Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa

 Thank you so much for your partnership these past years and your commitments toward a great future!  Your support through your synod has enabled another class of graduates to take up service in congregations. As we pass the halfway mark in our capital campaign, the Wartburg Mission Appeal, of $33 million, we are profoundly grateful for all who help us send proclaimers and servants of Christ into God’s mission frontiers. Enrollment in our degree and specialized certification courses has grown significantly, and national crises—which Wartburg has directly addressed in our missional educative work—remind us of the ongoing need for trained leaders, who have the theological knowledge and practical skills to comfort and minister to those in difficulty. 

 The Center for Youth Ministries and the Center for Theology and Land continue to be on the cutting edge of research and training, for those leading youth and for those in rural ministry.  New Directors for these centers will have been named by the time you read this report. New Center commitments will address pressing needs for work with Young Adults and TEEM training for rural ministry contexts. The Center for Youth Ministries’ renowned Youth Leadership Certification School program is further enhanced by our new alliance with The Youth and Family Institute.  New online courses are going extremely well, with the highest participation so far. 

Again, by synod assembly time, we will have announced other exciting new faculty appointments, including a professor of homiletics and several new affiliative faculty. Of the latter, we are honored to have welcomed the Rev. Susan Briehl onto the faculty as Distinguished Professor of the Art of Ministry.

 This year we celebrate the publication of several new books.  The first, Forming an Evangelizing People, was designed for use in congregational council meetings and evangelism meetings.  It can be downloaded from the Wartburg web site,    PRIVATE HREF="http://www.wartburgseminary.edu/" MACROBUTTON HtmlResAnchor www.wartburgseminary.edu.  Other publications this year include Romans, by Dr. David Lull and John B. Cobb Jr.; Open the Doors and See All the People, by Dr. Norma Cook-Everist; and a lecture by Dr. Winston Persaud on baptism in The Lutheran Course (available on DVD).

 Wartburg is a place where people of God come to live, learn, and love with other people so as to go out and serve God’s people throughout the world.  You are invited to come and visit our campus and meet some of the future leaders you and your synod support.  Thank you for your invaluable partnership.

 Yours in Christ,                          

Duane H. Larson

President