Concordia University Wisconsin is pleased to announce Lutheran rapper Flame as the speaker for its December 2022 commencement ceremony.
“We’re thrilled to have a Christian music artist to serve as our commencement speaker this December,” said CUW Interim President Dr. William Cario. “It may seem like something of a departure for us, but Flame is not your ordinary Christian musician; he is a devout Lutheran whose mission is to preach Christ’s law and gospel through his art.”
“My prayer is that God’s name will be lifted high, that many will repent and come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ,” Flame said in a statement, “and that believers will be encouraged and edified through my music and ministering of God’s Word.”
From the streets to the seminary
Born and raised in the inner city of St. Louis, Missouri, Flame has been on the Christian music scene since he released his first studio album in 2004. In 2008, his album “Our World: Redeemed” was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album. He has topped the Billboard Gospel charts and garnered multiple Dove and Stellar Award nominations. He tours throughout the world and is cofounder of Clear Sight Music, “a boutique record label raising the bar in Christian hip-hop and beyond.”
In recent years, Flame converted from Reformed Baptist theology, a branch of evangelicalism, to Lutheranism. He earned a master of arts degree from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, along with a minor in counseling.
“Over time, pondering God’s sovereignty began to seem like fatalism,” Flame explained in an interview with wordonfire.org. “Not to mention the priority given toward much inward focus. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon Lutheran thought that I discovered the treasure found in the liturgical and sacramental side of things.”
That change in belief and thinking is reflected in the title of his 2020 EP “Extra Nos,” which is Latin for “outside of us.” Concordia University Wisconsin’s December commencement ceremony will take place on Saturday, December 17 at 1:30 p.m. in the CUW Fieldhouse. Limited tickets will be available, with a livestream feed for those who cannot attend in person.
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