{"id":215,"date":"2025-03-26T18:44:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T18:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/?p=215"},"modified":"2025-03-26T18:47:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T18:47:19","slug":"student-spotlight-brian-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/26\/student-spotlight-brian-wing\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Brian Wing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Where did you grow up, and what first got you interested in studying theology?<\/strong><br>I grew up in Belgrade, MN, and graduated in 1983. At that point, I didn\u2019t really have an interest in studying theology, that would come about 40 years later, along with a call to serve God and neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"389\" height=\"363\" src=\"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/03\/Brian_Wing_ILN.jpg\" alt=\"Brian Wing, in a white liturgical alb, baptizes his granddaughter, who is being held by her mother. Baptismal font is made of carved oak, and a wooden communion rail and screen are in the background.\" class=\"wp-image-219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/03\/Brian_Wing_ILN.jpg 389w, https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/03\/Brian_Wing_ILN-300x280.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 389px) 100vw, 389px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What did you study as an undergraduate?<\/strong><br>I graduated from Gustavus with a B.A. in Theater and a Latin minor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What led you to pursue theological education here at Luther Seminary?<\/strong><br>A few years ago, I was moved to look into the ELCA&#8217;s Synodically Authorized Minister (SAM) program to serve in the Northwest Minnesota Synod. During my interview, Bishop Bill Tesch asked if I had ever considered seminary. I responded no, but the seed had been planted. I consider being a Christian public leader a position of great responsibility. I first enrolled in the certificate program as a way to gain knowledge that would help me as a SAM and to see if I could do work and school. This past fall I switched to the M.Div. program and am hoping it will lead to ordination and being called to a church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is the best part of studying as a distributed learner, and what do you do when you&#8217;re not studying?<\/strong><br>If not for the option of taking classes asynchronously, I wouldn\u2019t be able to do this. It has made it possible for me to work toward the M.Div. degree. Until this January, I was a part-time student and an agri-business banker in Fergus Falls. I am now a part-time student, part-time SAM with 3 churches, and part-time agri-business banker. It has been a busy schedule, but when there is time, my wife Becky and I try to hang out with our kids and granddaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s one thing people don&#8217;t know about you?<\/strong><br>I sing in a rock band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brian Wing is an M.Div. student at Luther Seminary who started in a certificate program. He&#8217;s also a Synodically Authorized Minister and an agri-business banker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions\/220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}