Two new visiting professors for ALS
Filed Under: ALS, Asia Lutheran Seminary, Hong Kong
One pastor and one professor will be traveling to Hong Kong Jan. 20 to teach semester courses at Asia Lutheran Seminary (ALS), which was started by WELS in 2005. Rev. Jim Krause, pastor at Gethsemane, Corpus Christi, Tex., will be teaching Christian Counseling and the Epistles of Paul, and Rev. Keith Wessel, professor of Latin and Greek at Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn., will be teaching the gospel of Matthew and Intertestamental History. In addition, both men will preach and teach in WELS' Chinese sister congregations in Hong Kong.
"We're excited and yet a bit nervous," says Wessel, whose family will be joining him for the semester. "But that's when it's comforting to remember that wherever God calls you to serve, he promises to be with you there, and to help and bless our efforts in his name."
The two assignments are part of Asia Lutheran Seminary's visiting professor program, in which WELS pastors and professors primarily from Martin Luther College, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, and Wisconsin Lutheran College teach courses to supplement the regular curriculum and support the small, full-time ALS faculty. Since 2005, thirteen visiting professors have taught in residence, including former WELS president, Rev. Karl Gurgel.
"Our stream of visiting professors gives a warm, evangelical, firm, and consistent witness, even though they are not Chinese," says Dr. John Lawrenz, president of Asia Lutheran Seminary. He says a future goal is to have Asia Lutheran Seminary staffed by Chinese professors; in the meantime, however, the visiting professors are a welcome addition to the current resident staff of a full-time teaching president, a first-year Greek instructor, and a professor who serves outreach and a congregation in Hong Kong.
It's also a unique opportunity for the visiting professors. "I know the experience will help my entire family to better understand the power of the gospel and how the Lord continually answers the prayer he taught us by making his kingdom come to us and others," says Wessel. "I pray that I may be a blessing to those I've been asked to help grow in their understanding of God's grace in Christ."
