ACELC — Just One Week from Today … stand UP and stand TOGETHER!

ACELC-LogoThe fight for the heart and soul of our Synod can only be won in the hearts and minds of her Pastors and People.  This means engaging together in the hearing and study of Holy Scripture and the Confessions of the Church.

This February 10-12, at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Kansa City, MO, will be the fifth Annual ACELC Free Conference.  The topic is Christ for us: The Office of the Holy Ministry Part II – The Unbiblical Removal of Pastors.

While those who openly preach, teach, and practice doctrines contrary to what we have been taught do so with impunity and continue to enjoy full fellowship status within Synod, pastors faithful to their ordination vows are being removed from their calls and even Synod itself through the back door of CRM status.

This is perhaps the most shameful and profane of errors within the LCMS today.  The consequences to those immediately affected by it are devastating.  For those who perpetrate it, the consequences can be eternal.  It is therefore for the sake of all that we host this conference and seek to resolve this matter through Word, instruction, and confession.

Reasons for YOU to Attend:

  • To be informed and show your support for both the resolution of the problem and those most affected by it. When one part of the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer.
  • To be informed on what the ministry and duties of the Pastor are, that expectations of him may be right and realistic, and in accord with the purposes for which God called and sent him to you.
  • To be informed on what God expects of His people in supporting their Pastor and helping him to improve and grow in the ministry entrusted to him as he cares for your soul.
  • To be informed that the Pastor is your shepherd, not your CEO. Come and find out the difference and the consequences.
  • To be informed on the right and wrong reasons for removing a Pastor from his call and office. It is important that you know the difference so as not to unintentionally sin against the Lord’s called servant.
  • To be informed that this problem is not new. There are things for us to learn from our Reformation fathers on this topic.  If we fail to give History her due, we are sure to repeat the errors and atrocities we could have otherwise avoided.
  • And finally … your calling as one BAPTIZED into Christ and His Church, in a fellowship bound together in common faith and confession, is to renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways. To “renounce” is to actively resist that which is wrong in order to then uphold, defend, and confess to the very end that which is right, rather than fall away from it.

 

If we are idle in these matters, then we are complicit in their continuance.

Therefore I exhort you to make every effort to come and join us.  Your participation is essential whenever and wherever you are able.  If you are not able to join us for this conference, then pray for us that God’s Word be taught in all its truth and purity, and that we as God’s children, seek a holy life and fellowship together in accord with that Word.

In this Spirit … this conference seeks to pronounce very distinctive Lutheran conclusions to the errors and challenges associated with the conference topic, and likewise to identify and set forth the biblical practices that hold the promise of God’s blessing.  Thus we seek not novelty, but strong and clear reaffirmation of what we as Evangelical Lutherans have always held to be true in accord with Holy Scripture and the Confessions of the Church.

 

Presentations and Speakers are:

Removal of Pastors: Reality and Consequences (Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.)

Duties of the Pastor: Expectations and Evaluations (Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller)

What Hearers Owe their Pastors: The Table of Duties (Rev. Todd Wilken)

The Pastor: CEO or Shepherd? (Rev. Rolf Preus)

Deposing a Pastor: Biblical and Unbiblical Reasons (Rev. Dan Bremer)

Unjust Treatment of Pastors: Late Reformation Germany (Rev. Robert Mayes)

Unbiblical Removal of Pastors: Summary & Resolution (Rev. Clint Poppe)

 

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

BOOKS! We will again this year be giving away excellent theological publications from Concordia Publishing House. In addition, numerous CPH publications will be on hand at discounted prices.  It is our intent to make available and put into the hands of our guests some of the best of our theological writings and works.

WORSHIP   Daily Matins and Vespers.  All are also invited to attend Holy Cross’s midweek Divine Service on Wednesday evening.  Admission to Holy Communion will be for Communicant Members in good standing of Holy Cross, of other LCMS congregations, and of Lutheran Church bodies in declared Altar and Pulpit fellowship with the LCMS.

BANQUET … at the exquisite Hawthorn House in Parkville, for both exceptional food and local drink.  The menu includes grilled sirloin tips, grilled chicken in basil, garlic mashed potatoes and Texas sheet cake!  Word has it that a local favorite Boulevard brew will also be on tap – Kansas City’s finest!

The agenda includes the awarding of gifts to conference speakers, Jim and Dan’s excellent ACELC “Film Project” #2 (crude in form but not rude in content),  and quite possibly pictures of a certain CTS professor’s reunion with long lost bearded kin in “West Monroe, Louisiana.”  You will have to come and see that one!

TO REGISTER … please go to acelc.net

Rev. James D. Gier

Conference Committee Chairman, ACELC

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