From Fred Reisz

Fred Reisz, upon receiving a Distinguished Alumni Award in April 2004, offered words of thanks, and testimony to the importance of making an annual gift.

....Now, I get to preach to you this is really what I came to say.

We need your help in theological education. All of us who are alumni of this great seminary need to be active alumni and contributing to the Annual Fund. We need to be convincing our colleagues that they too need to be contributors. It is absolutely essential as we embark now on this 20 year or Gettysburg 200 emphasis on planned giving. You cannot imagine how much foundations (and others who have the capacity to help all seminaries) look at the percentage of alumni who contribute to the Annual Fund. It is a sign of whether the graduates really think it was worth being there. You have tremendous power and we need to convince our sisters and brothers that, that is really the case. It is the percentage of givers even more than the amount. And Christine, my check’s here.

No, you don’t get off that easily.

The second thing is this: we need leaders for the future. Each of us are called to look for women and men who have the capacity for leadership and the passion for the mission of God. At the least we need to put before them the possibility that they are called or might discern being called by God through an occupation related to the church.

For the present, and even for the future, we simply need to bring more excellent leaders forward for the sake of the Church. We honor our faculty and those who have mentored us by doing that. This is one of a few occasions Rudy [Featherstone] and Vernon [Miller] where I’m the youngest. So, I appreciate your mentorship. We need to be mentoring others.

And then finally, I exhort you to be advocates for theological education with the church. When Mike [Cooper-White] or I speak we are seen as self serving. But, when you speak and when lay people who have been part of your ministry speak, then it has authenticity about it. From my heart, I want to exhort you to proclaim the fact that we are in our church together. We have differences, and we will have differences, you don’t have a five million member church without differences. But the Lord has called us to be a part of the body of Christ and to stand before the world, not just in our words but in our very presence to represent the unity of the body. That doesn’t mean we don’t discuss our differences, argue our differences, or be honest about our differences. In eastern Lutheranism we know this kind of commitment to the body of Christ and to the Church. And our Church needs that witness and that connection and dedication from us now.

Thank you. I really receive [this award] on behalf of all of us, because we are all in specialized ministries. All our hands bear the smell of the bread. All our hands bear the stain of the water and the wine.

God Bless us.