President Schroeder told us that we might finish early tomorrow.  It was a welcome announcement.  The binders are full of reports, memorials, resolutions, minutes, and miscellaneous information about this or that Synodical organization.  Our heads are full of sermons, devotions, essays, discussions, decisions, and special presentations.  All the delegates are ready to get back on the road, back in the air, back home.  An early finish is a welcome relief.

But each of us still has to plan how we are going to distill and disseminate all that information.  Each district’s delegation is meeting just after the closing gavel.  No doubt, we’ll receive some instructions along those lines.   Even with some help, it still strikes me as a enormous task;  pick and choose,  prioritize, publicize.  Just the thought is making my head hurt.

On the other hand, there is one thing we can ask you to do right now.  Something you can get an early start on doing, even before your delegate gets home and figures out how to communicate everything to you.  It was a recurring theme throughout the convention.  Get into the word at home.  Get into the word at your congregation’s worship services and Bible studies.  Partake of the Lord’s Supper often.  Say your prayers.  If you already are into all this, don’t forsake it, but continue to make it the focus of your life.  It is how you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is how the Holy Spirit fuels your faith.  It is how our Lord will prepare you to glady take part in the task He’s given to us all through the decisions which have been made at the convention.

Get an early start, because the sooner we finish here, the sooner we will be home to extend our Lord’s call to you to be His witness, too, in whatever you do.

Thanks for reading.  God already has given you all the best He has to give in Christ.  May He grant you the best of the rest that your corner of His world has to  offer.

Your fellow servant in Christ,

Bill

I have to admit I am suffering some withdrawal symptoms. I have not had grits since Sunday. Grits are a Southern staple with every breakfast. They look like cream of wheat. Some people think they are cream of corn. They are actually cream of hominy. Some people like them with butter, salt and pepper. I prefer mine with just pepper, no butter or salt. If you ever travel to the South, don’t put a hole in the middle of them and pour milk and sugar on them. Grits are not cream of wheat. In the South, you do not order grits. They come with every breakfast. “Grits are a lot like grace . . . You don’t have to ask. They just come to everyone.”

The devotions like every other day were great again today. The Michigan Lutheran Seminary Brass Choir accompanied our singing. Rev. John Boggs, the Dean of Students at MLS, delivered very stirring messages for us in the morning and the afternoon. It was great to sit at Rev. Boggs’ feet since I served as his mission counselor when he was a missionary in Mobile, AL.

Today was the day of floor committee reports and resolutions. We continued with the discussion of the motion concerning the synod budget from yesterday. It was lively, passionate, and at times emotional. We were encouraged to be courageous in voting.

In the afternoon we viewed a new movie from the Board for Parish Services, Adult Discipleship Division, “The Road to Emmaus.” It was very professionally done. It was outstanding. It will have many uses for congregations throughout our synod, especially in the mission field. Rev. Dave Kehl, the project director, did an outstanding job! I thank God for the awesome tool this can be for reaching the lost and strengthening our members in their knowledge of God’s plan of salvation.

The Evening Prayer service was very stirring. The hand bells were awesome. The sound was very unique at times. I really enjoyed it. Thank you to the hand bell choir. Rev. Herb Prahl delivered an outstanding sermon. I truly appreciated his narrative style. He had specific law and gospel and very personal applications that were timely and relevant for all of us. Thank you, Pastor Prahl.

It truly was a Thrilling Thursday, but I am really missing my grits.

Lighten up in Christ and live your life for him.

What a day. My son, John- Dean of Students at MLS- started off the morning Devotions with a presentation “Christ’s Love: Love that Endures followed by a presentation by John Moldstad, ELS President.

We then moved onto voting for our committee #4 proposals which kept funding for missions and MLS at the funding levels that were spelled out in Options A&B but made $1Million dollars in cuts in other areas. The motion passed 291 to 69 along with the 3 other motions that our committee made.

In the afternoon session was highlighted with a video titled “The Road to Emmaus presented by Rev. David Kehl, Administratior, WELS Adult Discipleship.  It was extremely well done and presented the message in a way that was wonderful. Thanks.

This has been a very interesting time with a lot of  interesting discussions but in the end it all came together and I think we had a very good plan that will allow the WELS to go forward.

John M. Boggs Sr.

What a spirit filled day. I forgot to mention about the Flags from Monday. At the start of the service they had women come in with each one have an individual flag from each of the countries that the WELS has a presence. I think there were 37 in all. It was very impressive.

Today was a very important day for our Finance and Budget committee #4. We finally decided on our final proposal and around 4:00 Joel Otto presented it to the Synod delegates. There are three separate proposals and he read them all and we then had a short time for comments and questions. The first comment was about remembering all the synod workers that have had their call terminated. There was a standing ovation of about 5 minutes and was very emotional. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and we pray that God will lead them in the path that he wants their lives to go.

We then recessed for dinner and there was a lot of discussions about our proposal and questions about how we came up with the individual cuts. Several people expressed their appreciation that our proposal eliminated any more mission cuts and eliminated the closing of MLS. I really appreciated working with all 18 members of our committee and with our chairman Joel Otto. We have worked really hard at determining Wants VS Needs and I think the Department heads were very helpful in our discussions.  The choir sang twice today and it really added a lot to our services.

After dinner I went back for the Home and World Mission presentations that were very informative. John Lawrenz’s presentation of our Asia mission work was very informative and reminded me of his days as MLS President.

Pray for us tomorrow that the Lord’s will be done.

John M. Boggs Sr.

Another great start to the day with a wonderful devotion by Rev. William Brassow. Great illustration about a teenage thief and his five year old daughter. The MLS Concert Choir did an awesome job. Someone who came in late thought it was a CD.

Outstanding essay on Our Calling by Rev. Jon Schroeder. He had been my pastor for 6 years; in fact, my wife, who had me as her pastor for 24 years, said it took her 24 years to finally get a great pastor. As of last Sunday, he is our vacancy pastor at my home congregation in Hampton, GA. His essay was very timely, practical and relevant. He received a resounding applause. As President Paul Wendland from Wisconsin Seminary pointed out, he made a very clear presentation of an often obscure teaching. Many great applications to our personal lives and congregations as well as to our synod as one delegate pointed out.

In the afternoon devotion the MLS Concert Choir again performed. This time three songs. They received a resounding applause.

After a presentation on Northwestern Publishing House and our worker training schools, the rest of the afternoon was spent on floor committee reports. As one delegate expressed at dinner, it was refreshing to hear all four presidents of our working training schools using phrases like “looking to the future”, “as we enter the 21st century”, and “in our vision for our future called workers” rather than the past statement of “staying the course”.

Finally, Floor Committee #4 presented their three memorials concerning the budget. The discussion already is lively. It will continue tomorrow.

This evening we had a very enlightening presentation from Home Missions concerning the work going on in the Colorado Mission District from Rev. Wayne Uhlhorn.

We also had a very stirring presentation on World Missions, especially Asia, by Dr. John Lawrenz. He gave us a great history of Christianity in China – and the Lutheran Church and WELS in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Then Rev. Mark Bitter offered a very enlightening presentation on Christian Worship: The Supplement. I especially enjoyed this since I had never seen a copy of this. Again, working with missions, mostly in the South, we have not quite progressed to this yet. He led us in singing some new hymns. He introduced us to new hymns by Keith Getty and gave us the background of Keith Getty. Then he walked us through one of the Divine Services that does not have the sung versicles and very little chanting. I found this service very appealing, especially for use among mission churches in the South where chanting is very foreign for first-time unchurched visitors, at least in my experience. Also, I am not very big on chanting myself. For me it was a great way to end the evening. Of course, I enjoy sitting at Mark’s feet when it comes to worship.

Lighten up in Christ and live your life for him.

“Most graduates are past their prime at age 40.”  That’s what the missionary  said.  Describing the mission opportunities in Asia,  he was talking about the value of being able to proclaim the Gospel in a foreign language.  He was impressing on the delegates the need to begin foreign language training at an early age, in our elementary schools, if not from infancy on.  If we are going to prepare the next generation for mission work in the 21st century, teaching them second languages early on is vital.  Because once a person turns forty, it is harder to learn a second language. 

But all I focused on was, “after forty, you’re past your prime.”  I’m 57.  Well, maybe I could ask the Holy Spirit to direct a Pentecost gift of tongues my way, gift me with the ability to speak a foreign language at the level of a foreign national professor.  Only take about twenty years.  

On the other hand, there are several gifted people “on the ground” in SouthEast Asia already.  They already know the languages.  They’re doing a heroic job of proclaiming the Gospel by every means possible, using every media available.  Already, they’ve added foreign language subtitles to a WELS feature film production,  “The Road to Emmaus.”  (You can get a copy from Parish Services.)

It won’t help them much if I start learning to speak a foreign language now.  But there is another language I know which could help them.  You can speak it as well as I do.  In fact this language could help every single aspect of our home and world missions.  I know “Money.”  I know it talks.  Its voice can go out into the world in the form of supporting the skilled veterans and the fast learning fresh faces laboring for us all in the mission fields of our Lord.

It’s easy to “pass the buck,” excusing ourselves from mission work because we don’t speak a foreign language.  But for the love of Jesus, for lost souls, we can afford to pass a few more bucks on to those who do know a second language, keep them speaking it for the Lord, for us, in foreign lands. 

I can’t turn back the clock.  But I can put more of my money where our confession is, where our missionaries are.

Great morning devotion by Pastor Paul Prange. Great illustration of Muslim public school student who was visiting in his MLS classroom who felt Christ’s suffering and death was totally unfair. Great illustration of grace.

Awesome essay on the efficacy and power of the means of grace from former classmate Professor John Brenner of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Great applications for the mission field and for my use with home missionaries as well as in all congregations and with all pastors of our synod.

Another great devotion by Pastor Paul Prange to start our afternoon. It is great to sit at his feet since at one time he was a summer vicar for me in the South Atlantic District. What joy this brings as I thank God for the privilege of watching these men grow in to the marvelous servants of God they have become! It also is a reminder that I am getting just a little older.

Two very stirring reports on Home Missions by Pastor Chuck Westra, Chairman of the Board for Home Missions, and then on World Missions by Pastor Dan Koelpin, Administrator of the Board for World Missions. Great statistics and the tremendous need and opportunities before us to reach out to the lost in our nation and in our world.

We also had many elections and started floor committee reports and resolutions.

In the evening we had an Open Hearing on the Ad Hoc Commission Report. Much of the discussion centered on Section 4: Pursuing excellence among called workers. There were many questions asking for clarification and for rationale. My whole ministry has been one of continuing education. Many people would say I needed it. To which I would rightly agree. There was also discussion on the tuition situation at MLC and WLS and the debt load many of our graduating students have as they enter the public ministry. How times have changed since I graduated in 1977 – without any debts! Of course, as we heard from Professor John Brenner in his essay, we are no longer in “the horse and buggy” days or even in “the auto and telephone” days.

Lighten up in Christ and live your life for him.

We all know how distant thunder rumbles warnings of an approaching storm.  Calm air and quiet surround us, but but we know that it won’t last for long.

The convention has been calm so far.  But there have been rumblings both in the formal sessions and in informal conversations.  This one shares his statistics.  Another counters them with statistics of his own.  An opening devotion rebukes the potential we have for speaking our truth in anger, and for falling prey to  gossip in huddles during breaks.  Open forums witness flashes of passion for this or that cause.

Some important resolutions have been presented and delt with, but all the delegates know that much hard work still lies before us.   Clouds of controversy are moving in.  The storm is coming.

I’m not concerned.  If, “circumcised believers” once “criticized Peter” for doing exactly what the Lord told him to do, it should be expected that criticism and controversywill arise when we don’t have a direct revelation from God regarding the rightness or wrongness of a given position.

So, there will be a storm  of debate, but the storm will pass.  Under our Lord’s guidance, by God’s grace, we will make decisions which will guide us through the next two years.  My prayer is that those decisions will generate another kind of storm.  Maybe the distant rumbling I “hear” is not the convention’s coming debates, but the gathering of our WELS fellowship in anticipation regarding the decisions of this convention. 

In conjunction with its decisions, may the Lord lead us all to storm the world with the Lord’s word, the Law and the Gospel, the cleansing flood of word and sacraments, the word that goes out from His mouth, achieving the purpose for which he sent it…for the Lord’s renown.”

Hi All,

Just got back from our Committee #4 meetings and it is 11:00. We had a very long but informative day with presentations from all the Synod Committees and their representatives. I think the thing that stands out the most to me is how they all have a lot of passion for their work in serving their Lord. We shared a lot of comments and ideas and I felt we did a really good job of listening to their rationale for their individual department budgets. I have been so impressed with our leadership and especially our President and CFO. They listen to our questions and then share their ideas and comments that are well thought out and it is very exciting to see how it will all fit together.

The presentations today were very thought provoking yet keep bringing us back to the truth of the Gospel. With all our committee meetings we have to miss some of them but hopefully tomorrow we can wrap up our proposal and present to the Synod for Approval. I am reminded of Proverbs 3:-5-6 when I work on projects like this and feel it really applies especially with the work we are tasked with.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight.

Good night,

John M. Boggs

Monday morning started in an awesome way.  Worship was held at St. Paul’s in Saginaw.  I usually worship in rental facilities like school cafeterias or office complexes or in small church buildings.  To be in such a cathedral-like edifice was awe-inspiring to say the least.  We have no such WELS church building like that in the South.  It literally took my breath away, otherwise it was my asthma from walking up all the steps.

The singing was powerful and gave me the chills.  Personally, I would have chosen a few more lively songs.

I would have liked to see the presiding minister to smile more, especially during the absolution and the benediction.

The use of other instruments was sensational — the trumpets, bells and drums.  The cymbals during the singing of Jerusalem the Golden gave me goose bumps.

The sermon by Pastor Treptow was well-crafted and well-delivered.  It contained specific law and gospel with timely and practical applications.

It had been a long time since I received the wine of Lord’s Supper from a common cup.

It was a pleasant walk to and from worship.  About 6-7 blocks from the MLS campus.

President Mark Schroeder’s Report ran 30 minutes over the time he himself set for it.  I am sure the other bloggers will give you the details of his report.

A great amount of time was spent on the discussion of the budget, including an Open Hearing in the evening.  I appreciate those who studied this thoroughly and take it very seriously.  Some are very passionate about the options presented — Options A and B.  Others are requesting an Option C.  In fact, one delegate asked everyone who wanted an option other than A or B to stand.  It was interesting to listen and observe.

It was an awesome first day.

Lighten up in Christ and live your life for him.