Praise God!

Pastor Wilken and Jeff Schwarz are BACK. Listen here for details.

Reporting from New Orleans

On my way down here, we were honored to receive a comment from David O. Berger, the author of the piece I recommended to you.
But it was caught in the spam filter. I released it from the spam queue and wanted to make sure you all got a chance to read it. Here it is.

Read the David Berger essay

I already mentioned it once but I’ve just completed it. It’s fantastic. The piece is beautifully written, well researched and extremely thoughtful. Here is some of the ending:
The bottom line
Were Ablaze! to emphasize the crucial roles of worship in Word and Sacrament, a healthy family focus on growing in the faith, substantive and continuing catechesis, [...]

Prayer request

The Board for Communication Services meets on Monday and Tuesday and the Board of Directors/Board for Communications’ KFUO committee meets on Friday and Saturday.
Let’s keep the members of these boards and committees in our prayers as they progress through what will surely be an interesting week.

A couple of resolutions from the Rocky Mountain District

The first one:
Resolution: Request for reinstatement of Issues, Etc.
Whereas, The radio program “Issues, Etc.” on KFUO AM has been a blessing to many residents of southeastern New Mexico via the internet as well as to live listeners within in the range of KFUO and of the other stations which carried this program in syndication, [...]

So, about Ablaze!

We have had some discussions here about Ablaze!, a bizarre “evangelism” program that rates “success” on “critical moments” rather than, say, baptisms. David Berger, a member of the Board for Communication Services and the librarian of Concordia Seminary, has a very interesting article that analyzes Ablaze! Here is just the beginning:
Several aspects of Ablaze! have [...]

My apologies

Quick apology for being awol for quite some time. I was traveling and dealing with some difficult circumstances for keeping up here.
I’m going through massive amounts of email and will start putting some of the stuff up that you all have sent in. However, if I don’t get to something, please resend it

Revitalizing Lutheran congregations

Pastor Paul McCain has an interesting post about congregations that are Lutheran in name only.

More media coverage of Issues, Etc.

Synodical officials aren’t permitting any coverage of the events surrounding Issues, Etc., but that isn’t keeping other media outlets from reporting on the situation.
In World magazine, LCMS journalist, author, scholar Gene Edward Veith reports on what happened with Issues, Etc.
‘Issues’ no longer
Cancellation of LCMS radio show raises ruckus
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has 2.4 million members, [...]

Wyoming in the house

The Wyoming District Pastoral Conference took action on the cancellation of Issues, Etc. In their resolution, they posed questions of the President of Synod, the Board for Communication Services, and the Council of Presidents. I look forward to seeing their timely responses.
Questions Regarding “Issues, Etc.”
Whereas, the radio program “Issues, Etc.” on KFUO AM was a [...]