After a summer off, Under the Fig Tree is back! In this episode, Rev. Tom Schlund joins Kati Gaschler as a new host of the podcast. They sit down with President Thomas J. Egger and take a deep dive into the 2024-25 academic year theme "Let Us Fix Our Eyes on Jesus," based on Heb. 12:2. Egger shares some behind-the-scenes about the selection process the theme and why this year's choice rose to the top. He encourages listeners, "Don't let Jesus come into the world and be right near you and find yourself looking everywhere but [at him] ... There's no one so worthy of our gaze and our attention as Christ through His Word and through His Sacraments." They discuss the importance of being daily reminded to keep Jesus the focus of our lives.

When giving advice to future students, Egger shares, "The church is certainly saying to young people who are looking at 'What should I do in life? How can I serve my neighbor? How can I use my gifts?' the church is saying, our congregations are saying, 'Come and preach the Gospel to us.' We have a great need for pastors, we have a great need for Lutheran school teachers, we have a great need for deaconesses in the church."

During the recurring segment "Ripe for the picking or leave it on the tree," find out how everyone feels about pumpkin flavor, if they enjoy the fall task of raking leaves and if hay rides and apple picking are on their fall to-do lists.

Interested in vocational ministry? Start a conversation with our admissions team at https://ask.csl.edu/register/Request-Information. Learn more about Concordia Seminary at http://www.csl.edu or by contacting the admissions team at admit@csl.edu or 800-822-9545.

“Under the Fig Tree” is a video and audio podcast of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. New video and audio episodes are added weekly each Monday during the academic year. “Under the Fig Tree” can be found on YouTube, the Seminary’s Scholar site (scholar.csl.edu) and most podcast platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.