As slow-motion scenes are the death knell of B-movies, and time-travel is jumping the shark for science-fiction series, so “ripped from the headlines” is the swansong of the TV drama. It might also be the prelude to the last gasp of a church trying to keep her head above the seas of this present age. Continue reading
Look What They’ve Done to Our Brains
“Look What They’ve Done to My Song Ma” is a 1971 hit by Melanie Safka. Listen to it. It’s painful. She complains not only look what they have done to her song but what they’ve done to her brain. Let us look at what the feminists have – be they radical or conservative, egalitarian or even the complementarian – done to our brains. Continue reading
Posted in Families, Missouri Megatrends
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Role Confusion
Higher Things much to the disservice of adolescents everywhere last year published an apologetic of sorts by an LCMS clergyman for his lifelong desire to be a woman which they later apologized for. Higher Things didn’t endorse the man’s lust – that is what it is – for what God had not given him. They struck more a note of sympathy. I am mildly surprised that they didn’t go for the “higher” ground C. S. Lewis established when he said that he wouldn’t write against homosexuality because “I will not indulge in futile philippics against enemies I never met in battle” (Surprised by Joy, 101). Continue reading
Not Your Father’s Bible Church
I can say this about Hill Country Bible Church, Pflugerville, Texas because about 40 years ago I attended a Bible Church while in college. Continue reading
Posted in Contemporary Worship
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Who’s Kidding Who?
This is from Hill Country Bible Church, Pflugerville, Texas webpage titled “What We Believe.” Strict agreement with these doctrines is not required for membership at HCBC; however, we affirm these beliefs as taught in Scripture and have established them as the official positions of our Church. Continue reading
You Can Have Your Catechesis
Here is my reply to all those pastors who insist on referring to their catechism class as catechesis, a term familiar virtually to no one outside the seminary, and ought to be avoided because it sounds more like a disease someone gets than a class someone gives. Continue reading
Posted in For Pastors Only
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Dale Meyer Does George Bush
Who can forget the iconic landing of President George W. Bush on an aircraft carrier ablaze with a banner proclaiming MISSION ACCOMPLISHED? Who does not now know how utterly naïve or perhaps impolitic it was? The banner referred to the 10-month deployment of that particular aircraft carrier being completed not to the Iraq war. Continue reading
Marriage and the Altar
Nope this is not about the marriage altar, but marriage and the Communion altar. If Paul can speak of marriage and really be speaking of Christ and His Church, I can speak of marriage and really be speaking about Communion. Continue reading
Visit to A Wisconsin Synod Church
Visit to A Wisconsin Synod Church
Only it wasn’t; as my April 2015 visit to a Pentecostal church was really a visit to a contemporary one, so was this. They only mentioned WELS once, and I do mean that literally. Their printed welcome says they are “affiliated with the WELS.” I thought these contemporary worship gigs were all about being seeker and user friendly, but they don’t even bother to spell out what WELS stands for let alone tell you what Wisconsin is doing in Texas or what Evangelical is doing right next to Lutheran and what does the strange word “synod” mean. Continue reading
Posted in Contemporary Worship
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Big Dogs, Little Dogs, and Cats
Rev. Clint Poppe gave a justifiably famous presentation in 2012 on the need for pastors to be barking dogs. I would – without his permission, knowledge, acquiesce, or acknowledgement – modify some of his thoughts based on church history and empirical data. Continue reading
Posted in For Anyone who dares
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