‘The Gospel must be preached’: Call Day 2025

CTSFW students Preus Hasselbrook (left) and Alexander Hinojosa enjoy a laugh before the walk to Kramer Chapel, where they later received their calls: Hasselbrook as associate pastor of Memorial Lutheran Church and School, Houston, and Hinojosa as pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Farmington Hills, Mich. (LCMS/Frank Kohn)

By Sarah Hjulberg

The Gospel must be preached with promiscuous generosity,” said the Rev. Dr. Scott Murray, third vice-president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), in his sermon for the candidate placement service at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW).

“We don’t listen to it, accept it, believe it or cling to it by nature. It is a miracle every time it comes to us and every time it is believed. The scriptural revelation is so rich and varied in its multifaceted Gospel content that you preachers will never — and I mean never — exhaust it.”

Over a three-day period, April 28–30, both LCMS seminaries held their call and placement services. Between the two seminaries, a grand total of 196 students received calls or assignments.

At CTSFW’s service on April 29, 40 seminarians, including 35 Master of Divinity students and five Alternate Route students, received their first calls. The day before, on April 28, 41 seminarians received their vicarage assignments, and three deaconess students received their deaconess assignments.

On April 30, at the Call Day services held at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (CSL), 56 students received calls, including 42 Master of Divinity students, three Residential Alternate Route students, three Center for Hispanic Studies students, five Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology students, and three Cross-cultural Ministry Center students. Five residential Deaconess Studies Program students also received calls.

Earlier in the day, 45 CSL seminarians received their vicarage assignments, and six residential Deaconess Studies Program students received their internship assignments.

‘Answers to many past prayers’

“Serving sisters and preaching brothers are the ‘today’ answers to many past prayers offered by the humble saints long before their deaconesses and pastors were ever there,” preached the Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor, LCMS Atlantic District president, at the CSL candidate placement service.

In the months, and sometimes years, leading up to Call Day, congregations had been praying for the pastors and deaconesses who would come to serve them.

“Now, wounded healers will proclaim and explain that Jesus is ‘my Lord and my God,’ not because we see clearly — but because we believe that the Lord still saves valiantly — proclaimed in words of hope and embodied in acts of charity,” continued Taylor.

And for the pastoral and deaconess candidates, the moment of receiving a call had been years in the making.

“Call Day is the beautiful crescendo of seminary life,” said CSL candidate Lara McComack, who received a call to serve as a deaconess at Calvary Lutheran Church in Topeka, Kan. “More than a ‘graduation’ ceremony … it is a time for the church to … receive God’s Word, to hear His Gospel preached, … and to praise and acknowledge not our own selves but God and His work in the world through His church.”

McComack also served her yearlong deaconess internship at Calvary. She is excited to return and serve the congregation long-term.

“Less than a year ago, God planted me in a part of the country I had never been [to] before. And now, it is a great joy to know that I am called to stay with the people I have grown to love and be loved by,” McComack said.

Lara McComack, a CSL student, receives a hug after being called as deaconess to Calvary Lutheran Church, Topeka, Kan. (LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

‘Formative power’

The 86 vicars who received their assignments on Call Day are about to spend a formative year in the field.

“A good friend of mine, now finishing his first year as a sole pastor, recently told me that his vicarage experience has touched nearly every single day of his ministry,” said CSL seminarian Tyler Martin. “That’s the kind of importance and formative power this year holds.”

Martin will serve as vicar at Resurrection Lutheran Church, Garden City, N.Y.

“The opportunity to grow under the guidance of a seasoned pastor, to sharpen my preaching and teaching, to test what I’ve learned in the classroom, and to receive honest, loving feedback from a congregation that’s been through this process before — that’s a rare and wonderful gift,” said Martin.

In his sermon for CSL’s vicarage and deaconess internship assignment service, the Rev. Dr. William Harmon, LCMS Southeastern District president, spoke to some of the ways in which vicars would be tried and tested in the coming year.

“I guarantee you that over this next year — in fact, over the course of your entire ministry — you will have seasons of doubt and uncertainty. It might happen right after your first voters meeting. It certainly could happen after you leave the ICU as you share the commendation of the dying. … When those times happen, remember that in the midst of things we cannot understand, we believe and trust in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting,” preached Harmon.

Pray the Lord of the harvest

In his closing remarks at both seminaries’ services, the Rev. Dr. R. Lee Hagan, LCMS Missouri District president and chairman of the Council of Presidents, noted that 54 congregations would not be receiving pastors this year. He asked for prayers for these congregations.

He also encouraged candidates with words from one of C.F.W. Walther’s sermons: “When a place has been assigned to a Lutheran candidate of theology, … that place ought to be to him the dearest, the most beautiful, and the most precious spot on earth. He should be unwilling to exchange it for a kingdom.”

LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, who attended both the CSL and CTSFW candidate placement services and preached at CTSFW’s vicarage assignment service, encouraged everyone in attendance, and everyone watching online, to consider attending seminary.

“Come to the seminary. Now is the right time. We need pastors in this church body, and we need them now. Come, now is the time,” Harrison encouraged in his remarks at CTSFW. “All the details will be taken care of. These men [in front of me] are the proof of that.”

Posted June 5, 2025