“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Eph 4:11,12). How does Christ go about giving these gifts of called workers to his church? In the WELS, we have the privilege of hearing call acceptance letters and witnessing call days—evidence of the love the Lord of the harvest shows for us, his church. Yet the way that God chooses to lead each individual called worker to consider, pursue, and enter gospel ministry is a bit of a mystery to us. We know that the Holy Spirit is constantly working on the hearts of believers through Word and Sacrament. Through this gospel the Holy Spirit encourages, strengthens, and leads people into lives of service. God works through various gospel proclaimers to encourage young believers along the way to future gospel ministry.
This past school year I was privileged to serve as one of those encouragers. I served as Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary’s student recruiter. This job was created just under a decade ago to support the ministerial recruitment of the WELS and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. So, what does the WLS student recruiter do? I suppose you could say that what he does is what I described above. The recruiter simply encourages young believers to consider serving Jesus in the public ministry of the gospel. However, there are multiple ways that the student recruiter goes about carrying out that task. These include grade school presentations, leading tours of our campus, and hosting events at the seminary.
Perhaps the biggest job of the WLS student recruiter is presenting at WELS grade schools. When I first began my work as the student recruiter, I remember thinking to myself, “How does someone recruit grade-schoolers to consider attending Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in the distant future?” Even if the young men to whom I would speak to wanted to become WELS pastors, most of them would not be attending the seminary for over a decade. As I thought about the answer to that question, I realized what the main thrust of these presentations would be. I had the opportunity to go out and preach the gospel to young hearts! Now, my presentations certainly contained information, pictures, and encouragement to attend both Martin Luther College and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Yet primarily I told those grade schoolers about the Savior who loved them and died for them. Young students who are firmly rooted in their Savior may grow into older students who desire to share that same faith in the public ministry.
Another large part of the WLS student recruiter’s job is being the head tour guide on campus. Each year dozens of grade schools, congregations, and families come and visit the seminary. We have the privilege of showing them around our beautiful campus as we describe to them the work the Lord has set before us as seminary students and professors. We always make a point to explain that our seminary is their seminary. For each guest who visits, our seminary has likely had a great impact on their lives as the pastors who have served them, are serving them, and will serve them are equipped, strengthened, and trained on our campus.
The student recruiter is also tasked with planning various events such as the annual Seminary Scurry 5K and Kids Run, Focus on the Ministry events on campus for high schoolers who are considering studying for the pastoral ministry, a special grade school chapel day at the seminary, and more. While there were many unique tasks that I carried out over my year as the WLS student recruiter, I thank God most of all for the opportunity to do what we all love to do—to tell the story of Jesus’ love for us and for the world.
Clayton “C.J.” Fury is a 2024 graduate of the seminary.
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