Wartburg college senior Jared McLey is the recipient of an ELCA Fund for Leaders scholarship, which covers full tuition for students of tremendous promise attending ELCA seminaries.

McLey, who graduates from Wartburg this weekend with a degree in religion, will attend Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque. He is a member of the college’s first Accelerated Ministry Program class of students. The program, which is offered in partnership with Wartburg Seminary, is designed to reduce the time and cost to become a Lutheran (ELCA) pastor.

Though McLey was only supposed to spend three years at Wartburg College through the accelerated program, he took an extra year to take additional classes in youth and family ministry.

“Right now I feel called to youth ministry. Youth pastors do all of the things a traditional pastor would do but also have a focus on leading youth programs like confirmation and providing pastoral care to children,” said McLey, who is hoping to stay in Iowa or the Midwest for his internship work through Wartburg Seminary.

Caryn Riswold, Wartburg’s McCoy Family Distinguished Chair in Lutheran Heritage and Mission, said McLey “distinguished himself and has been curious and committed to learning” all that he could about religion and the Lutheran tradition from his first days on campus.

“The Fund for Leaders scholarship recognizes that Jared is a future church leader who engages complex issues of the day and isn’t afraid to ask questions. Jared is also open to new experiences and is able to take risks,” Riswold said. “Most recently, he has begun applying what he has learned in his Wartburg College classes in a ministry setting and brought back concrete questions from that experience to his classroom learning.”

In addition to summer work at Camp Ewalu in Strawberry Point, McLey has served as the youth director for Kimball Avenue United Methodist Church, volunteered with a local Boy Scout troop and spent his winter break volunteering with the pastor who serves at Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community in Waverly.

“Scholarship programs like this are a big deal. They’ve worked hard to build up an extensive network of people who can support this endeavor,” he said. “I feel blessed to be a recipient knowing that I am now positioned to graduate with a Master of Divinity and zero loan debt.”

The ELCA Fund for Leaders scholarship program was designed to make seminary more affordable, thus enabling more future ministers to go to seminary and graduate with less debt.