The Reason I Came Here Was…
Dear Brothers, Even though John the Baptizer intentionally pointed two of his disciples away from himself and to the Lamb of God, might it still have hurt just a bit as John and Andrew walked ...
Preach the Word – January/February 2017
Volume 20, Number 3 Preach Specific Law as Law You are preachers. So let me ask you: What’s the worst reaction to a sermon you’ve experienced? Is it the councilman standing in the back where ...
The greatest job ever!
About a month ago, on the last Sunday of the church year, I had the privilege of preaching for a mission festival at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Watertown, WI. In the sermon, we marveled ...
Four Branches December 2016
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Pondering the Penitentials (Part 1) When looking at the psalms designated as “penitential” [1], one can’t help but see a connection between Psalm 6 and Psalm 38, with ...
Team visits Vietnam
In November, Pastor Jon Bare, International Recruitment Director, and Prof. E. Allen Sorum, Pastoral Studies Institute Director, traveled to Vietnam. There they met with and taught 60 leaders of the Hmong Christian Fellowship (HFC), ...
Finding Blessing in Dungeons and Under Broom Trees
Dear Brothers, I’ve never visited the ruins of Herod’s stronghold Machaerus and peered into the depths of the dungeon that may have held John the Baptist. Yet in Sunday’s gospel (Matthew 11:2-11), that dungeon’s contours ...
Four Branches November 2016
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Thanksgiving Paul’s letter to the Philippians has inspired commentaries with titles like “Laugh Again” (Swindoll) and “God’s Guide to Joy” (Klug). Bengel summed up the epistle with the ...
Lutheran Primer
Edward Grimenstein’s A Lutheran Primer for Preaching is exactly what it claims to be: an introduction to one of the tasks, if not the most important task, which pastors do. Grimenstein has two goals in ...
A God of the Living
I’ve never voted a straight party Sadducee ticket. I’m not a rationalistic skeptic who denies the reality of the resurrection. But I understand the doubt that undergirds a key plank in their party platform. Sadducee-like ...
psi update
“If God needs me to be a pastor, then I don’t care–wherever it is needed to make the church–I will go.” This the commitment of Simon, a South Sudanese PSI student in Renton, WA. Simon ...