Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary offers a wide range of opportunities for its students to apply their ministry skills in real-life situations. During their early field training (EFT), each student gets to preach and preside at their assigned congregation. Students have opportunities to attend multicultural events and canvass nearby neighborhoods as part of their evangelism classes. Many students also have the chance to get valuable preaching experiences at churches in or around their hometowns, where they share the sermons they have written over the course of their junior year. During their vicar year, students have the option to travel to different parts of the country to gain more practical experience in canvassing, presenting, and problem-solving.
While the seminary gives a variety of experiences to students to improve their ministry skills, sometimes students are presented with opportunities to shine their lights in the community. Twice a year, the seminary partners with the American Red Cross to provide life-saving blood donations on our campus. Students willingly volunteer time away from classes to help organize volunteers, hang posters in local coffee shops promoting the drive, donate blood, and ensure that everything at the drive runs smoothly.
Partnering with non-profits, like the American Red Cross, shows that we are serious about being citizens of both kingdoms. Not only does the seminary care about the spiritual health of our community and world by instructing students in the care for souls, but we also care deeply about the physical health of those around us. Since our heavenly Father has blessed us in so many ways, we are excited to give back to others through our time and blood donations.
A single pint of blood can save up to three lives. Selfless love like that has a profound impact on the one donating and the one receiving the donation.
Another benefit of serving with a non-profit is that seminary students get to rub shoulders with people in our community who otherwise would never set foot on the seminary’s campus. Many of the nurses and community volunteers will tell you that the purpose of life is to leave the world a better place than we found it. At a drive like this, we have the opportunity to share what drives our purpose. We love, we serve, we volunteer, and we donate because we have a Savior who was willing to shed his own blood to give us true life found in the forgiveness of sins and a restored relationship with God. A new life that will also be an eternal life with him forever in heaven.
The 2023 fall blood drive was a great success. Though I wish I could tell you I had an engaging, heartwarming, or deep conversation about faith with one of the nurses or the members of our community who took the time to donate on our campus, that would not be true. But maybe that is not the point of a drive like this.
Though it might not look flashy or glamorous, the students pinning a poster to a bulletin board, the students sitting at the check-in desk or reclining in the donation chair, and the students sweeping the gymnasium after another successful drive, have the opportunity to represent their Savior in a unique way. Though we may not always have the opportunity to share the words of the gospel directly, we are showing that Jesus’ command to love neighbor above self is vitally important to us.
Duane “Duke” Backhaus is a 2024 graduate of the seminary.