Summer Greek wrapped up this week at CTSFW, which means that quieter days are ahead—at least for the next couple of weeks before things ramp up again and we open the 179th academic year. By the time I’m officially installed as president in September, I will have been on the job for over three months. Much as you’d expect, it’s been a whirlwind of activity, but I’m grateful to have had the time to get acclimated to this new role.
I’ve learned quite a bit in these first ninety days, too much to recount here. I’ve spent much of my time this summer listening—listening to faculty and staff, to board members, to students, and to people I’ve met here in Fort Wayne and on the road. So many people love this seminary, and I’ve enjoyed hearing their ideas about what makes this place special, and how we can make CTSFW even stronger.
My big takeaway? Our faculty, staff, and many supporters in the church are utterly dedicated, each in their own way, to serving The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod by serving our students as they prepare for fruitful, faithful work in Christ’s church. My “listening tour” has on every occasion brought to mind the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. Recognizing that, I’m all the more looking forward to the installation and to the important work before us all.
In my first president’s letter in For the Life of the World (Summer 2024), I mentioned the many strengths of the Seminary, including a strong administration, significant campus improvements, a highly capable faculty that, by God’s grace, is committed to bringing students into a bracing encounter with the Word of God and our Lutheran Confessions, and a student body committed to teaching and practicing according to that Word of God and those Confessions.
My first ninety days in office have reinforced that impression and given me great confidence in fulfilling the charge before us: to make every effort to advance our confessional Lutheran theology, and to continue to add strength to strength on the legacy of those who came before us to make our seminary the center of confessional Lutheranism in the U.S. and throughout the world.
Thank you for the many good wishes, prayers, and encouragement.
May God bestow on us His grace,
With blessings rich provide us;
And may the brightness of His face
To life eternal guide us,
That we His saving health may know,
His gracious will and pleasure,
And also to the nations show
Christ’s riches without measure
And unto God convert them. (LSB 823, st. 1)
In Christ,
Jon S. Bruss
President
Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne
JUNE
Dr. Bruss had a chance to chat with Grammy-nominated Lutheran rap artist FLAME backstage at the Higher Things Conference at Concordia University Wisconsin before bringing greetings from CTSFW to attendees. “I was definitely the warm-up act here,” said Bruss with a laugh. In his first month as president, Bruss logged roughly 2,300 miles on trips like this one.
JULY
One of the many tasks of a seminary president: Recording videos to share with various audiences. (You might be seeing one of these videos yourself soon.)
In late July, Dr. Bruss traveled to Boston for the weeklong Harvard Seminar for New Presidents. While in Boston, Bruss attended church at First Lutheran Church. He’s pictured here with the Rev. James Hopkins (CTSFW MDiv, 2015), senior pastor of First Lutheran, and three visitors from Brazil, one of whom is a member of our sister church, IELB in Brazil, who brought his friends attending a conference in Boston to hear the Gospel.
AUGUST
President Bruss put his teaching hat back on in the final week of summer Greek, teaching students how to sight-read Greek in John's First Epistle. Bruss, who has an MA and PhD in classics from the University of Minnesota, has been teaching Greek since the early ’90s.
SEPTEMBER
Opening Service and Installationof the President
Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. in Kramer Chapel
Live streamed on the Daily Chapel page, Facebook, and YouTube
Founded in 1846, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, forms servants of Jesus Christ in a vibrant, Christ-centered theological community that engages and resources the church and the world, domestically and internationally, with distinctively Lutheran teaching, practice, and worship. To learn more, visit ctsfw.edu.
