California Swing—San Diego

These four posts are a travelogue of my California trip with colleagues from some of the other seven ELCA seminaries.

Our last stop on the CA Swing was in San Diego (March 14, 2007). Here we met with Pastor Molly Knutson-Keller and with prospective students and others participating in the Lutheran Campus Ministry worship service at San Diego State University that evening. I love meeting and hearing the stories of students who have found their way to Lutheran Campus Ministries across the nation, but especially those who are studying at schools as large and diverse as SDSU. I am so pleased our church provides this ministry which is so vital for these young adults.

By the way Lutheran Campus Ministry is celebrating 100 years of ministry in 2007. Congratulations LCM!

That evening my colleagues and I broke up into groups of two and visited a few congregations. Mark Olsen (Gettysburg Seminary) and I went to St. Andrew Lutheran Church. Pastor Andrew Taylor greeted us and we joined the congregation for their Wednesday evening Lenten supper. Then Mark spoke to the adults about the Seminaries of the ELCA while I spoke to the confirmation students about vocation. Our evening ended with worship.

As I travel on behalf of Luther Seminary I continue to be amazed at the vastness and diversity of the ELCA, in its people, ministries and geography, and what a richness that diversity brings to our denomination. I hope through reading my blog and in doing so accompanying me on my travels that people get a feel for this and treasure it as much as I do.

California Swing—California Lutheran University (CLU)

Thousand Oaks, CA: Home of California Lutheran University, a great campus ministry program, and wonderful students! What more can I say?

Our visit (I was traveling with colleagues from some of the other ELCA seminaries) at CLU began with supper at a local restaurant to meet with prospective students; they were an energetic bunch & a lot of fun.


I had a conversation with a number of them regarding the Master of Divinity program at Luther with a concentration in Children, Youth and Family. I also was able to reconnect with a prospective student who visited Luther during the "Day in the Life" event this past February. The class range of students in attendance was from senior to freshman. It was fun to listen to the seniors who have been discerning and working through the application process for seminary and candidacy explain to the freshman how the process works. They certainly made my job easier, but it also helps to hear about these things from a peer and from someone actually going through the process. I appreciated their input.

The next day we continued our visit at CLU on campus. We joined the community for chapel, took an informal tour of campus and joined some of the current and retired faculty for lunch.

My thanks to Pastors Scott and Melissa Maxwell-Doherty for their wonderful hospitality and top notch ministry at CLU. The love they show for the students and for their work truly is a testimony to all those considering professional ministry as a vocation of what a joy it is to serve Christ and the church in this way.

California Swing—Pasadena

On March 13th my colleagues and I from some of the other seven ELCA seminaries gathered for lunch with ELCA students studying at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. We were also joined by Rev. Ray Kibler, who is an ELCA pastor serving in Pasadena and liaison for the ELCA students at Fuller; and Rev. Clay Schmit, director of Fuller Theological Seminary's Brehm Center for Worship, Theology and the Arts, who is also an ELCA pastor.

ELCA students studying for the Master of Divinity degree at a non-ELCA seminary will need to affiliate with an ELCA seminary in order to complete educational and internship requirements for ordination in the ELCA. My colleagues and I met with these students to inform them about the affiliation process and answer any questions.

The wonderful thing about affiliation is that it allows prospective students who do not live within close proximity of an ELCA seminary, or who, because of personal circumstances, are not able to move onto a campus to study at an ELCA seminary, the opportunity to complete most of their studies at a non-ELCA accredited seminary in their area. It may not be the ideal, but it certainly is a helpful option for those for whom distance and family commitments are considerable barriers to pursuing seminary study. Over the years, the ELCA seminaries have created very good working relationships with non-ELCA seminaries in order to make affiliation much more streamlined.

California Swing—New Colleagues

Last week (March 12-15, 2007) I was on the road in warm and sunny California with some of my colleagues, from the admissions staffs, of the other seven seminaries; many of whom are new to their positions in the last year, so let me introduce you to them:

From left to right in the front row:
Me; Ruth Prieto, Warburg Seminary, Dubuque, IA & The Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, Austin, TX (a seminary extension program); Joy MacDonald Coltvet, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, IL;

From left to right in the back row:
Greg Schaefer, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, CA; Jenny Tomalka, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, SC; Mark Olsen, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, PA.

We are visiting the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angels. This Cathedral was begun in 1998 and dedicated in 2002. Inside is a gorgeous worship space.

It also is the burial sight of actor Gregory Peck best known for his part as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film, To Kill a Mockingbird.

It was a delight traveling with these colleagues and having a chance to work along side them and get to know them better.