(no subject)

On Friday, I returned to my alma mater, Saint Mary's College of California, to represent PLTS at the Inauguration of SMC's new president, Brother Ronald. What a wonderful day as representatives of colleges, universities, and seminaries (including the schools of the Graduate Theological Union) processed and offered prayers of support for Brother Ron and Saint Mary's College. You'll remember that PLTS just celebrated such an event in the Chapel of the Cross as the Rev. Dr. Phyllis B. Anderson was inaugurated president of PLTS.

UC Santa Cruz

At U of C Santa Cruz we met up with Lutheran Campus Minister Pat Puder who took us on an extensive tour of the sprawling, heavily wooded, BEAUTIFUL campus. It's quite similar to PLTS, in fact! After touring that campus and having a lovely supper on the wharf overlooking Monterey Bay, Pat, Liza, and I shared extensively about our ministries and what each can offer the other. This was our view during dinner.

Mt. Cross Lutheran Camp

We made a quick stop at Mt. Cross. (See picture: I think Liza and I both qualified for the width and weight limit for the camp). There we met up with interim director and former ELCA Director for Camps Jerry Olstad. Jerry gave us a history of the camp, an update on its current situation, and a tour. One of the unique camping experiences they offer is “tree house camping.” WAY COOL! After saying goodbye to Jerry, we were off to University of California, Santa Cruz.

Stanford University Visit

Liza and I had good visits while she was in the Bay Area. We started off at Stanford University. Our intentions were to meet with Pastor Richard Foster, Lutheran Campus Pastor for the University, but he had family obligations that day. (Relatives who were evacuees from hurricane Katerina were staying with him and he was tending to their needs). So Julie Steinbrenner (not related to George) was kind enough to host us for the day. Julie and her boyfriend Greg are both Ph.D. students at Stanford in the Mechanical Engineering program (very smart people). Julie is a graduate of Valparaiso University. She's from Illinois and Greg is from the Denver area. Julie and Greg are both active in the Episcopal Lutheran Campus Ministry (ELCM).

Western Mission Cluster

The Rev. Liza Simpson was on our campus this week. Liza is the Associate Director of Admissions at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, PLTS's partner in the Western Mission Cluster. Liza was here to visit PLTS for the first time, to get to know the Bay Area, and to see the Graduate Theological Union (www.gtu.edu) in action during the Opening Convocation. We also made visits to the Campus Ministry sites of UC Berkeley, Stanford University, and UC Santa Cruz as well as to Mt. Cross Bible Camp and the Lutheran Volunteer Corps Berkeley Community. These five students (Dan, Sarah, Chelsee, Emily, and Megan), all recent college graduates, will spend the next year working in non-profit organizations as volunteers. These organizations include the YWCA, legal aide, elderly low-income housing, and juvenile chemical dependency. It was a delight getting to know them and hearing about their placements with LVC, their backgrounds, and their future ambitions--which may or may not include seminary. I was impressed by these young people's willingness to take a year out of their lives to make a difference in the life of someone else; they are a testament to us all of what it means to be a servant of Christ.

All of us in admissions (from all eight ELCA seminaries) tell perspective students we meet with that the best way to decide which seminary will fit you best is to visit. Luther and PLTS share the same goal: to raise up theologically trained leaders for the church. Yet we do so in different ways. As “sister seminaries” we are a good pairing. Because of those differences we can greater meet the needs of those wishing to study in the West.

First Blog Post

Welcome to the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary Admissions Center blog for Pastor Greg Schaefer! During travels on the road and hosted events on campus, Pastor Greg will post images and anecdotes about people, places, events, and the goings-on of life in the Admissions Center. Check back often!