From Seminary to Starbucks—and Beyond
Living with the Gospel in church is often comfortable. Living with the Gospel beyond the church doors is often less so.
The Magazine
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
Vicarage: Opportunities to Learn—and Share
From seminary student to vicar is a big step, but it’s a step you do not take alone. And it is an incredible learning experience.
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
Specific Ministry Pastor: To Meet a Special Need
Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) is the newest LCMS program for preparing pastors to fill an identified need in a congregation, cultural setting, or other ministry.
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
Technology: A Dynamic Tool for Forming Pastors
As technology enables seminaries to broaden their reach, they also assure that technical advances foster the goal of training and forming pastors.
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.
For Abused and Neglected Children: ‘Validation that Someone Cares’
“Over the years, our experience has shown us, and we deeply believe, that no child can be truly healed unless he is cared for emotionally, physically, and spiritually.”
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.”
Good news
With regard to Mr. Pyle’s concerns about Christ’s presence among us (“Letters,” February)—I have Good News: Christ is most certainly and personally among us today! When Christ ascended into heaven, He didn’t remove His presence on earth— He transformed it. Nor did He stop having a body when He sat down at the right hand
Underlying questions
The Q&A column in the February Lutheran Witness, “Whom May I Commune,” was most distressing. There are some underlying questions that were not addressed: First, where were our LCMS clergy, and what were they doing, or not doing? Second, what are our pastors teaching the members about close(d) Communion that even causes such questions to