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CTSFW Partnership With Supporters Pays Tuition in Full for Pastoral and Diakonal Programs

A central goal of Concordia Theological Seminary (CTSFW), Fort Wayne’s strategic plan has been 100% tuition coverage for our students. The Seminary is privileged to announce that years of targeted work have borne fruit: beginning with the 2018-19 academic year, tuition for all incoming, residential pastoral ministry and deaconess students will be paid in full.

“In 2013, with the help of a grant from the Lilly Foundation, we did an exhaustive study of student debt that drove us to establish 100% tuition support as one of the goals of our strategic plan,” said the Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Rast, Jr., president of CTSFW. “Where there is a plan, God provides. On October 31, 2017, the Board of Regents of CTSFW approved full tuition support for the class entering the Seminary in 2018. I was delighted to share this publicly at the North Dakota District convention in late January.”

By partnering with districts, congregations and individuals in the Church, CTSFW is able to offer a grant that will provide 100% tuition cost for first-year, incoming students. The Seminary acts as both first and third payer in this relationship, first providing aid that covers 77.5% of tuition, after which outside aid is applied. Once LCMS District aid and all outside scholarships have been added, the Seminary then covers any remaining tuition cost through this new grant.

“Make no mistake: this isn’t free tuition,” Rast explained. “This is God’s people, the Church, providing for the tuition of our future pastors and deaconesses through their bountiful gifts to CTSFW. We are thankful to our faculty and staff who have developed this plan, our Board of Regents for approving it, and the people of God who have been so generous with CTSFW for their financial support in making this a reality. Most of all we are thankful to our gracious God who provides us with the gifts necessary to provide pastors, deaconesses and lay leaders in His church. To Him alone be the glory!”

If you would like to join in the effort to support future faithful servants of Christ, visit www.ctsfw.edu/support, email Advancement@ctsfw.edu or call 877.287.4338.

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Tanzania Pastoral Training Program

Bishop Emmanuel Joseph Makala and a delegation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) met with the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) yesterday.

The bishop signed a copy of his book for President Rast, Chair of the CTCR. Bishop Makala is a long-time friend of the Seminary, having requested CTSFW’s help in developing the Tanzania pastoral training program. We have been partnered with them in that endeavor since 2013, which you can read about by CLICKING HERE.

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CTSFW Campus History

The silhouette from the cover of this booklet reprinted from “Progressive Architecture” (December 1958) is a familiar one. The assistant archivist from the Michigan District LCMS Archive at Concordia University in Ann Arbor emailed this to us yesterday, having discovered it while sorting through materials in their archives.

The 191 acres on which we’re built was originally a reservation deeded to Pe-chewa, a Miami Indian chief who later became a Christian. The Charles Kramer family purchased and homesteaded the land in the early 1900s, before it changed hands again, this time to the Synod. Construction from 1954 – 1957 transformed the Kramer farm into a preministerial college, which makes this booklet only slightly younger than the campus itself. It was published about fifteen years before the LCMS voted (in 1975) to combine the Senior College here with the Junior College in Ann Arbor, allowing our Seminary to move from the aging campus in Springfield, Illinois, to this much newer one in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

In short: here we still stand. For 43 years we have done no other.

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Commemoration: Jacob (Israel), Patriarch

“Isaac Blesses Jacob,” illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible; illustrated by Gerard Hoet (1648-1733) and others, published by P. de Hondt in “The Hague.”

The third patriarch of the Hebrews, Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, was the younger of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca. The major highlights of his youth and early adulthood turn on the fact that he was exactly what his name suggested: a cheater (Jacob literally means “he takes by the heel,” which was an idiom of the time for “he cheats”).

He cheated his brother out of his birthright and deceived his father into giving him the elder son’s blessing using his wits and his mother’s help. His uncle later tricked him into marrying both his daughters, and Jacob’s favoritism for his wife Rachel and her sons plagued his family life, stirring up strife within his household. Jacob spent much of his adult life grieving over Rachel’s passing and the presumed death of his beloved son Joseph, who was secretly sold into slavery by his jealous brothers (the sons of Rachel’s sister).

Yet God dealt kindly with him. Renamed Israel (meaning “he strives with God”), he was a deceiver, a liar, and a cheat, but he was also richly blessed according to God’s gracious will and mercy.

Through him we too, cheaters and liars and murders alike, are blessed. The long foretold Messiah came to His people through Judah, Israel’s fourth son. Thus Jesus Christ fulfilled the law for all sinners, and through Him we are counted among the saints.

“Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’?
“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”
~Galatians 3:5-7

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The Presentation of Our Lord

Today marks the Purification of Mary and the Presentation of our Lord, as laid out in Luke 2:22-40:
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And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
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“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
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And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
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And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
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And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

This picture shows a very familiar canticle in the Lutheran Service Book, the Nunc Dimittis, alongside a screen capture of “Simeon’s Song of Praise,” painted in 1631 by Rembrandt.
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Food & Clothing Co-op: Student Thank You

The following is a thank you from one of our seminarians, written in response to the gifts he and his family receive through the Food & Clothing Co-ops. The ladies there like to share these letters with donors (generally through the mail), and thought that our Facebook followers might enjoy it as well.

Dear Saints in Christ,
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Greetings from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne. My name is Bill and I am a fourth-year student in the Master of Divinity program. I look forward to receiving a call to serve saints like you in Christ’s church at the end of this year. My wife, Erin, is here with me in Fort Wayne and she enjoys working a full-time job as a computer programmer. My daughter, Jill, is also working full time and going to college here in Fort Wayne. She joined us our second year here at seminary and even stayed in Fort Wayne while Erin and I went on vicarage (internship) our third year of seminary in Palo Alto, California.
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We are from Casper, Wyoming. Erin and I grew up in different places but Wyoming is our married home, so we consider it home! We also became Lutheran in Wyoming. Erin and I grew up in different denominations and knew nothing about Lutheranism before we were looking for a church that handled the Word of God seriously. What a joy for us to discover the treasures of the Lutheran confessions! Attending seminary has only strengthened my conviction of what a treasure we have in the Lutheran Confessions because they faithfully confess Christ and the work He has done for all of us in His life, death, resurrection! I look forward to being a pastor where it is my full-time job to share the depths and riches of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ!
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One of the biggest things I have learned during my time at seminary is the love saints like you have for your pastors and pastors to be. The four years of seminary are a huge commitment and can only be accomplished with the help of others. I am humbled by how many people, especially people we don’t even know, support us as I complete my training to become qualified to serve God and His people. In Galatians, Paul exhorts us, “as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” The generosity of you, and other saints in Christ like you, is amazing. I see that generosity first hand and am very grateful. I know my gratitude is shared by my classmates and the whole seminary community. It really wouldn’t be possible to train future pastors without your support.
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A big way we see that support is with the generous gifts given to the Food Co-op and the Clothing Co-op. We receive points to “shop” in the Food Co-op for food and medicine like aspirin. We receive clothing and other household goods at the Clothing Co-op. Both are necessary to care for ourselves and our families. There are so many times our Co-ops had just what we needed!
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Thank you for your generosity and support. Your support of the seminary and seminarians helps the church equip the next generation of pastors and deaconesses to serve the next generation of saints. Thank you for your service to God and His church.
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Blessings,
Seminarian Bill Maggard

Photo of the Domenichelli family, taken at the end of last year when Jonah (far right) was only a first year. They were good sports about letting us document their shopping trip.
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Rev. Jim Strawn: Giving Back

Last week, the guest preacher for daily chapel on Thursday, January 25, was Rev. Jim Strawn, a 1988 graduate of CTSFW and pastor of St. James Lutheran Church in Archbold, Ohio. I had the chance to speak with him afterwards about his congregation’s unique way to alleviate student debt. Once a seminarian graduates, the church uses a fund set aside for this purpose to pay off the loan. The student (or new pastor, at this point) then repays the church for the loan, but at zero interest. Once enough of the loan is paid back, the congregation is able to take on another student’s debt, and thus the cycle continues.

They began this fund about 25 years ago, when a couple in the church (a successful potato farmer and his wife, named Gene and Dolores Bernath) first came up with the idea. “There is zero overhead,” Pastor Strawn explained. “Everything goes to the student. Every penny that has ever been given is still in there.”

He hopes that by reducing financial burden, pastors are able to devote more time to theological study. When I asked what the response was from the pastors who have participated in their repayment plan, Pastor Strawn simply smiled and said, “Really, really thankful.”

If you have more questions about the specifics of how this program works, feel free to contact St. James Lutheran Church. They can be reached at (419) 445-4750.

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Allen County March for Life 2018

The Allen County March for Life took place here in Fort Wayne on Saturday. Dr. Peter Scaer, who is a bold and commonly heard voice for these and other such issues, opened the rally with greetings and prayer. He also wrote a reflection on the event, quoted here from his Facebook page:

“Life and death have never been friends. Where death reigns, there is no hope, no future, no friends or family. In a strange mystery, it took Christ’s death to defeat death, his resurrection to give us new hope. But today, with Allen County Right to Life, we celebrated life, together, as a community. Over 2000 strong. And what a celebration it was.”

There was a good showing of Lutherans for the march. You can see some of our professors and seminarians (and a few family members) alongside the CTSFW sign, and that’s our own Rev. Dreyer from the Admission Office taking a picture of all the Lutherans together.

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Commemoration: St. Titus, Pastor and Confessor

Another “true child” of Paul “in a common faith,” St. Titus served a similar role as Timothy, whom we remembered earlier this week. However, unlike Timothy, who was circumcised to more effectively reach the Jews (Acts 16:3), Titus was “not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek” (Galatians 2:3), likely to show that Gentile converts did not have to be circumcised to be true Christians (one of the major controversies of the early Church). Titus worked under Paul as a pastor, missionary, emissary, and fellow servant in Christ.

Icon of Saint Titus; Kosovo, 14th c. Pech Patriarch., S. Nicholas church.

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

To Titus, my true child in a common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

Titus 1:1-9

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Retirement: Carol Bratton

Today we thank God for Carol Bratton (here pictured with Dr. MacKenzie), who is retiring after ten years as Human Resources/Payroll Manager. This is her last day with us, as she will be joining her husband, Clarence (another former and beloved staff member at CTSFW), in retirement. Thank you for all that you have done for us, Carol!