bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "The Boomers Got Their Cheap Seminary Education, On...":
The synod killed the seminary M.Div. business model, not only by making it so expensive, but also by making it so risky. The debtor student wonders whether he'll receive a call. They should have plenty of slots to fill come Call Day, and this would attract more people into the M. Div. programs, so that every pastor has a M. Div., but they don't have many slots, and they wash people out unnecessarily because they want to trim the number of candidates. The reason for so few slots is first, they allowed pastors to work and receive their pension so they they never retire, and they also promote DELTO and SMP alternative routes to the ministry. If you go through six years of the M. Div. route, and then they don't "like" you on vicarage or something arbitrary like that, you won't receive a call. The people making these decisions about who gets a pass or a second chance are far removed from the consequences to the seminary business model, and consequences to that individual. That individual will tell others how costly and risky the process is, and soon there's hardly any M. Div students at seminary anymore:
SMP
http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=13117
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Narrow-minded Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "Church Growth Seminaries Use Failing Business Mode...":
Don't put down the DELTO and SMP programs, or you will be labeled as a "hater." Don't ask me how I know this. No languages are required, not even Greek, as I recall. Pastors I have talked to have told me that about half of their education is having lunch with their profs, going to the houses of the profs for parties, and being around them outside of class. This is lost in the distance programs, not to mention having no fellow-students with whom to interact. There is no daily chapel to help strengthen one's faith (of course, with CSL introducing pietistic small groups, chapel must not be considered important anymore).
What is the main reason this is bad? Have you ever heard a pastor say he received too much education? I know guys that still felt unprepared after staying another year or two, some for the STM. Nearly every pastor is greeted by a major crisis the first day of his new call. I know one that had to immediately deal with a suicide upon starting his new call. Many will deal with broken churches. Are "crash courses" going to help these guys? I think it's unfair to the SMP guys to put them in this position. Would you want your heart surgeon educated with "Cliff's Notes?"
While I realize that many SMP guys will remain in their home parishes (BTW, I seem to recall something about a prophet not being well-received in his home town), if they complete the MDiv or move somewhere else, I am afraid they will be ill-prepared.
With the sems' tuitions going sky-high, I think the unfortunjavascript:void(0)ate result is that the SMP (which will supercede DELTO when those guys are ran through) will become more common. Since there is no pastor shortage, one can easily conclude the reason for this is the eventual closure of one of the sems (and we know which one). With the new hierarchical structure, this is just a "Jesus First" SP away.
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SMP Specific LCMS Page
