February 19, 2017

Dear ,

I wish to commend the course, “Discerning God's Mission,” to you. I found the course to be helpful in every way as a help to grow myself in the art of ministry. I believe I came out of the class with real usable tools to use in an interim situation as well as a called minister position. This course is useful to those desiring to be interim ministers of Word and Sacrament and called ministers of Word and Sacrament and ministers of Word and Service.

The course introduced me to skills and tools that I had not been exposed to in seminary, on internship, or in an associate position. I learned of a need for spiritual practices for myself, but also for the council. I learned about being part of a ministerial team which I think was particularly important as in my first call I was an associate pastor and all the first three year education was set up for Solo or Head of Staff, but not much for associates. This would be a good experience for associates.

I found the presenters were helpful because it was great to learn tricks of the trade from people who had been successful in what they had set out to accomplish in ministry.

I also enjoyed the opportunity to learn with and from experienced pastors who had more time in the work than I did. I really liked the learning method of distance learning and one week together. It was good to spend time with colleagues away from the parish. It was also great that in one class one could get all 50 of the distance learning hours asked for by the church. This made the learning more affordable and within my budget for continuing education. I also appreciated the accountability, that there were goals to meet that were measurable. Overall this was one of the best continuing education experiences I have had since becoming a pastor.

Christopher Hagen has done an excellent thing for the church as a whole: first, by taking the task of continuing education seriously, second, by using his gift for teaching and by sharing the teachings he has worked hard to acquire with others. I found Chris to be wonderfully supportive in the learning process. It would be great to take another class with him.

I whole heartedly recommend this class to you as an excellent value, and a real opportunity to learn many things about interim and regular ministry that you may not have learned anywhere else.

Yours in Christ,

Robert Scheurer

Pastor, Zion and St. Paul Lutheran Churches,

Rockford and Marble Rock, Iowa