13, 2018, at St. John Lutheran Church in Dublin, Ohio; and 6:30 p.m. April 14, 2018, at The Federation of Lutheran Churches in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Learn more at www.csl.edu/thegospelofmark.

NEWS WORTH NOTING

New students gather outside the chapel following the Opening Service Aug. 25, 2017. Photo: Harold Rau

179th academic year begins at Concordia Seminary Concordia Seminary, St. Louis began its 179th academic year with a special worship service Aug. 25, 2017, in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus.

chapel. This celebration in song commemorated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with a selection of hymns that speak to our faith as the church has borne witness

Seminary President Dr. Dale A. Meyer served as preacher and introduced the theme for the year, “Faith … Living, Daring Confidence in God’s Grace.” The theme is based on the writings of Martin Luther and commemorates the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

“It’s a great time to be in the ministry because the future of the church does not hang on our shoulders,” Meyer said. “It hangs on Him, who hung on the cross, who burst forth from the tomb, who ascended, who promises to come back and see us face to face and take us to heaven.

This is faith.”

New students attended Orientation Aug. 22-25. Orientation provides an opportunity for new students and their families to become better acquainted with academics and campus life. Students and mentors also participated in a servant event, joining with faculty and staff to serve the people of St. Louis at 14 different locations. Tasks included landscaping at various Gateway Greening gardens, cleaning at the Peace Center, and cleaning and performing maintenance tasks at Compass Education schools.

In addition to Opening Service, the Seminary hosted its first Opening Weekend Hymn Festival Aug. 27 in the

The inaugural Opening Weekend Hymn Festival was held Aug. 27, 2017, and included an ensemble choir made up faculty, staff, students and local congregations. Photo: Sid Hastings

for 500 years. Parishioners joined with an ensemble choir made up of faculty, staff, students and local congregations to lift voices together in worship and praise.

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS 23

NEWS WORTH NOTING

Werner Auditorium is packed on the first day of the Theological Symposium as Professor of Exegetical Theology Dr. Mark Seifrid begins first plenary, “Christ and Justification in Romans.” Photo: Harold Rau

28th annual Theological Symposium focuses on justification What did justification mean for Christians before Luther?

What place does justification have for us now?

Justification — the watchword for the Reformation — was explored at the 28th Annual Theological Symposium, “The Just Shall Live by Faith: The Reformation Word for Life Then and Now,” Sept. 19-20, 2017, on campus.

The symposium brought together top researchers and theologians to commemorate, celebrate and rediscover justification as a word of life for today. Plenary speakers included Seminary professors Dr. Mark Seifrid, Dr. David Maxwell and Dr. Erik Herrmann; Dr. Mark Mattes,

chairman of the Department of Theology at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa; and Dr. John D. Koch, rector of St. Francis in the Fields in Louisville, Ky. The symposium included two special events this year: a golf tournament sponsored by the LCMS Foundation and a Home Brew Fair co-sponsored by Concordia Publishing House.

Additionally, Dr. James W. Voelz gave the third annual Dr. Jack Dean Kingsbury Lecture in New Testament Theology Sept. 19 in Werner Auditorium.

Next year’s symposium will be held Sept. 18-19, 2018.

‘Lights out!’ eclipse party held Aug. 21 Given its location in the path of totality for the solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, the Seminary hosted a campus eclipse party for faculty, staff, students and their families on Chapel Plaza that day. Everyone enjoyed themed food including MoonPies, Milky Way candy bars, Starburst candy and Sun Chips while the moon made its way in front of the sun.

Totality only lasted a few seconds but it was amazing!

“The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1 ESV).

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Second-year seminarian Bryan Meadows, center in red shirt, watches in amazement as the moon covers the sun. Photo: Bridgette Sharp

STAFF FOCUS

Finding future pastors, deaconesses

BY KENDRA WHITTLE

If there’s one thing Rev. Scott Holder and Rev. Jaime Nava believe in, it’s that there are future pastors and deaconesses out there, ready and willing to serve. But these prospective students at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis need to be identified and encouraged. Holder and Nava say that’s their job, but they can’t do it alone.

teacher operated by a local congregation. After graduating from Concordia Seminary, he first served a congregation in Logan, Utah, for 11 years, and then a congregation in the Atlanta metropolitan area for more than four years before returning to the Seminary as a staff member.

Holder and Nava are part of the threeperson recruitment team at the Seminary.

Both have been on the job in Stoeckhardt Hall for a fairly short period of time – Nava was installed in October 2016 and Holder arrived the following spring and was installed during the 2017 Opening Service.

“Jaime, Scott and I bring to our service a total of 32 years of combined experience as parish pastors,” said Rev. Bill Wrede, director of Ministerial Recruitment and Admissions. “Each of us has had unique experiences along with the ‘this is what a pastor does’ experience that we now use as we talk to prospective students about joining this labor force for the church.”

Nava, the son of a Mexican immigrant, was raised in Orange, Calif. He was 20 when he felt the call to become a pastor.

Up until that point he had planned to study Rev. Jaime Nava hugs Joshua LaFeve during Commencement exercises in elementary education and become a teacher.

May 2017. Photo: Jill Gray He earned a degree in Theological Studies at Concordia University, Irvine, Calif., and Nava and Holder both agree that the decision to leave later earned a Master of Divinity at Concordia Seminary, their parishes for roles as Seminary recruiters was with an additional year at Westfield House in Cambridge, extremely difficult. But they both believe that accepting England. He was called in 2011 to Yucaipa, Calif., which the call to the Seminary was not about leaving pastoral was incidentally his wife’s hometown. He remained in his ministry, but rather about shifting to a new focus. position in Yucaipa until his call to the Seminary in 2016.

Holder, a born and bred Texan, was influenced to enter the ministry by a Lutheran Student Fellowship group during his undergraduate years at Texas Tech University. He also received encouragement while serving as a preschool

“What we do has an impact on the whole church,” Holder said. “It’s wonderful to touch all of those individual lives in the congregation as pastors, but now our work is extended more broadly.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 > CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS 25

Rev. Jaime Nava leads a Bible study discussion at Vocatio in June 2017. Photo: Kendra Whittle

< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

Nava adds that helping recruit pastors and deaconesses for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) is a different job and a different challenge than in years past.

“In the past, we just sat here and the applications rolled in,” Nava said. “Now it’s different.”

As admissions officers, they travel to their designated territories within the continental United States for up to 10 weeks out of the year, once from September through November, and once from January through March.

No day is typical for them. The pair fill their hours visiting local congregations, meeting with interested men and women, interacting with students at Lutheran high schools and Concordia University System schools, and even attending national youth events like the LCMS Youth Gathering and the Higher Things conferences.

There’s also a lot of coordination on campus. The Seminary hosts 10 admissions events each year for different groups of prospective students, from high schoolers to secondcareer men and women. Some are undergraduate students who have not yet fully discerned their calling while others already have their Seminary applications filled out.

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“EACH OF US HAS HAD UNIQUE EXPERIENCES ALONG WITH THE ‘THIS IS WHAT A PASTOR DOES’ EXPERIENCE THAT WE NOW USE AS WE TALK TO PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS ABOUT JOINING THIS LABOR FORCE FOR THE CHURCH.” — REV. BILL WREDE

Holder and Nava both log many hours on their phones, calling men and women who are already on a list of prospective students to encourage them in their discernment and answer any questions or concerns they might have.

“A lot of it starts with, ‘Could you ever see yourself doing this [become a pastor or deaconess]?’ And then getting into questions like ‘What are the experiences that you’ve had that might make this something you would be good at?’”

Holder explained.

It’s a lot to tackle for a team of three, and Holder and Nava readily admit that the responsibility of recruiting new students cannot begin with them. They contend it must begin largely at the grassroots.

STAFF FOCUS

“We can come and visit, we can talk with them, we can send them a Seminary calendar or a birthday card, but it really starts at the congregational level,” Nava said.

He says encouraging congregational support has become part of the admissions officers’ day-to-day job. He says part of their visits and calls to Lutheran churches around the country is to challenge the pastors and members to be actively thinking about men and women in their midst with gifts for ministry.

Furthermore, Holder draws from his own experience working with confirmation classes, recommending congregations to engage students by having them serve in worship as readers and ushers. Both Nava and Holder have found that more often than not, students find themselves at the Seminary largely based on encouragement they receive from others and their participation in congregational life.

On Call Day 2017, some 60 LCMS congregations received the sad news that they would not be receiving a pastor. Nava and Holder say the statistic is disheartening, but they have reasons to be encouraged about the future of the church. Nava says he was especially heartened during Orientation in August, when many of the students he had helped recruit finally arrived for their first semester.

“It was all the work of the year before coming to fruition,” Nava said.

It is this kind of work that he and Holder are hoping to expand in the coming years. The admissions team has already exceeded the number of applications it had received compared to this time last year. And both Nava and Holder say they’re not worried at all about filling the classes in the coming years.

“I have an inquiry for the Seminary class of 2029,” Holder said, “We have a fourth grader on the inquiry list. There are future pastors out there.”

Kendra Whittle is a communications specialist at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

Top: Rev. Scott Holder, right, was installed as an admissions officer during the Opening Service in August 2017. Also pictured, Seminary President Dr. Dale A. Meyer. Photo: Jill Gray. Bottom: Rev. Scott Holder on campus with his children, Rachel and Aaron.

Photo: Melanie Ave

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS 27

Visionary donor embraces endowments for perpetual benefit

BY VICKI BIGGS

Photo: Courtesy Marilynn Peters

It was a chicken or egg moment for Marilynn Peters some 30 years ago when her pastor first suggested she consider supporting a seminarian.

“Without pastors, we won’t have churches,” Peters recalls him telling her. She had been giving to other charities for years. But that conversation with her pastor clarified a new priority for her: helping provide for the future of the church.

With that, Peters became an AdoptA-Student sponsor, contributing regularly to Concordia Seminary’s program that provides annual direct-to-student aid that assists with students’ tuition expenses.

Marilynn Peters

Fast forward several years and Peters re-evaluated her priorities. “I realized that I wanted to help make sure there

would be something there for the future,” she said. “Rather than ‘spent and gone,’ I wanted to take a ‘stays and works’ approach. For that, an endowment fund is perfect.”

Peters, who created two endowment funds that support the Seminary, said she is thankful to God for giving her a life spent in the church and a career that has allowed her to support the church.

SINGING SENSATION TO MEDICAL OFFICE MANAGEMENT VISIONARY Growing up in tiny Woonsocket, S.D., Peters’ life revolved around church, school and home. Raised on a farm, her close-knit family shared in work and play; Peters’ mother, who served as a Sunday school teacher, also played the piano.

“She played all the songs!” Peters recalls. And Peters sang them. An accomplished singer who performed in high school choirs, Peters was approached at 17 by a talent scout for Lawrence Welk. Given her young age, her parents would not permit her to go to an audition, she said.

Instead, marrying shortly after her high school graduation in 1957, Peters chose to work as a singing waitress at a local nightclub. The most requested number? “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” — a funny choice, Peters observes, for a dancehall. Peters worked Saturday evenings while her husband, Punch, cared for their children.

Support Concordia Seminary this #GivingTuesday with a gift that will be used to help prepare future pastors and deaconesses.

Kick off the giving season. Donate today!

A DAY WHEN THE WORLD COMES TOGETHER TO GIVE BACK

NOVEMBER 28, 2017 28

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CALL 800-822-5287 OR VISIT WWW.CSL.EDU/GIVE #PrepareAPastor #PrepareADeaconess Every good and every perfect gift is from above.

(JAMES 1:17 ESV)

SUPPORT YOUR SEM

Her talent paid dividends. “I could make more money in that one night than I could working all week somewhere else!” she said.

After their youngest child was diagnosed with a respiratory condition, the family moved to Arizona in 1967. There Peters began working as a medical office administrator.

In the early 1980s, as the concept of managed health care swept the nation, Peters recognized an opportunity to help physicians manage the escalating coding and billing requirements of the new health care system.

In 1989, she founded MedStat Inc., a medical accounts receivable management firm, that helps independent medical practitioners focus on their patients while leaving the paperwork to her.

She continues to lead MedStat today along with two of her grown children.

PROVIDING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH Working with her Seminary gift planner, Peters established the ZEMBA Scholarship Endowment Fund, named for her grandchildren: Zachary, Emily, Melissa, Melanie, Ben and Abby. An endowment is a gift given to a nonprofit entity for its perpetual benefit. The principal balance remains intact and the interest generated is used for a defined purpose. Peters established the ZEMBA endowment for the purpose of providing student financial aid.

“It made me happy to know that ZEMBA would always be there to provide funds to help students afford their Seminary education,” she said. But then Peters learned of ENDOW ME NT

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a different kind of need: unrestricted funds that can be used for an immediate, unbudgeted necessity by the Seminary.

“Like with any organization, the Seminary has needs that aren’t always budgeted and I wanted to help relieve that burden,” Peters explained. Early in 2014, Peters established the Helping Hands Operational Endowment, the earnings from which may be used where needed most by the Seminary.

Peters’ Helping Hands fund is among the first such operational endowments established by generous friends of the Seminary that support the institution’s immediate needs.

“My mother always said, ‘many hands make light work,’” Peters said. “I started the Helping Hands Operational Endowment to enable people to give endowed gifts at any level. Anyone can contribute to this fund, at any time, in any amount.”

Honoring the legacy of a mother who encouraged her daughter to collaborate to make a large task more manageable, Peters hopes that others will consider making a gift to the Helping Hands Operational Endowment.

“You can make a gift of any size and you will be helping to ensure the Seminary will have the operating funds it needs so it can focus on its mission — making sure we’ll have pastors for the future,” she says.

To make a gift to Helping Hands, contact Seminary Advancement at 800-822-5267 or advancement@csl.edu.

Vicki Biggs is senior vice president, Seminary Advancement at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

GENERATIONS: THE CAMPAIGN FOR CONCORDIA SEMINARY $186 million raised toward $180 million goal as of press time

Endowment and Estate Gifts $110M goal

94% $103.6M actual

6% $6.3M remaining

Annual Support and Scholarships $60M goal

124% $74.4M actual Library and Learning Technology $10M goal

82% $8.1M actual

18% $1.8M remaining CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS 29

GY

Ted and Chelsey Doering Photo: Courtesy Ted Doering

Q&A REV. TED DOERING (’14)

BY TRAVIS SCHOLL

Since Pastor Ted Doering graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in 2014, he and his wife, Chelsey, have been very busy people. Ted was called to Faith Lutheran Church in Georgetown, Texas, a suburb of Austin, as a church planter, not far from his hometown of Houston. He has planted Narrative Church in neighboring Round Rock (narrative.church). When she isn’t helping with the church’s children’s ministry, Chelsey works as the head administrative assistant at a local Round Rock elementary school. On top of all that, Ted and Chelsey recently co-wrote the book, Myth of the Millennial: Connecting Generations in the Church, hot off the press from Concordia Publishing House. We recently sat down with Ted to ask him about his time at the Seminary and his life and work since then.

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HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CONCORDIA SEMINARY EXPERIENCE? Concordia Seminary allowed me to mature and grow. It built my marriage in some great ways. It blessed me with lifelong friendships. And it gave me some professors who are true examples of how to follow after Jesus.

IS THERE A PARTICULAR MEMORY OF LIFE HERE THAT YOU CARRY WITH YOU? Living in St. Louis gave me some incredible memories outside of the Seminary, folks in our apartment building and Chelsey’s friends from work. The memory that stands out for me was a moment during my fourth year when I sat down with Seminary President Dr. Dale A. Meyer to review a sermon. It was the deepest growth moment for my preaching.

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE JOYS OF LIFE AND MINISTRY IN AUSTIN? Watching lifelong Christians and brand new believers become family at the church. Church planting has been an incredible joy for me and Chelsey. My partner in ministry, Jon, is bi-vocational, and his other job is as the packaging director at the local craft brewery. That has some added perks!

ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

THE CHALLENGES? Starting a church has a peculiar set of challenges. There are the funny ones, like the bell schedule in the school being set on Sundays so you randomly have to dismiss church to home room during your sermon. But also the tough things like trying to start something out of nothing, experiencing the spiritual warfare that comes with that process, and moving from launching a church to developing the normal rhythms of a worshiping community.

WHAT REACTIONS HAVE YOU HEARD TO THE BOOK? Reaction has been good! We endeavored to write the book in such a way that it is in a conversational style and has discussion questions at the end of each chapter, which lends itself well for small group studies or walking through with a church or school staff.

FINALLY, WHAT HAS LIFE BEEN LIKE SINCE HURRICANE HARVEY? We were not directly hit by Harvey, but Kingwood, where I grew up, was hit hard. In my dad’s church (Christ the King Lutheran Church), 62 families saw their homes flooded.

CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE PUBLISHED THE MYTH OF THE MILLENNIAL: CONNECTING GENERATIONS IN THE CHURCH,

BY TED AND CHELSEY DOERING IN 2017.

ORDER IT ONLINE AT WWW.CPH.ORG OR BY CALLING 800-325-3040.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE MYTH OF THE MILLENNIAL WITH CHELSEY? We have seen plenty of data on our generation leaving the church, but the only voices we heard speaking about it were people from other generations. We thought it would be good to hear directly from people in the millennial generation.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE THE BOOK ACCOMPLISHES? We want it to start conversations around the topic of millennials and the church. Specifically, between millennials and older generations. Reaching millennials is less about programs and more about relationships, which is something anyone can do.

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN THE RECOVERY? WHAT ROLE DO YOU SEE THE CHURCH PLAYING MOVING FORWARD? Up here in Austin we consider ourselves to be next-door neighbors. We have been gathering supplies, running to Home Depot to get items that can’t be found in Kingwood and getting them to Christ the King whenever they are needed. We are prepared to serve whenever the help is needed. This will be a long recovery. The church needs to be there not just when it looks cool or feels good right afterward, but for the long haul. Houston gets a lot of press coverage because of how large it is, but smaller communities like Rockport on the coast or La Grange inland will need help for years to come.

Rev. Travis Scholl is managing editor of Seminary Publications at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS 31

801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105

ADMISSIONS EVENTS AT CONCORDIA SEMINARY Concordia Seminary, St. Louis provides a variety of on-campus visitation opportunities each year.

These events give participants valuable information about formation for pastoral and diaconal ministry. There is something for everyone — including events for prospective students who are in high school, college or who are considering ministry as a second career. for ... High School Men

for ... College Students/Second-Career Men and Women

Get a sense of the Seminary! Spend a weekend on campus diving into Lutheran theology, prayer and worship. You’ll talk with current students and professors, and enjoy fun and fellowship with current seminarians.

Check us out! Spend a day on campus and see what the Seminary has to offer. You will meet current students and professors, attend classes and chapel, and end the day with dinner and discussion.

TASTE OF THE SEM

GREEN & GOLD DAYS

Date: Feb. 17-19, 2018 Fee: None Register online: www.csl.edu/taste

Dates: N ov. 3, 2017 | Feb. 9, 2018 April 6, 2018 | Nov. 2, 2018 Fee: None Register online: www.csl.edu/greengold

for ... High School Men and Women

for ... College Students/Second-Career Men and Women

Explore God’s calling and direction! This weeklong retreat includes Bible study, worship, discussion about vocation, a servant event and some St. Louis fun. A Concordia University System college fair is included.

Learn more about the student experience. This three-day visit offers an in-depth view of the preparation that leads to service as a pastor or deaconess.

You will tour the campus, meet faculty and visit classes — all aimed at providing a preview of the Seminary’s world-class ministerial formation experience.

VOCATIO

Date: June 23-28, 2018 Fee: $150 (travel assistance available) Register online: www.csl.edu/vocatio for ... Families

NEXT STEPS What about my family? Are you working to discern God’s direction for your life and perhaps ministry?

Do you wonder about the impact on your family?

Bring your family and spend two days on campus connecting with current students and their families to learn about transitioning to life at the Seminary from those who have already taken this step.

Date: July 13-14, 2018 Fee: None Register online: www.csl.edu/nextsteps

CONTEMPLATE

Dates: M arch 8-10, 2018 | Oct. 4-6, 2018 Fee: None Register online: www.csl.edu/contemplate for ... College Students/Second-Career Men and Women

SHEPHERDS OF GOD’S FLOCK The decision-making process: You are considering the possibility of “service as a shepherd” but have questions. That’s right and good. At this one-day event you will explore ministry through Bible study, hear panel presentations from pastors and students, and talk with others who are asking the same questions.

Date: Feb. 8, 2018 Fee: None Register online: www.csl.edu/shepherds

8 0 1 S E M I N A R Y P L AC E • S T. LO U I S , M O 6 3 1 0 5 • W W W.C S L . E D U • 8 0 0 - 8 2 2 - 9 5 4 5

801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105

ADMISSIONS EVENTS Please Join Us ...

AT CONCORDIA SEMINARY

for a celebration in song of the Reformation and the promise of God’s Word.

Concordia Seminary, Seminary, St. St. Louis Louis provides provides aa variety variety of of on-campus on-campus visitation visitation opportunities opportunities each each year. year.

Concordia

The musical celebration will give highlight thevaluable three “solas,” teachings central to the Reformation: These events events give participants valuable information about about formation formation for for pastoral pastoral and and diaconal diaconal These participants information ministry. There There is is something something for for everyone everyone — — including including events events for for prospective prospective students students who who are are in in ministry. high school, school, college college or or who who are are considering considering ministry ministry as as aa second second career. career. high

Sola Gratia (Grace Alone) Sola Fide (Faith Alone) TASTE OF THE SEM GREEN & GOLD DAYS Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) for ... High School Men

for ... College Students/Second-Career Men and Women

Get a sense of the Seminary! Spend a weekend on campus diving into Lutheran theology, prayer and worship. You’ll talk with current students and professors, and enjoy fun and p.m.seminarians.

CDT Tuesday, Oct. fellowship with 7 current

Check us out! Spend a day on campus and see what the Seminary has to offer. You will meet current students and professors, attend classes and chapel, and end the day with dinner and discussion.

31, 2017 Dates: N ov. 3, 2017 | Feb. 9, 2018

Date: Feb. 17-19, 2018 April 6, 2018 | Nov. 2, 2018 Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus Fee: None Fee: None Register online: www.csl.edu/taste online: www.csl.edu/greengold 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis,Register MO 63105 for ... College Students/Second-Career Men and Women

for ... High School Men and Women

VOCATIO

Watch it live!

CONTEMPLATE

Learn more about the student experience. This three-day visit offers an in-depth view of the preparation that leads to service as a pastor or deaconess.

You will tour the campus, meet faculty and visit classes — all aimed at providing a preview of the 800-822-5287.

Seminary’s world-class ministerial formation experience.

Explore God’s calling and direction! This weeklong retreat includes Bible study, worship, www.csl.edu/live discussion about vocation, a servant event and some St. Louis fun. A Concordia University System college fair is included.

For more information, call

Date: June 23-28, 2018 Fee: $150 (travel assistance available) Register online: www.csl.edu/vocatio for ... Families

NEXT STEPS What about my family? Are you working to discern God’s direction for your life and perhaps ministry?

Do you wonder about the impact on your family?

Bring your family and spend two days on campus connecting with current students and their families to learn about transitioning to life at the Seminary from those who have already taken this step.

Date: July 13-14, 2018 Fee: None Register online: www.csl.edu/nextsteps

Dates: M arch 8-10, 2018 | Oct. 4-6, 2018 Fee: None Register online: www.csl.edu/contemplate for ... College Students/Second-Career Men and Women

SHEPHERDS OF GOD’S FLOCK The decision-making process: You are considering the possibility of “service as a shepherd” but have questions. That’s right and good. At this one-day event you will explore ministry through Bible study, hear panel presentations from pastors and students, and talk with others who are asking the same questions.

Date: Feb. 8, 2018 Fee: None Register online: www.csl.edu/shepherds

8 0 1 S E M I N A R Y P L AC E • S T. LO U I S , M O 6 3 1 0 5 • W W W.C S L . E D U • 8 0 0 - 8 2 2 - 9 5 4 5