Concordia Seminary, St. Louis is pleased to announce that the mailing sent to church leaders throughout The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) inviting nominations to its two summer vocational events for high school students has produced an overwhelming response. The first of the two events, the annual Exploring Church Careers Event (ECCE) will be offered for high school youth July 30-Aug. 2. It will be followed immediately by the Aug. 2-5 “Exploring the Pastoral Ministry” (EPM), which is offered for young men in high school. Both events are held on the Seminary campus.

“At this point, 136 youth have been nominated for ECCE, 65 have been nominated for EPM and an additional 52 have been nominated for both events,” commented Rev. Glen D. Thomas, vice president for seminary relations at Concordia Seminary. “The total of 253 nominations in about four weeks is very gratifying.”

Publicity and nomination forms for the ECCE and EPM were sent Feb. 12 to all LCMS pastors, youth directors, directors of Christian education, high school principals and high school teachers.

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.

“Our brightest and most gifted youth are receiving information and encouragement regarding a lot of non-church work vocations and we want them to receive the same type of information and encouragement regarding church work vocations,” said Thomas. “While all Christians serve God in their various vocations, we want youth to hear of the inherent joys and challenges they will face if they serve in church work vocations.”

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 Seminary Place., St. Louis, MO 63105; or by e-mail at ECCE@csl.edu. Additional information and a nomination form for both events are available on the Seminary’s Web site (www.csl.edu/HighSchoolYouth.htm).