More than 70 entries have been submitted during the last five years, with the Thalassa Prize awarded to these four: Kristina Wessel, Dominican Republic (2007); Rachel Kionka, Malawi (2008); Rachel Meyer, Southeast Asia (2009); Gretchen Schmiege, Southeast Asia (2010); and Amber Schlomer, Southeast Asia (2011).

Might you be the winner for 2012? For submission guidelines, go to www.mlc-wels.edu/thalassa. Deadline: April 30, 2012.

The mission of Martin Luther College is to train a corps of Christian witnesses who are qualified to meet the ministry needs of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and who are competent to proclaim the Word of God faithfully and in accord with the Lutheran Confessions in the Book of Concord.

To fulfill this mission, Martin Luther College carries out all instruction and programs of student life according to the gospel as revealed in the inspired and inerrant Word of God.

With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the college desires

• To strengthen the student in a consecrated spirit of love for God and his Word;
• To educate the student for faithful, capable, intelligent citizenship in today’s world;
• To assist the student in acquiring the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed for service in the church and for lifelong learning; and
• To encourage the student in developing and demonstrating a heart for service in the church, community, and world.

To meet the current ministry needs of the WELS, Martin Luther College

• Prepares men for pastoral training at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary;
• Prepares men and women for service as teachers and staff ministers in the synod’s churches, schools, and other institutions;
• Prepares men and women for other church ministries, both full and part-time, responding to the needs of the WELS;
• Prepares international students for ministry in partnership with WELS mission fields; and
• Provides programs of continuing education that meet the ministerial needs of the WELS.

May a gracious Savior pour out his blessing upon our endeavors so that his saving name is glorified, precious souls edified, and lost souls sanctified.

At first glance, that number may seem daunting, considering the prospective earning potential of our graduates. But thanks to individual donors’ gifts and congregational mission offerings, your future called workers graduate with far less debt than they otherwise might.

As the graph shows, students pay approximately 50% of the total cost of their ministry training. The remaining 50% comes from MLC’s synod subsidy (congregational mission offerings, 25%), donor-funded scholarships and grants (15%), and government grants (10%).

In appreciation of these gifts, MLC hosted its inaugural “Tuition Freedom Day.” This is the day on which the average student met all his or her financial obligations for the cost of college. Tuition for the rest of the year is paid for by the synod, donors, and the government. This year that day was December 14. (Due to exams, we celebrated it December 7.)

Please join the MLC family in expressing gratitude to the thousands of Christian brothers and sisters who generously support our ministry. Soli Deo Gloria!

Below is a video of appreciation for all of those who help offset the costs of education for our future ministers.

You can read more at the MLC Athletics website.

1. Encourage students to attend MLC who are not sure of their future in God’s Kingdom.
   This encouragement is for them to continue their general Christian education at MLC in a safe, well-rounded Christian environment while they mature and discover God’s direction for their life.
2. Present the financial advantages MLC provides to students and parents.
   a. Our synod provides generous financial aid.
   b. MLC graduates rank in the top ten nationally for loan repayments. (US News & World Report)
   c. Loan amounts of our graduating students are appropriate and manageable according to independent US government studies. (About 33% graduated with no debt at all.)
   d. Room and board charges are also in the top ten lowest nationally according to US News & World Report.
3. Educate students and parents that the placement rate of MLC graduates requesting a call anywhere averages over 91% in the past 5 years.
   This percentage does not include the high transfer rate to pastoral studies at the Seminary in Mequon.
4. Expose students to blessings of all ministries in God’s Kingdom.
   Pray that they are led by God to the role he has planned for them, either as a lay person or a fulltime called worker. Either path can be started at MLC.

As a Christian in our fellowship, the individual will have opportunities to take religion courses, attend chapel, and enjoy the Christian environment of our campus. The first semester course will be Introduction to Chinese Language and Culture, with  Elementary Mandarin I offered in the second semester.  In 2013-2014, Elementary Mandarin II and Intermediate Mandarin I will be taught in addition. Each course is three credits and will meet four times a week in the evening. Each year some of our graduates volunteer to serve their Lord in Southeast Asia. Knowing more about Southeast Asian culture and having a rudimentary facility with Mandarin will aid their outreach efforts.

In addition to those undergraduate students served, 95 teachers and administrators are pursuing their Master of Science in Education degrees through MLC, with emphases in instruction (33), leadership (35), special education (20), and educational technology (7). We anticipate 10 graduates will participate in the May 2012 commencement service.

In a typical school year, MLC serves another 800+ students through continuing education courses. Many of these students are teachers currently serving in classrooms across the country. They are strengthening their expertise by taking classes in education, technology, religion, science, writing, etc.

If we add these efforts together, MLC taught courses to over 1200 different students last year.

You can read the whole article on the New Ulm Journal's website.

Photo credit to Daniel Kerwin/New Ulm Journal

At the Martin Luther College December 15 Commencement Service, 19 students received their Bachelor of Science degrees in the following areas: Early Childhood Education – 7,  Elementary Education – 6, Secondary Education – 2,  Early Childhood  and Elementary Education – 1, Educational Studies – 2,  and Staff Ministry – 1. Two graduates elected international service and two candidates from previous classes were assigned. Visit the MLC website for updated lists of assignments.

You can view the accompanying PDF to see a breakdown of where MLC funding comes from.

Click here to download a PDF with more details on the publicly available sessions.

Currently, if you want to get at information you cannot find here, you can head over to the old site at http://mlc-wels.edu/home and everything should be right where it was before. If you are still unable to find what you are looking for, please email me (my name is Bob and I help run this thing) and I will hunt it down for you.

Even though the visual makeover might be the most significant change that you can see, underneath everything has changed as well. Because of this, we are also undergoing a complete reorganization of the website's content as we move it over from the old site. Things might not be EXACTLY where they were before, but we hope that it will be easily found and in a better spot for the future.

I value your feedback and any comments or questions you might have about the new site are greatly appreciated. You can find the "Site Feedback" link a the bottom of any page.

To help you get your "bearings", I'll outline some of the changes to the site:

• The main navigation is now along the top of the screen. Those links will take you to their respective areas no matter where you are on the site. To get back to the homepage, click the MLC logo on the left of the links.
• The search box at the top of the screen only searches the new site. If you can't find what you are looking for here, you will want to head over to the old site at http://mlc-wels.edu/home and search there. As more content is moved over, you will have to venture over there less and less.
• The footer (the dark thing at the bottom of the screen) now contains links to resources and tools from the website. A lot of stuff is now only a single click away. Links which used to be in the upper-right of the site are now located in the footer.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you'll visit again to see what has changed. God's blessings!

Prof. Backer taught several generations of WELS called workers. He was assigned from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary to be a tutor for the then Emergency-Teachers’ Training Program at Winnebago Lutheran Academy. After a year he was called to Dr. Martin Luther College and its successor school, Martin Luther College, in New Ulm, MN. As an organ and piano instructor, composer and arranger, recitalist, choir director, and teacher of the Lutheran Worship class, Prof. Backer molded his students in the practices of solid confessional Lutheran hymnology, liturgics, and worship practices.

Friends, acquaintances, former students, and all interested are welcome to attend this recital and presentation. For further information, please contact James Moeller at (920)-261-0327 or via jmoeller@tslwels.org.