The installation of new officers, including President-elect Matthew Harrison, will take place Sept. 11 at the Chapel of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus on the campus of Concordia Seminary. I’ve attended one of these installations before and they are very nice. This one looks particularly nice as all clergy are invited to bring vestments and a red stole to join in the processional. Some of my highlights of attending the recent Synodical convention were those moments when you’d hear groups of pastors singing the Doxology or otherwise combining their voices to beautiful effect. I’d love to hear that service. It’s   More…

Religion News Service (which is a wire service focused on religion news) is running a Q&A with Rev. Matt Harrison. Here’s a snippet: Q: The Missouri Synod is known as a conservative denomination, but some have said it or its leadership were not conservative enough. Do you agree? A: I think the challenge we have to face internally is the proper approach to meeting culture and accommodating culture. Obviously we have to take a very ancient New Testament message and bring it into a fast-paced and ever-changing post-modern world. I think some thought the essence of Lutheranism was, at times,   More…

I have been so busy talking with folks and watching the events on the floor that I have failed to keep you all updated. I did have some overall observations, some of which repeat what you might have read here already. – BJS is read by a lot of people from all across the Synod. I can’t tell you how many people wished to discuss with me things that they had read here. – I have been calling this the “Issues, Etc.” revolution. You are seeing that the folks who are being elected are the folks you might hear on   More…

Just wanted to pop in and give an update on the convention. As you’ve already heard, some of the major restructuring passed with, as is sadly usual in Synodical politics, a narrow margin. I went around to ask delegates about their mood and found, as you might expect, quite a few people who voted one way or the other. More surprising to me, at least, were the number of people who voted FOR restructuring who are strong, strong Harrison supporters. Their thinking was that the restructuring was needed for efficiency reasons but that cutting a few costs or streamlining doesn’t   More…

A friend sent this to me and I thought I would pass it on to you. By Daniel Bourke-Bourke (RSNS) Paul, an octopus in Oberhausen, Germany, gained international notariety by amazing fans with his correct World Cup picks. The magnificent mollusk accurately predicted the outcome of all of Germany’s matches by choosing between two mouthwatering mussels, one for Germany and one for its opponent. Paul is now attempting to soothsay outside the world of sport, and is making a foray into the ecclesial realm. On Tuesday, July 13, in Houston, Texas, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod will meet in a plenary   More…

I know you shouldn’t enjoy a hot, sticky, muggy city like Houston is, but I am having a blast down here. The locals are as friendly and wonderful as could be and the Lutherans from around the country are fantastic. There is not much to report thus far in the day. Delegates are beginning the work of moving through their schedule. There were two motions made this morning that I thought I would update readers on. The first was to change standing rules so as to preserve the spirit of the “pro-con” debate. In the rules, it says that delegate   More…

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today, an article on restructuring: The vote on restructuring has been five years in the making. Kieschnick is its primary designer, and he has sold it hard to the people in the pews, traveling the country for the last three years with members of his restructuring task force to listen to suggestions, explain possible changes and answer questions, according to the Rev. Larry Stoterau, president of the denomination’s Pacific Southwest district and a member of the task force.

I know that many of us are getting ready to head to Houston for the convention. With just a few days left, I thought it worth revisiting this video made earlier in our journey toward Houston. At the very least it makes for excellent music to pack to!

The rumors have been swirling for a month or more, but there is reason to believe that it’s more than a rumor. Supporters of President Kieschnick have articulated the plan in various ways but the bottom line is that they’re suggesting that, if elected, this would be President Kieschnick’s last term. Further, they’re suggesting that the Rev. Matthew Harrison could use an additional three years in a Synodical position before being made president. It’s easy to see how this would be the strategy — nothing else has really gained traction, campaign-wise. But will it work with delegates? I decided to   More…

Religion reporter Brad Greenberg, a colleague of mine at GetReligion.org, has an article in the Wall Street Journal today about the difference between mission work and charity work. Read the whole thing but you’ll appreciate this quote that ends the article: The Rev. Albert B. Collver, an executive with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s World Relief and Human Care division, sums it up well: “It is the recognition that Christ died, that he wants everyone to be saved and that his love for the church is a love for all of mankind.”

I just saw this great article in the Herald-Journal about the Higher Things conference that’s going on in Logan, Utah, right now. It makes me wish I were there! Here’s how the article begins: Teenagers from around the country have gathered on Utah State University’s campus this week to unite in one common belief: Jesus Christ died and rose again for them. More than 500 kids participated in Higher Things, an annual four-day Lutheran youth conference that ends today. The driving force of Higher Things is to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ and worship together, said Sandra Ostapowich,   More…

As active as our commenting community here at BJS is, our posts produce even more activity that goes on behind the scenes. Like clockwork, every time I post on something, I get calls from folks in the International Center or elsewhere in the country. Well, as soon as Letter #9 was released, I heard from many people who wanted to talk about one thing that troubled them in particular: the letter’s bylined author. Now, JesusFirst as a group stands behind the accusations and bears full responsibility for publishing these accusations – now thoroughly discredited by accountants and other knowledgeable folks.   More…

A few days ago, I wrote about one of JesusFirst’s campaign pieces that said some pretty horrible things about one of Synod’s most wonderful programs — World Relief and Human Care. It was the type of letter that could actually lead to decreased funds going to help those vulnerable people most in need. As such, I can’t begin to understand why it was written or how it met with the approval of anyone on JesusFirst, much less made it to production. It also turned out to be factually incorrect. Within a few hours of the letter being distributed, the CPA   More…

One of my friends is a lay delegate to the convention. He and I don’t always agree on church-related matters. He is a supporter of President Gerald Kieschnick, having voted for him at a prior convention. Just this week he said that he’d planned to vote for President Kieschnick but also felt comfortable with a victory for the Rev. Matthew Harrison. When the smear letter came out yesterday, he read it and wondered if it was true. After he saw the response from the board of World Relief and Human Care, he said: “I have to be honest. I’m extremely   More…

I was talking with a delegate who received campaign material yesterday in support of the Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick. No, not the discredited JesusFirst piece with embarrassing accounting errors, but a nice little letter signed by a bunch of people who say that they think the Synod can endure a few more years of the same leadership. The letter was fine, if a bit bland. And it was bland even while it was working overtime to give credit to President Kieschnick for things he probably doesn’t even try to claim credit for himself. Talking about how well the LCMS World   More…