The Lord provides workers for His harvest!

During Advent and Christmas, we rejoice in the greatest Gift — the gift of a Savior, God’s own Son, Jesus. We rejoice also in His message and His messengers who bring Christ to us and who bring us to Christ.

Thanks be to God that He sent His angels to the shepherds: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11 ESV). Since that holy night, God has continued to send His message and His messengers. “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Rom. 10:14–15 ESV).

Our Lord Jesus teaches us to pray each day for daily bread. Just as we pray to God for our daily bread, we can pray also that He would richly supply His Word of life — to us and to all. For “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4 ESV).

Jesus invites us to “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:38 ESV). That is to say, pray earnestly that the Lord would provide pastors and deaconesses and missionaries and Christian friends and neighbors to bring His life-giving Word to us and to all.

In our Seminary’s 2022-26 Strategic Plan, the seventh major priority is “Prayer to the Lord of the Harvest.” The plan includes a number of new student recruitment initiatives, but the very first recruitment commitment is that we regularly pray to God to provide servants of His Word.

May I ask you, as Seminary alumni, to be mindful and active in praying to God for this need? Dear friends, just as we pray for our food each day, let us pray every day that God would provide pastors, deaconesses and missionaries — just as He sent His angels to those blessed shepherds on that first Christmas night.

A blessed Advent and a joyous Christmas!

Dr. Thomas J. Egger
President