Goal 2: Service

Rising sophomore Elena Mueller (pictured with her friend Soyoun Park) graduated from Divine Savior Academy (DSA) in Doral, Florida. Elena’s dad is a pastor, so she was well acquainted with the ministerial training system. But the vast majority of the nearly 1,000 students at DSA do not know about MLC. In fact, most were not even born in America. They come from Colombia, Argentina, Puerto Rico, China, and a dozen or more other countries.

Some want to be WELS pastors and teachers, following in the footsteps of the called workers they’ve come to love at DSA. But traveling 1800 miles north to Minnesota could be a deterrent.

Might MLC find a way to provide ministerial training to DSA graduates on their own turf? That’s one possibility Initiative 2.1 is asking us to consider.

In recent years, several MLC professors have taught at other seminaries in fellowship with us around the globe—in Zambia (pictured), Cameroon, Malawi, and Hong Kong, for example. Our professors also travel to Antigua in an ongoing effort to provide education courses to their faculty. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. WELS has received approximately 300 requests worldwide—from people and churches in fellowship with us—who want ministerial training.

Initiative 2.2 urges that we explore expanded partnerships to provide this training. Christ said, “Go into all the world.” Who could have imagined how insistently the world would be knocking at our door and requesting that we come to them?

Four MLC students spent part of their spring break in Vegas on a Daylight USA ministry trip. Justin Marshall (Lord of Life-Friendswood TX), Yaffet Gabayehu  (Shepherd of Peace-Powell OH), Christopher Pflughoeft (Bethlehem-Germantown WI), and Dan Schmidt (St. Matthew-Oconomowoc WI) helped construct this large replica of the empty tomb for Beautiful Savior-Las Vegas.

Pastor Andrew Mueller wrote to thank the young men for their hard work, reporting that many visitors came for Easter and more than a dozen prospect families were identified. “We are incredibly grateful for God’s generosity,” Pastor Mueller said, “and particularly thankful for his gracious gifts to us through you MLC students!”

Every year dozens of MLC students do Daylight USA projects—traveling to a distant congregation to lead VBS, assist at worship, canvass, coach at soccer Bible camps, and much more. It’s a program that provides priceless experience for our students. That’s why one aspect of Initiative 2.3 seeks to make Daylight USA an expectation for every student at MLC at least once before graduation.

On Call Day 2017, 11 MLC graduates—including Gina Radue (Mt. Calvary-Waukesha WI, pictured)—were assigned or reassigned to teach science and/or math at a Lutheran high school.

Many of our Lutheran schools are exploring curricula that focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) or STEAM (the same—with the addition of arts) to prepare their students for a global economy that increasingly requires proficiency in these areas.

Although MLC already has secondary education majors in math, chemistry, physics, and life science, Initiative 2.4 directs MLC to redesign the three science majors to include a STEAM emphasis.

Here, as always, the question we are asking is this: What can we do to best serve our WELS churches and schools