Cowboys, ranchers, and soldiers, business professionals and community volunteers—men from very different backgrounds are leaving their previous callings to prepare for a new one: sharing the gospel as a pastor. MLC’s Seminary Certification Program is assisting them on their path to the pulpit, and congregations needing pastors are grateful. Let’s hear their stories.
Nate Rooney MLC ’25 found his way to pastoral ministry by serving his own congregation, St. John in Brewster, Nebraska, during a long-term pastoral vacancy. He created bulletins, led services, helped with Bible studies, and communicated with vacancy pastors.
Nate sees a great need for pastors in rural areas like Brewster, population 12. “It weighed heavy on me,” he said. “Pastors don’t just flock out there. Eventually I just felt like I would be able to serve God’s people in a place that no one really wants to come to—two hours from a Walmart or an hour from your grocery store.”
So he enrolled in MLC’s Seminary Certification Program, a program designed specifically for men pursuing ministry as a second career.
Back in Brewster, Nate’s careers included sheep and cattle rancher, taxidermist, saddle-builder, owner of a trucking company, and volunteer EMT. Going back to school was a challenge, he’ll readily admit. “I hadn’t picked up a schoolbook in 20 years.” And, along with his wife and four daughters, he found it difficult adjusting to the “town life” of New Ulm after the wide-open plains of Nebraska.
Nonetheless, looking back on his MLC years, he said he wouldn’t change a thing. “[My professors] got to know me very well. I would be in their offices all the time. I enjoyed the community, the family that we had there on campus, and all the support that they showed us throughout the years.”
Nate graduated from MLC and is continuing his pastoral training at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. A rancher at heart, he says, “My number-one goal is being a shepherd. That’s it—that shepherd to a flock that needs somebody. I am not in it for the big numbers. I’m in it because people need somebody to lead them, to take care of them, to feed them, to show them where to go, and to help them along the way. That’s my heart.”
To read more about Nate’s journey from ranch to seminary—including two fires, three floods, and a newborn daughter who needed heart surgery—read “My Christian Life” in the July 2026 issue of Forward in Christ: forwardinchrist.net/nate-rooney
Mason Schulz MLC ’28 came to MLC from Windsor, Colorado, where he was, in his own words, a cowboy. With a degree in beef science management, he worked for sale barns, feedlots, and cow-calf operations, and participated in show horse competitions. What gives him the most joy, however, is helping people and “telling them about Jesus.”
That makes MLC’s Seminary Certification Program a natural fit. “I love how thorough the studies are,” he said, “how serious the education is, so that our pastors are fitted correctly for the ministry. I love all my classes and the fellowship of all the believers. My time here is a beautiful gift of God.”
Brett Gilbertson MLC ’27 has lived in Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Tennessee; has a bachelor’s degree in music; and has served in the army, worked in a hospital IT department, and driven a Little Debbie truck. When he began thinking of pastoral ministry, he was torn—not sure “whether someone like me was ‘good enough’ to be a pastor,” he said.
But he had seen “the amazing comfort that comes when the Word of God is rightly divided and administered faithfully to those in need.” So he decided, “If God would have me, I didn’t want to do anything but serve people with that Word.”
Grant Wempner MLC ’26 was doing ministry even while studying math, finance, and sports management at Wisconsin Lutheran College (WLC).
He led a weekly Bible study for WLC student-athletes, most of whom were not WELS. “This experience taught me a lot about my faith and made me very intrigued with the idea of doing ministry full-time,” he said. He also helped lead worship nights, working with two WLC pastors who are graduates of MLC: Nate Wordell MLC ’12, WLS ’16 and Greg Lyon MLC ’06, WLS ’10, “both of whom were incredibly influential in my career change.”
At WLC, Grant also led a Serve2Lead team that brought Special Olympics Wisconsin to campus for the first-ever SOW high school basketball championship game. His wide-ranging service did not go unnoticed: he was awarded the WLC Impact Award his senior year.
But Grant knew that the impact he truly wanted to have on people was in ministry’s simplest form: “telling people the good news about Jesus. No matter who they are or where they came from, I found this single thing to be the most fulfilling use of my time. Knowing how Jesus changed my life made me want to tell as many others as I could, and the more I did that, the more I wanted to have ministry be my full-time job!”
The Seminary Certification Program at MLC provides an opportunity for men who are older than traditional college students to prepare for WELS pastoral ministry. Students who have already completed a bachelor’s degree may complete the program in as little as two years, focusing their studies on theology and biblical languages. Students who successfully complete the program and demonstrate appropriate spiritual, academic, and personal attributes are recommended to Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary to continue preparation for the pastoral ministry.
If you’re interested, please contact Dean of Pre-Seminary Studies James Danell (danelljc@mlc-wels.edu).
From the MLC InFocus Summer 2026 Issue
