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News from LSTC (continued)
LSTC’s Youth in Mission program receives
fourth Lilly Endowment grant
In November 2009, the Lilly Endowment Inc. gave
LSTC a grant of $660,000 for its Youth in Mission
(YIM) program. The grant is part of the Lilly
Endowment’s Theological Programs for High School
Youth Initiative to support theological schools’
programs that get youth excited about theological
education and inspire them to consider vocations
in ministry. It will be used to support current YIM
programming and to help make the programs selfsustaining.
“LSTC is honored by and grateful for the Lilly
Endowment’s continued support of Youth in Mission
through this grant. Their vote of confidence in our
programs inspires and enables us to work toward
long-term sustainability of the life-changing Youth
in Mission programs,” said President James Kenneth
Echols.
Youth in Mission’s Serving Christ in the World, a
vocation immersion program for rising 11 th and 12 th
grade youth is in its eighth year. To date, five Serving
Christ in the World program participants have elected
to attend ELCA seminaries and many more are college
students considering ministry and other serviceoriented
vocations.
Beyond Belief is Youth in Mission’s year-round
program that connects high school youth groups
with LSTC and Chicago service organizations for
various ministry opportunities during week-long service
trips. During their time in Chicago, participants
meet with seminarians to explore vocation and life
at LSTC.
In 2009, Youth in Mission held its first annual
youth ministry workers’ conference at LSTC. The
2010 conference will focus on youth faith formation
in an interfaith world. See page 2 for more information
about the conference.
LSTC, Rhoads featured in new DVD education
series on care of creation
Professor of New Testament David Rhoads is the cohost
of “Earthbound: Created and Called to Care for
Creation,” a new six-part DVD series for congregations
that explores Christians’ complex relationship
with God’s creation. It examines the origins of misconceptions
about Scripture’s portrayal of creation
and how Christians have become heaven-focused at
the expense of Earth.
The series takes Martin Luther’s breakthrough
understanding of justification and vocation and
applies it across all of creation. It shows how people
throughout the Church are living out a vocation of
relating to and caring for creation. Each segment of
the series is approximately 25 minutes long. A study
guide, with facilitator instructions, comes with the
DVDs.
New Testament Professor Barbara Rossing,
President James Kenneth Echols, alumnus Pastor
Gordon Straw, and staff member Kwame Pitts are
other LSTC voices on the DVD, which includes
Walter Brueggemann, Larry Rasmussen, Terry
Fretheim, and Cynthia Moe-Lobeda.
The series is available for $89.95 (plus shipping
and handling costs) from Seraphim
Communications http://store.seracomm.com.
View a trailer of the series on the web page for
“Earthbound” on Seraphim’s site.
LSTC to celebrate 150th Commencement
on May 16
Nearly 70 students will graduate from the Lutheran
School of Theology at Chicago when it holds its
150 th commencement ceremony on May 16, 2010.
Although LSTC has existed for only 48 years, it
counts its number of graduating classes beginning
with its oldest predecessor school, Augustana
Lutheran Seminary.
Pastor Susan K. Ericsson will be the preacher at
the commencement service to be held at 2:30 p.m.
at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, 5472
South Kimbark, Chicago. Pastor Ericsson is a leader
in urban ministry who currently serves as senior pastor
of Saint Luke Lutheran Church in Devon, Pa. She
graduated from Yale Divinity School after spending
part of her senior year at LSTC. Ericsson served an
inner city congregation in Detroit for 11 years before
joining the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod staff as
Assistant to the Bishop for Urban Ministry. During
her 13 years in that position she worked with urban
congregations and leaders in the synod’s redevelopment
strategy.
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