From Pastor Cahill -
Dear friends in Christ - I will be heading to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the afternoon on Sunday, September 22, for a week at Concordia Theological Seminary (CTSFW). This graduate school for training pastors in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) is one of two that the LCMS operates (the other is in St Louis). I'll be returing in the afternoon on Friday, September 29, but I'll be available by phone all week in case of emergencies.
One of the pathways the LCMS has for men to enter the pastoral ministry in our churches is called the Specific Ministry Program (SMP). This is a two-year program based mostly on distance education, in which the students study one subject over the course of a couple of months, doing lots of readings in the subject, along with weekly ZOOM meetings with their instructor, and a week on campus during each course. Meanwhile, they are working their "day jobs" in their home towns, and working with their local congregation to learn all kinds of skills of "pastoral practice" - preaching, teaching, planning, visiting the sick, conducting worship services, and a lot more. At the end of the two years, the students are certified by the seminary to be ordained to be the pastor in the congregation they have already been serving.
In the regular / "residential" seminary program, the students live and study on-campus for two years. Then they are assigned to some LCMS congregation as "vicars" for one year ("vicar" is a term the LCMS uses to refer to men who are seminary students embedded in a local congregation for their training and under the supervision of that congregation's pastor, or a nearby pastor). Finally, they return to campus for one year to complete their seminary education. In the structure of the SMP program, the men are simultaneously working on their first two years of education and their year as vicars. Since they are designated as "vicars" for these two years, they are required also to be supervised / taught / coached by their home or nearby pastor as their mentor.
Our sister congregation in Parma, Ohio - Calvary Lutheran Church - has been blessed for twenty years with the ministry of Mr. Jim Hurst, who has served them as their Deacon by teaching, working with their youth, doing outreach projects, leading worship services, and much more. This summer Mr. Hurst responded to the calling of the Holy Spirit by applying to the SMP program at the Fort Wayne seminary, and has already begun his studies in the first course. Because Calvary does not have a pastor at this time, and because of the good and cordial relationship Jim and I have had over the years, I have been asked, and joyfully accepted, to be his supervising pastor while he is in this program. And no, I don't anticipate that this role will take significant time away from my role as the Pastor of Christ the King - in fact, it seems likely that some of you may meet Jim from time to time as we work together in both ministries!
My role begins with a week of mentor training, and familiarization with the program, the professors, the seminary, this year from September 22 through 27. Please keep us all in your prayers!
God bless us everyone!
