Pursuing Excellence
Dear MLC Friends,
Here at Martin Luther College, we’re Pursuing Excellence Under the Cross. That’s our strategic plan, launched in July 2022 as a touchstone to guide us as we fulfill the mission you’ve given us: preparing the next generation of staff ministers, teachers, and pastors for WELS congregations, schools, and mission fields.
You can see the entirety of the strategic plan on page 3. Yes, a single page. We intentionally kept it brief and memorable.
But there is so much more than this one page can tell you! The details are being written across our campus even as we speak. MLC students, staff, and faculty have created more than 40 planning documents, called vision/traction organizers, where they have prayerfully put into print the many particulars of this plan. With the faith, strength, and wisdom only our Savior can give, they are envisioning what Pursuing Excellence Under the Cross looks like in their own areas at MLC.
What you’ll see in the rest of this casebook then is the progress God has already blessed us with—as well as our dreams and prayers for the days, months, and years ahead.
But we cannot do this alone! Under God’s blessing, we need the partnership of the larger MLC family. We need you—you, our sisters and brothers in the faith who remember our campus in your prayers, encourage current and future students, and give the generous gifts that enable us to carry out this ministry in your name.
How will God’s grace enable you to partner with us? We pray that, as you turn these pages, God will inspire you to see what we see—a campus that is always improving and growing, even as we stay grounded in the Great Commission.
You know why this matters! God uses our graduates every day to touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of souls with the powerful gospel of Jesus—in your congregation and school, across our nation, and around the world.
Allow me to thank you in advance for how God’s grace will enable you to join with MLC in this eternally life-changing work of Pursuing Excellence Under the Cross.
In Him,
Rich Gurgel MLC President
Pursuing Excellence
As family in Christ, MLC pursues excellence under the cross in preparing called workers for our synod and its mission fields around the world.
FOUNDATIONAL BELIEFS
God loves us.
We pursue excellence under CHRIST’s cross as God’s fully loved children who know our heavenly Father is already perfectly pleased with us in Christ.
God gifts us.
We pursue EXCELLENCE under the cross by giving God the best his grace inspires in us with the unique talents he’s given each of us.
KEY INITIATIVES
God emboldens us.
We pursue excellence under OUR OWN cross as we die to mediocrity and apathy and rise in Christ with the courage to take risks for the gospel.
We embrace our family’s identity.
We pursue excellence under the cross as we delight without apology in being a confessional Lutheran faith family whose defining mission is to equip and support the current and future generations of faithful pastors, educators, and staff ministers.
We empower our family’s formation.
We pursue excellence under the cross as we encourage spiritual and intellectual growth for our entire family, support the physical and emotional health of each family member, and engage gracefully in difficult conversations to move our mission forward.
We expand our family’s reach.
We pursue excellence under the cross as we strive to reflect the “every nation, tribe, people, and language” reality of God’s people (Re 7:9) by working to become a more welcoming home for students of all ages and backgrounds who have gifts for ministry.
We endow our family’s home.
We pursue excellence under the cross as we make MLC significantly more affordable without sacrificing an excellent college experience on a beautiful and well-equipped campus.
Endow the Family’s Home by
We’re so grateful our students are dedicating their lives to gospel ministry! They’re working hard in all their courses—from Christian Doctrine to Teaching Reading to Greek and Hebrew. They’re also working hard to make tuition payments—through jobs on campus and in town, doing everything from office work to milking cows! We’re proud of them for being so diligent, but we’re concerned as well. We want our students to be excited about their vocation, not worried about their cash flow. We don’t want money nightmares to haunt their ministry dreams.
By June 2027, with God’s help, we will work with families to meet these goals:
FIRST-YEARS: NO LOANS!
Our goal, in partnering with students and families, is that no MLC student will need to take out loans their first year of college.
Why Is This Important? We want high school students who are unsure about their future to give MLC a chance. After a semester or two here, ministry preparation often captures their hearts, and they stay, graduate, and serve the church. For many years, when MLC was a more affordable option, that is precisely what happened. But now, our financial aid packages struggle to compete with those of other colleges. Too often, students who are on the fence make their college decision based on dollars and cents rather than ministry inclinations, and they enroll elsewhere.
From the Class of 2024: Gustav Wenz will be attending Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary for further pastoral training. His sister, Annaliese Wenz, was assigned to teach math at Nebraska Lutheran High School. Katie Tauscher was assigned to First Light Early Learning Center-La Crosse, Wisconsin.
GRADUATING SENIORS: LOW LOANS!
Our goal is that MLC seniors will graduate with an average debt that is no more than 50% of the base starting salary of a called worker. For example: The base starting salary for WELS teachers in 2023-24 is $31,000 (without housing and benefits). If we were to meet our goal, the average debt for 2024 grads would be no more than $15,500. That figure right now is $18,500 for all teacher graduates and $22,500 for all graduates.
Why Is This Important? As our graduates enter their ministries, we want them to concentrate on the joys of gospel ministry—preaching, teaching, and serving in their new congregations and schools—without being overwhelmed by financial worries.
Would you like to help us boost our financial aid? Simply go to mlc-wels.edu/donate and direct your gift to any of the options on that page. Or text AID to 507.233.4344.
Boosting Financial Aid
Naomi Kassulke
Naomi receives a Congregational Partner Grant from Grace Lutheran in Tucson, Arizona. She says, “I cannot fully express my gratitude to Grace for how they’ve supported me. The experiences on this campus that continuously shape me wouldn’t be possible without them. Their CPGP contribution relieves some of the burden of paying for college, and reminds me of their love and support as I have the absolute privilege of preparing for public ministry.”
How will we accomplish these goals?
With a 10 Boost in CPGP and All Financial Aid
BOOST CPGP BY 10% ANNUALLY
When the Congregational Partner Grant Program started, students received up to $2,000 every year: $1,000 from their congregation and a $1,000 match from MLC. In 2022-23, we increased the annual maximum to $2,400, and in 2023-24, we increased it again to $2,650. In 2024-25, the max is $2,900 $1,450 from the congregation and a $1,450 MLC match. A 10% increase every year would really make a difference for our students.
Will You Be the Match? MLC cannot do this alone. We depend on benefactors all over the synod who donate money to help MLC match the congregations’ donations. If your church does not have students enrolled at MLC, you can still consider a gift to help us match other congregational grants. You can be the match!
Why Is Financial Aid Important? A college education at MLC should not cost more than similar schools students may be considering, such as Bethany Lutheran College, Wisconsin Lutheran College, or Concordia University Wisconsin. And because our students are training to be pastors, teachers, and staff ministers— not healthcare professionals, engineers, or lawyers—it may take them many years to pay off a substantial college debt.
All gifts donated on MLC Day each May are directed to CPGP. But please don’t wait! You can give to this important fund today!
When you establish a Legacy Scholarship, you can . . .
• Honor a loved one by naming the scholarship after them
• Support a specific area of ministry training that’s important to you
• Specify whether the scholarship supports students based on their merit or their need
• Know that you are making a significant difference in students’ lives
• Receive a personal thank-you letter from a scholarship recipient
• Receive special tax benefits
• Leave a lasting legacy at MLC
• Glorify the Lord of the Church!
Endow the Family’s Home by
We’re seeking more Legacy
THE SILAS LAWRENCE GERLING SCHOLARSHIP
This scholarship honors the life—the heartbreakingly short life—of Silas Lawrence Gerling. He is a child of God and the son of Stephen Gerling and Hannah (Stellick) Gerling, which is where our story begins.
Stephen and Hannah first met in Taichung, Taiwan. Some years later they reconnected and were married. At the time, Steve was working in the restaurant business, and Hannah was teaching at Divine Savior Academy in Doral, Florida.
God led the couple to make a lifechanging decision: Stephen would go back to school, pursuing preseminary training as a second-career student at Martin Luther College. They moved to New Ulm in the summer of 2020.
Stephen began working and attending class at MLC, and Hannah began teaching in Mankato. Their first child, Sofia, was born in February 2021. (Hannah, Steve, and Sofia pictured)
In 2022, Steve and Hannah received the happy news that they were expecting a second child. But as the pregnancy progressed, doctors informed the couple that there were concerns. Due to congenital malformations, the child would probably not be able to sustain life after birth. The family prayed and prayed. God answered those prayers on October 27, 2022, when Silas Lawrence Gerling was born. The couple loved him, held him, and talked to him for the four hours of his short life. Mostly importantly, they had time to tell him about his Savior and to baptize him before God took him from this earth to be with himself for all eternity.
Hannah and Stephen were so thankful for the hours they had with Silas and the assurance of his eternal salvation received through baptism. They took strength from the promises of our Lord in Isaiah 25:8: “He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces . . . The LORD has spoken.” The day of Silas’ burial, Hannah wrote him a letter that ended with the words, “We didn’t lose you. You just went safely home before we did.”
Establishing More Scholarships
Scholarships—like the one we feature here.
In 2023, Silas’ great-grandparents, Norman and Betty Stellick (pictured), established the Silas Lawrence Gerling Scholarship in honor of little Silas and in gratitude to our Savior God, who took Silas home to be with himself and who promises eternal life to all who believe. The scholarship is intended to support second-career men like Silas’s father, Steve, who want to pursue preseminary training at MLC and often must move their families to New Ulm to do so. Norman and Betty and the entire family hope this scholarship will provide those men and their families both encouragement and financial support.
A recurring gift of $1,000 annually could be awarded as one or two smaller scholarships per year.
A recurring gift of $10,000 annually could be awarded as several scholarships every year. An endowed scholarship of $25,000 would allow us to award 4% annually in scholarships.
Did you know? You can give to any existing scholarship fund at MLC!
If you have a heart for music students, but you don’t want to establish your own scholarship, you can give to one of our existing music scholarship funds. Want to support preseminary students, or second-career students, or military veterans enrolled at MLC? We have scholarship funds for each of those and many more.
Go to mlc-wels.edu/ scholarships to explore all the scholarship fund choices! We’ll help you set it up.
Endow the Family’s Home with
Chapel Rehearsal Hall
A renovation to support future musicians for our churches and schools!
When we explained our need for more music rehearsal and recital space, you heard us! You understood that music is a special gift of God for his church, and that an MLC student today may very well be your music teacher, choir or band director, worship leader, organist, or pianist tomorrow.
When we suggested that we already have the square footage available in the lower level of Chapel of the Christ—that we just needed to renovate it—you responded so we could get the project going!
We thank all of you for your gifts thus far—with a special shout-out to New Life Lutheran Church in Shoreview, Minnesota, for their gift that allowed us to start Phase 1 (infrastructure) and another shoutout to Dan and Lonnie Schmidt (St. Paul-Lake Mills WI), whose gift is enabling us to move seamlessly into Phase 2: acoustics and technology, furnishings and finishings.
We are so grateful—and excited!
Chapel of the Christ
We love the Betty Kohn Fieldhouse! Our athletic teams, PE classes, intramurals, athletic camps, and others make excellent use of its track & field equipment, batting cages, golf simulators, and more! Many initial gifts and the transformational gift of Robert and Betty Kohn made it possible.
The Newly Knighted photo board marks one entrance of our new Welcome Center for prospective students.
Campus Enhancements
MLC Residence Halls
A new direction to serve our students in their living and learning environments!
Times were different in 2019. When we began our capital campaign Equipping Christian Witnesses in 2019, we had a student enrollment of 750. Our prayer—and a goal of that campaign—was to raise enrollment to 900, which would have necessitated a new residence hall.
But God did not allow that kind of growth. The pandemic hit us in difficult and complicated ways, one of which was that many MLC-bound students decided they’d rather attend college closer to home.
Our enrollment today stands under 600. Additional residential space is no longer a concern. We are confident that, with God’s help, our enrollment will rise again, but for the foreseeable future, wise stewardship principles would dictate that we not begin new construction just yet. Instead, we are eager to invest in our current residence halls, updating and refreshing as needed. Our first projects will be restrooms and showers in Centennial Hall (summer 2024) and then in Summit Hall (summer 2025). Plans for Augustana and Concord, our other two residence halls, are also in the works.
Centennial Hall
Summit Hall
Our Sport Performance Center in Summit Hall is being fully decked out with strength and speed equipment for our athletes. They can’t wait to get in there, and we all thank Dan and Lonnie Schmidt, who made it possible!
Our renovated Luther Student Center gives students a much-needed social space. A bequest funded the project, and our own maintenance staff did the work.
Jesus, Fisher of Men is a beautiful reminder of the Great Commission that MLC exists to fulfill. Thank you, MLC Alumni Association!
Campus Enhancements to Dream About
We still have a “Someday” list, a Master Site Plan that includes other new and upgraded facilities we hope to see on our campus someday. We know we always have to walk a fine line between keeping MLC attractive and keeping MLC affordable. But we also know it’s important that we maintain a high-quality campus, one that honors God and reflects the integrity of our mission. To students specifically, we want our campus to say, “Here, we value every gift God has given you—all of which can be tuned to ministry. Here is a place for you to grow.”
So here are some items in our long-range plans. Will you pray about them with us?
OLD MAIN STAIRWAY
Visualize the front of Old Main. We know many of you can! You may be surprised at the condition of the stairway. The cracked concrete makes this stairway unsafe—not what we want for the most iconic building on campus. We have plans for a new covered stairwell (pictured) that will retain this building’s historic character and serve us well for years to come.
MUSIC CENTER
UPGRADED ATHLETIC FIELDS
Visualize a football bowl to be proud of. We’d like to add permanent seating, a welcome plaza, and a press box with room for media, concessions, and a spirit store at The Bowl. We’d also like to turf all our athletic competition fields. We are the only college in our conference that still plays on grass, which means that rainy weather jeopardizes our playing schedules.
Visualize a renovated and expanded Music Center with acoustically appropriate rehearsal space for a 60-member choir. Additional practice rooms. Updated restrooms and lobby space. A handicap-accessible entrance. And an updated brick exterior, which would align the building with the architectural aesthetic of the rest of campus.
HEALTH & WELLNESS CENTER
Visualize a center that could impact every student every day—through intercollegiate competition, intramurals, PE courses, fitness, and recreation. Visualize our teams practicing on campus instead of renting space at other facilities. Visualize students playing intramurals before 11 pm, which is game time on many nights now. Visualize runners and walkers on a mezzanine track. Visualize training rooms and classrooms for Teaching PE and Coaching.
Extend the Family’s Reach with Competency-Based Education
An Alternate Path to the Teaching Ministry
We cannot overestimate the blessings of the four years our traditional students spend together on campus—in chapel and classroom, on field, court, riser, and stage. Some people who want to become teachers, however, cannot pursue the traditional four-year on-campus experience. That’s where Competency-Based Education comes in. In the CBE paradigm, we will be awarding elementary education degrees to second-career adults based on their proven competence in courses. CBE enables learners to use their past experiences and job skills as part of their learning experience. This provides an alternative pathway to the teaching ministry for those who are unable to move to New Ulm for a traditional on-campus program. It allows WELS members to finish their college degrees while staying in their own communities and their own jobs—some of which are in WELS schools.
SUPPLY & DEMAND
These potential teachers cannot come to MLC, but MLC can come to them. Dreams can be fulfilled . . . and classrooms can be filled . . . through Competency-Based Education.
Great news! Our accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission, has given us approval to offer the first component of our Competency-Based Education program: a theology minor, which is required for adult learners who want to serve in the public ministry. We are enrolling students now for fall 2024!
We need teachers everywhere, but the need is especially
dire in urban schools.
The Numbers Are In!
DEMAND
We need WELS teachers in our schools
140 Teacher vacancies (2022)
158 Teacher vacancies (2023)
115 Teacher vacancies (2024)
SUPPLY
We have potential teacher candidates for the CBE program (2019 survey results)
600 Second-career candidates
33 Urban minority candidates
How can you help?
Pursuing Excellence Under the Cross is more than a campaign. It’s our long-range strategic plan for preparing the next generation of called workers for your congregation through your WELS College of Ministry. You can be a catalyst to help realize a generational vision for our future called workers.
PRAY for God’s continued grace to increase the number of future teachers, pastors, and staff ministers.
SPREAD THE ENCOURAGING WORD about your WELS College of Ministry by scheduling an MLC Sunday at your congregation and by encouraging any women and men you know who have gifts for ministry.
FINANCIALLY SUPPORT STUDENTS
Financial Aid: Give a gift in any amount to help us make the 10% boost!
Scholarships: Establish a named scholarship to assist students based on merit or need. (Mark or Sarah will help you set it up. See their contact info on page 7.)
• $1,000 minimum: Annual named scholarship fund to support at least one student each year. This scholarship needs to be renewed annually.
• $25,000 minimum: Endowed scholarship to support at least one student per year for many years.
Campus Facilities: Gifts will be directed to campus enhancement priorities. If you’re interested in giving a transformational gift for a specific project, we’d love to hear what you have in mind.
Competency-Based Education:
• $50,000: Design of academic courses
• $25,000: Technology support
MLC Fund: Gifts will immediately support our students in every aspect of their education.
THE MLC FUND
Your gifts to the MLC Fund go to work immediately, supporting vital classroom instruction, essential student services, and facility maintenance—all the critical infrastructure that supports our students on their journey to the public ministry.
Be an MLC Sustainer with a recurring gift!
These gifts provide a steady, dependable stream of income to support students every day. It’s easy!
Automatic. Set it up and relax, knowing you’re supporting MLC in an ongoing way.
Your choice. Choose an amount as low as $5/month.
Adjustable. Family situations can change. If you ever want to adjust the amount—or cancel it entirely—you can, no questions asked.
Phone: ( _____ )