The Christian Community: A Gift

This morning the Concordia Seminary Community began its conversations revolving around the book "Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I have to say I took more away from this morning's conversation than I thought I would.
I left Werner Auditorium realizing that I understand much less of what community means than I thought I did.
Community is defined as God's gift for the present time; a gift enjoyed for the here and now. This good definition helps us better understand our time here at Seminary. I have often cautioned people to not see the Seminary as a hoop one must just jump through to get into the parish. However, with all good intentions I also have described the Seminary as a means to an end. It is true that this place is a place one comes to be equipped for something that lies beyond it. However, we must never neglect what goes on here, and that is community now. Wow!
I want to thank the Lord working through Professors Herrmann and Schmitt, and of course Bonhoeffer, for this proper view and definition of community.

A New Travel Season

A new Academic Year brings with it another season of travel for the admissions counselors at Concordia Seminary. Rev. Kyle Castens and Rev. Paul Philp will be traveling throughout the country. Each of these counselors has already started travel for the fall. As we come to your college campus, campus ministry, congregation, high school, or another location near you, we hope that you will be stop by and visit. We look forward to meeting each and everyone of you, getting to know you, answering all of the questions which you may have, and of course talking about pastoral and deaconal formation at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. If you would like to see when we will be in your area just click here.

Welcome One and All

Summers are always a little quiet around here at Concordia Seminary (except for the summer Greek students, and their victory splash). There is nothing quiet about the campus today, though. 123 new students are becoming oriented to the ways of seminary education. What a sight it is to see all of these faces which will be prepared to serve in the Lord's church. We especially thank the Lord for giving these students the interest to be here.
These new students will continue with orientation and registration through Friday, but there is some real fun planned for Saturday . Saturday is Field Day. This day has always been a good opportunity to play a few games, and build some new friendships ( and strengthen old ones) before the school year begins. The day will be filled with softball, football, firetrucks, and BBQ. Finally, on Sunday, the campus community begins its 171st year with the opening worship service at 4pm. You are welcome to join us at this service to begin the year with the Word of the Lord.

Annual Greek Fountain Dive

Students entering Concordia Seminary must learn Biblical Greek. For those students who have not learned Greek prior to coming to the seminary, Greek is offered in a summer intensive class. Today, those students taking the class in the Summer of 2009 took their qualifying exam. Once the class learned that they had passed they proceeded to the fountain for the Annual Greek Fountain Dive. The class jumped into the fountain to celebrate, played with some water toys, brought along at least one of the next generation of students for an early dive into the fountain with dad, and of course made sure that Prof. David Lewis didn't miss out on getting wet! This ritual will be repeated in November after those who finish Fall Greek pass their exams - likely on a much colder day! If you would like to participate in the Annual Greek Fountain Dive in 2010 contact the Admissions Office for enrollment information. We would love to be posting your picture right here next year!

How Do I Study for Entrance Exams?

Some have asked about what is available to study for the Seminary's entrance exams in Greek, Hebrew, Old Testament, New Testament, and Christian Doctrine.
The two best resources I can recommend are:
1. a resource list found at www.csl.edu, the exact link is http://www.csl.edu/Admissions_Pastoral_ELCE.aspx

2. iTunesU, which houses the actual courses, is an excellent resource. Please go to http://itunes.csl.edu/, and you will find everything you need to pass these entrance exams.
Also, if you would like to see a list of books that would be helpful to read before coming to Seminary, please shoot me an e-mail at castensk@csl.edu, and I will send it to you.

The Lord's peace to you,

Rev. Castens

SMP Entrance Exam Deadline

I just want to offer a quick reminder that if you have applied for the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program, the deadline to pass the entrance exams is July 31st.
Please keep this date in front of you. If you have any questions, please post a comment.

Kyle Castens

Seminary Scholarship!

We all know that financial assistance is essential when it comes to higher education. There are a lot of sources of aid when one does come to the Seminary, and now there is one more that I have been made aware of. This scholarship is through the Logos Bible software corporation.
Please click on the title of this blog post to learn more about what Logos has to offer.