FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: CTSFW Communications, communications@ctsfw.edu

CTSFW Announces Calls and Assignments

FORT WAYNE, April 30, 2025—Students at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW), learned where they will be serving as pastors, vicars, and deaconess interns in two special services held April 28 and April 29 in Kramer Chapel. The Seminary announced 84 assignments and placements in 26 of the 35 districts of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).

Forty men receive calls
At the call service April 29, 40 students including 35 Master of Divinity students and five Alternate Route students, received their first calls into pastoral ministry. Most candidates will be serving LCMS congregations in the US, with one receiving a call from the LCMS Board for International Mission to serve as a missionary.

Dr. Scott Murray, third vice-president of the LCMS and chair of the CTSFW Board of Regents, served as preacher for the service, focusing in his sermon on the power of the Gospel as the only power of the ministry.

“The Gospel must be preached with promiscuous generosity,” said Murray. “We don’t listen to it, accept it, believe it, or cling to it by nature. It is a miracle every time it comes to us and every time it is believed. The scriptural revelation is so rich and varied in its multifaceted Gospel content that you preachers will never—and I mean never—exhaust it.”Dr. Scott Murray preaches a sermon on the power of the Gospel at the candidate call service at CTSFW April 29. 

After Murray’s sermon, Dr. Jeffrey H. Pulse, director of certification and placement at CTSFW, provided a snapshot of this year’s call process before announcing calls. Pulse noted that the year has been exceptional for its ups and downs, but ultimately, every candidate prepared for the Office of the Holy Ministry was receiving a call.

As has been the case in recent years, the number of calls available exceeded the number of new pastors available from the two LCMS seminaries, with 54 of the 165 calls going unfilled. Pulse asked everyone to keep congregations not receiving a pastor in their prayers.

CTSFW President Dr. Jon S. Bruss echoed Pulse’s plea at the end of the service. “Keep these blood-bought flocks in your prayers,” Bruss said. “Pray that the Lord of the harvest would continue to raise up pastors.”

He then offered a recruiting message.

“Men, don’t be stingy with the gifts that the Lord has given you. The Lord has gifted you in significant ways. Come to the seminary. And families, do not hold back your sons, but help them see what a blessing it is to serve in the ordained ministry of Word and Sacrament.”CTSFW President Dr. Jon S. Bruss reads the charge to call candidates at the conclusion of the call service April 29.

Vicarages and internships in focus April 28

On April 28, the evening before the call service, 41 seminarians learned where they would be serving as vicars, and three deaconess students received internship assignments. Three students will be serving internationallySecond-year students prepare to enter Kramer Chapel April 28 before the vicarage and internship assignment service.

Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of the LCMS and father of one of the soon-to-be vicars, served as preacher for the service.

“I have absolutely no reason to hurry this along, because the Council of Presidents places everybody so I’ve seen where you’re all going,” said Harrison as he began. “But because I have some family sitting in a pew over there, they want me to get to the point.”

In his sermon, Harrison read much of Luther’s first Invocavit sermon from 1522 aloud and applied those words to the students awaiting their assignments.

“Everything that Luther preached to his congregation applies to you,” said Harrison. “We are worthy of wrath. We are nothing. All our works are nothing. And you’ll find that our in the vocations you are following. And when you’re swept into a corner and realize you’re nothing, then He’ll start to construct something out of you.”LCMS President Dr. Matthew C. Harrison preaches at the vicarage and deaconess internship assignment service April 28. 

After Harrison’s sermon, Dr. Todd Peperkorn, director of vicarage and internship, presented the fourth Wyneken Vicarage Award to Dr. Scott Murray and Memorial Lutheran Church and School in Houston, Texas, where Murray served until his retirement earlier this year. This award, named for the Rev. F. C. D. Wyneken, one of CTSFW’s founders, is given annually to pastors and congregations that have demonstrated exceptional service to the church through their participation in the vicarage program. Seventeen seminarians have completed vicarages at Memorial under Murray’s supervision. One of those vicars, Preus Hasselbrook, received a call to serve as associate pastor and Memorial at Tuesday night’s placement service. Dr. Todd Peperkorn, Dr. Scott Murray, and Dr. Jon Bruss after the call service April 29. Murray received the Wyneken Vicarage Award the previous evening. 

For recordings of both services, lists of calls and assignments, photo albums, and an interactive placement map, visit ctsfw.edu/CallDay.