The registration deadline for the two Concordia Seminary, St. Louis summer vocational events for high school youth is Friday, July 25. The first of the two events, the fifth annual Exploring Church Careers Event (ECCE) will be offered for high school youth Aug. 2-5 on the Concordia Seminary campus. It will be followed immediately by "Exploring the Pastoral Ministry" (EPM), which is offered for young men in high school.

The two events are designed to identify, inform and encourage youth with respect to church work vocations. They will include Bible study, on-site visitation opportunities with those serving in the featured church work vocations, and opportunities for youth to gain college and seminary information pertaining to each of the featured vocations. While the ECCE will include information regarding a wide variety of church work vocations, the EPM will focus exclusively on the pastoral ministry.

A $50 registration fee is the only charge youth pay to attend the ECCE, in addition to travel costs. All activities, meals during the event and on-campus lodging are provided at no cost to participants. Travel scholarships are available to ensure that travel costs do not prevent youth from attending, and ECCE registration is limited to 80 high school youth.

The EPM will take place Aug. 5-8 and will allow participants the opportunity to study theology with Seminary professors, worship with the Seminary community, hear pastors discuss the joys and challenges of the pastoral ministry, take part in a Servant Event and attend a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game.

A $60 registration fee is the only charge for youth to attend the EPM, and all meals and lodging at the event are provided free of charge.

The ECCE is made possible by a $150,000 grant Concordia Seminary received to assist in the process of identifying, informing and encouraging high school youth toward service in church work careers. The grant is from Lilly Endowment Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind.

For more information on the ECCE or the EPM, contact the Admissions Office, Concordia Seminary, 801 DeMun Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105; by phone at 314.505.7722, or by e-mail at ECCE@csl.edu. Additional information and a nomination form for both events is also available on the Seminary's Web site (https://stg.csl.matchbox.host/HighSchoolYouth.htm).