The Magazine
Captivating compassion

Regarding the story “50 Faces of Mercy” in the March 2008 Witness, you highlighted 50 lives changed by compassionate Christian action. Captivated, I read each and every story. Well done. Paul Koch   Read More Letters to the Editor Send letters to “Letters,” c/o The Lutheran Witness, 1333 S. Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, MO 63122-7295;
Good Judgement?

I must express my profound disappointment and sorrow that you chose to print such a mean-spirited letter from a reader (who I will leave nameless) in your April issue directed towards Paine Proffitt’s illustrations (appearing in the December issue).  It was a serious lapse in judgement.  As Christians, we are called to encourage one another,
The Gift of The Holy Spirit

Without cultural traditions behind it, we may wonder how to celebrate Pentecost. Is it really as important as the other days? Why do we observe Pentecost at all?
On Funerals

I struggled with your editorial on funerals (Feb. 2008 Q&A).  Serving in a congregation that regularly does more than fifty funerals a year, it becomes clear that our issue is not so much truth as love.  A funeral or memorial service is for the living, and the focus is on proclaiming the gospel of Jesus
Pastors Available

I read with interest President Kieschnick’s article, Pastors Wanted, projecting the synod’s need for pastors in the next 10 years and appealing to congregations and pastors “to think of men to whom the Lord has given such gifts (for the pastoral ministry)” … and to “encourage these men to consider the ministry.”  This past April,
Finishing the Race

After a four-decade career that spanned the globe, Leo Mehl, one of the most influential people in modern motorsports, has found a spiritual home.
“A Hand of Live-Giving Love”

I find it ironic that in the very first paragraph of the article “A Hand of Life-Giving Love,” it speaks about the Great Commission in Matt. 28:18-20 “being caught, thought, and taught incompletely and even inaccurately” when the article itself incompletely presents that very Scripture.  Finger number 4 on the outstretched palm and paragraph no.

Pastors Wanted

St. Paul asks in Romans 10, “How are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” Synod’s congregations will need around 2,700 pastors in the next 10 years, an average of 270 each year, just to fill retirement vacancies.
Shedding Some Light

Putting Together the Pieces Two-year-old Katelyn was watching the children’s TV show “Blue’s Clues.” The episode featured a pizza, which Katelyn repeatedly referred to as “Pastor’s Pizza.” Pastor’s Pizza? What could that be? Befuddled, her family finally figured it out—the pizza was cut in the shape of a cross. Two-year-olds do see Jesus! —Rev. John
The Miracle of Pentecost: A United and Harmonious Church

by Rev. Jeffrey Sippy An old adage says polite gentlemen do not speak poorly of another man’s bride. Can you imagine? Can you imagine someone speaking poorly about your spouse? Yet the Bride of Christ is often maligned and insulted by reckless and thoughtless words—sometimes by its own members. Criticism, complaint, and gossip are the

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