THE START OF A NEW VOCATION
Jim Hurst has been the Deacon at Calvary Lutheran Church in Parma, Ohio, for over twenty years, but this September he took his first steps into a new vocation. He enrolled in the Specific Ministry Pastor program of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. (Below, Pastor Chris Cahill, left, and Jim Hurst, right)
The Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program enables men to study for the ordained ministry at either of our seminaries in a combination of online and at-home coursework. They also participate in a week of intensive study on campus in the fall academic quarter.
Like Jim, the SMP students are very involved in congregational ministry where they live and work. In the meantime, they are considered to be “Vicars” in their home congregation and are supervised either by their home pastor or (as in Jim’s case) by a neighboring pastor serving as their mentor.
Over their course of study they’ll not only be hitting the books, but teaching Bible studies, preaching sermons, visiting congregation and community members, planning and carrying out special events, and more. At the end of the two years an SMP candidate is ordained to be the pastor in the place he has been serving.
Jim and his wife Jennifer enjoyed the “intensive week” at Concordia Theological Seminary September 23-27, along with mentor-supervisor Rev. Chris Cahill (SELC Pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Lodi, Ohio). All three are looking forward to the blessings that they pray will come to Calvary and its people in this new ministry.
You can learn more about the Specific Ministry Programs at our St Louis Seminary here https://www.csl.edu/academics/programs/specific-ministry-pastor-smp/
Or at our Fort Wayne Seminary here https://www.ctsfw.edu/future-students/pastoral/smp/
