by Kevin Baker
M.Div. junior
 

When I came back from my first trip abroad, a two week whirlwind tour of France sponsored by my high school Geometry teacher, my grandmother greeted me with a spirited rendition of "How You Gonna Get Them Back On The Farm Now That They've Seen Paris."  It's been almost a decade since that first trip away from my small hometown on the Gulf Coast prairie of southeastern Texas,  but the question of that song remains - what is home to a person who has spent as much of their adult life outside of the United States as in it?

Pastor Daire writes that at age 19 he started out as a chaplain assistant with the Army Air Corps with Chaplain Roy L. Yund for three years. He attended Midland College and then Central Seminary. Pastor Daire served a congregation in Paxton, Neb., for six years. He returned to Army chaplaincy in Mississippi; Heidelberg, Germany; San Francisco; the Chaplaincy School in New York; Fort Riley, Kan.; Korea; and Viet Nam. He continued to minister around the world in mission fields in Japan; Papua, New Guinea; South America; and Liberia. Pastor Daire and his wife, Shirley, continue to serve parishes in Nebraska and Kansas. He is a certified Parish Ministry Assistant.

 

 

The total progress for LSTC's Equipping the Saints for Ministry campaign has now exceeded the $40 million mark. As of March 31, 2009, ETSFM has brought in $40,907,106. Despite the prevailing economic conditions, LSTC has seen a continually developing Annual Fund and steady growth in alumni and friend giving throughout the course of the campaign.

 

This has been a cash-rich campaign for LSTC, with roughly 91% of campaign progress received as cash or cash pledges and 9% as planned gifts that will be received in the course of time. This puts us in a strong position as we seek to maintain our high quality of theological education in trying financial times. In the final year of the campaign, we will be emphasizing our Annual Fund, student scholarship support, and planned gifts.

LSTC is grateful for the support of many, many alumni/ae and friends! It is not too late to make a pledge to the campaign, or to include LSTC in your will or estate plans. Please contact us at 773-256-0712 for more information.

Jessica Nipp, Diaconal Minister
Director for Advancement, LSTC

Listen to sermons from the second annual James Kenneth Echols Prize for Excellence in Preaching competition

On April 30, three senior seminarians preached three very different sermons on Romans 12:9 - 21.

The preachers were Carrie Smith, Joshua Ebener, and Kirsten Fryer (pictured above), all master of divinity students who will graduate on May 17.  Participants must be Lutheran students currently enrolled in the master of divinity program at LSTC and a candidate for ordination in a Lutheran denomination. Contestants must have completed or currently be enrolled in an LSTC preaching class.

The prize was established by Mr. LeRoy T. Carlson, a long-time generous supporter of LSTC, who will receive LSTC's 2009 Distinguished Service Award. The goals of the prize and competition are to promote the quality and excellence of preaching, to inspire students at LSTC to fully use their carried gifts to improve their preaching skills, to increase the visibility and importance of preaching the Gospel on the LSTC campus and the world beyond, and toe recognize the Rev. Dr. James Kenneth Echols and this many contributions to LSTC by naming the prize in his honor.

The winner of the competition will be announced at the commencement ceremony on May 17. The winner will receive a $500 award.

 

[Listen to the podcasts.]

News you should know...   

Carlsons to receive LSTC distinguished service award
On May 18, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago President James Kenneth Echols will present the school's Distinguished Service Award to Mr. LeRoy T. Carlson, chairman emeritus of TDS, and a director of U.S. Cellular, and Mrs. Margaret Carlson. LSTC's Board of Directors annually presents the Distinguished Service Award to individuals whose commitment to Jesus Christ and partnership in the life of the seminary have been exemplary.

LSTC Alum David Vasquez's work with the community of Postville, Iowa, was featured in the winter issue of the LSTC Epistle.  On April 30, the U.S. Senate held a hearing on the possibility of immigration policy reform.

 

Dr. Vasquez provided the following link to the hearing http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=3793

 and writes "As we approach the one year anniversary of the raid in Postville and continue to see first-hand the devastation of our current, flawed system, it is imperative that we make our voices heard in advocating for timely, effective action in reforming immigration.  This hearing is a great way to understand the parameters that are likely to frame the conversation."

May 12 marked the one year anniversary of the immigration raid in Postville, Iowa.

[Read the Epistle cover story]

 

[ Read the follow up One Year Later News from the ELCA ]