Concordia College - Spire / Concordian Yearbook (Fort Wayne, IN)

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p E ,mgzwconnzw 5 ii Iiarulty illmu I3

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1665 HE GNC ORDHW 1923, iffnrulig iKum I2

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HE Gm Oabfawg fun the Qlluzn nf '23, Cireeiingsi This is a year of special significance to you and your Alma Mater. It is the diamond jubilee year for our Synod. You, the graduates in this exceptional season, therefore celebrate as jubilee studentsg and your Alma Mater rejoices with you in recording the unprecedented enrollment of 336 students,-the largest enrollment in her history. ln the past seventy-five years, our Synod has fostered our institutions. The founders of our Synod were men of the truest educational vision. For them food for the body was of small concern, but food for the soul was their greatest consideration. They labored diligently for the expansion of our Lutheran Zion. After more than two generations, their spirit still animates their successors, and a new impetus has been given the discussion and expansion of Higher Education. Looking backward 84 years we Witness the building of the log-cabin college at Perry County, lVlo. We remember the utter poverty, the toil and patience, the disappointments and sorrows of the pioneers of that time. We remember the obstacles they encountered in their church work with financial ruin staring them in the face. And as we picture to ourselves these desperate external condi- tions, and then hear them raise the call, Let us build a college , we stand amazed at their heroic courage and godsent vision. And yet their work was accomplished. Hands heretofore skilled only in making fine sermons were applied to raising that rude log hut. These brave men of God were also the first instructors. The prospectus of their work showed that they intended to perpetuate the learning which the mind of man had accumulated during centuries of study and research. But above all human erudition, they placed the wisdom gained from the Book of Booksg and the knowledge of jesus, in whom are hidden all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom , and the privilege of learning from Him righteousness and self-sacrifice. This character was reflected in the students and graduates of that pioneer college. It is still unceasingly inculcated into the hearts and minds of our students in preparing them for the grandest calling ever charged to mortal man. It is shown by the graduates, who in the golden glow of faith's optimism carry the Gospel message to all the world in deepest humility and most heroic self-denial. While the curriculum of studies during the past 84 years has not been ma- terially altered, the goal of preparing our students for the ministry has never been lost sight of. Our courses conform as nearly as possible to the requirements of the State authorities, yet the aim of graduating preachers apt to teach in the English and the German language is constantly kept in view. Certainly the preparation for this mission cannot be thorough enough. Our graduates must be able to conquer Satan and unbelief on their own ground and with their own weapons. Concentration and thoroughness are therefore essen- tial in our junior college course. For the same reason it is also essential that two more years be added to the present junior courseg thus offering a complete college course to our students. We hope and pray that the Synod at its next session will entertain a resolution to that effect. May then our college, in its sphere, serve the cause of Christian Education in home and church, state and community. May your fame, my dear graduates, like that of our blessed fathers, be that you become faithful teachers of the Gos- pel and educators of the young! May God keep our institution firm in the doc- trine and confession of His word! May he grant us His blessing as heretofore for our spiritual and external growth and prosperity! Yea, may the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our Fathers: let Him not leave us, nor forsake us! -I Kings 8, 57. I I 1993 I4