In following the blogosphere discussion of the call situation in the LCMS (so far only Ft. Wayne suffered any candidates without calls and all 93 St. Louis guys received calls -- a subject for another day), I wonder how all of this compares with calls for DCEs, DCOs, teachers, etc. What are the numbers of people graduating and looking for calls and how many of them are without call at the time of their graduation? Does anyone know?
Second it seems that worship remains a BIG issue in the call situation. Several who seem to be in the know indicate that the reason Ft. Wayne graduates have borne a larger proportion of the burden of no calls at graduation is that the Ft. Wayne graduates tend to be more "rigid" in their traditional worship "style" and less "flexible" or "open to" or even familiar with contemporary worship and music. Ooooohhhh boy is there something there I would just love to jump on -- but being so quiet, passive, and charitable, I cannot go there (for now, anyway)...
So worship has a great deal to do with the whole thing..... Hhhhhmmmmm. I thought that worship wars had subsided somewhat (or at least some had told me this). Could it be that the seminaries and their graduates have become either pawns or players in a war increasingly waged behind the scenes? Could it be that this is a big deal when it comes to the great difference perceived between the two seminaries and their graduates? This might explain why larger numbers of Ft. Wayne candidates tend to go out as solo Pastors in smaller congregations more typically using "traditional" worship formats and larger numbers of St. Louis graduates tend to go out as associate or assistant Pastors in medium and larger congregations more typically open to "contemporary" worship formats?
In the end the perceived gulf between our seminaries and the divide between those in "traditional" and "contemporary" worship camps is growing. St. Louis guys are open and flexible and will do what the people want and Ft. Wayne guys are narrow, rigid, and will insist upon something whether the folks in the pew want it or not. I hope that this perception in wildly inaccurate and that both seminaries produce narrow minded Lutheran clergy who insist upon being Lutheran in theology and practice, who are unbending in their commitment to the Confessions and the liturgical identity that flows from those Confessions, but who are pastoral and patient in their catechesis of the people in the pew as they lead and teach them of this confessional Lutheran identity and the faithful liturgical practice that flows from this doctrinal and confessional identity. But then again it is probably only because I am narrow minded, rigid, and insist upon being Lutheran... so I guess I am not the right person to comment upon this... 
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