# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2013_S428
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

428

Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Task Force

out that story, it has found ways that are faithful to the Scriptures which
take into account the challenges of culture.
16. SMP116 Pastor as Leader and Theologian
This initial portion of the curriculum ends where it began—with the
pastor who is called to tell the master story of the Gospel. Here we begin
to look at how the pastor exercises leadership in the church as a theologian of the church. This course will explore the ongoing challenges of
theology within the church today and will introduce the student to the
distinctive methodologies of the various theological (exegetic, historic
and systematic) disciplines.

At this writing, no student has had sufficient time to complete all
of the SMP courses. Since the first students enrolled in September
2008, the first students will not be completely through the entire
course regimen until the winter quarter of 2012–2013. Current discussions in the SMP Committee include plans by both seminaries to
conduct their own assessment exercises immediately following the
completion of the entire program by SMP students and supervising
pastors. This evaluation will be utilized in the ongoing review process of the program and its effectiveness.
Enrollment History: Numbers of Students
The fall of 2008 witnessed the on-campus orientation for the first
cohorts of SMP students at both seminaries. Concordia Seminary, St.
Louis, began with 29 new SMP students and Concordia Theological
Seminary, Fort Wayne, began with 26 new SMP students. The table
and graph below contain the enrollment data at the two seminaries
through the fall of 2011.
It should be noted that while both seminaries enrolled new cohorts
of SMP students in the fall quarter of each year, Concordia Seminary
also enrolled new cohorts of 12, 12, and 10 new SMP students in the
spring quarters of 2010, 2011, and 2012 respectively. While these
students are not included in the numbers of “new” students in the fall
quarters listed below, they are captured in the numbers of “total” students listed each year below.

2013 Convention Workbook