Mission Families

Ron Zuccaro

Member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Deacon and now Seminary Student at St. Louis Missouri

Your Seminary Connection

September 2024

Hello my friends. Before Cathy and I left to come to the seminary, Dr. Robert Kasper suggested that I write a newsletter every semester to keep in touch with you, and let you know what we are doing here at Concordia Seminary. It seemed like a great idea, so here we are with Your Seminary Connection.

To bring you up to date, we left on a cool and beautiful morning in northern Michigan, and over twelve hours later found ourselves in the dog days of summer. It was well over 90 degrees every day, and the heat index would reach as high as 108 to 113 degrees. All I can say is, whew! But St. Louis, Missouri was nice, the people are nice, and the campus of Concordia Seminary is beautiful. We got settled in and the summer session of Greek classes began a few days later. This was an intense class. My classmates and I were busy studying most of the day. But it was great because a person could concentrate on Biblical Greek and pay full attention to it. As the summer went on, we drew very close as a class and became good friends. I am pleased to report that in the end I passed with an “A” grade for summer Greek. I must give credit to two of my mentors and instructors from the Michigan Deacon program, Mr. Ken Huner and Dr. Bob Schultz, for teaching us Greek and preparing me for this. I need to say that our Greek instructor at the seminary, Dr. David Lewis, did a great job teaching and was very motivating.

After we got our final exams and grades back, we continued the tradition of jumping into the campus fountain near the chapel. Apparently, this tradition goes back a few years, and we kept the tradition alive. It was said we received our baptism into the seminary.

Meanwhile, Cathy got a job sewing upholstery at a furniture repair company. Every day there is something new for her to work on and she loves it. It is so nice when a person is blessed to do the work they love. Indeed, God has been watching over our every step. We also met a lot of people on campus. You will be happy to hear that Michigan is well represented here. Besides myself and one of my Deacon program classmates named William Bible - a great name for a future pastor by the way – we have met several other men here from Michigan studying to be pastors. Also, Dr. Tinetti is one of my professors. He just arrived here, and was the Pastor of the church in Arcadia, Michigan. I am so happy to see that the Michigan District has been proactive in encouraging people to study for Pastoral ministry.

As a side note, please support our District’s efforts by encouraging your children and grandchildren to consider entering ministry in service of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes, a suggestion to consider something can be used by the Lord to light a fire in the heart of a person. In the time I have been here, I have seen the Seminary conduct a retreat and campus tours for high schoolers, college students, and others considering serving the church. Perhaps you may be considering studying to be a pastor or deaconess.

As you are receiving this, we are into the Fall Semester and classes have begun again. Here is a list of the classes I am taking:

Intro to Pastoral Ministry.
Intro to Historical Theology.
Intro to Systematic Theology.
Interpreting & Communication of the Word.
Greek Lab.
Formation Lab.
Resident Field Education.

This last class is like an apprenticeship. Students are assigned to a church and learn from the Pastor. Things like the liturgy, Scripture readings, and chanting, yes you heard that right! Chanting the Introit, Kyrie, etc... I have been assigned to Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Chesterfield, Missouri for field education. Now we have a full plate and extra projects to boot. But this is for our formation.

Another happening I’d like to report, is that I have started a daily Bible reading program with several other guys here. The goal is to read through the entire Bible before we graduate. President David Davis, LCMS Michigan District, started a Bible reading initiative in Michigan, and I have brought this here because it is so important for disciples of Jesus Christ to read the Holy Bible.

Finally, Cathy and I are very happy to be here at this wonderful seminary, and we thank all of you for your support, encouragement, guidance, and love. Truly, it is an honor to be here. We are truly humbled and just plain grateful for what God is doing. Please keep us and others here in your prayers, that God blesses our studies, and He places all of us where He wants us to serve His people, the body of Christ.

We love and miss all of you! God bless you! Always remember to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).

Sincerely,

Ron and Cathy Zuccaro