Laymen With Issues, Etc.

Introducing the New BJS Website

On this, the date of the Commemoration of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, BJS humbly offers what it hopes will eventually become the most comprehensive website in all of Confessional Lutheranism. The website offers support for the newly arising chapters of BJS all around the country (we have sent startup kits to 15 states already) and also is a great place to read Mollie Ziegler Hemingway’s and Klemet Preus’ recurring columns, as well as those of 25 other regular columnists on a variety of topics, including theology, church administration, the liturgy, male headship, and more. Later this summer we will even be premiering a novel in serial fashion. There are also such lighthearted features as a “confessional counter” to match the Ablaze ticker, a “Help, I’m a Confessional Lutheran Stuck in a Church Growth Parish” feature and more. Please drop by and take a look, and while you're there, and be sure to read the BJS organization pages and consider joining this excellent group that is providing support for Issues, Etc. and other future new media projects.

You can find the new site at www.steadfastlutherans.org. We'll see you there! (And keep in mind that we're a work in progress, so please be patient and keep checking back as we are adding content and working daily to improve upon how we can serve you.)

The Steadfast Quarterly Goes to Press

The first issue of the Steadfast Quarterly has now been printed! The Quarterly is the official print publication of Brothers of John the Steadfast and will be published every three months. Once our new website is up and running it will be available there online as a .pdf file. In addition, print copies of the journal will be mailed out to each dues-paying member. This first issue of the Quarterly has met and exceeded the hopes of the editorial team--it is not only beautiful to look at but excellent in content as well, including among other things a letter from Todd Wilken, an introduction to the historical figure of John the Steadfast, an article about the cancellation of Issues, Etc., the first of an ongoing series on less-than-steadfast worship practices in our synod, and articles on our featured steadfast blogger (Rev. Bill Cwirla) and parish (St. Paul, Hamel). To receive your own copy of this and future magazines, all you have to do is join BJS today!

BJS Has Its First Chapter!

Zion Lutheran in Pittsburgh, Kansas Becomes the First Registered BJS Chapter

The first of what we pray will be many BJS chapters to come is now officially registered. On Saturday we received the chapter registration form and four individual registrations from the Men’s Club at Zion Lutheran in Pittsburgh, Kansas along with a check for their annual dues. Congratulations, Pastor Cook and the Zion's Men's Club! You will now always be remembered as the first official BJS chapter! We just started sending out start-up kits a little over a week ago and have dozens of other congregations taking this new Lutheran men's organization to their various governing bodies (church councils, voter assemblies, elders, etc.), and look for several more announcements like this one in the month to come.

Banner Days

As BJS prepares to unveil its new website in a few short days, here are some other happenings you should be aware of.

The Rev. Todd Wilken, host of the popular radio program Issues, Etc., will be the guest preacher at a special evening service at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Bonne Terre, Missouri (about 45 minutes south of St. Louis), on Wednesday, June 25, at 7:00 p.m.  The Vespers service will commemorate the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession.  After the service, the church will host an ice cream social and reception for Rev. Wilken, which will also serve as a "kick-off rally" for the new radio and Internet version of "Issues," set to debut on June 30.  St. Matthew's is located at 340 Summit St. in Bonne Terre (63628).  For more information, contact St. Matthew's pastor, Rev. Charles Henrickson, henricksoncATyahooDOTcom or (314) 779-8108.

The radio/Internet program "Issues, Etc." is coming back!  On weekdays, Monday-Friday, starting June 30, Issues, Etc. will be webcast around the world for two hours, 3:00-5:00 (Central), at Pirate Christian Radio, and the second hour, 4:00-5:00, will be broadcast in the St. Louis area on radio station KSIV, AM 1320.

Coming Down to the Wire

You may have noticed a slowdown in posts lately. That is because we are busy getting everything ready for our new super-sized and renamed BJS website. We already have over 20 columnists signed up and contributing posts, three bloggers (including Pastor Preus and Mollie), a cartoonist, a confessional reading groups counter (why should Ablaze be the only ones who get to count things?) and more.

Please keep checking back for more information about the new website and where to find it. But if you don’t hear from us every day please be patient and know that we are working hard to get all this ready by next Wednesday. We are also busy sending out chapter start-up kits. We have already sent out over 50! If you are interested in starting up a chapter of BJS in your congregation send us an e-mail at trossow(at)bethanylcs(dot)org and we will get your start-up kit in the mail as soon as we can.

Noted Attorney and Lutheran Convert Joins the BJS Advisory Board

Joining Pastor Weedon, Rev. Dr. Fred Baue, and Uwe Simeon-Netto is Christian apologist and attorney Craig Parton. We look forward to the insight and advice of this esteemed layman as we make our day-to-day decisions. Here is an introduction to Mr. Parton:

Mr. Craig Parton, Esq. is a trial lawyer and partner with the oldest law firm in the western United States, located in Santa Barbara, California. He is former Chairman of the Litigation Section of the Santa Barbara County Bar Association. Upon graduation from college, he spent seven years on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, the last four of which were spent as national lecturer for Crusade. Mr. Parton traveled to over 100 universities and colleges across the country defending the Christian faith through lectures and debates. He received his Master’s degree in Christian Apologetics under Dr. John Warwick Montgomery at the Simon Greenleaf School of Law, an institution devoted to the integration of Christian faith and legal reasoning. Mr. Parton then took his Juris Doctorate at the University of California, Hastings Law School in San Francisco, where he served as Executive Editor of Communications and Entertainment Law Journal, COMM/ENT. Craig Parton is also the United States Director of the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, which meets for two weeks each summer in Strasbourg to provide advanced studies in apologetics to laymen and pastors. His latest book is entitled “The Defense Never Rests: A Lawyer’s Quest for the Gospel.”  He has published articles in both law reviews and in numerous theological journals, including Modern Reformation, Logia–A Journal of Lutheran Theology, and the Global Journal of Classical Theology. Mr. Parton has recently contributed articles to Festschrifts for both Prof. Dr. John Warwick Montgomery and Prof. Dr. Rod Rosenbladt. His next book, to be released in the summer of 2008 by Wipf & Stock Publishers, is entitled “Religion on Trial,”

What Do You Think?

The Brothers of John the Steadfast (BJS) plans on launching our new website on June 25, a date we see as highly appropriate since it is the day the Augsburg Confession was first presented to the Holy Roman Empire. As we prepare for our debut, we'd like you to review what we've done so far and let us know what you think. Please let us know what you think is good and what you believe we may be missing.

So that you can easily provide meaningul input for us, here is a recap of what BJS is, what BJS is NOT, and where we currently are:

First of all, it is important to realize what we are not. We are not the primary means by which you support the new Issues, Etc. We encourage you to donate directly through the link at Pirate Christian Radio. BJS will be financially supporting the new program, and it will initially be our only project. But once Issues is reestablished financially, we hope to expand our support to other evangelical and catechetical efforts.

Our larger purpose is to bring together Lutheran laymen to defend and promote the orthodox Christian faith which is taught in the Lutheran Confessions, provide financial support for Christian media (e.g. Issues, Etc.), and to support other endeavors selected by its membership that defend
and promote the cause of confessional Lutheranism. Our main areas of concentration are 1) growth in understanding Scripture and confessions, 2) supporting 21st century confessional media (e.g. Issues, Etc.), 3) upholding the historic liturgy, and 4) equipping spiritual heads of households.

Because we are more than a financial supporter of a radio show, we will be penetrating congregations more deeply. Our congregational chapters will be geared toward teaching the Lutheran Confessions, serving the congregation and her pastors, and supporting confessional Lutheranism in the media. To
accomplish this, each chapter will be encouraged to hold regular study of the Lutheran Confessions, undertake a service project for the parish, and sponsor an annual fundraiser such as a dinner, carnival or an auction. The proceeds from the fundraiser and will go towards the new Issues, Etc., bringing Todd & Jeff more support than can be generated solely via their lister base at their new website.

We will not be limited to chapters, however. In today's cybersphere, we are able to create a group via the internet so that that individual members can participate in the group through our new website. This site will be of great interest to all our members--and many others. Not only will we have regular blog posts by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway and Pastor Klemet Preus and forty columnists writing twice monthly, but we will also have a regular feature entitled "Help, I'm a Confessional Lutheran Stuck in a Church Growth Church." Through the website, BJS will not just support its local chapters, but will support thousands of individual confessional Lutherans throughout the Church, providing them encouragement in the Gospel and an opportunity to connect with their brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world.

That's the vision.  Here's how we plan on realizing it:

Our administrative costs will be covered by the $25 annual member dues. Because of our low overhead, much of that dues money will go to support Issues, Etc. We will also have an annual fund drive for Issues, Etc. and eventually, our potential future projects. Organizing our financial structure this way allows members to know exactly how their donated funds are allocated. We will be posting our financial statements on our website each quarter.

Some of the 40 columns on the new website will include news, notes and editorials from the various confessional groups around the synod. We already have columns being submitted from groups in Texas, Missouri, California and Illinois. By doing this, BJS hopes to take a small step forward in bringing some unity to the confessional cause.

In addition to our website, we will also be publishing a quarterly journal. The first issue is just about ready to go to print and will be available June 25. Both the website and the journal will include a regular letter from Pastor Wilken.

We know that much of the strength of confessionalism comes from faithful Lutheran women. We have already started working on a parallel organization for these strong and courageous women in the church.

There is even more to BJS but this should give you an idea of what we are up to. Please let us know what you think is good and right about our efforts and what you see missing. We will be far more effective with your input.

May God bless us as together we keep looking for ways to promote and defend the true Christian faith.

Confessions of a Confessional Pastor's Assistant

Our previous post introduced to you a very serious theologian representing a very serious fraternity in confessional Lutheranism, Dr. Hein and the Augustana Ministerium. Not everything at the new super-sized BJS website however, will be so serious. Twice a month Donna Linnemeyer, the senior pastor's administrative secretary at Bethany Naperville, Illinois, will be documenting her 15-year odyssey as a confessional pastor’s assistant and program administrator for a 2,000 member congregation. The column is titled "Confessions of a Confessional Pastor’s Assistant.” Among the topics to be explored are things like “Pastor, why can’t we call donuts and coffee 'fellowship'?” and “Why can’t we bait and switch--those other congregations are doing it and it works.” Stay tuned: this column and a few dozen others, most quite serious but some a little lighter, will be premiered on June 25.

(By the way, Dr. Hein is actually a lot of fun!)

Augustana Ministerium

One of the goals of the new BJS website (coming on line June 25, the day of the commemoration of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession) is to give greater exposure to various confessional groups around the country. We already have groups signed on from California, Missouri, Texas and Illinois and are recruiting more each day. Providing this opportunity for these groups will also help to provide a greater sense of unity in the confessional ranks. One such group that will be making a regular posts on the site is the Augustana Ministerium. Writing for them is a tried and true warrior of the theological battles in our synod, Dr. Steven Hein. Here is a brief introduction:

What a Team!

The Brothers of John the Steadfast is thrilled and humbled to welcome the dynamic duo of Mollie Ziegler Hemingway and Pastor Klemet Preus as its premier blogging team once the new website is debuted later in June. Mollie will provide an ongoing layperson's perspective (read her own announcement here), and Pastor Preus will be our regular ordained columnist. They will each be posting at least twice per week on our new site. Today we are pleased to share some biographical information about Pastor Preus (we will share Mollie's in the near future):

Klemet Preus, second son of Robert and Donna Preus, was born in Minneapolis MN. His formative years were spent in St. Louis, MO where he attended Lutheran and public schools.

He attended the University of Strasbourg in France, Concordia College, Ann Arbor, Concordia Sr. College, Ft. Wayne and Concordia Theological Seminary Springfield/Ft. Wayne from which he received his M. Div. and STM Degrees in Systematic Theology. He did further graduate work in rhetoric and speech at the University of North Dakota.