Category: Newsletter - Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry

Nelson's Big Adventure

4/23/2026

4/23/26 from the Wittenberg Door News Desk
   Over the past few years, many of you have seen pictures of one of Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry's faithful particpants, Nelson Akpabli-Tsigbe. He has become a key leader at Wittenberg Door as he has been catechized, confirmed his faith as a Lutheran, and has pursued scientific research that I don't even begin to understand. He's a young man we can think of very highly. It seems that, in addition to his longstanding interest in food science, and his more recent pursuit of neuroscience, Nelson has always been interested in serving in the armed forces! He faced one insurmountable obstacle in his native country of Ghana. He's too short.
   He was glad to find, in the past year, that not only did his green card status allow for him to enlist in the United States Army, but he is also above the minimum height requirement and just barely young enough to join the force, as a reservist. That status will allow him to transfer to regular active duty later, if he wishes.
   In February, Nelson began his basic training in the Army Reserve. After basic training, he will continue with several additional weeks of training to equip him for his normal reserve service, which should normally be performed in the Kansas City area. Between his times of service as a reservist, Nelson plans to continue with his doctoral program in neuroscience.
   This world is full of ways to serve as a Christian! We hope everyone will continue to pray for Nelson, as well as for all our Wittenberg Door people. Loving and serving neighbors can take many forms. Our congratulations go out to Specialist Akpabli-Tsigbe as he prepares for graduation from basic training on May 7!

April 14th, 2026

4/14/2026

4/14/26 from the Wittenberg Door News Desk
   Alert: Discreet Spoilers ahead.
Pastors read. At least, I hope they do. While I often post on the Wittenberg Door about relatively scholarly reading, that's not all the reading I do. I thought it might be interesting to put up an occasional post about a book I have read or listened to recently. In this post, The Man Who Was Thursday, by G.K. Chesterton. Many Christians know Chesterton primarily for his incisive works in defense of biblical Christianity. Yet he was a prolific writer otherwise. What's particularly interesting is the way his writing demonstrates his citizenship in a particularly Christian worldview. His writing never considers Christ as an afterthought or as incidental to the world. The world of Chesterton works in a particular way because of who created it and who sustains it. Though we are always confronted by the fruits of the fall into sin, those who decide to operate in opposition to the way God has graciously created the world are ultimately engaged in a fruitless, disappointing, and frustrating enterprise, which will ultimately lead to failure in all the measures that matter.
   This is the case in The Man Who Was Thursday. In this brief novel, the main character has been recruited into the police force to infiltrate and combat an anarchist movement. In his efforts at infiltration, he engages with multiple other people about the metaphysical purpose of poetry and anarchy, and the question of how they interact in the real world, if one can even find the real world.
   The anarchist organization is led by a group of seven people, known by the days of the week. There is also a leader of the organization, but he is someone who has never been identified clearly, though he operates in plain sight.
   When there is a suspicion that one of the group of seven people is a government spy, the various members of the leadership carry on covert investigations to determine who the traitor is and how to interfere with the unfaithfulness to the organization.
   In the end, there is an international chase involving different members of the leadership. Eventually, the anarchist movement . . . well, I better not say what happens.
   Chesterton is an intriguing writer. This novel is not at all what I would call "brain candy." It's entertaining, insightful, and vivid throughout. The situations are as relevant to this day as they were when the book was penned in 1908.

Financial Update - Start of April, 2026

4/9/2026

4/9/26 from the Wittenberg Door News Desk

Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry is able to operate only because of the generosity of our supporters. It's important that we increase our support base so as to keep bringing face-to-face pastoral care to the campus communities here in Columbia!

As of April 1, we've received about 8% of our annual budget. This clearly has us considerably behind the annual budget trajectory. However, in January and February we received about 4% of the budget, while in March we received another 4%. That's an excellent increase! Thank you for your prayers and your financial contributions. They are critical in enabling us to be your partners for Christ-centered ministry on campus.

We'd like to gain more support from local congregations as well as people who have received our care in the past. Please consider bringing this ministry to the attention of anyone who would like to consider support. Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Remembering Harry Besleme, 1976-2026

3/9/2026

3/9/26

In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12, the apostle discusses the importance of those who would seem to be lacking in honor. As a shorthand we'll often refer to the passage as speaking of "weaker members." The irony, however, is that those "weaker members" are often incredibly strong.

In 2014, when Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry was being founded, one of the people we ran into was Harry Besleme. Since he was a Lutheran and was involved in the Mizzou community, I managed to have lunch with him one day. I was telling him about how our work on campus is not only with students, but with faculty, staff, and administrators. We work with people of every national background, every level of learning, every pay grade. Harry was listening carefully, and interjected, "and every kind of personality." Yes, absolutely!

For almost twelve years, Harry was one of our most involved participants. His personality often sank into the background. His care about others didn't. He was at the heart of many of our decisions to involve those Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 12. We have self-consciously created an atmosphere in which people with children can thrive. We have self-consciously acted in ways that would be inclusive of people with mental or physical challenges that make it difficult to participate in today's academic world. We have purposely welcomed those the Bible would call the least of God's children. Harry kept that goal on the front burner of all our planning. Those "weaker members" are important enough for God's salvation, they better be important enough for us to care about them.

Last week, Harry called in sick at work one day. That in itself was not like him. He was always at work. The next day, he didn't call in, and he missed several appointments. Again, this was not like him. Sadly, he was found dead at his home. Harry, who was a joyous partaker of forgiveness, life, and salvation through Christ as experienced in the Lutheran tradition, was taken to his eternal home sometime on March 4th or 5th of 2026. As I write this, we don't have a cause of death. We're still working on a confirmed date and time for a funeral.

Our hearts go out to the many people whose lives he touched. He leaves behind family members, as well as friends and co-workers who considered him part of the family. Our lives will not be the same.

As the apostle Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians 12, we continue to strive to love one another, particularly those who appear weaker, those who are not as readily honored by our culture as some, those who Jesus would call the least in the kingdom of heaven, and therefore people worthy of honor and esteem.

We'll pass on funeral information as it becomes available.

Wittenberg Door Financial Update

3/5/2026

3/5/26 from the Wittenberg Door News Desk

As announced in our last newsletter, we're planning to provide more frequent financial updates via print newsletters and blog posts. Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry is able to operate only because of the generosity of our supporters. It's important that we increase our support base so as to keep bringing face-to-face pastoral care to the campus communities here in Columbia!

As of March 5, we've received about 4% of our annual budget. This clearly has us considerably behind, not only compared to annual needs, but also compared to recent years. It is not all doom and gloom, as there are several congregations that have historically given on a quarterly basis, and we are still in the first quarter of the year.

We'd like to gain more support from local congregations as well as people who have received our care in the past. Please consider bringing this ministry to the attention of anyone who would like to consider support. Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Introducing Our Alumni Coordinator

3/5/2026

3/5/26
Introducing Our Alumni Coordinator

In past years, Wittenberg Door has had only a limited number of people from our local Lutheran congregations who have stepped forward to join us in our desire to care for others with Christ's love. It's always been part of our desire, but for one reason or another it didn't really happen.

However, after several years of interactions, we're very glad to introduce our first-ever Alumni Coordinator, Weiping Gong, originally from Beijing! With a past history of teaching English to Chinese people, Weiping came to Mizzou in 2024 to begin a new adventure. She answered an invitation to one of our dinner and conversation evenings, and has since then not only become very involved with our campus ministry community, but also with the congregation of Alive in Christ Lutheran Church! She's the proud mother of a son who attends Rock Bridge Senior High here in Columbia.

Weiping has a great track record as one of the people who networks with other Christians, as well as with those who aren't Christians, in the community. She's very good at staying in touch with others via social media and a variety of other means of communication, building and maintaining caring friendships regardless of physical location on the planet!

What will she be doing as our Alumni Coordinator? Her goal is to build a network of people who have been involved in Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry in the past. We have a number of people, mostly who came here from other countries, and many of whom have returned to their native countries. They're still part of the Wittenberg Door family! I'm hoping Weiping can help us all know about important milestones in the lives of our "graduates." How are the children doing? How are the careers going? What are people publishing? What have they been doing since they were in Columbia? Are they sending more people in this direction?

Networking like this helps people from our past meet people from our present, as well. Who knows what doors can be opened in lives when we make friends with others who have similar interests? Who knows when one person's milestone will bring encouragement and inspiration to someone else? The possibilities are virtually endless. It even crosses my mind that as we bring people with similar specialties together, sometime in the future we might even have special live or virtual seminars, discussions, or other collaborative efforts.

Drawing our alumni together is something we've never done in a systematic way. We've got about ten years of catching up to do. We'll be pulling information about people from Wittenberg Door's past together, and Pastor Spotts will be helping Weiping get in contact with our alumni. We plan to set up a special password-protected area at www.wittenbergcomo.com for our alumni in the near future. We hope to get some conversation going using WhatsApp as well.

I'm excited about the possibilities here! I look forward to what Weiping can do as she helps us stay in touch!

The Point of the Wittenberg Door

2/24/2026

2/24/26 - From the Wittenberg Door News Desk
What's the Point of the "Door"?
I wish I fielded this question more often than I do. When people hear about Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry, aside from spelling "Wittenberg" incorrectly, they are often focused on the location, where Martin Luther was used by God to kick off much of the Reformation.
But what's the point of the door itself? In medieval Europe, and at many other places and times, the door of a church was regularly used as a place to post announcements. Is there going to be a special service? A festival? A concert, or a debate? Because the local church was a place nearly everybody would go, and certainly was at a prominent location in a community, the main entrance door also served as a bulletin board.

On October 31, 1517, Dr. Martin Luther posted 95 topics for debate, hoping to encourage some lively discussion on November 1, a civil and religious holiday. As it turned out, the topics didn't catch on for that year's All Saints' Day festival. They, did, however, spark eventual discussion, particularly regarding whether it was appropriate to charge money for forgiveness. The discussion also, incidentally, led to Luther's removal from his orders as an Augustinian monk and from the Roman priesthood.
When we founded Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry, the point of the door was to signify that there are plenty of things to discuss and debate in this world. Free and fair discussion has been central to the flourishing of Christianity, as well as to the development of Western civilization.
It's interesting to me that frequently in the New Testament, though many of our translations of the text favor language about "preaching" or "teaching," the language often used for public discourse is more closely related to that of having a dispute or a reasoned discussion. For that matter, the terminology John uses at the start of his Gospel refers to God the Son as the "logos" of God. That's often translated as "word" but it is a term frequently used for an argument or a reasoned speech. For that matter, it's the word used for a financial statistical report.
There's something inherently reasonable about the Christian faith. And there are particular ways that a Christian understanding of the world informs culture, political, economic, and philosophical discussions, as well as the pursuits we would refer to as "hard science." In the end, all of our investigation involves asking questions of the world around us. That questioning, as well as our understanding of the answers to the questions, is rightly informed by our understanding of what we have known beforehand. God's Word in Scripture, and God's actions in history are crucial to understanding the world that we believe is created by God.
So we ask questions. We need to put items for debate and discussion up on that Wittenberg Door. Let's pursue truth together.
By the way, the image of the door is a photo by Gary Todd, 2001, and is in public domain. Notice the bronze doors are engraved with Luther's 95 Theses. The original wooden doors burned in the 1700s.
While I've got you here, I'll remind you that all the work of Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry is funded by the generosity of contributors like yourself. To keep Christ-centered discussion going on campus, please make a one-time gift and consider regular support.

February 19th, 2026

2/19/2026

2/19/26
I never write a post like this, but maybe this is the time for it.
Several months ago I started feeling poorly. I mean, really bad. I found I was having symptoms which were legitimately scary. Confusion, loss of energy, forgetfulness, sometimes unexplained pain. These, taken together, can point to several types of illnesses which are definitively serious.
As most people who are engaged in human care do, I tried, for as long as I could, to minimize it. What do you do when you feel tired? You go to work. What do you do when you have been confused and forgetful? You take really good notes so you can figure out later what you were doing. After all, your work has a lot to do with bringing help, comfort, and good to others. Meanwhile, I made appointments with my physician. Getting into the pipeline can take a long while.
As I got in to see her, and began working through the large number of tests she prescribed to rule out anything deadly, the symptoms continued to worsen. I had to cancel a number of Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry activities, as we approached the end of the fall semester. In mid-December I went on leave from my work with the Mid-Missouri Lutheran Hospital Ministry, as I couldn't do the work. I lost sense of time. For some time it was very difficult to put more than a few words together into a sentence.
As a result of the exhaustive testing, we've zeroed in on a likely cause for some of my symptoms. In my case, it seems that I'd been having pain-free migraine events. The more they learn about migraines, the less they seem to know about them. However, we are at least on the way to stopping them, or making them more manageable. I am now managing to catch my breath between attacks, which goes a long way.
Today was the first day I have tried to have a more or less normal day dealing with campus ministry. It's really good to be back in my natural habitat. What will tomorrow bring? I have no idea. Recently, I've been having an attack every other day, so I have a suspicion what tomorrow might be like. It might be a day with some pain and from which I'm able to recall very little.
What's the outcome? A dear friend of mine, Robert D. Jones (now professor at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY), would frequently remind everyone around him that the Bible speaks to all situations. We aren't always able to recognize it. But it's there. Your Bible is thick. It's full of the concerns of living in a fallen world. Isaiah 53 describes God knowing all about suffering. In John chapter 16 Jesus explains to his followers that he has overcome the world. Romans chapter 8 makes a list of all the things that can't separate us from God's love in Christ. There's nothing that can ruin us.
your story is likely very different from mine. In fact, we all have different stories. Yet, in all of our trials, we are encouraged in Scripture to remember that the same good Lord who created and sustains all things has also redeemed them to himself through Jesus. That redemption is for you, as it is for me.
It's good to be back on campus today. So far I've had at least slightly in-depth conversations with seven people, in the course of less than four hours. In all of those interactions, my goal has been to bring the help and hope of Jesus to people who are weak, weary, fearful, or despairing. Jesus has overcome the world. Either we get to rejoice together in that fact, as we see him putting everything in order, or we get to pray together that he will care for our needs. That's why I'm on campus.

While I have you, please remember that Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry is funded by the generosity of people who wish to have Christ-centered, face-to-face, pastoral care available on the collegiate campuses in Columbia, Missouri. If we have been helpful to you in any way, please consider supporting this ministry financially.

Newsletters, Addresses, and a Medical Announcement

2/7/2026

From the Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry News Desk - February 8, 2026

(It's been a very long time since the last Wittenberg Door newsletter, dated in June of 2025. We're still here. This is the start of a new format for passing around our news, long overdue.)

I've put up a few posts which, when taken together, are approximately like the newsletters produced in past years for Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry. I think some explanation is warranted.
When we first founded Wittenberg Door, email newsletters were a common thing. We communicated with a list of followers, participants, possible participants, supporters, and church congregation this way regularly. But as time went on, we found it increasingly difficult to maintain the mailing system. We also found that a lot of people, over time, were treating our updates as spam.
A few years ago, in an attempt to boost visibility more, and with the philosophy that putting a piece of paper into people's hands was more effective at creating that visibility, we started mailing a newsletter. For some time, it was monthly, or possibly 10-11 times per year. During the last few years, mailing costs have risen steeply.
Web traffic has remained relatively constant, increasing gradually over the years. So we've decided to have a hybrid type of newsletter. Please let us know if you would like to be receiving our news via postal mail. We will probably keep sending newsletters in print to local church congregations in any case. It's much easier for a local church leader to take something out of an envelope and post it on a bulletin board or distribute copies to the congregation physically than it is to get someone to remember to print out a copy and post it. However, if we are told of your preference for an electronic newsletter, you will save us over a dollar in printing and postage costs each time we send something out. Those little amounts add up significantly throughout the year.
Now, why haven't you received a Wittenberg Door newsletter since June of 2025? Since Pastor Spotts cut back in hours early in 2025, one of the cutbacks was intended to be less frequent newsletters. Now we have decided that, since web traffic has actually been increasing, we'll just put out fairly frequent blog posts that represent one or another part of a normal newsletter. They are tagged "newsletter" and can be found easily on the blog at www.wittenbergcomo.com . After a few have built up, my plan is to pull them together into one .pdf newsletter and send them out via email, social media announcement, and postal mail.
There have been some delays in implementing this flow of news. Beginning in September of 2025 and increasing since then, Pastor Spotts has been dealing with a health issue. It began with disorientation, fatigue, and pain. This increased significantly through October and November, and culminated in Pastor Spotts going onto an unpaid leave of absence from his work with the hospital ministry as of the end of December. There have been lots and lots of tests, and we think the underlying issue has been identified. We're still attempting to identify an adequate medical regimen that will bring relief from the worst of the symptoms. All that to say, from the time we would have tried to get a newsletter out until now, production of a newsletter has not been a reasonable goal.
In the last few months, many activities have been cancelled, however, we have managed to keep up with the most basic and mission-critical activities, including what is proving to be a well attended Bible discussion group at a fraternity. It seems that some recovery is on the horizon and that we'll be able to get more involved again in the kind of programs we've had in the past. Meanwhile, we're doing what we can to care for the souls entrusted to us, to spread news locally about opportunities to minister to people, and to be sure that we are above reproach in all that we do.
Please take a moment and drop an email to Pastor Spotts at [email protected] if you would like to be someone who checks for news on our blog. If you would like to be included in an email of our periodic newsletters in .pdf format, just say the word. And if you specifically want to be sure you receive a paper copy of the email, let me know that as well, along with your current postal address. And while you're at it, pray for the ongoing work of the Gospel in and around Columbia, Missouri.

Financial Update - End of January 2026

2/2/2026

From the Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry News Desk - February 2, 2026

(It's been a very long time since the last Wittenberg Door newsletter, dated in June of 2025. We're still here. This is the start of a new format for passing around our news, long overdue.)

If you've been watching the life of Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry for some time, you are aware that we are a mission work of The American Association of Lutheran Churches. As such, we spend some time asking people for money so as to keep the doors open. I think this is an especially challenging kind of mission work. Much of the work we do is with people who are not in a position to provide financial support. Many are from other countries in the developing world and will not expect to have a robust income in their future lives. Since we aren't trying to form a permanent congregation, as would be done with a church plant, many people don't automatically recognize the special funding needs we face.

Pastor Spotts is not employed by any of the college campuses where he is engaged in ministry.
Pastor Spotts is not on the staff of any local church congregation.
We receive some funding from The American Association of Lutheran Churches Commission for American Missions. This makes approximately six percent of our annual budget.
To fully fund this mission work, we estimate an annual budget of slightly over $100,000 per year.
Some of our loyal supporters, both individuals and congregations, are part of what we call the Wittenberg Door 300. They support us financially on a repeating basis.
Our estimate is that if we have about 300 supporters, we can make budget and keep one or more staff members engaged full-time in campus outreach and care for souls.

In 2025 Wittenberg Door received gifts representing about 50% of our annual budget. While this was adequate for the day-to-day needs of the ministry as well as providing housing for Pastor Spotts, it did not provide for a salary or the ability of the ministry to contribute to any sort of retirement or benefit plan, or to contribute to The American Association of Lutheran Churches, our umbrella organization.
As of the end of January, 2026, we have logged income amounting to about 1% of our budget. There are several quarterly supporters who are likely to send gifts during February or March.
With that said, the financial needs are great. An important key element in the call process we described last week is being able to provide adequate care for a full-time chaplain. If you are able to step forward with financial support, this would be a wonderful time to start! It's gifts such as yours that can keep this Christ-centered, cross-focused, in-person pastoral care going in the collegiate communities. Please share this need with others who may be interested in supporting our work.
Thank you for your support. We are your servants.

Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry Call Process

1/29/2026

From the Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry News Desk - January 30, 2026

(It's been a very long time since the last Wittenberg Door newsletter, dated in June of 2025. We're still here. This is the start of a new format for passing around our news, long overdue.)

Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry was founded in 2015 by Pastor Dave Spotts (writing this article). At the time of founding, one of the goals for the ministry was that it would be able to issue a full-time call to someone before Pastor Spotts retires. Retirement seems to be getting closer with each passing year. Because of our desire for a smooth transition, and because we know the call process may take a while, the Wittenberg Door Board of Directors agreed in 2025 to move us into the process of calling our next campus chaplain. This process looks different in Lutheran circles than it does in many other church bodies, and very different than the corporate personnel search seen in much of American life.

At the foundation of the call process is the concept that a pastor or chaplain has what we would refer to as a "divine call." This means we who issue the call are consciously attempting to discern God's will and the way He would provide for the organization, as well as for the needs of the person who is being called.

1 Timothy 5:17-20 speaks of the duty of honoring, paying, respecting, defending, and holding accountable the "elders" (The New Testament uses "elders" and "bishops" as synonyms for the word "pastor," which is less commonly used) who serve the congregation. 1 Timothy 3:2 describes the character qualities of a bishop (elder/pastor). The leader is to be someone who has been developed in many important character qualities. In verse six, Paul tells Timothy the bishop should not be "a novice" (NKJV). This indicates maturity and points to a time period of intense training.

Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry is committed to providing face-to-face pastoral care on campus. By "pastoral care" we intend this to be the kind of Christian care that an ordained minister is specially trained to do. As a ministry of the American Association of Lutheran Churches, this means that we would call only a person who is on our church body's roster of ordained clergy to serve as the chaplain. This assures us that our next campus chaplain has been prepared with seminary education, extensive background checks, significant periods of ministry work under supervision, and is qualified to serve in any of the church body's congregations as a pastor. The review given to men preparing for this service is rigorous and extensive. It is intended to protect them and our congregations, as we want the best possible shepherds for God's flock.

The AALC is currently working through a pastor shortage. This is a common report in many church bodies at present. However, we have a good crop of young (and older) men in our seminary, moving toward the completion of their M.Div. degrees, and who will be promising graduates. At some point, the national office of The AALC will begin sending candidates to us, one at a time. The Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry Board of Directors will make sure the candidates spend some time around Columbia, meet with some of our participants, and help us discern how they might fit in. Campus ministry is a little different from ministry in a local parish. We want to find the person who will be a very good fit for many years to come. After appropriate time is spent for discernment and prayer, the Board of Directors, on behalf of all the participants of Wittenberg Door, will have an up or down vote. We normally do things by consensus, and expect that a decision to issue a call will be unanimous.

One area in which Wittenberg Door is slightly behind in this process is that of being able to offer a reasonable living income to our next chaplain. Though we celebrate the generosity of our donors, Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry is not able to pay a pastoral salary. For the past few years, the ministry has been able to pay for housing and transportation as well as the routine operating expenses of the ministry. However, we have been hovering at about 50% of our board-approved budget. Without an increase in the ability to pay a salary, we will not be able to call a new chaplain.

To help with the call process, I'm asking that people who care about the work of this ministry commit to prayer, without which nothing happens. I'm also asking that those who are able would step forward with financial support, and that everyone would share the opportunity of campus ministry with others who are able to provide financial and prayer support. Bringing face-to-face pastoral care to the students, faculty, staff, administrators, and families of the college communities in Columbia Missouri does matter. It's priceless.

We'll keep trying to identify a next chaplain. I hope you'll try to help us in that as well, and see that we can provide well for the future work of campus ministry here.

Epiphany - From the News Desk

1/26/2026

From the Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry News Desk - January 26, 2026

(It's been a very long time since the last Wittenberg Door newsletter, dated in June of 2025. We're still here. This is the start of a new format for passing around our news, long overdue.)

We are currently in the season of Epiphany, which began on January 6, as it does every year. This is one of the earliest known annual celebrations, with recognitions as early as the fourth century. Due to a question about the revisions of the calendar, from the Julian to the Gregorian system in the 16th century, there has historically been some dispute about whether Epiphany and Christmas are the same celebration. The calendar change can be understood as displacing December 25 to January 6.

Epiphany has normalized to center on the visit of the Magi to Jesus, as recorded in Matthew's Gospel, chapter two. Here they appear, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which are often seen as symbolic of Christ's kingly nature, his priestly role, and his impending death.

Within much of the Western church tradition, the season of Epiphany lasts from January 6 until the day before Ash Wednesday, which changes in date depending on the date of Easter. Traditional readings during this season focus on realizing, bit by bit, just how great Jesus is as God the Son. We are therefore invited into the remainder of the church year, with sorrow for our sin, recognition that Jesus is the one who can and will take away our sin, and a desire to look forward to the Easter season, when we specially recognize that Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin through his death, and that he is the first of the resurrection of the dead.

The visit of the Magi has inspired many artists over the centuries. They often put the characters in their paintings into the guise of people of their own culture. The adoration of Jesus gives us much room to reflect on the nature of Jesus and to adore him ourselves. Here's an image of a frescoe by Giotto. The work is in the Scrovegni chapel in Padua, Italy, and is approximately six feet square. This reproduction is considered public domain in the United States and many other jurisdictions because the original artwork (fresco by Giotto) is in the public domain (the artist died in 1337).

June/July 2025 Newsletter

6/28/2025

Get our June/July 2025 Newsletter now, while supplies last :)

June/July 2025 Newsletter

Wittenberg Door's Tenth Anniversary

4/7/2025

Greetings from Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry!

We are reaching a milestone at Wittenberg Door as we approach the ten year mark from our official founding in June of 2015. It's been a good time! Over the years we've managed to lose count of how many people we've welcomed to the campuses of Columbia, MO. We are pretty sure that our dinner and conversation evenings have had representatives of about 25 different nations. And we know for certain that every last person we have worked with in our Bible discussions, times of prayer, coaching in English conversation, driving lessons, and transporting around Columbia is someone who was created as an image-bearer of God for for whom Christ gave himself. The focus of all we do is Christ crucified for us and risen to deliver a promise of eternal life.

Since we began hosting the dinner and conversation evenings around 2017, they have proven to be an important way of building relationships among our participants, and especially with people in our international community, who are far from home and family. For this reason, we want to celebrate this tenth anniversary of Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry at one of our dinners.

I must apologize that the time is short. Our celebration dinner will be on Friday, April 25, our last such gathering of this academic year. Please come and join us at the Spotts' home, from 6-8 pm on the 25th. RSVP to Pastor Spotts via email ([email protected]) or text (573-355-0347) by the end of Monday, April 21. We want to be sure everything's in order for this special time.

Newsletter for Lent 2025

3/27/2025

Get the latest Wittenberg Door Newsletter for Lent 2025 here.

Newsletter for Lent 2025

Wittenberg Door Newsletter December 2024 - January 2025

1/14/2025

December 2024 - January 2025 Newsletter

November 2024 Newsletter

11/6/2024

The November 2024 newsletter is here! Get them while they're hot!

November 2024 Newsletter

September 2024 Newsletter

9/11/2024

Did you miss receiving our September newsletter in the mail? Here it is!

September 2024 Newsletter

August 2024 Newsletter

8/14/2024

Click to download our August 2024 newsletter,

August 2024 Newsletter

Wittenberg Door June/July 2024 Newsletter

5/28/2024

Here's the latest news - this year in pictures!

Newsletter for May 2024

5/4/2024

May 2024 Newsletter

Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry Newsletter 1/1/24

1/1/2024

The latest Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry Newsletter is out! Celebrate the close of 2023 with us!

January 2024 Newsletter

July 2023 Newsletter

7/1/2023

Get the latest from Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry here!

July 2023 Newsletter

Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry Newsletter for June 2023

6/3/2023

Here's our latest Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry Newsletter - enjoy!

May 2023 Newsletter

5/2/2023

Get the May 2023 Newsletter here!