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Concordia Theological Seminary is in an excellent position to develop pastors who will bring the gifts of God to the people of God. Through daily prayer, intensive study and experience, the seminarian is formed into a man of God and steward of His mysteries. We are here to serve you as you prepare for a life of making Christ known to those in need of the friendship of God.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
What tremendous words of comfort these are as our nation, indeed, our world, faces the potential of an influenza pandemic. The psalmist continues, “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”  Because of the tremendous love our Heavenly Father has for us, evidenced most fully in the life, death, and resurrection of His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the fears and insecurities that might otherwise overwhelm us give way to a sense of quiet peace and readiness to alleviate the suffering of our fellow human beings.

In the wake of this outbreak, reports are surfacing almost by the hour of school closings and church cancellations (including a very small number involving LCMS congregations) as well as restrictions on business and other forms of travel.  At the time of the writing of this memorandum, cases of swine flu have been confirmed in 10 states-a number that seems likely to grow.  And there has been a death on U.S. soil-a Mexican child seeking treatment in Texas.
Congregations, agencies, professional church workers, and lay leaders of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are urged to remain alert regarding the status of the outbreak and to follow the guidelines provided by local, state, and federal public-health officials. In addition, disaster coordinators in each LCMS district have been provided with guidelines to assist congregations in dealing with a potential flu pandemic.  Further, LCMS World Relief and Human Care offers an assortment of resources-congregational planning procedures for a possible pandemic, a preparedness checklist, and links to information from the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization-at www.lcms.org/?15119.

Above all, in the midst of any potential or actual calamitous event, as Christians we cling to and communicate the comfort of our loving God, who says to us: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).  So with the psalmist we boldly declare, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:11). God’s grace, mercy, and peace be with us all!

Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, announces that its popular online pre-seminary Greek course will now be offered in a more flexible way so that students can study at their own pace and according to their own schedule.  The seminary began to make pre-seminary Biblical Greek available online in September 2008.  Previously the students registered for the three quarter program of studies according to the schedule of classes on campus, Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters.  Now students can begin their studies at any time by simply registering for the course.  They then have up to 120 days to complete each level of the course. Upon successful completion of the three levels, the students will have met the Biblical Greek requirements for entry into the seminary.

“Allowing students to begin their course of studies at any time will make it even more accessible for a greater number of people interested in learning to read the New Testament in the original Greek, especially if they are interested in coming to the seminary eventually,” said Dr. Douglas Rutt, dean for distance learning.

The Biblical Greek course is taught by Dr. John Nordling, eminently qualified as a professor of Greek.  Besides his seminary training, he has achieved a Master of Arts from Washington University, St. Louis, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  Dr. Nordling taught in the Department of Foreign Languages at Valparaiso University and the Department of Classics at Baylor University before coming to Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, in 2006. Rev. Mark Braden, former Greek instructor at the seminary, is the course tutor, who personally assists each student with questions, further explanation, grades quizzes and tests, and monitors progress through e-mail, the Internet and the phone.

“The response has been really incredible,”  commented Rev. William Johnson, who was responsible for preparing the course for online teaching.  “We’ve seen students who have invested the time in the course consistently doing well on the same benchmarks we use for our residential Greek students.”

Dr. Lawrence Rast, academic dean at the Fort Wayne seminary, observed: “Our purpose at Concordia Theological Seminary is to support the church by forming servants in Jesus Christ.  We are developing new approaches to accomplish that mission.  We hope that offering Biblical Greek online in this flexible way will make it possible for more people to identify and make use of their talents and gifts for serving in God’s kingdom as pastors and missionaries.”

The course is open to anyone, men and women, who have adequate academic preparation to do the course work and are planning on or considering church work, or who simply want to learn the read the New Testament in its original language.

An online demonstration is available at www.ctsfw.edu/greekdemo.  For more information contact Rev. William Johnson at (260) 452-3202 or william.johnson@ctsfw.edu.  To inquire about registering for the course contact Mrs. Barbara Wegman at (260) 452-2153 or registrar@ctsfw.edu.

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What a Way!
… to make a difference!
… to serve the Lord!
… to serve others!
… to use your gifts!
… to go to work!
… to live your life!

These phrases really sum up the spirit and purpose of What a Way. But read on to learn what we mean.

The mission of the LCMS is “to vigorously make known the love of Christ by Word and deed within our churches, communities and the world.”

The What a Way initiative in our church is one way we are trying to get at this mission.

What a Way has a dual focus:
To rebuild active recruitment and retention of church workers as an integrated part of the LCMS culture and lifestyle at the local congregation level.

It is hard to overestimate how important preaching the resurrection is to the mentally ill, including the clinically depressed. That’s the illness I know best, but I firmly believe that this holds true for anxiety, manic depression, schizophrenia and a host of other mental illnesses.

The reason is simple. For the mentally ill, you are trapped in your own mind and body. Your brain is not processing as it should, and so the chemical changes in your body interact in a very bad way with the sinful nature which infects us all. If your sickness is telling you that things are far, far worse than they really are, and your sinful nature is telling you that God hates you, put these two together and you have a recipe for personal and spiritual disaster.

Mental illness works as a magnifying glass and amplifier for so many of the doubts and fears which infect us all. Everyone has doubts about the future. Everyone has moments of despair. Everyone has fears about what they cannot control. Everyone questions their own worthiness before God and before their fellow human beings. We all go through these. But for the mentally ill, especially the clinically depressed, these feelings are all consuming. The physical illness can easily lead to anfectung, the struggle of the soul.

So why does preaching the resurrection matter to the clinically depressed? It matters because in the resurrection of the body, there is a future and a hope that is real, that is concrete, that will happen to matter what may be going on today or yesterday or tomorrow. St. Paul puts it best:

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (1Corinthians 15:19 KJV)

For the depressed, there is no tomorrow.

For the depressed, there is only thick darkness.

For the depressed, there is only more misery.
For the depressed, there is no escape except the grave.

But not so the Christian!

There is a tomorrow in Christ.
There is light that shines in the darkness.
There is joy in the body of Christ.
There is escape not in the grave but through the resurrection of the body.

So, my fellow preachers, give us the resurrection. It is my only hope out of the darkness. Give me Jesus Christ risen from the dead. Nothing, nothing else will ever satisfy.

Easter is coming. I can’t wait.

Originally posted on I Trust When Dark My Road