This summer, ten Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., students served in congregations in Alaska, New Mexico, Texas, Indiana, Michigan, California, Wisconsin, and Kentucky. These summer assistants served with Spanish outreach, helped with sports camps, preached, led Bible studies, helped with teens, assisted in worship, made outreach calls, taught vacation Bible school and English as a Second Language classes, and participated in summer Bible camp.

John Paustian, who served at Peace, Eagle River, Alaska, is thankful for the opportunity. “Pastor [Brian] Hackmann got me involved very quickly with the church,” he says. “The experience you gain is a great step in the right direction to further strengthening yourself as a pastor.”

His hands-on experience was all the practical aspects of preparing for vacation Bible school: making sign-up forms, advertising at local businesses, helping build a cardboard boat float for two parades, and making door-to-door visits to get the word out. All the work paid off. “The VBS was a huge success and the church had over 150 children register,” Paustian says. “There were many families who were unchurched and we used VBS to visit every child’s home with a CD/DVD of the songs they had sung.”

Summer assistants don’t simply help a church with projects, they also receive on-the-job training. Paustian preached four new sermons, assisted with liturgy, and led Bible class. “Pastor Hackmann worked with me throughout all these tasks and helped me to continue to grow,” he says.

For all the practical ways he participated in the life of the church—and the bonus of a summer in Alaska—”ultimately, the best part was getting to know people and being a part of their lives, sharing stories, struggles, and even great successes. And that is what ministry is about—people,” he explains. “Getting to know them enhances how you can serve them in conversation, in your worship together, and in their life as a whole.”

Learn more about Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary at www.wls.wels.net.

More than 150 professors from WELS higher education institutions and those in our fellowship attended the Lutheran College Conference Aug. 10-12 at Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, Wis., under the theme “Teaching through a Lutheran Lens.” These WELS and Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) professors from Wisconsin Lutheran College, Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn.; Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minn.; Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary, Mankato; and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., encouraged each other and shared ideas and approaches for teaching with an eye always on faith.

“Teaching through a Lutheran lens is a conversation that has been occurring on our campus for many years now,” says Professor Rhoda Wolle, chairperson of the faculty development committee at Wisconsin Lutheran College. “It’s remaining mindful of why we do what we do and how we do it to the best of our ability and to the glory of our Savior.”

Rev. Mark Zarling, president of Martin Luther College, says this conference was a great opportunity for attendees to gather around Word and sacrament for the Spirit’s strength. “All professors in these colleges seek to be instruments of the Spirit to nurture faith and instill a biblical and Christocentric worldview in our students,” he says. “How vital this is as we live in a society that is flooded with false world views. . . . Christians teaching in higher education are strengthened to be clear witnesses not only to their students, but also to an academic world that no longer espouses propositional truth.”

Through general presentations as well as set times for specific academic departments to meet, the conference gave participants opportunities to see how their colleagues incorporate confessional Lutheranism in their teaching—no matter what the topic.

“One of my favorite proverbs is ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.’ I think that’s why I’m here,” says Professor Chad Heins, biology, Bethany Lutheran College. “Here there’s multiple sections with different professors teaching different things. They all approach things differently and yet have that common spiritual theme embedded in everything.”

This is the fifth conference put together by this group, the first being held in 2000 at Bethany Lutheran College. Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary participated in the conference for the first time this year. “It’s new territory for me,” says Rev. Forrest Bivens, professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. “But the concept is just so excellent—to have Lutheran educators who are giving thanks to God for being Lutherans . . . and to see them devoting themselves to the priority of remaining Lutheran as well as growing professionally all wrapped in one beautiful package.”

The next conference is scheduled to be held at Martin Luther College in 2017.

“We all speak the same language.”

While Mr. Pedro Abel Beltran Callejas from the Iglesia Cristiana Evangelica Luterana Confesional in Bolivia may not be referring to the words coming from everyone’s mouth, he does highlight the pure gospel message preached and taught by the member churches of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC). Seventy-four delegates and guests from those churches met May 30 to June 2 in Lima, Peru, for the eighth triennial CELC convention under the theme “We are God’s workmanship—created in Christ Jesus for good works.”

While at the convention, attendees studied essays on sanctification presented by leaders from five different CELC member church bodies. Presentations from church bodies and mission fields allowed attendees to rejoice in the work of the Lord being done around the world.

“I want to take back to Chile a message that we are not alone,” says Mr. Victor Henriquez from the Christian Church of the Lutheran Reformation in Chile. “There are others that believe the same things that we believe. But I didn’t think that there were so many and from so many parts of the world.”

The Christian Church of the Lutheran Reformation in Chile was one of five church bodies that was accepted into associate membership with the CELC at this convention. Others include the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church of Albania; St. John’s Lutheran Congregation in Finland; and two sister churches in South Asia.

“Where I’m from it’s very cold. People are not so friendly to the message of Christ. To come here where everyone believes in the Bible—it’s very warming,” says Mr. David Åkerlund, the representative from St. John’s Lutheran Congregation in Finland, a church with only 14 members.

While at the convention, attendees had an opportunity to worship with local Peruvian congregations at the seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Peru. Hundreds of people attended this bilingual service.

“I felt like I was at the first Pentecost,” says Rev. Mark Schroeder, WELS president and delegate at the convention. “You’re sitting in a worship service with people who all speak different languages, and yet you see that the Holy Spirit gives unity of faith. It’s amazing to see how the gospel transcends culture, language, and borders. It really drives home that we are one in Christ Jesus.”

The next CELC convention will be held in Grimma, Germany, in 2017, the same year as the 500th anniversary of the posting of Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses. This year’s convention voted to assemble a special CELC committee to put together “Ninety-five Theses for the 21st Century” as an anniversary project. The topics for these theses would include Lutheran fundamentals, with an emphasis on where confessional Lutheranism is at odds with contemporary culture, society, and church life. The hope is that these theses would be completed in time for approval by the CELC convention in 2017.

The CELC—composed of 29 member churches worldwide—provides a forum for confessional Lutherans who are in fellowship. Learn more about the CELC and our sister church bodies atwww.celc.info. Also watch for further coverage of this convention in the August Forward in Christ.