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
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.
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 (SMP) is the newest LCMS program for preparing pastors to fill an identified need in a congregation, cultural setting, or other ministry.
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
As technology enables seminaries to broaden their reach, they also assure that technical advances foster the goal of training and forming pastors.
“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.
“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.”
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.”
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
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
Christ’s triumph over death at that first Easter is the very heart of the Christian faith and the central event of history.