Pastor Ingo Dutzmann and his First Lutheran Congregation of Boston, MA will be on national TV tomorrow. They will be interviewed about the bombing in Boston. Their church is only four blocks away from the bombing and the explosion was … Continue reading
Both BJS political commentators are on the road at confessional conferences. Charlie Henrickson is on the road to Minneapolis for the ACL conference and yours truly is down in the heart of Texas for the ACELC conference in Austin. I … Continue reading
Our eighth grade teacher is retiring this year and so we are looking for prospects to call or hire and then colloquize. Bethany is a very happy and enjoyable place to serve the Lord. Church and School work seamlessly together. … Continue reading
In just one week we raised $3,500 to help colloquize pastor Matt Richard into the LCMS. We only need $1,500 more to reach our goal of $5,000 for the Pastor Matt Richard Fund. In order to fully utilize the generous … Continue reading
One can imagine all sorts of interesting BJS headlines when one is sitting in his study on Good Friday waiting to hear confessions. Like the Maytag repairman, I am experiencing a bit of dead time. Each year we schedule time … Continue reading
At BJS we are familiar with deep discussions about theology. Many conversations occur online between our authors and readers over the distinctives that we hold dear. Not all of our contributors come from an LCMS background but adhere steadfastly to … Continue reading
The Rev. Tapani Simojoki has heart-warming news to report from Finland. A conservative Lutheran diocese has been born in Finland. It grew out of but is independent of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (the state sponsored liberal church). Rev. Simijoki, a … Continue reading
Over on Norm’s Good Stuff Found post on the cable television Bible series there is a nice comment left by “Poor Miserable Sinner” in which he/she thanks BJS and Issues, Etc. for excellent catechesis. It’s good to be loved by … Continue reading
BJS contributing author Joshua Gale is featured in the most recent edition of For the Life of the World, (March, 2013, pp. 8-9) published by Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In this short piece Gale offers profound thoughts … Continue reading
The meaning of Pastor Morris’ apology on the synod’s WMLT blog is hard to decipher. His recent interview in the Newtown Bee sheds some light on it. Even though President Harrison calls his participation in the Vigil Service unionism and … Continue reading
The other day Norm posted a “Good Stuff Found” video of two little boys in Nebraska talking about baptism. It is so good it moved commenter Cynthia to sob and to post a moving quote. The video is so good … Continue reading
We are proud of our liberal comments policy here at BJS. We like to say “It’s the only liberal thing about us.” We do not censor people who disagree with our editorial views or even those who post foolish comments. … Continue reading
The LCMS Council of Presidents (COP) met this last week. They have addressed the Newtown matter with an open letter. Some of our readers may not know who the Council of Presidents is and what they do. Article 3.10 of … Continue reading
Church Growthers often give the impression that Confessionals are somehow unprogressive and non-visionary. This is just not the case if you consider the courage and gumption of several confessional parishes that I know of that are starting building programs even … Continue reading
LCMS President Emeritus Kieschnick had some interesting comments on the Newtown incident in his Perspectives column. Curtis Christiansen, the Head Elder from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (Lincoln Nebraska; Pastor Clint Poppe) took exception to many things President Kieschnick said and sent … Continue reading
The LCMS is blessed with a president who is greatly gifted by God. He is one of our leading theologians, a translating machine, an author, and he knows how to get things done. I have no hesitation in saying that in my 50 years or … Continue reading
After hearing Rev. James May at the BJS conference last weekend, members of Divine Shepherd Church (LCMS) in Bolingbrook, Illinois are offering the following overture for the LCMS convention this summer. We thank Pastor Paul Mumme for this news and … Continue reading
I did not intend to hurt people with my words to Pastor Morris in the BJS post the night of the Newtown Vigil. My intention was to speak God’s word to the situation. Shortly after the post was put up, … Continue reading
There are two kinds of people who cannot see the error of unionism and syncretism. The first are those who allow what we call today “Contemporary Worship” (CoWo). The second are those who are theological liberals. If you look at … Continue reading
President Harrison has just posted on the Witness, Mercy, Life Together blog (WMLT) the great news that Pastor Rob Morris, from the local LCMS parish in Newtown, Connecticut, has apologized for his participation in the unionistic and syncretistic prayer vigil in the … Continue reading
The Districts of the LCMS are for the most part bloated, ideaologically misguided, and inefficient. In partial proof of that thesis let’s look at a set of district initiatives from the Minnesota South District (MNS). Over on the post about the … Continue reading
As usual, we have people from far and wide coming to the BJS conference. Registrants currently touch all four borders of the country, north, south east and west. we’ve got people coming from the state of Washington, Connecticut, Texas and … Continue reading
The “No Pietists Allowed Parties” are now set for the 2013 Annual BJS Conference. They feature scotch, beer, cigars and an Irish pub. Scotch Tasting – The Gavin family has once again graciously opened their home for a wonderful party. Come … Continue reading
When we plan a BJS conference we not only focus on the speakers but also try to recruit preachers who will fill your ears with Christ and his doctrine. This year is no different. We are happy that Revs. Hans … Continue reading
The food at the annual BJS Conference is always great and this year it will be no different. For lunch on Saturday we are serving two varieties of sliders – pulled pork and maid-rite/sloppy joe. The meal will be rounded … Continue reading