Doing Theology with People who Have Disabilities

Arthur and Carol Wahlers Editorial Note: Carol and Art Wahlers have been in the forefront of the Missouri Synod’s advocacy for the disabled. They have authored numerous resolutions for the Northwest District and the synod on behalf of the disabled. Before his retirement Dr. Wahlers was dean of students, academic dean and special assistant to…
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Who Are We? A Personal Reflection

David Stein Editorial Note: Dr. David T. Stein, a former president of the DayStar community, has served in parish ministry and higher education in the LCMS for over forty years. In retirement, he resides in Leander, Texas, and continues to take an active role in teaching and other opportunities for ministry. In accepting this assignment,…
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2,400,000 & Subtracting – 100,000,000 & Adding

David Stein Editorial Note: David T. Stein, a past-president of DayStar, is emeritus and living in Leander, Texas. He continues to teach at Concordia University, Austin. Recent membership statistics produced by Missouri Synod headquarters indicate that we are in a significant downward spiral with losses numbering in the thousands. In round figures our branch of…
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An Unfolding Perspective on Poverty

David Stein Editorial Note: David Stein, Ph.D., former pastor of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, is a past president of the Daystar Association and is currently working with “Food for the Poor.” After returning from the Dominican Republic, he is on his way to Kenya. His is the third article on…
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Thoughts for Pastors Regarding the Election

Arthur Simon Editorial Note: Art Simon is the founder and president emeritus of Bread for the World, the nation’s premier citizen’s lobby against hunger. He served for almost two decades as its chief executive officer and then directed the Washington Office of Christian Children’s Fund from 1992 to 1997. He was pastor of Trinity Lutheran…
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Poised for Mission

Robert Schmidt Squabbling in the church, lack of central coordination, everyone going their own way, locked in an acrimonious debate between traditionalists and those on the cutting edge of mission? While that certainly describes the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod at the beginning of 21st century, it was equally true of the early church at the Council of…
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Doing Theology in Our Christian Calling

Robert Schmidt It was an argument a third-year seminarian could not win. The professor, the sainted Henry Reimann, was teaching an elective called “The Nature and Function of Theology.” What is “theology” anyway? He suggested that in the history of the church, especially the Lutheran church, theology was the “critique of teaching and preaching.” In…
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The Call to Good Citizenship

Robert Schmidt In the September 2006 issue of the LCMS Reporter Uwe Siemon-Netto, a German national and director of the Institute of Lay Vocation at Concordia Seminary, wrote about our need to heed our calling as Christian citizens. The international journalist rightly selected the Lutheran doctrine of the calling as an appropriate place for Christians to face…
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Congregational Goals: Who Sets Them?

Paul Schmidt Editorial Note: Although Pastor Paul Schmidt is not a credentialed intentional interim minister in the LCMS, he is a member of NALIP, the National Association of Lutheran Interim Pastors, and has participated in its annual meetings. Pastor Schmidt served churches in Bingen, Washington; Greenacres, Washington; Murray, Utah; and Spokane Washington. From 1986 to…
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Is a Woman without a Voice Justified?

Carol Schmidt “Doing theology” involves observing the effects of theological assumptions and doctrines on the lives of people and asking many questions. Today I wonder what justification means for a person whose voice is not allowed to be heard in the church and I wonder if the church that silences people believes in the gracious…
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