The theme for this year is, “Celebrate and Listen.” It has been my privilege over the past six months to both celebrate and listen. Good news continues to fill our reports. God is faithful. At the same time, I’m amazed at the powerful stories from our constituents about why they support — year after year — Luther Seminary. I have found these stories to be very encouraging to me personally — and extremely instructive. Consequently, I look forward to more listening in the coming months in order to grasp fully where the Spirit is taking our school. We are positioned and ready to move forward together.
At its October 2005 meeting, the Luther Seminary Board of Directors authorized the beginning phases of a new strategic planning process. The preplanning phase was completed in December with the hiring of a consultant to assist the community as a designer and facilitator of the proposed upcoming strategic planning process. A draft of this process was approved by the board at its January meeting. One can sense the growing excitement across campus for this process. We are ready to once again listen to the Spirit’s voice about what direction we should go.
In the coming months, I plan to share with you what I’ve learned through my listening sessions with our constituents, and through the new strategic planning process.
This is an exciting time to be at Luther Seminary!
Richard Bliese
President