Young adults share church work journey at Higher Things

Young Adult Representative Hannah Weaver, a senior at Concordia University, Nebraska, Seward, Neb., talks about her path to becoming a Lutheran elementary school teacher during a breakaway session at Higher Things, held July 29–Aug. 1 in Grand Rapids, Mich. (Sona Lawrence)

This summer, the staff of Set Apart to Serve (SAS) hit the road, visiting both the triennial LCMS Youth Gathering and the annual summer youth conferences sponsored by Higher Things (HT), a Recognized Service Organization of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). At the three regional HT conferences, young adults who are either currently enrolled in a Concordia University System church work program or who were recently called to a professional church work role represented SAS as young adult representatives (YARs). As YARs, they manned the SAS booth and talked to people visiting the exhibitor area. They also provided breakaway sessions in which they shared their own stories of their journey toward deciding to become church workers.

The Rev. Lesley Chen, associate pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Nashua, N.H., served as a YAR at the HT conference in Amherst, Mass., in June. Chen said he was motivated to talk to young people about church work because of his own family history.

“Trinity Lutheran Church in Springfield, Ill., sponsored my father [to come to the U.S.] during the [Vietnam] war. Pastor Micheal Strong supported and raised my dad to know our Lord. When my father moved to Massachusetts, Pastor Wismar cared for him and picked up where Pastor Strong left off. I was inspired by both pastors and wanted to do the same for future generations.” Chen is a graduate of Concordia College New York, Bronxville, N.Y., and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

At the HT conference at Concordia University, Nebraska (CUNE), Seward, Neb., in July, Rebekah Saucerman and Ryan Munro served as YARs. Saucerman, a sophomore in the deaconess program at Concordia University Chicago (CUC), River Forest, Ill., came from a church work family but wasn’t sure about pursuing church work herself until interactions with teachers and others at Lutheran High School in Parker, Colo., changed her mind. She said she heard about the opportunity to serve as a YAR from one of her professors at CUC and decided to apply “because it was something God had equipped me for at this exact time, to be able to speak to my experience and encourage students (whose shoes I had just been in!) who are trying to discern what to do with their lives.”

“I know I would have appreciated something like this a few years ago,” Saucerman continued, “when I was trying to decide where to go to school and what my options were. I wanted to be able to have meaningful conversations with high school students and encourage them along their journeys. It was a super cool opportunity to be at the conference in general, but it was also a privilege to get to speak with kids about their futures and about what God has done in my life.”

Munro, a senior at Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, Wis., is currently working in the aerospace industry while taking classes in CUW’s church ministry and pre-seminary programs. He hopes to attend seminary in the next year.

“Since I was not raised a Lutheran,” Munro explained, “I never had a chance to go to anything like a Higher Things conference. I was eager both to experience a gathering of Lutherans and, at the same time, to share how God put me on the path I’m on.” He added that he is now pursuing church work due to the support of many others.

“Part of the reason I wanted to volunteer was because I had so many people from my church encourage me to pursue a church work vocation. I felt like it was my duty to encourage others to do the same. … I was surprised with how many students were already considering becoming pastors, deaconesses, directors of parish music and more. … I got to learn a lot about the less talked about vocations, and I got to learn more about … what the other Concordia universities are doing.”

At the last HT conference of the summer, held in Grand Rapids, Mich., Allison Cross, a junior deaconess student at CUC, and Hannah Weaver, a CUNE senior studying to be a Lutheran elementary school teacher, served as YARs. All told, almost 2,000 youth and adults heard the church work formation stories of Set Apart to Serve’s YARs via individual and group discussions over the course of the summer. SAS Manager Glenn Rollins says these interactions are invaluable to raising up the next generation of church workers.

“Sharing the stories of how real individuals were motivated to become church workers — and the stories of who influenced them to do so — is a foundational part of the work of SAS. We know that pastors, teachers, DCEs, other church workers, parents/guardians and lay leaders throughout the church can continue to inspire young people to think about how our Lord has prepared them for labor in His kingdom when these influential adults take time to share their own stories.

“Our partnership with Higher Things demonstrates how that happens. We saw it at all three conferences this summer in ways that only our Lord could produce. The church is blessed.”

Posted Sept. 18, 2025