After Pastor Harrison was elected, I half-jokingly wondered, “What in the world is BOJS going to do now?” I have one suggestion. Encourage honesty. Right now, nothing is more important. The problem in the LCMS isn’t that we are divided in doctrine and practice (when hasn’t the Church been so?). The problem in the LCMS is that we won’t admit it. And, if we won’t admit that we are divided, we can’t be united. What we need most right now is honesty. Pastor Harrison is calling for discussion of both our agreements AND our disagreements, differences and divisions. This requires   More…

Today, like everyday, we pray “Thy will be done.” But later today, after the next president of the LCMS has been elected, we should not say, “God’s will was done.” Regardless of who is elected president of the LCMS, we should not say, “God’s will was done.” And, I say this as someone who hopes and prays that Pastor Matt Harrison will be elected the next president of the LCMS. Remember, conventions do not speak for God; ONLY Scripture does that. We only know for certain what God’s will is when Scripture clearly tells us so. Remember, “the collective will   More…

(I wrote the following essay several years ago. It came to mind again as the LCMS conventions gets under way. -TW) We Lutherans have believed what Garrison Keillor has been saying about us. Garrison Keillor is the creator and host of the long-running radio program A Prairie Home Companion. Keillor, a one-time Lutheran himself, writes: We make fun of Lutherans for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. . . . Lutherans believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray   More…

What can we learn from past LCMS Presidents? Issues Etc has interviews with Dr. Martin Noland, Dr. Lawrence Rast, Dr. John Wohlrabe, Dr. Paul Zimmerman and Dr. Ken Schurb on the need for LCMS Presidents to have a theological mind and pastoral heart. They talk about a variety of Presidents of the LC-MS, including Walther, Wyneken, Pfotenhauer, Preus and Barry. C.F.W. Walther with Dr. Martin Noland of Trinity Lutheran-Evansville, IN Friedrich Wyneken with Dr. Larry Rast of Concordia Theological Seminary-Ft. Wayne, IN Friedrich Pfotenhaur with Dr. John Wohlrabe of Concordia Lutheran-Geneseo, IL J.A.O. Preus Jr. with Dr. Paul Zimmerman, author   More…

On another Internet forum, Pastor Charlie Mueller Jr. is busy defending the now-discredited Jesus First delegate letter #9. Among other things, Pr. Mueller asserts that he and Pastor Coyne (the delegate letter’s author) are better qualified to evaluate LCMS World Relief and Human Care finances than is WR-HC board Vice Chairman John Edson, a certified public accountant. He does his best to undermine confidence in the Mercy arm of the LCMS and its work over the last ten years. Mueller describes the job of synodical president as impossibly difficult; akin to performing brain surgery while landing the space shuttle. And,   More…

Is it just me, or does the latest delegate letter from Jesus First, “Kieschnick Has Earned Re-Election” bear a striking similarity to the article “President Gerald Kieschnick Has Earned Re-Election” posted two weeks ago at the Jesus First website? I appears that instead of retracting or apologizing for the misinformation about pastor Matt Harrison in their previous delegate letter, Jesus First is simply moving forward… or backward, I can’t tell which. space

Jesus First’s latest letter to delegates, “The Stewardship of World Relief and Human Care,” is a flurry of numbers and percentages. It’s goal: to prove to the undecided delegates that they shouldn’t trust Pastor Harrison to manage their church’s funnel cake stand, much less his current position, and much, much less the office of LCMS president. A lot is made in the letter of how much LCMS WRHC takes in vs. how much it distributes. I’m no accountant, so I don’t know if the delegate letter succeeds. What I can understand are the numbers reported in the LCMS convention workbook   More…

Jesus First’s delegate letter #8, “The Company You Keep” has sparked an Internet debate over who’s supporters are more virtuous: President Kieschnick’s or Pastor Harrison’s. Well, let me end the debate right here. We lose. I’ve met a lot of Pastor Harrison supporters, and every one of them are sinners —really bad sinners. I don’t know how Jesus First and the other supporters of President Kieschnick do it, but they should be thankful they’re not like us. Speaking for myself, I just can’t avoid sinning. It’s terrible. It’s almost as though I don’t do the good I want to do,   More…

For the last several convention cycles the LCMS Left could always count on us. The LCMS Left could count on confessional Lutherans to be Disorganized, Divided, Distracted and Discourteous. And, until now, we have played our parts perfectly. However, this convention may be different. We confessional Lutherans (at least for now) are no longer Disorganized, Divided nor Distracted. We are organized, united and focused. But are we still Discourteous? The LCMS Left is counting on it. They are counting on us to do what we’ve done before: behave badly. Let’s not. It’s stupid politically and most of the time it’s   More…

Earlier I posted a partial list of overtures expressing concern and caution about President Kieschnick’s Task Force proposals for restructuring. You may have noticed that at least 21 of these overtures were submitted by LCMS districts conventions. At least 17 of them were submitted by entire circuits. Each of these 22 District overtures and each of these 17 circuit overtures were ignored by Floor Committee 8. Is this is the same Floor Committee that is now recommending that circuit and district overtures be given preferential consideration by other floor committees? YES. According to this Reporter article, Other proposed resolutions call   More…

The LCMS Reporter has this story on pre-convention floor committee actions. Here’s just a partial list of overtures expressing concern and caution about President Kieschnick’s Task Force proposals for restructuring that Floor Committee 8 ignored: To Foster Greater Unanimity in Decisions re Structure To Postpone Consideration and Implementation of Task Force Report To Exercise Care and Delay Implementation of Structure Changes To Allow Time to Study Task Force Recommendations To Submit BRTFSSG Report to All Congregations for Study and Defer Action until Following Convention To Proceed with Task Force Proposals Only If Full and Timely Disclosure of Proposed Revisions Is   More…

Check out the picture that appears in the LCMS website’s article about churches and their wireless microphones.

The LCMS National Offering web site recently has been changed to offer different links to “designate” your gift. Previously, every link on took the potential donor to the same online giving form. Note however, that the four “causes” have not changed, are still not specific departments or agencies of synod, and are so general as to be meaningless. In other words, there is still no way to know how your “designated” gift will be spent by Synod Inc. Here is my previous post on this subject with your comments.

Did the LCMS need to sell the FM signal? 1) If the in-house management of KFUO had made the AM station its first priority, no. If the in-house management of KFUO had shaped the budget, staffing and development priorities around the well-being of KFUO AM –kept the AM and FM ledgers separate, automated the FM station to make it profitable, and devoted a majority of development resources toward the AM station– then the LCMS might not have needed to sell the FM signal. Instead, the in-house management of KFUO made its first priority the preservation of the FM station. They   More…

Something confuses me. It’s the new LCMS National Offering logo. Here it is: There’s a lot going on in this picture; but I’m not sure what. Here is a group of politically-correct mixed gender and ethnicity, carrying what appears to be an enormous silver platter on which rests the words “ONE People Sharing Christ’s LOVE.”. Logos are supposed to say something visually. What does this one say? I honestly don’t know. The people are easy to understand. They are us, the LCMS. But what are we carrying and why? Is it a giant offering plate? If so, does that mean   More…