MLC President Rich Gurgel provides an overview and rationale related to the health and safety protocols for the start of our new school year.

Greetings, Knight Nation! Your MLC family is very, very eager to see you on campus!

We have been hearing concerns from some of you for what it may mean on our MLC campus as our country feels the impact of a rise in COVID cases due to the Delta variant. You may even have heard that many colleges and universities, such as the entire University of Minnesota system, will be requiring masks as this fall semester begins.

Allow me to say it very simply! We have not changed our plans at MLC to be an open campus this school year and to leave masking and social distancing protocols behind.

Why the change from last year? Last year we sought to honor our governor’s mandate, protect those most vulnerable in our campus family, as well as respect the welfare and concerns of a host community with a significant senior population. In addition, vaccines had not been approved during the first semester and didn’t become readily available until the end of our second semester.

All of those key factors have changed. There is no governor’s mandate at present in Minnesota, and no indication that one is being planned. Our faculty and staff vaccination rate stands at over 84%. And the vaccination rate for those 65 or older in Brown County is 98%. Many of you, our students, have also been vaccinated, including those with underly health challenges that make them especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus. Also consider this: in the state of Minnesota less than 3,500 documented cases of COVID have been reported among more than 3 million vaccinated. That’s a .1% breakthrough rate. Hospitalization from severe cases of COVID 19 among those vaccinated stands at only 1 in 10,000, and the death rate among vaccinated people is less than 2 in 100,000.

All of that has convinced us of this! The good that will be gained by you, our students, as you enjoy as normal of life on campus as possible, far, far outweighs any current risks to our campus family. We say that knowing that we all rest, in the last analysis, in the nail -marked hands of our Savior. We are far more than numbers and statistics to him.

The protocols that will be in place will be very few: the US Department of Transportation has not changed their masking requirement on public transportation (which includes our chartered buses for athletic teams or musical ensembles). Allina Health Care, which staffs our training room, has a mask mandate which will apply to all who enter the training room. There will also be quarantine for unvaccinated students, staff or faculty who are in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID 19. And, finally, just as would with any contagious illness, those who test positive for COVID 19 will be isolation until they have recovered.

Other than that, we thank God that we are anticipating that life on and off campus will resemble a regular school year. I know many of you, in particular, are glad for the return of open dorms! I am most looking forward to seeing our whole campus family all together at one time in Chapel of the Christ as we gather for daily worship! We thank God for these and all such restorations of what it means to be a campus family on this hill! Most importantly, we know how all of this can contribute to your preparation for gospel ministry!

See you soon, Knights!

Friday, May 28, 2021

On Saturday, May 15, 170 students earned degrees marking the completion of their ministerial training at Martin Luther College. This included 32 preseminary Bachelor of Arts degrees, 110 Bachelor of Science in Education degrees (including 18 early childhood education), nine Bachelor of Science degrees, (including one staff ministry degree, six educational studies degrees and two theological studies degrees), two seminary certifications and one staff ministry certification.

In addition, 10 students received their Master of Science in Education degrees, and five students earned their Master of Science in Educational Administration degrees and one received a Master of Arts in Theological Studies.

The Commencement Service in the MLC gymnasium was conducted by presiding minister Rev. James Pope. MLC President Rich Gurgel presented the commencement sermon on the theme, “You Are Servants By and Of Boundless Grace,” and Dr. Jeff Wiechman, vice president for academics, assisted with the distribution of diplomas.

The sermon text chosen by the class, Ephesians 3:7-9, states: “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.”

Gurgel commended the graduates on their graduation theme. “I am so happy for the verse you chose as your class verse.  The right people are listening to the right message.  Your passage reminds you that the public ministry for which you have all studied, and into which many of you are about to be called, is a great privilege of grace to those who serve in it.”

 Gurgel went on to explain why God would want the graduates to face this reality of ministry.  “He [God] wants you to grasp, as did Paul, the astounding difference between the depth of the sin of your heart and the depth of the grace in the heart of your Savior!  All of which will lead you also to marvel with Paul, as you find yourself called into public ministry, what an astounding gift of grace that is!   Though with Paul we must confess ourselves to be less than least of God’s people.”

That understanding, Gurgel pointed out, will clarify the importance of sharing Paul’s perspective through ministry. “When we recognize that we are servants of the gospel by boundless grace to us, we learn what it means to be servants of boundless grace to others.”

Gurgel assured the graduates, as they apply this grace of God’s word in their classrooms and congregations, “. . . you will know why God has placed you there with them! You who are a servant by boundless grace get to be a servant of boundless grace as you amaze the hearts of those you serve by showring them that where sin abounds, there grace always abounds more.  Such is the boundless nature of the gospel of which you are a servant!

An Important Advancement for Martin Luther College’s Campaign

The Martin Luther College (MLC) administration and governing board are excited to announce a significant advancement in the Equipping Christian Witnesses (ECW) campaign pillar designated to campus facilities. Thanks to the gift of two generous donors, our new athletic center is fully funded.

After extensive interviews, analysis, and research, MLC’s comprehensive campus site plan identified two priorities: residence space and indoor athletic space for sports teams, physical education training, and student life. For that reason, an athletic center and a residence hall were included in the facility improvement pillar of the ECW campaign.

MLC is thankful for the gifts received from many individuals, congregations, and schools throughout the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. We are also thankful for the support we have received from the New Ulm community. Those gifts provided a generous financial foundation for facilities, and now, God has moved the heart of two very generous donors to provide a transformational gift to the athletic center that will allow construction to commence.

The athletic center, named the Betty Kohn Fieldhouse, will be located at the MLC Athletic Field Complex west of the main campus, near the soccer and baseball fields. This 36,000-square-foot indoor turfed facility will feature large practice areas, baseball/softball batting cages, golf simulators, and locker rooms. In April, the MLC campus family will celebrate the groundbreaking of the fieldhouse, with student use anticipated by the beginning of 2022.

MLC President Rich Gurgel commented on this milestone of the Equipping Christian Witnesses campaign: “We are thankful to God for the generosity of so many people. The Betty Kohn Fieldhouse will serve our student body well. It is also a significant beginning to our long-range plans for making our campus even more attractive to prospective students. And we look forward to exploring how the fieldhouse can serve the recreation needs of the New Ulm community as well.”

MLC is pleased to offer our friends another two-year desktop calendar for 2021 and 2022. Calendars will be available at the two local New Ulm churches, but if you’re not in the area, please place your order with this form and we will mail it to you.

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