GREEN AND GOLD DAYS’ COMING UP AT CONCORDIA SEMINARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2011

ST. LOUIS—The first of three Green and Gold Days will take place on Friday, October 14, 2011 at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. A visitation day for college students thinking about the pastoral or deaconess ministry, Green and Gold Days are one-day events with opportunities to explore what Concordia Seminary has to offer.

Each Green and Gold Day will provide a quick opportunity for college men and women to come and see all the Seminary offers. Each guest will attend classes, worship in chapel, and speak with members of the faculty. To end the day, all participants are invited to join the Seminary community for Oktoberfest (October 14 date only).

The next two Green and Gold Days during the 2011-2012 academic year will take place on Friday, January 6, 2012 and Friday, March 16, 2012. There is no registration fee to attend Green and Gold Days. Housing will be available on campus for all dates. All meals are also provided free of charge. Transportation to and from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport will be provided if needed. The registration deadline is two weeks prior to each event (September 30 is the first registration deadline).

For questions or to register by phone, please call 1-800-822-9545.

————————————————————
To view or search the list archives, join or leave the list, or change your subscription options, see the web page at http://LISTSERV.CUIS.EDU/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CSLNEWS
To unsubscribe via email, send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.CUIS.EDU with the words “UNSUB CSLNEWS” as the body of the message.

SEMINARY VISITATION EVENT FOR PROSPECTIVE PASTORS AND DEACONESSES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2011

ST. LOUIS—Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, is pleased to invite prospective students and their guests to attend Contemplate… to be held October 6-8, 2011 on the Seminary campus. Designed for those who are college age or older, the structured visitation event provides an effective means for learning more about life in the Concordia Seminary community and the preparation that leads to service as a pastor, missionary, chaplain, or deaconess in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

Check-in and campus tours take place on Thursday afternoon. Those who arrive earlier are invited to observe a class in session or visit the bookstore. A welcome reception and dinner provide a unique opportunity to meet Seminary faculty in an informal setting. After dinner, participants will hear a presentation on the formation for ministry, meet the Student Ambassadors, and attend an evening chapel service.

Paired with a current student, participants will attend chapel and observe classes on Friday. Sessions will focus on the spiritual and personal aspects of the decision-making process, as well as provide opportunities for presentations on the academic program, resident field education, vicarage and internship years, financial assistance, and housing.

An occasion for further dialogue with current students occurs during the student panel discussion Friday evening. Married and single student housing tours and individual appointments with admissions counselors and the life transitions office are made available to participants on Saturday morning. The visitation event concludes with a farewell lunch.

The second Contemplate… event of the academic year will take place on March 8-10, 2012. There is no charge to attend Contemplate…, and all meals and lodging are provided free of charge. Round-trip transportation to Concordia Seminary from the airport is provided.

For more information, contact the admissions office at 1-800-822-9545 or admissions@csl.edu.

————————————————————
To view or search the list archives, join or leave the list, or change your subscription options, see the web page at http://LISTSERV.CUIS.EDU/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CSLNEWS
To unsubscribe via email, send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.CUIS.EDU with the words “UNSUB CSLNEWS” as the body of the message.

One Year

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of our departure to Concordia Seminary. What has changed in the past year? I’ll see if I can do a quick run down.

Friends: Well, I haven’t lost any friends over the year, but I will see I have come into contact with quite a few new friends at work, campus, ministry, church, and throughout the LCMS.

Positions: Since I moved seamlessly from Vice-Chair of our home congregation to First Year Married rep for Student Association to Vice President for Student Association.

Work: On the verge of completing my 10th year of employment with Verizon, the group of guys from Michigan and other states were moved over to a joint venture between two telcom companies. So, now I officially work for Frontier Communications. The initial migration was painful to say the least. This new change happened mid-quarter (painful) and came with all the responsibilities of a server administrator. Previously, my job had been pretty dedicated to server uptime. Now, it entails just about everything. I guess i can’t complain too much, I do still have a job and it provides me the ability to afford school supplies and pay off debt at the same time.

Family: Everyone is a year older, smarter, and taller (well except for Linda and I). The three oldest (Hannah, Jonathan, and Hailey) can all read. Keeping in mind Hailey just finished Kindergarten this past year. So, she is reading going into the 1st grade. We just received a letter from the school telling Jonathan tested high for his grade and they would like to test him to see how smart he is… Right now, he qualifies for special classes. Yup, that is daddy pride come out right now. Hannah is excelling in all she does. She still has her hands in just about everything. Jocelyn has now become the self-titled boss of the family. She keeps us all in order. Linda is just as busy as ever on campus. She now has her schedule open to get back into singing in church.

Education: By the end of the next Friday, I would have taken 56 credits worth of classes. Formation continues… Stay tuned.

Location: Well, that is obvious Livonia, MI to Saint Louis, MO

We continue to be blessed by the Lord in all our endeavors regardless of location. We are grateful for every experience in life whether it joyful or painful.  Things that looked to be far off in the distance seem closer now day by day. What the next year holds for the Ekong family only God knows, but I am guessing it has something to do with Formation and the Great Commission.

1st Article in a series for the “Around the Tower” Publication

Lessons Learned: The Art of Saying Goodbye

Call Week is a realization for many different things depending on the year level for seminarians. First year seminarians realize this is a sign that their first year is ending. For our second year seminarians it is the joy of finishing their second year as well as the excitement of receiving vicarage placements. Third years experience joy knowing their return marks the start of the last leg of their seminary journey. Finally, for the fourth/fifth year seminarians, it is a realization of their journey at seminary coming to an end and the acknowledgement of their first calls.  One thing that all the seminarians are learning is “The Art of Saying Goodbye”. We have all had to do it before, most recently before starting seminary. We leave our family, congregation, university and friends behind to travel down the path to pastoral ministry.

When the academic year started, we were all new to each other unless we have prior experience in a similar home congregation or undergrad. While the initial shock of so many names to learn wears off, you become familiar with your brethren, their families, and instructors. As seminarians, continue to grow in their formation, a bond forms amongst them. We become invested in the overall well-being and maturation of our brothers, sisters, and even their children. We grow attached to the faculty and staff, to our field congregations, and to each other.

We all experience a feeling of joy for our brothers and sisters headed into the ministry. The feeling of sadness kicks in when we realize these faithful soldiers we have lived and studied with for the past year (or longer) are getting ready to depart us. Many of which we may not see again if we do not wind up in the same District with them. Many of us have had to say goodbye in the past either when leaving for college, getting married, or of course leaving for seminary. However, there just seems to be something different and bittersweet about the impending goodbyes. Flashes of the not so distant memories of intramurals, study sessions, Prof-n-Steins, and celebrations flood through our heads. We have shared in births, deaths, baptisms, confirmations, engagements, and weddings over the year.  Your highs have been our highs and your lows have been our lows. You have reassured us about classes and life in general for almost a year now.  We have broken bread, celebrated accomplishments, and shared in fellowship during the year.

As we bid our brother and sisters goodbye, we should think about things in this manner. We are like the parents in Genesis 2:24, where the son leaves his parents to be with his wife. Well, our friends are leaving their seminary family to become a partner with their placement and vicarage assignment congregations. We have as a family played a minor part in their formation to this point. God has called them to do his work in the world and we take pride that it is one of our brethren going out to do this noble work.  We rejoice knowing where our friends will be going. We rejoice knowing they will be blessed by those they meet and vice versa. Soon, they will all begin to disappear to begin their next steps in the mission field. As that happens, the cycle will begin anew.

Dear brothers and sisters blessings on the next steps of your respective ministries stand fast and know that you take each of us out in the mission field with you. Do not forget the lessons learned at seminary.

Recaps of Winter Quarter

I’ve been really busy this past quarter with learning Hebrew and Greek Readings. On top of that my job position changed which caused havoc with my schedule. It took until the last couple of weeks of the quarter before I got back to some sort of steady routine. Nevertheless, expect a few blog posts coming in the coming days. I won’t be doing a week in and out blog as things just get too busy. Then again who knows I may up and solidify my schedule and make room for Sunday blog posts again.

Short summary is Greek Readings was great. All the struggles in the Fall quarter really paid off. Hebrew was painful, but I have a deeper appreciation for the language. It really does open up Old Testament that is lost in the English translation. I passed my Hebrew qualifiers and I’m a full fledge seminarian now. Woohoo!!!

Week 10 in Greek

I’m going to do things a little out of order this week for obvious reasons. So here is the rundown of the material we covered the final week.

Chapter 38: The Optative Mood of the Verb

Chapter 39: Contrary to Fact Conditional Sentences and Conspectus of Conditional Sentences

Chapter 40: Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns, and Further Uses of autos

Chapter 41: Voelz’s Fundamental Greek Grammar in 9 weeks.

The last week for me centered around my review of parsing verbs/nouns.  Review of the subjunctive, participles, imperatives, and principal parts. Add in homework for every night made for some long days. Although, I did do a good job of stopping at a decent hour so as to not overstudy and wear myself down. I spent the night before the qualifier relaxing with Linda watching Cougartown. Mindless show to distract me from worrying about the qualifier. After the third episode I got up and went to sleep. Linda thought I was studying, but I felt the need to get a good nights rest.

Woke up around 5:30am. Got dressed and went for a walk around campus. Came home and then got ready and I was out of the door by 6:30am. Armed with only the principal parts flash cards that still was giving me issues to review.  I attempted to get into Wartburg Hall, but evidently it doesn’t open to until 7am.  So, I wound up going to the classroom and reviewed there. Started to feel un-easy so I got up for a walk and by that time Wartburg was open.  I walked in to get a Java update (Greek class joke). Did the head nod to my fellow Greek classmates who were congregating getting that last meal before Go time.

I was one of the guys who took his exam at 7:30a as I thought I would need all the time in the world. I was methodical about taking the exam. I didn’t second guess any answers I selected. I didn’t feel great about the exam, but I felt I passed. Took me roughly 2 hours to complete the exam. I missed chapel and then later found out I didn’t pass the main qualifier. I did score high enough that I was eligible enough to take the re-take written by Dr. Gibbs.

Crushed spirit and physically drained … I really had lost hope.  Like always Pastor Gibbs put his arm around the two of us who would be doing the re-take. Letting us know we were still baptized. 🙂  He also pointed out where we went wrong on the exam. Go figure I had been struggling with participles and I got those correct. It was the subjunctives that killed me along with imperatives and minor things here and there. Gibbs suggested I go for a walk around campus to clear my mind and focus on the material that tripped me up.

I did have Gibbs call Linda to explain. I just wasn’t in a place mentally or emotionally to say to her honey, I may have added on another year to our time at seminary.  Along with the fact the more I talked the more I felt material was slipping out of my head.  I basically had from 11-12:3o to compose myself, put the first qualifier aside, and take care of business.  It is no secret I absolutely fear Gibbs exams. So, my outlook wasn’t good in my mind.

Needless to say, the time had come for the re-take. Much thanks to my classmates for letting me be during the time after finding out I hadn’t passed until the re-take to let me re-focus.  Even bigger thanks goes out to the prayers that went up on my behalf and my fellow Greek student. Couple of guys even walked through the classroom saying, “you’ve got this. Parse parse and Parse somemore.” Time pretty much time stood still during the second exam.  I finished and felt very confident.  As I walked with Gibbs for him to grade our exams. We sat in the Registrar’s office like nervous school girls. Gibbs came out made us smile and handed us our exams. We PASSED.  Almost in tears I shook Gibbs hands. 

There has been a common theme/motto on campus about Life Together and Community this year. Never in my life have I seen it in action than on the day of the qualifier. The support and prayers were so powerful. The collective togetherness of being their for a fellow brother struggling is more than anyone can ask for…

As I appeared in the quad to my anxiously waiting classmates to reveal the wonderful news.  Before I left the Registrar’s office I called my lovely and supportive wife. She was relieved and happy. I began to check my phone and for the classmates that were alreadyon the road home for the break… Surprising enough they never forgot their fellow brothers either checking in via txt messages or phone calls. Life Together at its best.  We’ve all been told those that go through Greek together form a bond that lasts throughout our times at seminary and through our ministries in the parishes.  After experience this myself, I now understand it.

Summary: I PASSED.

What is Next? Greek Readings and Hebrew…

Elementary Hebrew 12 credits: The essentials of Hebrew morphology, syntax, and vocabulary.

Greek Readings:2 credits: Practice in the “art of translation” by appliying fundamental skills in Greek to basic interpretation of biblical texts. Readings selected will lay the foundation for hermeneutics and subsequent courses.

I will attend to keep up the weekly blog. Maybe try and get them out on a weekly basis and not do 3-4 weeks in a night. Thank goodness for a good memory. We have two week break starting on Monday and we return for the Winter quarter the Monday after Thanksgiving.

 

Week 9 of Greek

1 Week to Go

We are all slowing down now. We see the end is in site, but we still have at least 3-4 days worth of material to get through before the we get the qualifier.

 

Material Covered this Week

Chapter 33: Active Forms of the Verbs didomi and tithemi (English spelling since WordPress doesn’t have Greek fonts for me)

Chapter 34: Middle and Passive Forms of the Verbs (see Chapter 33)

Chapter 35: The Verb istemi

Chapter 36: Irregular Adjectives, and Comparative and Superlative Adjectives and Adverbs

Chapter 37: Case Usages

Side Note: We spent Saturday on the road heading to Bloomington, IN. I was very distracted during class on Friday morning as we were awaiting the birth of our first nephew. He was a stinker and put his momma (Danielle) through 21 hours of labor. Well, Danielle has always been there for us above and beyond during all of our children’s births. Our Greek class prayed for the Hulsmans before class and shortly after Chapel was over Jaxson Hulsman finally decided to join the world. It was wonderful meeting my our new nephew. Linda drove while I worked on vocabulary and then slowly worked through the Sell Workbook.  After spending time in Bloomington, IN we drove back and arrived back in STL around 1am.

On Sunday, we (the seminarian fieldworkers) were finally introduced to Faith-Oakville and the multi-sites in Edwardsville and Columbia… At all 3 services. It was fun and painful all at the same time. Mainly because I was tired from the normal Greek wear down and then the trip to Bloomington.