Recent Wartburg College graduate Nathaniel Knutson received the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Fund for Leaders Direct Full-Tuition Scholarship.
Knutson, of New Lenox, will continue his education at Wartburg Seminary this fall, where he will enter the collaborative learning program, which allows him to work part-time in a congregation, while doing his class work online.
“I feel called to ministry because it is what feels right to me. More so, the church community, I feel, is a great community to do ministry with and show the love of Jesus to other through,” Knutson said. “This scholarship will allow me to focus on the community I live in and serve instead of focusing on paying for the next semester.”
At Wartburg, Knutson participated in Spiritual Life and Campus Ministry programming and ran on the track and cross country teams. He also studied abroad in Greece and was named the Outstanding Senior in religion.
“My time at Wartburg has made me extremely prepared for my next steps in seminary. The religion department at Wartburg gave me the opportunity to have a summer internship in a congregation, where I learned more in-depth the duties of a pastor and how to put my learning into congregational practice,” he said.
Caryn Riswold, Wartburg’s Mike and Marge McCoy Family Distinguished Chair in Lutheran Heritage and Ministry, said, it has been “a delight to accompany Nathaniel through his experience at Wartburg. I look forward to seeing the ways he will build on his experiences in our community as he moves on to seminary and ministry in the ELCA. As a recipient of this honor, he already is acknowledged as an emerging leader for a world that desperately needs committed advocates for the justice already embodied in the Gospel.”