Another great post found over on Ad Crucem (To the Cross) by our very own Pastor Matt Richard — posted on BJS by Norm Fisher.   Ezekiel 2:1-5 says, “And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and   More…

It has been said before that the church is in need of a continuous reformation. In other words, this call for reformation is a plea for the church to daily reclaim her fundamental roots. The reason why the church is in need of constant reformation is that we as sinners are prone to wander; we are prone to leave the God that we love. Due to the tactics of the old Adam, there is a tendency for churches to drift away from a Christ-centered and Christ-crucified Gospel to an ‘ism.’ Generally speaking, the church will drift into one of the   More…

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is   More…

Thank you to all of you who have donated so far to the colloquy fundraiser campaign that began March 22nd on BJS.  The proceeds from this fundraiser will help me in my colloquy transition, a transition that will allow me to join the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  As you can see from the thermometer to the right, we are almost to our goal of getting the entire $5,000 matched by a generous BJS reader.  Right now, with the $4,846 that has been donated, I have received $9,692 in funds to be applied to my summer colloquy tuition, colloquy moving expenses,   More…

During my past 9 years of pastoral ministry the discussion with Evangelicals that has resulted in the most confusion, tension, and conflict is most definitely the dialog over infant baptism. Otherwise stated, in my humble opinion there is nothing more offensive to our Evangelical brothers and sisters (those who believe that it is only proper to baptize those who are able to make a profession of faith) than the Lutheran view of infant baptism. Now, for you lifelong Lutherans you may find this hard to believe, how a precious gift from God can cause such strain, but it is true   More…

In case you have not heard the news yet, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple has signed legislation that would ban most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. With the signing of this legislation, North Dakota is now thrust into the national spotlight and social media pages are full of dialog on this issue. Some individuals are posting on social media websites that they are, “Proud to be a North Dakotan,” whereas others are, “Grateful that they are not living in that backwards state!” Obviously there are   More…

In Bible studies I have at times asked a provocative question to stimulate discussion, “Who is the world’s greatest sinner? Who is the most sinful; the vilest person the world has ever known?” In response to this question I often get answers like, Bin Laden, the Unibomber, Hitler, Ted Bundy, Saddam Hussein, etc… After several moments of brainstorming on this subject, I usually throw out an uncharacteristic answer to simply grab people’s attention, “What about Jesus Christ?” Without hesitation I find that I am bombarded with dropped jaws and thoughts of, “I don’t know if our pastor is serious, trying   More…

Many people are unaware that before ministry I was a finance and economics major in college. In fact, during my senior year of college at Minot State University I was hired by American International Group (i.e., AIG). This new job position forced me to study and take what is called the Series 6 and Series 63. These securities tests allowed me to work with mutual funds, unit investment trusts, variable annuities, and municipal fund securities. With my schooling I also received a great deal of business management skills. For example, through classes in strategic management and risk management I was   More…

In the book Grace Upon Grace the author, Dr. John Kleinig, describes Satan’s attack on Christians and the Church. Kleinig notes that we too quickly think of spiritual battle in supernatural or spectacular ways. We think of Satan doing glamorous things like sending demons to attack or haunt us. Rather, Satan, as “the father of lies,” most powerfully emphasizes himself by lying to us, and getting us to believe a lie. Specifically, Kleinig cites Satan’s attempts to lead us to sin—to engage in behavior which promises comfort or pleasure—as Satan’s “front door” lie. By believing such a lie, we are   More…

Last night The History Channel aired its miniseries, “The Bible.” It is a miniseries produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. Leading up to this miniseries there seemed to be a well organized marketing campaign to promote this series. The promotional efforts by The History Channel certainly grabbed my attention. Besides the marketing campaign, the miniseries seemed to generate a lot of grassroots speculation, reviews, and anticipation from Christian leaders, bloggers, and the Christian community in general. CLICK HERE for a very worthwhile article by Rev. Joshua Scheer. Pr. Scheer sets forth 4-5 things to be on the lookout for   More…

Confession time!  I’ve had more and more of a difficult time applying the label of ‘Evangelical’ to myself as of late. (Note: When I use the word ‘Evangelicalism’ I use it to describe the current national-cultural form of American Christianity.)  Even though the Lutherans of the 1500′s embraced the label and could be considered some of the first Evangelicals, I have come to wonder if they would associate with Modern Evangelicalism if they were alive today? If alive today, could the Reformers even identify any remnants of the 16th century Reformation in Evangelicalism today? Mark Noll in his book, America’s   More…

Pastors are called to be servants of the flock. The congregation elects pastors. The congregation calls pastors. The congregation ordains pastors. Since this is the case, it certainly sounds as if the pastor is accountable to the will of the congregation, or is he? Let it be said that the pastor is obviously accountable to the church by the standards laid forth by the Apostle Paul in the Pastoral Epistles. If he fails morally speaking or teaches false doctrine, the church certainly has the authority to remove him. Because this is true, is the pastor solely accountable to parishioners? In   More…

Several months ago I posted an article titled, “Attention All Former Evangelicals” on Steadfast Lutherans. In this article I announced the need for former Evangelicals who ‘have’ or ‘are’ journeying into Confessional Lutheran thought.  The need was for more participants to provide feedback for a Major Applied Research Project that I am working on at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.  I am happy to report that I just recently concluded my first survey in the research process with the wonderful help of 307 total participants. The feedback that I received from the first quantitative survey was extremely interesting and helpful in describing the   More…

If we see ourselves as sinners (damned by our thoughts, words and deeds) we will go to church to hear the Gospel Word and to be gifted the forgiveness of sins in the Sacraments. However, if we reject original sin and see ourselves as morally neutral, we will go to church to be encouraged in our pursuit of being more moral, achieving an anthropocentric goal, and actualizing our purpose. In the first scenario, the churchman goes to church hungry knowing that he will receive free warm bread. In the second scenario, the churchman goes to church denying both his need   More…

Many Christians regard Lutherans as being very one-sided or narrow in their theology. The accusation is that we Lutherans shrink the church year together into Good Friday. In other words, Lutherans are often blamed for making every day Good Friday, while ignoring the other major themes of the church year.  We are accused of failing to move beyond the cross to the resurrection.  A recent comment from a reader on my personal blog PM Notes captures the concern well,  “All too often evangelicals across the board focus exclusively on Christ’s death and not near enough (if any) on his resurrection. The power   More…