Seminary Student’s World Was Shaken

At 4 am on Monday morning, Nicholas woke up to a violent shaking. His house in Gazientep was at the epicentre of the earthquake that brought devastation to southern Turkey and northern Syria. Four weeks earlier, Nicholas had enrolled in the Master of Theological Studies program at Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary. While working as an English translator, Nicholas was taking theology courses online so that he could better serve the Christian community in his home town. The experience of this past week put his faith to the test.

Nicholas reports, “Thank God I am ok, but the city’s situation is terrible. Most of the buildings are collapsed. Every 10 minutes we have aftershocks. There is no food and clean water.” Nicholas’s church, pictured above, was destroyed by the quake.

In the midst of all this destruction and suffering, the only hope that Nicholas has are the solid promises of God in Christ Jesus. He said, “My body and soul are tired. May our Lord Jesus help us to pass this hard situation.”

At this time, we invite you to join the whole seminary community in offering prayers and petitions on behalf of Nicholas, his fellow Christians, and all the people affected by this disaster.

At Concordia we realize that our supporters are generous Christians who desire to help. We are currently exploring ways that we can be of assistance. As soon as we have a clearer picture of how we can help, we will publicize that information.