Faculty Update: Advancement & Tenure

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’”
Matthew 25:21

At the end of each academic year, Concordia Theological Seminary (CTSFW), Fort Wayne, has the opportunity to acknowledge the work of our faculty and to promote and celebrate their advancement. In a recent meeting, the Board of Regents called the Rev. Dr. Don C. Wiley to the faculty as assistant professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions and granted tenure to the Rev. Dr. Gifford A. Grobien. Only a month before that, Prof. (now Dr.) John T. Pless was honored by Concordia University Chicago, who awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Wiley first graduated from CTSFW in 1992 with a Master’s of Divinity (M.Div.), followed in 2009 with a Master’s of Sacred Theology in Exegetical Theology before finally receiving his Ph.D. in Missiology in 2017. His first experience overseas was as a vicar in Panamá, later becoming in ordained missionary there in the mid-90s. Last year Wiley was called as a mission specialist to CTSFW, though he’s been working with the Rev. Dr. Arthur A. Just Jr. in Spanish Language Church Worker Formation since 2013, when Just contacted him to prepare the first preaching course for the international program.

“I am very humbled to be called to serve the Lord and His Church as an assistant professor here at CTSFW,” Wiley said. “I am excited to continue working in our Hispanic/Latino Programs, providing the day-to-day administration of our SMP–Español/English Program, assisting in the development and deployment of Spanish language courses both here in the U.S. and internationally, and generally promoting the importance of reaching out to our Hispanic and Latino neighbors with the love of Christ in our M.Div. Program. The Lord has provided me a unique experience in serving as a missionary in Panamá, then serving congregations in the multiethnic and multicultural environment of Southern California. I count it a privilege to prepare future pastors and missiologists in these fast-changing times.”

Alongside the awarding of tenure by the Board of Regents, Grobien also advanced in rank to associate professor of Systematic Theology. “This action by the Board of Regents is a public acknowledgement of the fine and faithful service of Dr. Grobien at CTSFW for the past six years,” said the Rev. Dr. Charles A. Gieschen, academic dean, “both in the classroom and with his exemplary leadership of our revamped Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) Program.” The revamping that Gieschen is referring to is Grobien’s reorganization of the courses, which has increased the number of D.Min. students at CTSFW by making the program easier for working pastors to fit into their schedules.

Grobien joined the CTSFW faculty in 2012 as assistant professor of Systematic Theology and director of the D.Min. Program. He graduated with his M.Div. in Exegetical Theology from CTSFW in 2005, earning his Ph.D. in Moral Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 2011 where he also taught in their Department of Theology. His dissertation on “Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Minds: Christian Worship as the Root of Righteousness and Ethical Formation” reflects his intersecting interests in the doctrine of salvation, worship, ethics, virtue and natural law. His recent publications include “The Christian Voice in the Civil Realm” and “Marriage and So-Called Civil Unions in Light of Natural Law,” both published in issues of Concordia Theological Quarterly.

In 1983 Pless entered The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) by colloquy at CTSFW. For the past 18 years he has served on the CTSFW faculty as director of Field Education and assistant professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions, though he has worked in higher education since 1979, first as assistant to dean of Chapel at Valparaiso University, then for 17 years as campus pastor at University Lutheran Chapel at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He has served on multiple LCMS boards and committees, and is currently chairman of the Synod’s Commission on Doctrinal Review. He is also known for his many books, among them Praying Luther’s Small CatechismHandling the Word of Truth: Law and Gospel in the Church Today and Luther on the Care for the Sick and the Dying.

A familiar face at various conferences and seminaries both in the United States and overseas as a lecturer, Pless has served both CTSFW and many others. “Students have benefited from the teaching and prolific writing of Dr. Pless for many years,” said Dr. Gieschen. “We rejoice with him in the well-deserved honor and recognition bestowed upon him by Concordia University Chicago.”

Pless Book Translated into Portuguese

It is always a joy to see how our faculty and the confessional Lutheran theology that they teach and profess spreads across the globe. “Handling the Word of Truth: Law and Gospel in the Church Today” by Dr. John T. Pless (assistant professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions) was recently translated into Portuguese. We are blessed by the fellowship we share with our brothers and sisters across nations and languages.

Here, translated from the Portuguese description using Google Translate, is the book description pulled from their website:

“John Pless pours the riches of Scripture, Lutheran Confessions, pastoral works of Martin Luther and C. F. W. Walther to discover gems vital for both Christian life and preaching. Walther wrote his classic study of the correct distinction between Law and Gospel in a very different social scene from the twenty-first century in the United States. Pless guides his reader from Walther’s text into Scripture and into daily life, both through perceptual comments and through punctual questions for discussion. His lively prose style weaves together theologians’ remarks (from Luther to Bo Giertz, Gerhard Forde and Oswald Bayer) with their own insights and examples of contemporary ecumenical exchanges and real life. Pastors and laymen will find this book easy to read pleasure and great help in the practice of Christian living.”

You can view the book HERE.

 

Bishop Makala Training Center; Tanzania

Dr. Peter J. Scaer, associate professor of Exegetical Theology and director of the M.A. Program here at CTSFW, is just finishing up a 10-day trip to Tanzania. The LCMS has worked with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania—South-East of Lake Victoria Diocese’s (ELCT—SELVD) since the early 2000s, and CTSFW has been connected directly to our brothers and sisters in Tanzania since 2013, when Bishop Emmanuel Makala requested the Seminary’s help in developing the program for the Bishop Makala Training Center.
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
It’s currently winter in Tanzania, where the highs have dropped into the upper 80s; the Tanzanian word for afternoon is, in fact, the same as their word for heatstroke. There are cities filled with motorized vehicles (and traffic jams), but the training center is located out in the country, where donkeys are used for hauling and bicycles are one of the main means of transportation, often with one pedaling and another on the back, along for the ride. Why the training center is located on the outskirts of nowhere is three-fold:
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
1. The first baptism in Tanzania took place under a tree here in 1969 (a number which has now grown into a church fast approaching 7 million members).
2. Rather than settle near Lake Victoria where the land is lush and green, the church wanted to prepare their pastors and deaconesses for life in the villages, under the hottest and driest conditions.
3. For what Dr. Scaer calls “holy isolation”; the students here have no distractions during their two years of study.
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
At first not much more than a parsonage and chapel, students laid the bricks donated to the training center during their off-hours, building dorms, classrooms, a kitchen area, and a new meeting hall. This past week, Dr. Scaer taught a class on St. Paul, covering such topics as objective justification, wrath and grace, Law and Gospel, redemption, and propitiation.


‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
The church uses loudspeakers in their worship services, whereas the classrooms are reverently quiet, the students speaking so softly that Dr. Scaer has to approach each individually to hear them. As for the singing:
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
“Oh, the singing,” Dr. Scaer writes. “Better in their smaller groups, I think, than with the amps and electronics. Just pure harmony, heavenly and sweet. So, I ask for a hymn, a song, before every class period. When I do, the room fills with ricocheting whispers, as they decide. One woman becomes the choir director. Three of the men take to desk tapping to provide the rhthym section. Lutherans sing. Tanzanians sing. Lutheran Tanzanians? Glorious.”
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
The ELCT has grown through both the baptism of babies and evangelism, despite (or perhaps because of) the many hostile forces around her. Muslims live in the cities and western anti-human ideologies have begun to creep into the country, and the land is beset by the old tribal religions. At their worst, witch doctors take the body parts of albinos (common in this corner of the world) and sell them as amulets and charms; a hand, Dr. Scaer was told, can go for as much as $10,000. Tanzanian evangelists thus travel village to village and hut to hut, bringing three tools with them: God’s Word, a pair of scissors, and water.
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
They begin by telling the story of salvation: creation, the fall, and God’s plan of redemption in Christ. The scissors are then used to cut off the unholy charms that many Tanzanians wear to ward off harmful spirits, performing a kind of exorcism. Finally, the convert is baptized with water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Evangelists set up preaching posts in these villages, which become a church once 75 are gathered in His name.
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
The ELCT and the LCMS are moving ever closer to an official partnership with each other. The Tanzanians desire this tie with a confessional Lutheran church, “And,” Dr. Scaer adds, “as fellow members of Christ’s body, we need the fellowship of the Tanzanians, whose joy is infectious, and whose vitality reminds us why we go to church in the first place.”

‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍


The information in this post was gathered from Dr. Scaer’s firsthand account of his time in Tanzania. To read more of the details (such as his day-to-day life at the training center and the Lutheran pastor v. witch doctor debate — followed by a soccer match — which took place on Wednesday), go to https://www.facebook.com/pjscaer and scroll down through the last ten days of posts.

Retirement: Marsha Zimmerman

Today is the last day at CTSFW for one of our dedicated servants: Marsha Zimmerman, who first began working at the Seminary in June 1998. She started out in the daycare, had to take a break from the Seminary to return to teaching in the Fort Wayne area when the daycare closed, but eventually returned. “It’s such a great place,” she explained. “Everybody tries to get back here.”

She has worked in Admission and as the relocation coordinator (helping our married students find housing), and most recently has assisted in the Vicarage and Field Education office. When asked what her favorite thing about being at CTSFW is, she said, simply, “Working directly with the students and getting to know them.”

Now, after thirteen years with us, it’s time to say goodbye. We celebrated Marsha’s retirement after chapel this morning, along with her husband Tom. God’s richest blessings to Marsha as she moves on to this new phase in her life!

Wakefield-Kroemer Director’s Chair

This is an exciting time. The days are packed and there are so many things going on that it’s hard to capture it all, especially with graduation in a little less than six hours. We have our long-distance deaconess students on campus, alumni reunion attendees (from the years ending in eight and three — one gentleman I met yesterday was celebrating his 45th year since graduation), international students, pastors here to finish an even greater level of theological education, and the many family and friends that come with these men and women.
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
One such couple with us this week is Wayne Kroemer and Barbara Wakefield-Kroemer, whose names you may recognize from The Wayne and Barbara Kroemer Library. Three and a half years after the dedication of the major library expansion, we were able to thank them once again, following last night’s Vespers service, this time for the dedication of the Wakefield-Kroemer Director’s Chair in Library and Information Services.
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
The chair itself is symbolic, as what it does is pay the salary and benefits of a faculty member — in this case, the Director of Library and Information Services (currently the Rev. Prof. Robert Roethemeyer). President Rast spoke at the dedication, thanking Prof. Roethemeyer, David Daniels (who made the chair itself, and many more like it here on campus), and the Kroemers for their continued and incredible support of the Seminary. The brick and mortar that make up the campus find purpose and life through the people God has placed here to serve and be served. We are richly blessed.
‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
2 Corinthians 9:10-15

Retirement: Dr. Timothy Quill

This note showed up in today’s chapel bulletin:

“Farewell and Godspeed to Professor Timothy Quill on the Occasion of His Retirement.”

Dr. Grime led the Farewell and Godspeed to Dr. Quill during chapel.

Dr. Quill has been with us for 20 years, having joined the faculty in 1998. This is his last quarter of teaching, as he will officially complete his service with us on June 30th. Following chapel, CTSFW held a reception for him in the Student Commons, where he spoke of his years of extensive travel, following the jet streams across the seas. He has served as dean of International Studies since 2002, and he oversaw the recruitment of about 40 students from Russia through the Russian Project at CTSFW (Dr. Gieschen in particular mentioned this as he was speaking of Dr. Quill at the reception; it was quite the thing, he said, teaching Greek to a roomful of Russian students who didn’t know English).

Dr. Quill shows off the world’s ugliest tie (his words), gifted to him from fellow CTSFW faculty, as Dr. Gieschen looks on.

Though retiring from the Seminary, Dr. Quill will continue to serve as a visitation pastor in the area. “Being at the bedside of someone whose jet stream is leading them to heaven…” he said, explaining his new ministerial focus, “Now that’s really something.”

Students, faculty, and staff all signed this book (the front cover says, “We thank God because of your partnership in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!”), with their own thank yous and words of encouragement. These are only two pages out of many.

Honorary Doctorate: John T. Pless

Congratulations to Professor Pless (our director of Field Education and assistant professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions)! Concordia University Chicago awarded him with an honorary Doctor of Letters on May 5th, during their spring commencement ceremony. You may recognize Prof. Pless from the pictures we post of him from his many overseas trips and missions. He is also the author of several books, the full list of which can be found on his faculty page HERE.

Friends of the Fort Visit

The visitors here with us this week at CTSFW are calling themselves, quite appropriately, “Friends of the Fort.” Made up of LCMS pastors and congregations from around the country (Florida, Texas and Nebraska are among their home states), this group serves the church by supporting her seminaries. If you’ve been watching our chapel services this past week, then you’ve heard two of their number, guest preaching yesterday and today.

So far they have provided coffee, fruit and pastries for coffee hour following chapel yesterday (as pictured here), hosted a meal for the faculty last night, and are hosting a barbecue this evening for the Seminary community. They have also spent the last two days stopping by every office on campus to pass out gifts that show their appreciation for everyone who works here, from the maintenance staff to the office workers to the CTSFW Facebook page manager sitting at her desk on the third floor of Dorm B, writing the posts for the day.

The best part of these gifts are the words that come with them: a thank you card illustrated and written by children in their congregations and schools, the encouraging, “You are building the Kingdom of God,” and “Your work gives us Sundays,” and a note that says, simply: “1 Cor. 15:58.”*

Thank you, Friends of the Fort!


*Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

An Old Tradition

Blessing firetrucks is an old tradition, begun in the horse and buggy days. A new truck is washed, blessed, and finally pushed into service (that is, pushed into the garage) by all the men at the station, though these days modern trucks need a driver at the wheel to assist. This is the tenth Fort Wayne firetruck blessed in the past three years.

Pictured here, the chaplain of the Fort Wayne Fire Department is not only a 2007 CTSFW grad, he’s also the Seminary’s vice president and chief operating officer. Rev. Jon Scicluna worked in law enforcement for 25 years before studying at the Seminary, and even now he continues his service, ministering to those who protect, serve and rescue.

We can claim additional brotherhood in the department. When Rev. Scicluna first met Fire Chief Eric Lahey, he walked into his office, saw the Bible, Luther’s Catechism, and a Concordia Commentary by Reed Lessing on his shelf, and thus recognized a fellow LCMS Lutheran.

Through these men, and others like them, Lutheranism and the CTSFW campus remain a vital and integral part of the Fort Wayne community. May God continue to grant us the opportunities, and the strength, to always serve our neighbor.

Retirement: Jayne Sheafer

In these past few weeks we’ve had to say goodbye to a dear friend and colleague at the Seminary, Jayne Sheafer, our director of Seminary Relations. Jayne has been with us since September of 2002, when her husband Rev. Mark Sheafer, a 1988 CTSFW grad, returned to the Seminary for his STM. They have been with us ever since.

Jayne first worked at the Seminary in the Childcare Center and later in the Financial Aid Office (where Rev. Sheafer currently serves as director of Financial Aid). However, with a background in communications, she soon found her calling in Seminary Relations, where she has been for the last thirteen years. Many of the Facebook posts and news releases published by CTSFW came from her desk over those years.

Thank you, Jayne. You have been — and still are — a very vital piece of the Seminary community. God’s blessings to you, dear sister in Christ!