The LCMS
Would St. Paul Work at Starbucks? Going Where the People Are

by Dave Ficken Living with the Gospel in church is often comfortable. But in an age when people no longer come to the church, the church has to go to the people. Living with the Gospel in the secular world can be uncomfortable. What if I don’t know the answer someone’s question? What if they
Hack “The Shack?”

“The Shack” is a publishing blockbuster and a cultural phenomenon. What are we to make of this exercise in ‘Christian’ fiction? A Lutheran pastor takes a look.
What Do You Crave?

A coffeehouse offers ‘Peace, Coffee, More’ … and conversations about Jesus by Roland Lovstad At the crossroads of a university campus and a regenerating city community is a coffeehouse that may be as close to a church as some people ever encounter. “Peace, Coffee, More,” reads the business card of Donna Green. She’s the manager
Pastors Are People, Too

by Gary J. Ellul When you picture a pastor, what do you see? My oldest daughter recently told me how surprised some of her friends were when they met me for the first time. My daughter had told her friends I was a Lutheran pastor, but somehow my size and build didn’t fit their idea
Fixed on Eternity

Because she was too tired to hold him, I held him as the water was poured over his head and he was baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The Beauty of Lutheran Hymns

Thank you for the especially fine March issue of The Lutheran Witness, with its emphasis on liturgical music and hymnody. I am personally well acquainted with the excellent Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival program for high-school students. I would also like to emphasize the fact that these young musicians have real fun and enjoyment

Gratitude for Our Pastors

In addition to preaching and teaching matters of faith and life on the basis of God’s Holy Word, pastors are called to be a part of the lives of people in good times and bad, in happy times and sad.
Big-picture Questions

In response to President Kieschnick’s March article regarding the Missouri Synod’s position on “Right to Life,” I would like to share some of the discussion from a recent Sunday morning Bible class. The question was posed: If the California mother of 14 children were a member of our church family, how would we respond? Initial
Making music

I can’t remember an issue of The Lutheran Witness I’ve enjoyed as much as your March 2009 offering. I grew up in the WELS and joined the LCMS as a young adult. I’ve been active in church music in some form for my entire ministry. I’m in the music ministry today because my fifth-grade teacher
Moved to tears

I had to e-mail you immediately after reading Susan Rosselli’s March Lifeline story, “God Hears, God Cares, God Moves.” I was moved to tears upon reading about her struggle to secure the basics for her and her then 9-year-old daughter during a difficult time in their lives. It was such an unbelievably compelling article to

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