Call Day 2025: Cause for Celebration and Prayer

Call Day is less than a month away. “Call Day” is actually three days. This year it begins in Ft.
Wayne on Monday, April 28 and ends on Wednesday, April 30 in St. Louis. On Monday vicars and deaconess interns will be given their assignments in Ft. Wayne. On Tuesday Ft. Wayne trained candidates for the Office of the Holy Ministry will get their first calls. On Wednesday, on the same day but in two distinct services, the parallel events will occur in St. Louis. https://ctsfw.regfox.com/2025-call-day   https://www.csl.edu/academics/call-day-services/  

There is a fair amount of controversy in the LCMS these days about the role of the seminaries, particularly whether the near monopoly they have on the pastor supply pipe line should be loosened and whether or not the cost and standards ought to be lowered. In my hearing, which is limited, everyone, including those who are critical of the status quo, those who want the seminaries to do better, and those who are struggling with the costs, recognize that in general, our seminaries, through all their various programs, including their partial-residency programs, produce the best trained and most competent pastors. That is to say, whatever your personal beef and concerns might be with the synod and how it trains pastors, Call Day should be a day of celebration. 

Two things need to be noted. First, the men and women who will receive placements and first calls that week are not the problem. They deserve their day without taint from real or exaggerated concerns, from legitimate frustration or from pettiness. Let them have their day. 

Secondly, we all need to remember that God uses means to provide for His Church. As far as we know the days of the immediate call ended with the Apostles. Our pastors receive their calls through the Church. That  process in particular, like unto the education of pastors, is a very human process. The men charged with these tasks are fallible and weak. They have limited intelligence, wisdom, and information. They have personal flaws and sometimes agendas. These things can hinder the process. They can even threaten to corrupt it. But the Church is ruled by the Holy Spirit. He works all things together for good to those who love Him. The gates of Hell shall not prevail. The Lord will, has, and does provide and that without fail and often despite us.

One other thing, besides being a cause of celebration,  let this day also be a call to prayer. Start now and don’t quit. Pray for the students and their families, for the congregations that will receive them, and for those who asked for a candidate but who will not receive one. Pray for our seminaries and all those in the discernment process. If you are a man, pray for discernment yourself. Could you serve as a pastor in our church? Should you? If not, pray for a generous spirit. Ask for guidance about how you might support this work in your congregation, toward our seminaries, and in fulfillment of what has often and recently been called the Great Commission. Pray that the Lord send laborers into the harvest, not just numbers but men ready to labor, willing to make sacrifices, eager to work, that He bless the preaching of His Word, and that we all learn to receive His Word and Office with thanksgiving and joy.