365体育投注_365体育备用网址@s come together to celebrate Synod
(This story was written in celebration of 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@'s sesquicentennial in 2010.)
In what 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ President Steve Bahls said likely was the first joint event in 140 years between 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ of Rock Island and 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ of Sioux Falls, the two schools came together Saturday, June 5, at Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church near the Illinois-Wisconsin border to celebrate the 150th anniversary of their founding.
Just a few miles from the site of the founding, which took place on June 5, 1860, President Bahls and his counterpart, Rob Oliver, spoke to the few hundred in attendance about the history of their institutions and what the values of the colleges' founding fathers mean to students today. Along with the Rev. Mark Wilhelm of the ELCA, Presidents Bahls and Oliver signed a compact recognizing the significance of the anniversary.
Two 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ of Rock Island students, Neil Friberg and Dorothy Williams, also presented a skit that was a telling of the experiences of 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@'s first President, Lars Paul Esbj?rn.
A Sesquicentennial Compact
In thanksgiving for the leadership of Paul Nordland Andersen, Ole Tollefsen Andrewson, Lars Paul Esbj?rn, Tuve Nilsson Hasselquist and the thirty-seven others who gathered at the Norwegian Lutheran Church at Jefferson Prairie and formed the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ Synod on June 5, 1860, we, the undersigned, do hereby:
- Give thanks for the vision, dedication and steadfastness of those who came before us, and especially our forebears in the leadership of Lutheran higher education in North America, of whose legacy we pledge ourselves to be good stewards;
- Proclaim the mission of 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ in Rock Island, Illinois, to offer a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit and body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership and service in a diverse and changing world;
- Proclaim the mission of 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to provide an education of enduring worth that challenges the intellect, fosters integrity and integrates faith with learning and service in a diverse world;
- Confess with all the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America our belief that we are marked by the cross of Christ forever, and thereby claimed, gathered and sent for the sake of the world;
- Affirm the essential role of higher education in equipping all persons for the vocation they receive from God to serve their neighbor, and
- Recommit ourselves, severally and in partnership between these institutions and with all colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, to this good ministry.
- In witness whereof, and in gratitude for the 150th anniversary of the formation of the 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ Synod, we affix our names this Fifth of June, 2010, at Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church.
Steven C. Bahls
President, 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@
Rock Island, Illinois
Robert C. Oliver
President, 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@ 365体育投注_365体育备用网址@
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
The Rev. Mark N. Wilhelm
Associate Director, Vocation and Education
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America