The next Exploring Church Careers Event (ECCE) will take place Aug. 4-7, 2001 on the Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, campus. The four-day retreat is designed to inform and encourage high school youth with respect to church work careers. It will include Bible study, presentations by recognized leaders in youth ministry and on-site visitation opportunities with a wide variety of church career professionals.

"We want youth who attend the ECCE to see the many ways God can use the gifts He has given them to serve Him in a church work career," said Rev. Glen Thomas, vice president for seminary relations at Concordia Seminary. "We also want youth to hear of the inherent joys and challenges they will face as they serve in a church work career."

A $40 registration fee is the only charge youth pay, in addition to travel costs, to attend the ECCE. All activities, meals during the event and on-campus lodging are provided at no cost to participants. Travel scholarships also are available to ensure that travel costs do not prevent youth from attending.

"This year's ECCE will be limited to 80 high school youth, not the 120 youth we have been able to accommodate in former years," indicated Thomas. "We have a scheduling conflict with another conference group that will be using our campus facilities, and we need to limit our registration this year to 80 youth."

"We are very happy with the results of the two previous ECCEs," commented Thomas. "Evaluation forms completed by the youth who attended previous ECCEs indicate that they were successful and accomplished their purpose. Many youth indicated a greater desire to serve in a church career as they contrasted their thoughts prior to attending an ECCE with those they had after the event."

Publicity and registration forms for ECCE 2001 will be sent February 1, 2001. "Since our capacity is 80 high school youth, we are not going to pre-register anyone until the official forms are sent in the mail," indicated Thomas. "In light of the fact that we had a waiting list for each of the two previous ECCEs, we need to be fair to all who hope to participate."

Those who attended a previous ECCE will not be eligible to attend ECCE 2001 so that the largest number of youth possible attend this event over the years.

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, contact Admissions Office, Concordia Seminary, 801 DeMun Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105; or by e-mail at ECCEvent@aol.com.