As the effects of a global pandemic linger on, it’s tempting to think we shouldn’t attempt to accomplish anything big. At least not right now. Of course, once “everything gets back to normal,” we will launch that new effort, recruit that new talent, or start that new church. Admittedly, I
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On presidential inauguration day January 20th, 2021 (I confess that I was glued to the TV), I could not help myself but wonder over the passing of the baton from one administration to the next. Numbers were invoked numerous times: the 59th inauguration, the 46th president, since 1789, more than
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Memorial Lutheran Church in Katy, Texas (Rev. John Davis, senior pastor) is reaching out to its community in a new way. The congregation called Rev. Ben Spaulding as a candidate from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis to plant the church outside the walls of a traditional church building, in the Katy
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“Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets (or the squares) of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. 5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. “–
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Just a few mornings ago an armadillo ran across my path while I was running. Out of all the blessings God bestowed on armadillos a sharp vision was not one of them. As the critter scurried in front of me, he realized I was close. So he shifted into a
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“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body
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“You can do more than pray after you have prayed… but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” – A. J. Gordon In October of 2019, our Texas District Mission Staff got our heads together to discern what steps typically lead to successful church planting. We identified
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A little over three weeks ago, Hurricane Laura hit the Texas/Louisiana coast, leaving behind it a path of destruction. With its powerful winds, families from both states were displaced, and communities remain without power, sewer and water. The Sermon on the Mount lays out what ethical and daily living should
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The president of the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States stepped to the microphone for his opening convention address in 1917. World War I raged. The globe was on the brink of a flu pandemic that would claim 50 million lives. Rev. Dr. Friedrich Pfotenhauer needed
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The past 60 years have been unprecedented for cultural, political and even ecclesiastical stability to the point of being predictable, if not boring. But there were assumptions over those same years about church life that became less and less applicable as time went on. The church was the center of
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