Yeah it's a free-for-all. The liturgical legalists on one side, the "seeker church" people on the other side, and the normal Lutherans in the middle. The show was canceled because the radio station has no money. It wasn't a bad show, but it did tend to lean more towards "form" rather than "function" or perhaps the belief "form=function" which would be a very Roman Catholic belief and not a very Lutheran one, but now you know the rest of the story.... Everyone is fighting over why the denomination is shrinking. The reality is that in the old days they grew the denomination not only by having babies and bringing them up through the parochial schools, but also through the Lutheran Hour and Evangelism. What is interesting is that with minorities and non-whites (the people actually performing Evangelism) the church is growing. The Lutheran church in Africa is bigger than the Lutheran churches in the USA and Europe combined and it is only 150 years old, but they evangelize. We fight over which hymnal to use and then wonder why folk go elsewhere. Blessings, Randy Derick Dickens wrote: > I think the Wall Street Journal proved one thing, when you offer a > high quality and theologically engaging program, you do attract people > who are hungry for this type of programming. These people are more > engaged and more focused than the normal seeker sensitive movement > people. I am sorry to see this program go. While I am not a > Lutheran, honest pursuits in theology should always be encouraged. > > Derick > > On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 12:54 PM, Jeff Hallmark <bctexan@... > <mailto:bctexan@...>> wrote: > > > Circus-Driven LCMS Churches: How Low Can We Go? > <http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/?p=555> > > from sliceoflaodicea.com > <http://www.google.com/reader/view/feed/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sliceoflaodicea.com%2F%3Ffeed%3Drss2> > by Ingrid > > Kim Riddlebarger has posted photographs > <http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/the-latest-post/2008/3/31/25000-for-this.html> > of what a new, hip LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) > congregation spent money on to promote their church. There's a > battle underway between the old, confessional Lutheran churches > and the circus-driven church philosophy which has invaded this > denomination with a vengeance under President Kieschnick. The > abrupt removal of the popular radio program Issues, Etc. on the > Tuesday before Easter has started a backlash from conservative > Lutherans that the bureaucracy in St. Louis was wholly unprepared > for. Issues, Etc. frequently addressed the problems with the > Purpose-Driven, seeker church growth philosophy, the emerging > church, the Joel Osteen mentality and other problems invading the > Lutheran churches of the Missouri Synod. Because the leadership at > the synod very much is embracing both the emerging church ideas > and Rick Warren-style church transformation, Issues, Etc. was > perceived to be an obstacle to their goal of "bringing the LCMS > back to national prominence". The last time the LCMS was > nationally prominent was during the era when you had men of > Christian integrity in synod leadership who believed that the > preaching of Christ crucified was the only hope of the world. The > current compromisers and pragmatists who have built an ever larger > bureaucracy in St. Louis are relying on flippant billboard > campaigns and "relevant" sermon series to promote their churches. > Take down those crosses, dump those hymnals and smash up the > organ, they say. Get a rock band up in the chancel and have the > preacher preach on sex. That'll save the denomination. > > The Wall Street Journal > <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120667366412170875.html?mod=taste_primary_hs> > featured a piece last week on what happened to Issues, Etc. and > what is happening in the LCMS in general today. I love the last > sentence of the article. It really expresses the hearts of many > younger, confessional Lutherans who reject circus church and who > want to return to biblical ways. > > > > -- > Bro. Jeff Hallmark > www.sprucelandbaptist.com <http://www.sprucelandbaptist.com> > http://baptist-potluck.blogspot.com/ > > > > > -- > Derick R. Dickens > www.thedickensfamily.org <http://www.thedickensfamily.org> > http://verseuponverse.blogspot.com > http://dateswithdad.blogspot.com > http://acrossthekingdom.blogspot.com