Welcome to the Admissions Team!
ECW Pillar #1 . . . and You
By President Rich Gurgel NWC ’81, WLS ’86
It’s the elephant in the room as we enter year three of MLC’s Equipping Christian Witnesses (ECW) campaign.
We’re so thankful to point to ECW pillar #2, Student Financial Aid, as it displays the success of our Congregational Partner Grant Program (CPGP). These congregational grants matched by MLC can total $8,000 per student over four years, putting a significant dent in the debt students carry. For three straight years, our average graduate’s debt has gone down.
A working group on campus is exploring even more ways to increase financial aid. We pray the years ahead will be a continuation of this success story as God blesses our students through the generosity of his people.
We’re also thankful to point to ECW pillar #3, Student Facilities, as we watch the Betty Kohn Fieldhouse rise on the plains of southcentral Minnesota. That 36,000-square-foot indoor turf facility is still on pace to be ready in January for our athletic teams, intramurals, and PE classes. What’s more, we have nearly 20% of the funds in hand for Luther Heights. That’s the temporary name for what would be our first new residence hall in more than 50 years.
But you may have noticed that I’ve not mentioned ECW pillar #1, Student Recruitment. Those who have read this magazine or seen our ECW campaign materials know we’ve been working and praying to see our undergraduate enrollment grow back toward the 900-1,000 mark of MLC’s early years.
We’ve said it again and again: Everything in the ECW campaign is related to recruitment.
Well, here comes the elephant! During the two years of the ECW campaign, our enrollment has not grown. In fact, it’s decreased. Two factors—the current trend for college students to stay closer to home and the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic (including disagreements about how to handle that!)—have contributed to a 7% decrease in first semester enrollment from last year to this year. We began the 2021-2022 year with 663 undergraduate students.
Yes, we’re thankful that our Admissions Office faces far fewer challenges this year than last. They have more freedom to travel to visit with students. Campus is fully open, so they can welcome prospective students in groups large and small. With the help of MLC students, they’re creatively leveraging social media platforms to connect with high school students across the country and the world.
But as committed and resourceful as our Admissions Office is, they cannot blanket the country with their little team. They’d need a team of thousands for that. And before you protest that MLC could never afford to have an Admissions Office that large, let me assure you . . . we already do.
Let me explain.
I sit down for a one-on-one conversation with every MLC first-year student (pictured). It’s one of my favorite parts of the week! One question I always ask is this: “Who or what got you thinking about studying for the public ministry?” The answers are fascinating. I hear a rich variety of ways God has been at work, planting and nurturing the idea that perhaps they could serve someday as a staff minister, teacher, or pastor.
What becomes crystal clear as I listen is this: The stories may be very different, but they drive home a singular truth. MLC’s Admissions Office numbers in the thousands. And you, dear readers of InFocus, are among them!
Our new students tell me about the encouragement they receive from people like you. They tell me about parents, grandparents, and siblings who urged them to go to MLC. They share memories about particular teachers whose love for teaching—and for their students—radiated the love of Christ. They tell me about pastors and staff ministers who spoke to them about ministry at youth group gatherings and confirmation classes. They talk about lay people in their congregations who, after seeing them teach Sunday school or lead a soccer Bible camp, took a moment to tell them they have gifts for ministry.
Even years later, many of those conversations—short as they may have been—still resonated in their hearts.
I thank God for you! And . . . may I urge you to become even more intentional in your role? I’m convinced that every one of you reading this magazine could name at least one young person (or not so young: think second-career) who would benefit from an encouragement to consider the public ministry. In fact, I’m convinced many of you see such gifted people around you every day in your family or church family.
It is my prayer, if God grants me continued health and strength, that in the years ahead, as I ask another first-year who led them to think about ministry, the name they will mention will be yours. I pray that God will allow you to play a part in our students’ stories.
And, of course, the real and glorious beauty of the story will unfold years later, when that man or woman you encouraged becomes an encourager, sharing the forgiving and gracious love of Jesus day after day in the public ministry.
You see, it’s all about pillar #1: student recruitment. So . . . welcome to the Admissions team!
