Megadeth Martin Luther


publicity photo

So one of the founding members of Megadeth is on his way to seminary. Sure, he’s going into the LCMS but we won’t hold that against him. He is a celebrity and he’s joining the Lutheran Christian ministry. I have no idea but I don’t think that’s the norm for celebrity-turned-clergy. As a friend on facebook said, “It gets boring when all the ex-celebrities come to TEC [The Episcopal Church] for their priestly call.”

An article in St. Louis Today fleshes out his story. After growing up in a Lutheran family and church, he moved out to LA, formed Megadeth, became a rock star, ended up in rehab, re-affirmed his faith, and ended up back at a church in Arizona. There, recognizing his skills, his pastor convinced him to develop a contemporary worship service. He’s being called to become the pastor for that role at his church.

And, in another sense, he’s become the current face of the distance learning model approach to seminary that Concordia (and a lot of seminaries) are now taking a serious look at. I know LTSP is struggling with setting up a similar program, GTS is in the beginning stages, and Luther Seminary is already well on its way. But what I found interesting about the Concordia model is that it seems to be an OLD model of ministry training. The men in the program are specifically already called to serve in a specific ministry at a church. They do two years of distance study, are ordained (to what, I’m not sure), and then do another two years to become a full blown pastor (I think). Their home congregation pastor serves as their supervisor. It reminds me of the old fashion training of clergy in the USofA where a pastor took on a few souls to teach and train. And I’m sure that this model is also developed from the “evangelical” influence that the LCMS has been under for years. It’s an interesting idea and I’m curious how it will play out. But then I also wonder if it will just end up with a large number of clergy who are stuck in a specific church and ministry (though maybe not – but the program title seems to imply that) and if it will end up perpetuating an idea that only ordained men should serve in specific leadership roles in the church.

Yet this might be the model the ELCA will follow if the “advice” for new clergy that they should be “bi-vocational” becomes a requirement. These folks already have places to work, are supposedly getting paid through their regular jobs, and are able to pay for their education. Maybe this is the LCMS’ way of creating a bi-vocational force of clergy for their next generation of ministers. Spooky.

Mainstream Protestant Seminarian Political Courtship

I’ve had a post buzzing in my head for awhile now. When Michelle Bachmann was running (remember that?), she came out and announced that she had received the endorsement of “over 100 pastors” (or something like that). At the time I heard that, I was a little hurt. I was wondering where the love for me was. In my mind, I envisioned her actively seeking out those pastors for their endorsement and political capital. She courted them. She reached out to them. She tried to be THEIR candidate. I’ve watched The West Wing, I know what politicans-on-tv do. What about me then? When is a politician going to actively reach out and court my vote? This Hispanic New Yorker Mainstream Protestant Seminarian must count for something – right? I’m here people! Come talk to me!

That thought came up again over the weekend when I heard that conservative “evangelicals” endorsed Santorum. Sure, after the endorsement, the community came out and argued that the endorsement wasn’t universal and that the community is not aligned behind any candidate – but it sounded nice. Obviously, the religious right has spent a lot of theological capital and time developing a political movement that doesn’t, necessarily, line up with my mainstream protestant background and because of that, their endorsement of a candidate makes sense. But, still, it would be nice to be courted. I have yet to see a volunteer from any campaign appearing on my seminary campus. I have yet to be cold called by any political community trying to convince me to their point of view. And it seems that my status as an intern in a church doesn’t give me much political capital for any politician to reach out to me.

It’s like I’m a regular citizen or something and I have to be like everyone else. Egads. That can’t be right, can it? /sacrasm

Even though I’m currently not being courted by any candidate, I have been thinking about politics and politicians. I know, well, at least I think I know, that politicians know about the church I intern at. But I don’t know how big of a deal the church is in their field of vision (nor do I know how big the church wants to be). From the experience of my home congregation, I know that having political connections can be beneficial in the nuts and bolts kind of way (grants to repair buildings, fund food programs, ability to organize special emergency fundraising events – i.e. social gospel kinds of things). Maybe…just maybe…I’ll spend some time next year at my full time internship learning HOW to connect with the local politicians. It’s something I don’t know how to do and it’s probably something I’m going to have to do no matter where I end up.