Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Lewiston
Mission Families
Ron Zuccaro
Member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Deacon and now Seminary Student at St. Louis Missouri
Your Seminary Connection
December 2024
Merry Christmas! Thanksgiving has passed and we are now into Advent. We had some snow after Thanksgiving and children were having snowball fights. Some of my classmates are from Florida and had never seen snow, so they were out enjoying the snow for the first time in their lives. I went outside and joined in throwing snowballs with everyone else. It was fun being a kid again!
The Fall Semester is winding down as all the students are scrambling to finish writing papers. It has been go, go, go with the homework assignments, and I am enjoying every minute of it. It is such a privilege to come here and to be around all the other men and women who are being formed for ministry. The students, faculty, administration, and staff are such great people to be around. But more than that, Cathy and I want to thank all of you for the support you have given us. Both to get us here, and to keep us here. Your encouragement means a lot to us!
After the Christmas break, Concordia Seminary has what I am going to call a short “mini semester.” They call this “Winterim.” This consists of an intensive course that lasts two weeks and runs Monday through Friday. The course I am scheduled to take is called Introduction to Pastoral Leadership. Apparently, it will be intense, as I had to get five books for this one course alone. Now that’s a whole lot of reading! After Winterim has concluded we will be getting started with the Spring Semester. I will report to you about those classes next time I write to you.
I’d like to share a few things with you if I may. We had a project in our Pastoral Ministry class that was quite a big project. We had to study the church we are assigned to, and then write a report. This involved interviewing members of the church so we could understand the history and culture of the church. This also involved getting demographic reports of the area around the church, and other reports about religious affiliation and attitudes of people in the surrounding community. I had a good time getting to know the people in the congregation and the particulars about their practices. But I must say that the experience I gained in the Michigan District Deacon program really helped prepare me for this assignment because we did a similar project there. Since I had already learned how to find and use the necessary reports, this gave me a level of comfort for our class project here that I truly appreciated. This project made for good experience.
Since coming here, I have gained a greater understanding and admiration for a particular group of men who have helped me. These men are the pastors that I have been blessed to learn from in the church. Pastors Jeffrey Draeger, Paul Burrow, John Bookshaw, Timothy Azzam, Glen Bromm, and Trevor Freudenburg have all freely given of their time and experience. Pastor Draeger got me started on this journey when he introduced me to the Deacon program, and Pastor Azzam kept me on the journey when he encouraged me to come to the seminary and sent me here. I want to thank each of these men for taking me under their wing to help, teach, and encourage me along the way. It has been a blessing to work under all these wonderful men.
During my time with these Pastors, I came to admire them and saw a dedication to their calling. Now that I am here at the seminary, I have reflected upon what these men have done in my own formation. They form us as Christians by proclaiming the Word of God, teaching it to us, and guarding from false doctrine. They train us for service in Christ’s church and to the community we are in. I see clearly just how important a Pastor is to the church and for the individuals within the congregation. I am grateful to these men and for the guidance they give. I see what they have done for myself and others. I see why we need pastors. I’d like to encourage others reading this letter to consider serving Christ and His church in pastoral ministry. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). Therefore pray. Merry Christmas! May the Lord bless you all.
Sincerely,
Ron Zuccaro
Rev. Steven and Martha Mahlburg
Serving the Lord in Sri Lanka
Deaconess Tirzah Krey, Regional Human Care Coordinator
Serving the Lord in the Latin America and Caribbean Region
