Lawrence Olson, director of the Congregational Assistant Program (CAP) based at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota, and E. Allen Sorum, director of the Pastoral Studies Institute (PSI) based at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin, recently addressed a joint meeting of the Geoduck and Rainier circuits of the Cascades Conference at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Washington. Prof. Olson explained that the charter of the CAP is to encourage and equip members for a broader ministry within a congregation. When men who have demonstrated aptitude for ministry desire further training, they may seek the support of the PSI. The charter of the PSI is to guide and assist these men from a broad cultural spectrum through their pre-seminary and seminary training.
The pastors also discussed with Sorum how the PSI might bring Pastor Youn Soo Park into a closer partnership with WELS outreach efforts to Koreans in both North America and Korea. Pastor Park and his congregation are currently sharing the facilities of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Pastor Park is anxious to begin a confessional dialogue that would allow partnership with Holy Trinity and the WELS.
The world has come to our shores. Opportunities for outreach increase each day. The CAP and the PSI programs are ways in which members of WELS may receive training to participate more aggressively in the privilege of reaching souls from the many nations who are moving next door to us. God moves peoples to the exact places where they should live (Acts 17:26). May he move us also to explain to them how to live forever through Jesus!
