Brandon Booth
MollieSite Introduction
On March 18th, in the middle of Holy Week, the popular radio program “Issues, Etc.” abruptly disappeared. It could no longer be heard on the air, and its internet archives vanished. (The archives have since returned but apparently without working links to any actual audio file.)
Listeners and non-listeners alike were baffled by the apparent lack of reason or explanation for canceling “Issues, Etc.” We have all been left wondering “Why?”
Augsburg1530 is the hub of a grassroots movement seeking a comprehensive answer to this question from synod leadership.
Join us! We need your help!
As one ministering on the periphery of Lutheranism in West Texas, we are inundated with “happy, clappy, revivalistic” churches and denominations. As an LCMS pastor, my prayer is that we, as a denomination, could provide God’s people with continuing “meat and potatoes” instead of “fluff and puff.” Issues, Etc. was “meat and potatoes” and we used its ministry to provide real substance in our Bible classes. I personally, as a colloquized pastor, used it as my “continuing education.” The events of the past week and a half are discouraging and frustrating. The manner in which the dismissal was handled was appalling. (Pres. Kieschnick, as a Texas Aggie - as well as a churchman, you should have shown more “class” in your overseeing of this debacle. Whether or not you personally were involved in the decision, the “buck does stop here,” to quote Harry S Truman.) Kyrie, eleison; Christe, eleison; Kyrie, eleison!
Tom Baden
San Angelo, Texas
Thanks for your comment Pastor Baden, It’s good to hear this. We’re praying for you!
Laymenetc.org is a site dedicated to posting longer letters of a theological or political nature regarding the Holy Tuesday tragedy. We are also in the nascent stages of forming a new national men’s organization to support confessional Lutheran theology in the new media (starting with Pastor Wilken and Jeff Scwharz, who have endorsed our efforts). Be sure to check our site for updates on the formation of the new national organization. We have already had our first steering committee meeting and things are moving along quickly.