Lutheran campus ministry begins its centennial celebration
this academic year, with the theme “Expanding Minds, Deepening Faith,
Inspiring Service.” Below are excerpts of reflections from alums about
their participation as students and what that has meant in the years
since they’ve left campus.
Powerful experience
My
first Sunday morning at Ball State, I was nervous. I had never been to
church on my own. I didn’t know what to expect, but the people from the
Lutheran Center seemed friendly enough at the campus activities fair.
As
I entered the center, I could tell that I would fit in. As the year
went on, I became increasingly involved. It was a place that I knew
people would be as excited to see me as I was to see them.
Craig Kuehnert, 2006—Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.
Asking ‘why’College was a time
of insurmountable cognitive, emotional and psychological change. My
spiritual foundation took “head on” the brunt of the impact as my
surroundings and circumstances enabled and forced me to ask “why” and
to question everything that I had taken for granted for my entire life.
The little Lutheran church that I stumbled upon (or rather, it
stumbled upon me as the pastor of the church sought me out at a synod
assembly) during my sophomore year, provided me with a safe environment
to deeply struggle with those “tough” issues.
If it weren’t for
the gentle, inquisitive prodding of Pastor Rick Bair and the nurturing
environment of St. Luke Lutheran Church, Ithaca, N.Y., with all of its
ministries (campus- and non-campus related), my world wouldn’t be half
as intriguing, and my spiritual self-awareness would be entirely meager
as compared to now.
Irena Mcquarrie, 2006—Ithaca [N.Y.] College
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