Those following the three-year lectionary will hear Mark’s unique voice this year. Mid-week Lenten services offer the opportunity to contemplate Mark’s account of Christ’s passion, which is not part of the Sunday lectionary cycle.

Pastors will gather from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. in the Presidents’ Room on the Seminary campus. The morning will focus on an overview of Mark and exegesis of Mark’s passion and resurrection account, led by Dr. James Voelz. Following lunch (included in registration fee), weekly service themes will be explained by Seminary professors Drs. Voelz, Jeffrey Gibbs, Joel Biermann, Charles Arand, and Kent Burreson. Included in the service themes will be Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Resurrection of Our Lord.

Registration cost is $50, including all materials and lunch. A registration form and more information can be found under Continuing Education. For questions, call 314-505-7486 or email ce@csl.edu.

The fourth annual “Reaching Out Together” evangelism conference will take place on February 11, 2012 on the campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Reaching Out Together is an evangelism conference designed to inspire, encourage, teach, and give opportunity for putting into practice principles for talking about Jesus to others, especially the uncommitted or unchurched. This event is presented by the Saturday Outreach School in partnership with Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and the Missouri District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). Reaching Out Together is for pastors, evangelism boards, church leaders, and laypeople in the Missouri District and adjacent LCMS districts.

The keynote speaker for Reaching Out Together is Rev. Gregory Seltz, speaker for The Lutheran Hour.

Breakout session speakers include: Jeffrey Gibbs, Life-Affirming Congregations; Mark Weisner, Sharing Your Faith With A Believer of Islam!; Ralph Geisler, Reaching Rural Small Town Communities for Christ; Chad Lakies, Using Social Media for Evangelism; Kevin Parviz, Reaching Out…to Your Congregation?; and Andy Yount, SMP: Formation, Reformation and Kingdom Growth.

Registration fee is $20 per participant for the first four people from a single congregation, and $15 for each additional participant. Fee includes lunch and all materials.

The registration deadline for Reaching Out Together is February 1, 2012. For more information, contact continuing education at 314-505-7486 or email ce@csl.edu.

Download a brochure and registration form.

The Concordia Seminary Life Team is sponsoring the workshop “Making Abortion Unthinkable”   on Saturday, January 28, 2012, in Sieck Hall 202 on the Concordia Seminary campus. Registration begins at 8:30, program begins at 9:00 am, and will conclude promptly at 2:30 pm.

The workshop will include video-based presentations as well as discussions segments; Dr. Jeff Gibbs, professor of New Testament at Concordia, will serve as the moderator for the workshop.  Seminarian James Conrad (Life Team Leader) will assist Dr. Gibbs. Using video-based presentations as well as discussion segments, Dr. Gibbs will explore the question of abortion with regard to clear, focused apologetics and human reason at its best.

The workshop will strengthen and clarify understanding for those who attend, as well as equip them to speak winsomely, even to non-Christians, on behalf of the unborn. The workshop is suitable for adults and older teens. Each participant will also receive a helpful manual of materials.  The $20 per person fee includes lunch and the manual. The workshop will strengthen and clarify understanding for those who attend, as well as equip them to speak more effectively and winsomely on behalf of the unborn.  Pre-registration with payment required. Registration ends January 23.

Download the registration form.

Clinician:  Dr. Horst Buchholz, Director of Music at the Cathedral Basilica of St Louis and the Archdiocese of St. Louis

The Schola Cantorum: An Adult Choir Member Workshop is designed to help participants learn and rehearse new choral music; learn better the art of singing; and gain insight into worship and music from the clinician.

Registration information can be found in the downloadable Schola Cantorum brochure.

Featured Presenters include:  Rev. Dr. Leopoldo Sanchez, Rev. Ron Rall. Rev. Roosevelt Gray, Ms. Melissa Salomon, Ms. Yvette Moy, Rev. Andy Wu, Rev. Andrew Okai, Rev. Kou Seying.

Twice before and biennially, Concordia Seminary has partnered with the leadership of our ethnic communities to host a Multi-Ethnic Symposium, held within the Epiphany emphasis of God’s Light for all nations.

Those who attended have left with renewed hope.  This was encouraging, since the topic in 2008 was Expressions of Hope and in 2010 was Conversations of Hope.  The conversations, yes table talk, across ethnic and cultural boundaries were particularly engaging, energizing, and encouraging.

The next Multi-Ethnic Symposium will build on this foundation. Around the theme, Gifts of Hope, it will identify the gifts of cultural diversity that inform and enliven the fullness of the Body of Christ in a unity not bound to one culture but embodying the contributions of many cultures.

We will address the critical questions facing our church in this multi-cultural world, beginning with the intersection of theology and culture.  How do we express the unity of our faith and confession within the diversities of culture?  How do we allow for different cultural expressions within a common bond of faith and practice? Is diversity something to be affirmed and celebrated or collapsed into a common “meta-culture” of the church?  Is the vision of Rev. 7:9 something to be found only in heaven or already on earth, and if so, how is heavenly worship expressed within the incarnational realities of God’s people in space, time, and culture?

We will hear from those ethnic communities that remain a minority amongst us.  What has the expression of our Lutheran theology and practice brought to these different cultures, and what gifts come to our Lutheran unity from the diversity of cultures?

Finally, we will work together toward the future.  What will a truly multi-cultural LCMS look like in 2017, when we celebrate the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation together?  What will it look like in 2037 and 2047? Or better and in the immediate future, in the 495^th anniversary year, in 2012?

We have listened and learned of commonalities and concerns amongst “minority” communities.  But our gifts of hope need to cross the boundaries between “minorities” and “majorities,” including the ethnic community of Anglos and the richness of leadership and laity across the whole spectrum of our church.

Please join us for the third Multi-Ethnic Symposium, Gifts of Hope, January 30-31, 2012.

Meeting Highlights:

• Begins with worship (seminary chapel) at 9:00 on Monday.
• Concludes at 3:00 pm on Tuesday
• Multi-ethnic worship service and celebration Monday evening
• Time spent in group and plenary sharing and discussion interaction with seminary students, who will be attending

Keynote introduction on theology and culture by Rev. Dr. Leopoldo Sanchez, Center For Hispanic Studies, with reaction and further presentation from the perspective of the social sciences by Dr. Jack Schulz, Concordia University-Irvine, and from a missiological perspective by Dr. Douglas Rutt of Lutheran Hour Ministries.

Reflections from cultural backgrounds will include: Rev. William and Mrs. Patricia Main, co-directors of the Haskell Lighthouse Campus Ministry, Rev. Andrew Okai, Rev. Kou Seying, Rev. John Deang, Missionary-at-Large to African immigrants for Nebraska District, Ms. Melissa Salomon, Mission Planting team of Concordia Lutheran Church, Chula Vista, CA, Rev. Andy Wu, among others.

Discussion on best practices will be led by:  Mr. Melvin Butts, lay leader, Rev. Ron Rall, Ms. Yvette Moy, lay leader, among others.

Perspectives from district and synod leadership will be offered by Larry Stoterau, President, Pacific Southwest District, J. Bart Day, Executive Director, Office of National Mission, and Roosevelt Gray, Director of Missions, Michigan District LCMS.

The Symposium will be followed on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m.by the 7^th Annual Lecture in Hispanic/Latino Theology and Missions. The topic this year is “Dealing with Culture in Theological Formation.” The lecturer will be Rev. Gregory Klotz, Associate Professor, Taylor University, Indiana, former missionary to Latin America, professor of missiology and doctoral student in ethnomusicology. All are invited to remain for this lecture which will be held in Werner Auditorium free of charge. The lecture will be in English.

Plan now to join us for “Gifts of Hope”. Local hotel information available on request at ce@csl.edu.  If you have questions, please contact Kaye Wolff at kaye.wolff@aol.com or Rev. John Loum at loumj@csl.edu.  Download the registration form.

Multi-Ethnic Symposium Planning Committee

• Kaye Wolff
• Andy Bartelt
• Quentin Poulson
• Larry Stoterau
• John Loum
• Frazier Odom
• Leopoldo Sanchez
• Mark Kempff
• Victor Raj

Crusade is still a powerful word. Whether applied to current armed conflicts or used as anti-Christian polemic, certain ideas and images of the crusades seem to be alive and well. But what were the crusades, really? This course will define crusade, examine the religious origins of the crusading movement, recount the conquest of the Holy Land (as well as its subsequent loss), and explore the expansion of the crusading idea beyond the Middle Ages. This Lay Bible Institute will be led by Dr. Paul Robinson, associate professor and chairman of historical theology.

Download the registration form.

The cost is $30 per person and registration is due by Jan. 9, 2012. For more information, contact continuing education and parish services at 314-505-7486 or ce@csl.edu.

The Schola Cantorum is open to all choir members, choir directors, and ministers of music. The schedule for the day begins with registration at 8:15 a.m., Morning Prayer at 8:45 a.m., and rehearsal sessions at 9:15 a.m. The day concludes at 3:30 p.m. after the Closing Prayer service, which will include some of the music learned that day. Dr. Horst Buchholz will serve as this year’s clinician.

Dr. Horst Buchholz is the director of music at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Prior to this appointment he held positions at Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio; Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Denver, Colo.; and other churches in the United States and Europe. Dr. Buchholz studied organ and sacred music at the Berlin College of Church Music and the University of the Arts. He also earned his Doctor of Music degree in orchestral conducting from Indiana University. As a conductor Dr. Buchholz has worked with many choirs, opera companies, and orchestras in the United States and Germany. As an educator he has been on the faculties of Cleveland State University, St. John Vianney Seminary, and the University of Denver. Dr. Buchholz is married to soprano, Dr. MeeAe Cecilia Nam.

A Choral Reading Session will be held Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. In the session, Buchholz will guide participants through an evening of choral and instrumental song in which he will preview new and current titles of music. The session is open to all, but is especially designed for choir directors. There is no charge to attend but registration is required.

The cost for the Schola Cantorum is $65 per individual or $120 per congregation ($75 or $135 after Jan. 20, 2012). For the congregation fee, a choir can send as many members as it desires. Lunch and the choral music are not included in the fee. For more information, call 314-505-7486 or email ce@csl.edu.

Download a registration form and printable brochure for the 20th Annual Schola Cantorum.

The schedule for October 25 is as follows:

The evening program will include presentations by Dr. Dale A. Meyer, president of Concordia Seminary, and Rev. Matthew Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. In addition, the Concordia Seminary Chorus will sing a few of Dr. Walther’s favorite hymns in German and in English.

All of the events, with the exception of the bus tour, are free and open to the public. The bus tour is $15 per person and reservations must be made by October 21. Please fill out the registration form and return to Concordia Seminary.

For more information, please contact Continuing Education and Parish Services at 314-505-7486 or ce@csl.edu.

Rev. William Wrede, admissions officer at Concordia Seminary, will serve as speaker at the breakfast. To read a biography of Wrede and an article he wrote about his experiences as a 9/11 chaplain, “Grace at Ground Zero:”

• Bio. of Rev. Wrede
• “Grace at Ground Zero” paper

The cost is $20 per person. Individual tickets and tickets for tables of eight can be purchased. Deadline for ticket purchase is October 31. Download ticket order forms here, or they can be acquired by calling 314-505-7362 or emailing curlessj@csl.edu.

Rev. Clifford Bira

Rev. Dr. Victor Belton

On Wednesday October 12, 2011 Rev. Dr. Victor Belton and Rev. Clifford Bira, conveners of Pray 2011 will be present on Concordia Seminary’s campus in chapel and during the day providing practical learning experiences for developing (1) a pastor’s personal ministry of prayer and (2) a model for prayer ministry in their congregation. Free prayer resources will be made available to participating faculty, staff and students. We encourage you to attend all the sessions but you may choose between them as your schedule allows.

Download a PDF flyer for this event.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 – Schedule

All events held in Chapel 02

The Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus is pleased to facilitate this day of reflection and prayer
conducted by Pray 2011.