Karl Jacobson

My name is Karl Jacobson, one of LMA’s first international seminary students. I am the husband of Lucy, and we have just recently welcomed our first child, Eleanor, into our family.

I grew up “Lutheran”, loosely Christian in a liberal, non-liturgical “Lutheran” church in the southern suburbs of Adelaide and worshiped there for the first 24 years of my life. Since then, I have lived in four different houses, started at the seminary, got married, graduated with my Bachelor of Theology, had my first child, and am now waiting on starting my Masters of Divinity and pastoral training at Concordia Seminary, St Louis.

In my early twenties I found myself, like many men in my generation, floundering, and looking for meaning in my life. Between dropping out of university, a customer service job and a handful of addictions common to my age group, I was at rock bottom. Yet whilst I was in the peak of my sin, Christ reminded me that that He had already died for me. (paraphrase of Romans 5:8) I would not be here today if it was not for Christ and the washing away of my sins by the water and His Word.

It is safe to say that this is not the path I intended to walk in life, but as I have grown older and matured in my faith, I see no other option than to pursue my love for Christ, and His Word wherever it would take me.

The question I often get is Why would you go to America when we have a Lutheran seminary here in Australia? The answer for me is multifaceted and much longer than what I will squeeze into this paragraph, but to boil it down its as follows; in person pastoral training, lecturers who actually believe that the scriptures are the Word of God, and my desire to train in a church that’s version of the “way forward” is to uphold the scriptures and their founding doctrinal statements not to remove them.

On a less serious note, I enjoy reading, particularly Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia. I enjoy a good glass of red and a long chat about the things we shouldn’t be talking about (religion, politics and finance). I enjoy the great outdoors, camping, four wheel driving, hiking, really whatever that gets me into God’s creation.

I am indebted to God for who and where I am today, for the gift of my family and friends for continually giving me my daily bread. I pray that His Holy Spirit would guide us all as we enter into this unknown territory and that many more like would have the ability to train and serve with a clean conscience.