BJS Conference Extras

Excellent blog post on the conference by Rev. Thomas Messer

Blog post on the Cantor's presentation by Rev. Al Collver

Audio links for presentations and the conference Divine Service

And a few pictures:

Pastor Fisk with three of his fans

Cantor Magness presenting on Witness

President Harrison speaking at the banquet

Trevor Magness providing pre-dinner music

BJS Conference

The Brothers of John the Steadfast conference exceeded my expectations in more ways than one. I think much good came out of it, both in front of and behind the scenes, and I am proud to claim the head of the group as my pastor and the worship planner/musician for the conference as my husband! I met several people in person that I had previously only known online, two of whose efforts to teach the pure Gospel are an ongoing gift to the world: Rev. Jonathan Fisk of Worldview Everlasting, and Rev. James May of Lutherans in Africa. Wow. What excellent work they are both doing. I was also pleased to meet award-winning composer Terry Herald, who is a Lutheran church musician as well as the president of his BJS chapter and who is also the newest composer to be added to the Liturgy Solutions catalog!

My husband was called in as a last-minute substitute speaker for the conference. He presented on "Witness," the second of LCMS President Matt Harrison's threefold emphasis. As a member of the LCMS Board for International Mission and one who last fall went to Brazzaville, Congo to teach hymns and liturgy, he was well-suited to the topic. I bet it won't surprise you to hear that he made some connections between "Witness"--our confession to one another and to the world--and worship and liturgy. You can see a photo of him in action here. Continue checking the BJS site over the next week for more wrap-up and posting of podcasts. I also have a few photos that I hope to soon post here.

If you haven't attended a BJS conference, consider it for next year. They get better all the time!

Issues, Etc. Celebration

Last week my husband and I drove down to Collinsville, Illinois to help celebrate the one year anniversary of the new Issues, Etc. Some of the photos I took ended up at the Steadfast Lutherans site, but not all of them, so I thought I would post a few more here.

THE CAKE (from Kruta's Bakery)

The happy editors of the Steadfast Quarterly (me and Pastor Fred Baue)

Pastor Randy Asburry (l) and Pastor Bruce Kesemann (r)

I cannot remember the name of the gentleman in the middle. Anyone know?

Pastor Todd Wilken on the air.



Craig Feichtinger and Jeff Schwarz, making it all happen.

By the way, a couple of Pastor Rossow's statements in the Steadfast article need to be qualified. He called me an "English literature professor." I used to be a part-time college English instructor. "Professor" suggests a permanent, tenure-track position, which I never sought nor held. These days I am not teaching English at all except to my own children in our home school (Philipp Nicolai Lutheran Academy).

Secondly, Pastor Rossow referred to my "award-winning blog." You can tell that my pastor is relatively new to the blogosphere, since he doesn't seem to understand how EASY it is for a blog to win all kinds of awards. I don't mean to diminish my awards--I was thrilled to receive them--but they are viral in nature and require only a single reader (usually also a friend) to decide that one is worthy for the award to be granted.

Back to the topic at hand: CONGRATULATIONS, ISSUES, ETC.! And thanks for the free beer! :-) It was a wonderful party, and I am so glad I was able to be there! Can't wait until the second anniversary! See you then, if not before! (In the meantime, I'll be listening.)

Brothers of John the Steadfast Hold First International Conference

This weekend my congregation was privileged to host the first international conference of the Brothers of John the Steadfast, a new confessional Lutheran organization. (Even though the organization was organized by men for men with the purpose of supporting men in their role as spiritual heads of households, women are welcome to participate, too).

It was a great weekend. Actually, "great" doesn't do it justice, but my adjective-generator is feeling sluggish this morning. Luckily, there is no need for me to wax eloquent about the goings-on of the conference, because you can see photos, read all about it and even listen to all of the presentations and worship services by clicking here.

Here are a few pics I managed to snap this weekend:


Pastor Timothy Rossow and Rev. Todd Wilken, host of Issues, Etc.

Conference attendees between presentations in the sanctuary of Bethany Lutheran

No pietists here. They look pretty good for having been awake until 2:00 a.m. in the morning, don't they? (You party animals!)

Pastor Rossow manning the BJS display and goodie table

More Thankfulness

A couple of Thanksgiving Day links. If you only have time for one, skip the first and don't miss the second.

Ten Reasons for Conservatives to be Thankful - by Jennifer Rubin

Steadfast Faith - by Rev. Dr. Timothy Rossow

Back to the kitchen!

Confessional Lutherans, Take Note

The new organization Brothers of John the Steadfast (BJS) will hold its first ever national conference on February 13-14, 2009, at Bethany Lutheran Church in Naperville, Illinois. Keynote speaker will be Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio. Read more about the conference here. Then go mark your calendars and plan now to join us for this historic gathering. (And don't forget the cognac and cigars!)

Rally Day

Sunday was Rally Day at my church. (For those who may not know, Rally Day is the first day of the Sunday School year, when new classes begin and children are "promoted" to their new "grade.") In conjunction with Rally Day, we also had a Volunteer Fair and a church & school picnic. It was a great day, and I just happened to take a few pictures.

Here's Evan with some of his friends. All three of them were in his preschool class last year, but this year Evan has moved to the afternoon class while they have remained in the morning one, so Rally Day was his first time to see them in a while. It was a joyous reunion, as you can see.


Here's a shot of the Volunteer Fair, held in our gym. Various groups had tables with information, treats, and sign-up sheets for their activity. Anyone who signed up to serve was given a piece to a large puzzle hanging on one of the walls of the gym. The message was that our church family is like a huge puzzle which needs everyone taking part to complete the picture.




The music table:

The St. Andrew Society (acolyte) table:

The Brothers of John the Steadfast table, manned by old Johnny himself!

The puzzle in progress:

It was a beautiful day for a picnic.

In addition to the picnic, there were outdoor activities for the whole family. Here's Caitlin helping out at the face-painting table.

Sandbox play (Evan in red):

The weekend started with a prayer service on Saturday morning, followed by an "E-fast" in which members were encouraged to unplug from all their electronic devices for the day and spend time with family while plugging into God's word. The E-fast continued through to Sunday morning. I have to say that in some ways I think the E-fast is a much more focusing experience than a food fast would be. I only eat three times a day, but I check email, talk on the phone, surf the net, listen to the radio, and watch television off and on all day long! And unlike the unplugged vacation my family experienced this summer at a remote Nebraska camp, during the E-fast all my toys were still within my reach, staring me in the face, calling out to be used! It is amazing how dependent our society has become on them and how much time they have the capacity to suck out of our daily lives. I caught myself several times during the day heading for the computer, TV or radio by force of habit before remembering the fast and stopping myself. (For more detailed information on our E-fast along with suggestions for how a congregation might carry out its own E-fast, click here.)

Our congregation has gone through some struggles over the past 5-10 years. Satan has been hard at work, trying to divide and conquer. But I think this Rally Day was an encouraging sign of how far we have come and how much we have grown as a church family. And I think it's going to be a great year for growing even more in the Word and under the Cross, as we strengthen our vertical relationship with Him as well as our horizontal relationships with each other.

A Setback for the Brothers

If you've tried to visit the Brothers of John the Steadfast site today you have probably encountered some difficulty. Be assured the problem does not rest with your computer but with the site. It seems their host is having problems, resulting in several sites, including the Brothers', going down. Talk about bad timing. From what I understand, BJS went black at about 3:00 p.m. CST today, just as Issues, Etc. was making its long-awaited return to the air. It's enough to make one think someone is out to get us. Hmmmm, now who could that be? Who would want to discourage those who are making it their mission to uphold and defend the true faith? Who, indeed?

Please pray for this young effort that has come so far so fast and yet still has so much to do, that whatever the problem is it might be quickly resolved and that in the meantime those who have worked so hard might be steadfast in the face of adversity, walking by faith and not by sight as they trust in Him whose Word will not be silenced.

Update: The Brothers are back! As of 10:00 p.m. CST the site is up and running. Praise God!

Phew!

We had our second meeting of the Steadfast Quarterly staff yesterday, led by editor-in-chief Pastor "Fritz" Baue. All I can say is, "He likes us; he really, really likes us!"

I think I can stop holding my breath now. Maybe this editor's hat is going to fit after all.

Check It Out

The new BJS (Brothers of John the Steadfast) website is up and running. You can find it at www.steadfastlutherans.org.

You can find an online version of the new Steadfast Quarterly (my baby) here. Let me know what you think (but please be kind--this managing editor hat is a new one for me).

Heady Days

The first issue of the Steadfast Quarterly (with yours truly editing) is done and off to the printer! (It will ultimately be available online--I'll let you know when and where you can find it.)

Issues, Etc. is coming back!

The new confessional laymen's group BJS (Brothers of John the Steadfast) is roaring out of the starting gate and preparing to unveil its new website in a matter of days!

It doesn't get much better than this.

Weekend Update

First, I'm sure you're wondering about the air conditioner. It's fixed! And the Cantor survived his day of watching children so several friends and I could attend the homeschool convention. In fact, he didn't merely survive--he excelled! (Which doesn't surprise me . . . he has a way with kids . . . nevertheless, as the afternoon wore on he was happy to welcome an extra pair of hands with the arrival of one of the other dads, who got off work early and thought Phil could use some company. Mike organized a backyard game, Phil enjoyed the shower that had so far eluded him, and by the time my friends and I returned home the children were fed and our own supper was waiting. Phil did tell me later that days like this one always give him a deeper appreciation of what moms do every day.)

It was a treat to go to the homeschool convention with some friends, having a ladies' lunch, attending several workshops (and walking out of only one), and shopping the vendor hall ("What do you think of this? Or should I get that one?") Elephant's Child and Sparkle Kitty stayed overnight, so we had some extended homeschool mommy debriefing complete with an unseasonably hot, sticky walk on Friday morning (still wondering what happened to spring around here, since we seem to have jumped right from winter to summer). Friday night my older two children and I took part in a Brothers of John the Steadfast packing party, cutting and taping and preparing materials that will soon be mailed out to the charter members of this new Lutheran lay organization. Saturday I sneaked back over to the convention for one final vendor hall browse (I was blessed to have this statewide event taking place about 10 minutes from my house) before attending a graduation party with my family. Then Saturday night my husband and I went here:




It's an outdoor concert venue in Highland Park, Illinois, called Ravinia. There is a small amphitheatre, but most of the seating is on the lawn. Concertgoers customarily bring lawn chairs, blankets and picnic baskets and listen to the music under the stars. The headliner this night was James Taylor, whom my husband and I must have seen at least six times since we have been a couple. When we found out he was going to be at Ravinia, we immediately called for tickets, only to discover they were already all sold out. So how did we end up going? It turns out there were a limited number of tickets available on the terrace at one of the Ravinia restaurants. We had only to agree to purchase a meal in the restaurant to reserve a table for the evening. It turned out to be one of the best concert experiences we have ever had. We had gourmet food and wine while listening to one of our favorite singers in an exquisite setting rather than being squeezed into stadium seats with people crawling over us all night. We couldn't see JT, but even when we have been able to do so he's been a mere speck on the stage (or maybe a giant video version projected on a screen), and what do we really go to a concert for anyway? To see or to hear? So we quickly rationalized the expense (hmmm, both of our birthdays plus Father's Day and Mother's Day in a 3-month span--sounds like reason enough!) and laid down our money. I think Phil's glad we did.




I know I am.

Steadfast

I have a new job. On the other hand, is it a real job if you're not getting paid?

No matter. I'm having a great time. I recently consented to be the managing editor for a new publication, the Steadfast Quarterly. Some of my Lutheran readers may have heard of a new confessional lay organization that is forming named Brothers of John the Steadfast (you can read more about the group here). The Steadfast Quarterly will serve as the print journal of BJS. The group is the brainchild of my pastor, and he has assembled a team of dedicated volunteers who have been generously sharing of their time, talents and possessions for many weeks now in order to make this vision a reality. In the next few weeks we will see the publishing of the first issue of the journal, the initial membership push, and the launching of a new BJS website that holds great promise for bringing together some of the best elements of the confessional Lutheran blogosphere under one roof.

The first issue of the Steadfast Quarterly is coming together more smoothly than I could have dreamed and will feature the writings of Martin Noland, Timothy Rossow, Phillip Magness, and yes, Todd Wilken, among others. Topics will include a biography of John the Steadfast, a look at the gift that was Issues, Etc., a featured Steadfast parish and Steadfast blogger, news from across Christendom, a cantor's description of finding himself trapped with his family in a worship service that exhibits all too well the phrase "not your Grandfather's church," and the introduction of the newly appointed official BJS cartoonist.

If blogging is light for the next few weeks, you will know why. The publication date for the inaugural issue of the SQ is June 25 (coinciding with the Commemoration of the Augsburg Confession). God willing, we go to press in a week or two.

One of the neatest things about being involved in this, apart from the sense that I am doing something truly momentous, has been some great fun times, including a trip to St. Louis with the SQ publisher (Pastor Rossow) to meet our editor-in-chief (Pastor Fred Baue). Along for the ride was Elaine, a lady friend of mine who has superior writing & editing skills and be using both to assist in this enterprise. (She is not the only one of my buddies who has consented to do so. Elephant's Child is doing some writing for us, too, and is coming in a few days to help me out with the editing phase as well. There are others of you reading this who should not be surprised when I come knocking on your door. I think you know who you are.) Our St. Louis adventure came complete with a cigar-smoking, beer-drinking (by the pastors, that is) editorial meeting and my first trip to the Purple Palace, I mean, the International Center, that I can only describe as surreal.

Last night was the first "text dump," meaning all the Word documents have been loaded into Publisher. It was also my first experience with Publisher period. Elaine, an experienced Publisher user, came to hold my hand through the process, but the program turned out to be quite user-friendly, and I don't anticipate many complications down the road. (I did get a little worried when neither Elaine nor I could figure out how to open the box that my brand new copy of Publisher came packed in and had to enlist the aid of the 15-year-old that lives in my house and is apparently smarter than both of us.)

The writing is done. Now my work really begins.