Pennsylvania

I hadn't made the Pennsylvania trip in a while but was finally able to do so this year. Having served my internship in New Jersey, it was like going "home" for me! I was on the campus of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, where Pastor Peter Bredlau and a group of students joined us for dinner and conversation about vocation, seminary, and what might be next in their lives. These terrific students are actively discerning their vocation and are open to the fact that public ministry may be the thing to which God is calling them. It's hard for us, sometimes, to come to terms with that. As Luther said, sometimes we have the hardest time beleiveing we are holy.

At Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Chaplain Mark Radecke and another fantastic group of students met us for dinner and conversation at a local place called BJ's. We were with them until midnight! (Though we didn't start dinner until 9:00 because they were all participating in the 30 Hour Famine that day!). The diversity of interest in this group was really interesting to me. A couple of Church Music/Organ majors, philosophy majors, primarily religion majors, etc. I included the picture of the SU Crew because I was on the crew in college and miss those days! (Unlike soccer, there's not a lot of "pick-up rowing" that goes on!)

We had, as usual, such a good visit to these two ELCA colleges and I am excited for the future of the church based on the promise and potential of the students we met. Then it was off to Penn State for another great visit with Pastor Marsh and Alicia and their students for lunch, worship, conversation, and dinner. The Pasquerilla Spiritual Center at Penn State is the Ministry building for the entire university and, as such, is home to many communities. As we sat and ate and talked with these students, I thought about how well they will do at PLTS/GTU having this background!

I had to include this shot of Pr. Tom Henderson and me standing in front of some snow. He's my colleagues from Southern Seminary so he and I were particularly excited to see snow!

Challenge your mind, nurture your spirit, and engage the world!

Come to our summer session in sunny Berkeley, California sponsored by the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS). Our summer session is designed explicitly for clergy and lay leaders who want to broaden their theological understanding and strengthen their skills for effective ministry. Each weeklong course runs for five days (mornings or afternoons). Summer session runs July 5 – 27 and will be held on the CDSP campus in Berkeley. Participants earn two Continuing Education Units (no academic credit is awarded). For course descriptions and information about housing, see the Summer Session web site http://www.cdsp.edu/center_summer.php. Can’t get away this summer to attend a classroom-based course? Enroll in an online course! See http://www.cdsp.edu/center_online.php

Southern California!

Greetings from Southern California! Some of you regular readers know that the Admissions Directors of the ELCA Seminaries travel together in demonstration of our collegiality and the cohesiveness of the ELCA Seminary System. This past week, it was my turn to host the colleagues in California, as we made our way from Fuller Seminary, to CLU, to San Diego State University, and points in between. We spent a good bit of our time at California Lutheran University, up on the Ventura Coast of Southern California. There, we had dinner with the fine students you see above, as well as Pastor Scott and Dr. Paul Egertson of the CLU Faculty. Both of these guys are strong supporters of Lutheran education as well as of the spiritual lives of their students. Pastor Scott and Pastor Melissa (a PLTS-grad clergy couple) have the best job in the world (apart from mine), serving as the University Pastors at CLU. The passion they have for ministry and the love they have for their students is obvious in every encounter I've had with them. They are two of the (greatest people and) best pastors I know.

Do yourself a favor and find an opportunity to meet them.


We also spent some time with students at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena. These students have begun their education at a seminary outside of the ELCA and, so, will need to attend one of our ELCA seminaries in order to be ELCA pastors, diaconal ministers, or associates. We had lunch with them at the Westin Hotel in Pasadena, which afforded us this nice picture of Fuller students, Fuller faculty, and seminary colleagues.





San Diego: We also had the chance to go down to San Diego. There, we spread the wealth a bit by splitting up into three pairs and joining three different congregations at worship. Jenny (from Southern) and I were at College Lutheran Church where Pastor Doug (a PLTS graduate) invited us to join the congregation for their mid-week Lenten supper and worship. I preached a bit on Psalm 139, in keeping with their series of looking to the Psalms during our Lenten journey. Liza from Luther and Mark from Gettysburg went to St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, where they spoke to the confirmation class and preached at worship. Ruth from Wartburg and Joy from Chicago spent the evening with students at San Diego State University, preaching the Word at their evening worship. We all met back at SDSU's Agape House (that's right, South Dakota . . . we have an SDSU, too!) just in time for Eucharist and a visit with Pastor Molly (also a PLTS alumna) and the students at the (soon to be rebuilt and greatly expanded) Agape House.

Lest you think we work all the time, I did pull off the freeway for a few minutes to show my colleagues the newly built Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles (the Angels. In fact, the full name of that huge city is La Ciudad de Nuestra Senora, Reina de Los Angeles . . . The City of our Lady, Queen of the Angels. You can see why we call it LA!) Anyway, this is us in front of that beautiful, modern cathedral. If you find yourself in the area, stop by . . . it's well worth your time.



So, that's it from here. I'll use this space to make another plug for PLTS's Faith Active in Love program, as well as the PreviewPLTS weekend that is coming up in April. Send us an email for more information!