(from Pastor Rossow) I apologize for the several hours we were off line today (Monday). My best guess is that it was from around 3 PM central to around 9 PM central. I was so intent on listening to the radio show this afternoon that I did not even discover it until around 5 PM central. I immediately called our web host provider. It was a problem beyond their control. The server where we are parked went down and along with it numerous other websites. Our provider assured us that this is a one   time event.   Again I   More…

(from Pastor Preus) I had an experience a couple of weeks ago which made me believe that the church and possibly even the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is getting stronger and more vibrant. After Divine Services on Trinity Sunday a couple of people commented on how nice it was to say the Athanasian Creed. One person whimsically queried as to the liturgical propriety of saying this, the longest of the Ecumenical Creeds, on Sundays other than Trinity Sunday. She modestly averred that she made it a point not to miss church on the Sunday when the Athanasian Creed was spoken   More…

(from Pastor Rossow) I thought I would highlight a comment that I posted in answer to an excellent post by Luke (responding to Pastor Simcak’s  insightful article on missionaries).   Here is Luke’s post: Yah, our missionary situation is a problem. Although this is hearsay, it does come from a missionary – but one tells me that when the LCMS reports X number of missionaries being “sent out” in a given year the majority if not all are only being “sent out” for 2 weeks or so to learn a new language. Once they’re done, they come home and are   More…

Mollie here. Just got this note from Todd . . . Everyone: In case you haven’t heard… Issues, Etc. will re-debut this Monday, June 30, 3:05pm CST. The show will be LIVE and on demand from 3:05-5:00 at www.issuesetc.org. The second hour will also be LIVE on AM 1320 in St. Louis. You’ll be able to subscribe to the Issues, Etc. podcast via iTunes. There will be a direct subscription link at our website. You can also listen on-demand at the website. Issues, Etc.’s LIVE call-in number is (877)623-MYIE (877-623-6943). The 24-hour Issues, Etc. Listener Comment Line is (618)223-8384. The   More…

Thank you for bearing with us as we learn by doing how to manage a super-sized website. We have learned alot and will continue to grow, hopefully not only in the Lord’s grace but in yours also as we take exciting new step after exciting new step. Our goal is to mobilize confessional Lutherans into an organization that defends and promotes the true faith  through local chapters and the internet “community” that is gathering around this website and that is already thriving through so many other excellent blogs and websites. We hope you are gracious towards us as we walk   More…

(Texas Confessional Lutherans) Tucked away in small print in the October REPORTER is the following paragraph: In addition, the Board for Mission Services has 69 missionaries serving throughout the world. There are 27 ordained clergymen serving as missionaries. Two observations and comments: 1.               All of the 69 missionaries are evidently not ordained! You can be the wife of a missionary and that makes you a missionary. You can be telling people how to dig water wells and that makes you a missionary. In my grandfather’s church a missionary was an ordained minister whose   More…

(from Mollie) Let’s face it — Todd Wilken is good on the radio. He is engaging, quick-witted and funny. You can listen to his show while driving or running and it’s just good radio. There are other Lutherans who would be good on the radio. They have voices that are lively, that resonate. Not all of the people with those skills are good on the theology. If you know people that are good on the radio and solidly confessional that’s half the battle. Do these people already have a radio show — say an internet radio show? Do they record   More…

(from Mollie) Gene Veith pointed the way to a few other bloggers who have been looking at the LCMS-specific numbers coming out of that massive Pew report on religion in America: The survey found that only 84% are absolutely certain there is a god; 12% are fairly certain. 9% seldom go to church; 2% never do. Only 42% said the Bible should be taken literally. 28% believe there is one correct way to interpret scripture. I gather that the assorted bloggers thought these numbers were bad. Actually, I’m not so sure. The percentage of people not going to church is   More…

On Wednesday, June 25, 2008, the 478th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, a group of Southern Illinois District pastors gathered at Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church UAC, Fairview Heights, Illinois, for a Day of Prayer and Fasting. This was to hold before the Lord the needs of individuals, families, congregations, district, and synod.   Dr. Frederic W. Baue, pastor of Bethany, had suggested the idea at a meeting of pastors who were discussing LCMS political concerns, citing  Ephesian 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic   More…

(from Pastor Preus) “Most gracious Emperor, this is a Confession that will even prevail against the gates of hell, with the grace and help of God.” So said Gregory Bruck to Emperor Charles V on June 25, 1530. He spoke of the Augsburg Confession which had just been heard in public for the first time. His friend and colleague, Christian Beyer, had read it to the Emperor in the city of Augsburg.   Three things stand out in Bruck’s brief sentence which Lutherans should understand as they seek to confess the truth today.   First, Lutherans humbly confess that the   More…

The Brothers of John the Steadfast has four sources of income. Chapter membership and individual membership dues ($25 a year). The annual appeal (gifts from 5$ to $500) Large gifts (over $500) Church budgets The dues pay for all overhead. We have made this distinction so that  donors can be assured that every dollar donated in the annual appeal will go to supporting Issues, Etc. (and other projects in the future). We also project that there will be monies left over from the dues each quarter to go toward these projects.   The annual appeal will begin later this summer   More…

“We’re going to pick up here where Issues Etc. left off…truly independent, free to speak, no holds barred…Christ centered and cross focused.” Those were certainly welcome words as countless erstwhile pod casters readied themselves for the impending daily dose of straightforward, orthodox, Lutheran theology. Todd and Jeff were coming back. I was very pleased to hear it. I was happy for Todd and Jeff. They are truly heroes in my opinion. They have born the cross with calm and courage. And I am convinced they will be more effective and a greater blessing to the church than when they worked   More…

Welcome to my new blog here at John the Steadfast. Unlike the theological heavyweights who are also blogging and writing here, I plan to keep things a bit more low-brow. We’ll discuss news and events in Lutheranism and the wider world. That means we’ll be discussing everything from Paris Hilton to Contemporary Christian music to Martin Luther’s Baseball Team (the St. Louis Cardinals). For those who don’t know me, I’m a writer in Washington, D.C. I live with my amazing husband and our beautiful 10-month-old daughter. We’re still working on that whole, “Let Mommy sleep through the night” thing, so   More…

Welcome to the BJS Website Welcome to the Brothers of John the Steadfast (BJS) website. The Brothers of John the Steadfast has been organized to bring the laity together to support the new Lutheran confessional media and ironically, in the process we are stepping out with our own contribution to new media with this website. We still have a few loose ends but we are pleased with how much we have accomplished in just a few short months since the cancellation of Issues, Etc. We have · Launched this website · Established the framework for the local chapters of BJS   More…