This essay by Rev. Lloyd Gross, The Trouble With Equality, is essential knowledge for every Christian. I hope you will read it, and pass it on. Everyone, believer and unbeliever alike, needs to hear it if this world is ever to return to some modicum of sanity. Rev. Dean Kavouras...

Recently I wrote an article called "The Topic Of The Hour" in which I question our unsuccessful attempts to missionize our neighborhoods. In another post entitled "Breaking The Bad News" I question our methods. With those I would have left the subject alone, but this coming Sunday's gospel (Mark 4:2634) makes a few more words unavoidable. It both raises the question, and g...

Does a church need a mission statement? Only if it is the right one. And there is only one - though it can be said in different ways. The simplest is the admonition of the Revelation angel, "Worship God." (Rev. 22:9) The command comprehends everything that the Christian church is and does. Because whenever men who are born as slaves to sin begin worship the Father in Sp...

This reading is the epistle lesson for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost (series B). The translation from the Greek is my own. An Interpretation Of 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 CONTEXT The Corinthian congregation Paul addresses in this letter has drifted away from the reservation. It now rejects Paul and his fellows who are the Lord's true apostles, and lends its itching ears to a...

Dear Friends and Fellow Pastors in the Ohio District, Someone needs to break to bad news that social work, is not mission work. For the last 50 years we have expended copious amounts of blood, sweat and tears hoping that basketball nights, and food banks, would lead people to baptism. But they haven't. Indeed the opposite happened.Nor have we done any better with more di...

Can the church do formal mission work today? Yes. Three elements are needed which only God can provide: opportunity, qualified missionaries; needed resources. Opportunity abounds and people are easily reachable by a missionary in all urban areas. I estimate that there are over 500 residences within one mile of my parish, Christ Lutheran Church, which is on the far west ...

What do faithful Christians fear more than anything? The death of the church. But our Lord says, "Fear not little flock for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." (Luke 12:32) And David says, "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) Try as we might (and the LCMS has tried mightily in the last 50 years) we cannot manufacture church members, or...

THE PRODIGAL SURROUNDED BY THE SWINE OF SIN AND DEATH. THE FATHER, OUR GRACIOUS HEAVENLY FATHER, RUNNING OUT TO MEET YOU, HIS RETURNING SON. If your sin oppresses you and weighs you down, then hear the parable of the Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:1-32) You are the prodigal son, at all times ripe with sin and death from which you can in no way free yourself. Every day you...

Acts 1:12-26 Whenever possible it behooves Lutherans to take the liturgico-sacramental route of biblical interpretation. I suggest it be done along these lines. The Mt. of Olives is not just a geographical location, but is highly significant in the New Testament. Better to call it Olive Mountain. That helps us think about the place and how it got its name. For olives. Wh...

Beloved in Christ, In the event that I should be elected as President of the Ohio District there are some things I would work to change. Above all that our pastors and congregations should re-discover what their respective work is. The pastor's work is to lead the baptized in worship. That is his "job description." When you see the pastor in the chancel giving voice to G...