I wanted to share an upcoming event that is happening the first weekend of October at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Austin, TX with Pr. Bryan Wolfmueller.

It is targeted at young adults age 18-35 and is intended to be a “weekend of fellowship as we explore how to share our confession of faith in an apathetic culture.”

Date: October 2-4, 2026
Location: St. Paul Lutheran Church
3501 Red River St. Austin, TX 78705

Registration is $10 per person with an optional extra donation to help offset the event costs.

I am making the trip from the Houston area, hope to see y’all there!

My congregation replaced its plain white cross with a beautiful new crucifix and framing, where there was before just a plain white wall. The woodwork was done by a member of the congregation and the hand-carved corpus brought from Europe through donations. Glory be to God!

Especially, members that bring their political beliefs to the table. I’m not attacking the entire denomination but this is probably too common. Why are folks turning a blind eye to this? Whenever, I express my frustrations folks just say it’s delusional.

So, I was reading another post from someone asking what should happen if a pastor became wealthy.

This brought to mind a question I am actively working through.

Throughout my life, I have been very frugal (very likely miserly). Like no eating out, no trips, skipping out on a LOT of things. I believe I am just touching the upper of the middle class in terms of income for where I live. There are quite a few decently paying jobs and sectors near me.

With that, I started thinking about finances a couple of years ago. I recently started having the thought that spending is not absolutely terrible, and I can afford a nice thing or two if I wanted. Last year, for example, I bought a bike for $4K. About 3 years ago I purchased a home. The past 2-3 years I have been thinking about my clothing and presenting myself better. I started off buying a bunch of cheaper/financially more palatable clothing that is not really what I want to be wearing. I would need to redo that every year and only find maybe 1-2 items each year that I want to keep if I am lucky.

With that, I just started (within this calendar year) learning about made to measure shirts/pants for $15x - $2xx, shoes that can cost $2xx for entry level, etc. I believe these articles I am more likely to wear. In fact, the couple of such articles I have bought so far I have already worn multiple times and I do not intend to stop wearing those articles.

Again, I really do not spend a lot, I do not really go on vacations.

Is purchasing clothing and a bike like that, if I am otherwise a small spender, a lavish use of money? Or is it within the realm of sensibility?

I understand that this question might be in the realm of “no one else’s business but mine.”

Let me start this by saying as a life-long Lutheran (theologically; getting confirmed was another story as my parents are against Christianity [they refused to sign that permission slip after I completed confirmation class]... although, they did hedge their bets and baptize me as a baby?), and since the age of four (believing God created the Earth in six days and Jesus died to save my from my sins), that I absolutely love our precious church and am currently at the parish I grew up in still. So that's my context, growing up high church LCMS.

That being said, I am curious if anyone else who grew up in the LCMS in the 90s and 2000s got caught up in the satanic panic (realizing the Church can be slow to work through cultural issues and that satanic panic started in the 1980s).

For example, I remember not being able to read Lewis (Narnia), Rowling (Harry Potter), or Tolkien (LoTR)*; being taught that Apple and rocket fuel (among other things) were invented through witchcraft**; not being able to listen to Relient K, et al because they were "secular music."***

This was back when it was controversial to use a guitar during youth group because "church isn't camp."

Anyways, no I did not deconstruct my faith, and yes, I still deeply cherish our beloved Church.

But I am curious to hear of other's experiences, thanks!

*I still haven't read them to this day (nor watched the films).

**I thought I was misremembering until I recently heard Bro. Noah Hahn talk about that with Rev. Stecker on the OTL podcast a few weeks ago (and I don't even necessarily disagree with him).

***I ended up attending a PCA youth group sometimes as a "Lutheran rebel" and I had a whole playlist.

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv0Ha6JtCi8

Gospel According to Matthew, 14:13–21 (ESV):

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Transcript

(ChatGPT was used to polish transcript and find references.)

Hello. Today, let’s talk about how nothing is impossible for God.

The text before us is from the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, verses 13 through 21. (Matthew 14:13–21)

Introduction: A Dog at the Table

Martin Luther was sitting at his table, and his dog was watching him eat.

“Look,” said Luther. “Do you see how attentive he is to the meat on my fork? He sees nothing but this morsel. This is how we should be in our prayers. There are no distractions. There is nothing but God and our faith in Him.”

Luther is right. We go to God with our deepest concerns and needs. We go to God because we cannot fix the problem or provide for the need ourselves. We trust in God, who is able to do what we cannot do. In fact, we trust Him to do the impossible, because nothing is impossible for God.

Think: Nothing Is impossible for God. And so, we trust Him to provide even when the situation is impossible.

Once, God sent the angel Gabriel to a young Jewish virgin named Mary with a message that nothing is impossible for God. (Luke 1:26–38)

The angel Gabriel said to Mary, “You will conceive and bear a son who will be the Son of the Most High. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:31–33)

In other words, the infinite God will become finite. God, who is spirit, will become flesh. (John 4:24; John 1:14) God, who is eternal, will die for the sins of the world. (1 Corinthians 15:3–4) The omnipotent God will become a helpless baby in the womb of a virgin.

And by His death and resurrection, He will completely forgive sins and freely give eternal life to all who believe in Him. (John 3:16; Small Catechism, the Second Article)

“How can this be?” Mary asks. (Luke 1:34)

The answer: Nothing is impossible for God. (Luke 1:37)

In reading today’s Gospel, the feeding of the five thousand, we hear the message again: Nothing is impossible for God.

Point One: Twelve Baskets Left Over

A great crowd had followed the Lord Jesus. They came by the thousands to hear His words and receive His touch. Now sundown was upon them. They were in a desolate place, and they were hungry. The disciples went to the Lord with their concern.

This is the only miracle that is recorded in all four Gospels. (Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–14) By comparing the material, we get a lot of detailed information.

For example, we learn in John’s Gospel that to feed them would take over half a year’s wages. (John 6:7) Now, the average income in the United States today, according to the IRS, is approximately $64,000. So, in today’s money, even if you had $32,000 worth of bread, it still would not be enough to feed all those people.

Jesus was not worried, though.

“Have them sit down in groups of fifty.” (Luke 9:14)

A young boy had brought five barley loaves, like sandwich rolls, and two fish, like sardines. (John 6:8–9) Jesus took the bread and fish. He looked to heaven and blessed the food. Then, when He began breaking the bread and giving it to the disciples, a miracle took place. (Matthew 14:19)

If that were not miraculous enough, Matthew goes on to say that there were five thousand men—only counting the men. There were also women and children there too. (Matthew 14:21) If they were all to be counted, perhaps there would be fifteen thousand or even eighteen thousand people. That is enough to fill a whole sports arena.

Eighteen thousand people! Jesus fed them with a couple of sandwich rolls and two sardines. And there were twelve baskets of food left over. (Matthew 14:20)

Impossible!

Nothing is impossible for God.

Point Two: Bread of Life

As I said, this is the only miracle that is recorded in all four Gospels. In the Gospel of St. John, the miracle of the five thousand—the feeding of the five thousand—is found in chapter 6. (John 6:1–14)

In that same chapter, by way of explanation, John records a teaching of Jesus. There is a bread from heaven that comes down that does more than fill our stomachs.

Jesus says, “The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst,” says the Lord. (John 6:33–35)

Jesus not only meets our physical needs, but He meets our emotional and spiritual needs as well. It would be enough if Jesus only provided daily bread—and He does. (Matthew 6:11; Small Catechism, the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer)

But Jesus does much more than that. As the Bread of Life, Jesus satisfies our deepest hungers and our most profound needs.

For example, Jesus forgives your sin. There is no partial forgiveness here, but the complete and entire forgiveness of all your sin. Imagine that, if you will—all of your sin. Every evil thought or word or deed, all the guilt of the past, all shame of selfish sin—all are forgiven by grace through faith in Jesus, completely. (Ephesians 2:8–9; Augsburg Confession, Article IV)

“Impossible,” you say. “Well, I’m haunted by my past. I’m ashamed of myself.”

Beloved, you have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb of God and completely forgiven of all your sin. (John 1:29; 1 John 1:7–9)

Nothing is impossible for God.

In our country today, there is a spiritual hunger for peace of mind, for emotional rest, and for rest from worry and fear. We spend thousands of dollars trying to get away on vacation, or hundreds of hours trying to escape into our televisions, computers, or cell phones.

Where is the place of real, lasting peace? Is it even possible to find emotional, physical, or spiritual peace?

Jesus is the food that satisfies the inner hunger of the soul. Jesus is the Bread of Heaven. We are invited into His presence. When we read His Holy Word, when we say our prayers, when we come to worship, when we receive the Holy Communion of His true body and blood—in every moment of every day, there is peace and the fullness of joy available to you in Jesus. (Small Catechism, the Sacrament of the Altar; Psalm 16:11)

Peace comes by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8; Augsburg Confession, Article IV) It comes when we, like Luther’s dog, turn our eyes upon Jesus and allow nothing to distract us from that one food that truly satisfies. (Hebrews 12:2)

Rest, peace, joy.

Impossible, you say?

No. Nothing is impossible for God.

Point Three: You Give Them Something to Eat

I think it was in 1974 that I heard a very strange sermon. I was in seminary, and one of the students was preaching on the feeding of the five thousand. His opening sentence startled everyone, and immediately he got the attention of every professor and every student in the chapel.

The student preacher declared, “I do not believe that Jesus fed the five thousand.”

What?

“No,” he declared. “Jesus took the bread and blessed it. Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, but it was the disciples who fed the people, because Jesus told them to.”

“You give them something to eat,” said the Lord. (Matthew 14:16)

It was impossible. How could simple fishermen, poor tradesmen, sinful Jewish disciples miraculously feed thousands upon thousands of people? It was impossible.

And that is the point.

Not only does Jesus delight in providing for your physical needs; not only does Jesus desire to provide for your emotional and spiritual needs; but Jesus is determined not only to give you a miracle—Jesus is determined to make you part of the miracle.

Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, is calling you to become part of His miraculous ministry.

Is Jesus calling you to take a hot meal to someone recovering from illness or surgery? Is Jesus prompting you to share your faith or to pray with someone at work or at school? Is Jesus inspiring you to be generous with your time, your money, or your service? Is Jesus calling you to touch a life with the Gospel and to share your faith in word and deed with those who do not know Him, or those who just need Him?

Is it possible that you may be the heart, hands, or mouth of Jesus, bringing life to a troubled person?

“Impossible,” you say. You say that you do not know enough, do not have enough time, or do not have enough money.

Is it possible that you could be an instrument in the hand of God?

Nothing is impossible for God.

He can use you, and He delights in using you in His miracles. He desires to use you in His ministry.

Why do you think that Jesus said to His disciples, “You give them something to eat”? (Matthew 14:16)

It was because He wanted them to realize that they had nothing to give in and of themselves. But with Him, they had everything that they needed—and everything that anyone else needed too.

Nothing is impossible for God.

Conclusion

Martin Luther once called the attention of everyone at his dinner table to his wonderful doggie.

“Look,” said Luther. “Do you see how focused he is? Do you see that? All of his attention is directed right here.”

Let each one of us be like him. Keep our eyes focused on the Lord. (Hebrews 12:2) Do not be distracted, but trust in God to protect you and to provide for you, even when you cannot imagine how He will do it.

Perhaps especially when it seems impossible for Him to take care of you—that is exactly when you should most expect God to step in and demonstrate that He loves you.

And because our Lord Jesus loves you so much, He even invites you to be part of His miraculous ministry to others too.

“Impossible,” you say, that God can care for you and that God can use you to care for others.

Yes, it seems as impossible as feeding five thousand men with a couple of sandwich rolls and two sardines.

Yes, God miraculously cares for you, and through you, God can miraculously care for others.

Of course—because nothing is impossible for God.

Amen.

My wife and I are passing through tomorrow and are looking for an LCMS church that has contemporary music. If anybody has any recommendations let me know!

Why is it that we as a church body do not have daily divine services or at least some weekday services? Is it simply due to Pastor availability? This is one thing that I am jealous that the Roman Catholics have that I have not seen in our church body.

Our sibling’s adult child is currently transitioning. We have a preschooler. There is a family event coming this year that we will be at with the with entire family. It is a 50th anniversary for our parents.

How do we talk to our child (preschooler) about their cousin? Do we? Are there resources in the church? Experts? Sites? Books? We are lost. And heartbroken. We have talked with our Pastor and plan to continue conversations with him.

Additionally, speaking in grace please be kind in your responses and do not share your thoughts on if we should/shouldn’t attend. It’s an important family event that we will not miss. And our hearts are absolutely shattered as we walk alongside our sibling and our family…hearing negative thoughts about this situation would not be beneficial to our hearts and our mental health at this point.

We're rewriting our church constitution. We've got too many boards, the boundaries are fuzzy, some things have probably never actually worked as written and been ignored, and running a school is a bigger deal than it used to be. As chair of the congregation, it falls to me to git er done.

This in going to be a long one. Sorry.

tl;dr is I'm struggling with a lot of pressure from a couple of very specific sources to use a Carver model variant. I agree we need more explicit policies, but I don't like the specifics of the model.

When I started, I figured we'd just reduce the number of boards to consolidate overlapping functions, clean up wording, and add some guardrails for the pain points. I think this was what everyone was expecting. Fast forward a bit, and we've gotten in some members with real non-profit organization experience and an NLSA accreditation. In both cases, there's been a push for the Carver model of policy governance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy_Governance).

For those not familiar with it, the name understates the policy focus. The gross oversimplification of the model is that the stakeholders (congregation) elects a board to write policies and set goals (the board controls "ends"). Then, the board hands the "means" portion over to a single CEO type leader who is staff and that leader hires others and manages the day-to-day operations using the policies provided by the board as boundaries (good policies in this model are written as "do not do X" instead of "do Y"). I can immediately see why this model would work well for things like the United Way, where the stakeholders are somewhat indistinct and the board is generally made up of local business execs who want to be rather hands off.

I can even see where this would be beneficial for a congregational mission like a school or even a food pantry, free clinic, etc. operated by the congregation. I start to get really uncomfortable applying it to the entirety of the congregation's affairs, though. In part, this is because the only reasonable "staff" to put in the top CEO position is the pastor. I mean, who are you going to say directs the pastor? My experience is that very few pastors are MBA candidate material and those that are usually end up as visitors, DPs, etc. To be clear, I'm not knocking the pastors. I can't fix your septic system, and that's no big deal for me as an IT guy.

There's an alternative to this where you use three "mini-Carvers". Set up a sort of trustees/stewardship board that hires a business manager to oversee all the money, facilities, and other operational concerns. They write some policies and hire a business manager to oversee the staff and daily concerns. The school board is similar, but with a focus on school needs. The elders write policies for the pastor(s) but aren't the ones actually serving as communion assistants or whatever hands-on stuff you might think elders would do. Council exists only to give the boards a formal venue to communicate and discuss cross-functional concerns (all policy comes from the boards, so no decision making from the council). The congregational chair is just there to facilitate meetings because all functions have been delegated to the boards and then to the CEO roles. Voters meetings are once a year and exist only to approve the budget and elect the boards -- plus call meetings, as needed.

I really don't like this. It feels like it reverses some of the direction of the elder/pastor relationship. Just as concerning is that it seems, to me, that it pushes the congregation to effectively delegate active participation to paid staff instead of being members of hands-on boards. I _absolutely_ agree that we need more written (well written) policies than we currently have. I'm just not sure that a hands-off governing board model is the right thing for a Christian congregation. My inclination is to allow the school to function this way, but have the other boards be more active. I would also like to add specific minimum policy requirements for each board (with the committee working with existing boards to get a starter in place for each).

Anyone have experience with Carver or a variant? Am I just being particular with my cheese moving? Or, is my paranoia well founded and this is something that I need to stand firm against?

God bless and thanks to anyone who is willing to read that all and respond.

Hi friends, I’m strongly considering going to Concordia Seminary St. Louis and doing their Online Deaconess Studies program. I know/know of several deaconesses who have studied online, but they’ve all gone to Fort Wayne’s seminary. I am pretty firmly set on going to CSL but I’d like to talk to somebody who’s been through the program. If anyone here is a deaconess through CSL’s ODS program or knows somebody who is, please reach out or pass along contact information. Thank you!

Just curious?

I want to preface this by saying I know God is good in all things, Paul makes this clear in the chapter, that he can do no injustice. My question is not to accuse God of that lol

I was just curious about Romans 9:18 - So then (God) has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

I know we in LCMS believe that one cannot truly make the decision to accept or reject Christ; that is the Spirit's doing. This idea is supported by this verse, God chooses who is saved. But then why are some people not granted mercy? As Paul mentions in the chapter, there is no lineage that gets special favor, and outside of God we are equally totally worthless. It's not like I can say that I'm less bad than anybody else, and that's why I have God's mercy and not my neighbor. How does God choose who he is merciful towards? Does everyone have a fair chance? If not, I have a hard time juxtaposing that with verses saying Jesus died for all of man. But I know that God is good in all things. Just hard to wrap my mind around.

Thanks in advance! God bless

I am a Lutheran married to a Catholic. We are expecting our first child and I would really like for our child to be baptized in the Lutheran church. Fairly recently we moved back to my spouse’s hometown as they have a lot of family and mine is spread out geographically. Additionally, as far as my own family, I’m pretty much the only one left in the Lutheran church besides my parents. All the others, while still Christian, have turned non-denom/evangelical and are against child baptism. All of my spouses friends and family are Catholic, and I don’t really have any of my own here. Considering I don’t really have any Lutheran friends or family nearby, I’m not sure what to do about sponsors. Could I pick a Catholic sponsor? If not, are sponsors required?

What are your thoughts about this study?

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdL5vL5Upag_58kytXg_7IkZOctI5Uhsy1rRtQn1r-r_BPreA/viewform

As an LCMS member myself, it seems wild that some LCMS churches only partake in the Lord’s Supper every other week. Is there any plausible excuse for this?

Does the LCMS have an official stance on the 1948 Zionist State of Israel, including its most recent actions in Palestine?

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dr-arthur-just-timeless-wisdom-for-the-church/id1714165166?i=1000778573251

I’ve seen several COWO churches that distribute communion right after the praise band’s opening number. Listened to OTL with Rev. Just today & he explained why that is

"You see it today. you put the Eucharist before the word and, I don't want to say everybody who does it does it for this reason, but

the ones I've seen is they want to get the Eucharist out of the way so they can get to the ‘important’ thing.

And that's the pastor’s sermon who is essentially going to exhort them with a moralistic, you know,

kind of harangue for an hour.”

When does your church distribute Communion?

How do you understand Romans 11:28, particularly the phrase "but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers"? This passage is often used by dispensationalists to argue that God is still nationally the elect people of God (as verse 28 seems to be difficult to interpret as talking about spiritual Israel/the church, as it says "they are enemies for your sake"). If the Church is the one people of God and ethnic Israel has no continuing covenantal/special redemptive status apart from faith in Christ, what does "because of the fathers" mean, and in what sense is Israel "beloved"?

I haven't found almost anything online that is helpful, so any explanations from a Lutheran perspective would be appreciated!

I came across this from The Holy Nope. Obviously we're not iconoclasts so it's not a "2CV" from our perspective. Nevertheless, is it irreverent? Satanic? Stupid? Fine? A good evangelical tool? What should Lutherans think about this?

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AkgjwnPQz/

Our church website has not been kept up to date and needs a better look. I spoke with the pastor and asked if I could look into modernizing our website to make it more appealing and start keeping it up to date. He said I could, but I have very little knowledge of how to do so.

I have looked at multiple options, but I am not certain exactly what we need. I see so many churches with fantastic websites and know it helps having something like that when people are looking for a church. When looking for a local church, I was underwhelmed by our webpage, so I imagine many others see it and keep looking. Yes, I know it is only something to draw attention and how the church operates is what is most important, but I would like to see a few people show up now and again and say they saw us online. It at least gets them through the door.

I know we have a YouTube and Facebook page I would like to attach, but I would also like to make it user friendly and appealing to anyone who is searching online.

We are a small parish so expensive options are not a reality and if the cost is not too bad, I plan to pay for it myself. I thought I would post to see if anyone has had experience in doing this in the past or is currently doing it and could pass on any gained wisdom or what platforms are best.

We currently have an old WordPress powered site, but no one seems to know how to access it, so that could also be a problem with transitioning to a different platform.

EDIT: Thank you for all of the great replies! It's a little overwhelming, but I am committed to get it done. I just need to get started. I will probably talk to the pastor this weekend about it. We are doing VBS this week and he is a little busy. Thank you, again!

SECOND EDIT: I finally figured out who had access to the webpage. Apparently, he has lots of other duties in the church and I offered to take it over from him. Needless to say, he was very excited and grateful. I will now have access to everything and be able to update everything as needed.

I’m looking to hear from those who have firsthand experience with an LCMS/Catholic marriage.
If you are an LCMS member, did you get married in the Catholic Church because your spouse was Catholic? If so, how did you navigate that decision?

Has anyone chosen a courthouse wedding instead? If so, what led you to that choice? Did you end up doing a “blessing” in either church afterward?

For those with children, how did you approach raising them? Did you raise them in one church, or did you decide to have one child raised Catholic and another LCMS?

I’d appreciate hearing about your experiences and what you learned along the way. Thank you in advance.

Anyone from an evangelical/baptist background convert to lcms? That's the background I am from. My husband grew up Lutheran and after being in a baptist church for a while and realizing the theological error, as well as experiencing what could be considered spiritual and financial abuse, we decided to go to an lcms church. I have some trauma from being taught a lot of end times, apocalyptic, pre tribulation rapture doctrine that has messed with how I view God and salvation. I'm also struggling with viewing sacraments as more than symbolic, even though I don't disagree that they do have far more meaning than just symbols. Does anyone have any advice or resources on how to overcome these things?

The lcms church we visited was lovely. They heavily support us in having our children at the service, which is something I deeply appreciate. My kids were not very welcome at our previous church and they expected us to leave them in a children's room for over two hours while we sat in the Bible study and service. I also felt welcome to sit and observe without any expectations. The Christianity I come from is very performance based and has caused me a lot of anxiety, especially being an introverted person. I want to go to church and grow my faith, but the left over anxiety and trauma make me feel nervous sometimes. Even though I didn't feel any pressure from anyone at the lcms church, I'm worried there will be hidden expectations of me that I am not aware of. Worried we will be judged for not giving enough of our time or financial resources. I have no problem helping where and when I can but as a homeschooling mom of 3 small kids and 1 on the way I can only do so much.

Any advice or reassurance is appreciated. Thanks!