This year marks the 15th anniversary of the seminary’s Pastor Partners Mentoring Program. It was begun as a pilot project in 2010 and was opened to all those graduating from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2011. As of this summer, 247 graduates of WLS have completed the three-year mentoring program. Another twenty-nine have participated for a shorter time.

The mentoring program is voluntary for seminary graduates, but they understand its value. Once again this spring, every graduate requested a mentor. There were twenty-four graduates plus two from the class of 2023. These two men had completed two years of service as tutors. Of the twenty-six assigned, seventeen received a mentor through Pastor Partners, five received Board for Home Missions coaches instead of mentors, and one will receive a mentor through Pastor Partners or a coach through the Board for World Missions. Three graduates will be assigned a mentor after they complete their assignments as graduate tutors in our Ministerial Education Schools.

The vast majority of pastors who are asked to be mentors willingly accept the invitation. Most who have completed their three years of service indicate that they would serve again. Eleven mentors this year are new to the program. The others are veterans. In 2025–2026 we have a total of sixty-six mentors serving seventy-one mentees.

The annual mentor training seminar will take place September 23–24 following the WLS Fall Symposium. MLC President Richard Gurgel and Pastor Daron Lindemann will be the guest presenters. Both were instrumental in developing the program from the initial concept through its establishment. Their presentation will focus on the past, present, and future of mentoring through Pastor Partners.