The seed was planted early for me to enter church work. There were the older members of the congregation who, when I was a second grader, pinched my cheek after I said my lines in the Christmas program and remark, "What a nice voice! You should be a pastor!" Then there was Pastor Werth, inviting me and some other newly confirmed kids to a “visit weekend” at our local Concordia. I didn’t think all that seriously about it at the...

Each year, the Pacific Southwest District offers loan repayment grants for newly graduated called church workers in the first three years of their first call serving in the district.  This year the grant fund has $6,000 to offer to workers who fit that criteria.  If you are a newly called pastor, teacher, DCE or other rostered church worker, consider applying for the 2019 grant.  The application deadline is Oct. 15, 2019....

Do you have time for fellowship and fun?  What about time for professional development?

These are questions that I have asked or been asked over the 20 years I have had the privilege of attending the Lutheran Educators Conference. Instead of it being yes to just one or the other, I assert it can be an emphatic, yes, to both!

Notice that the focus of the first question is on fellowship, which is supported in Matthew 18:20, “For w...

Take a good look at the faces in your classroom, youth group or Bible study. Will one of those bright-eyed students be a Lutheran teacher, principal, pastor, or another church worker? Lutheran schools face a dwindling number of individuals who want to pursue the spiritual discipline and training needed by our church body. The various circumstances of life that lead teachers, pastors and others to leave the parish also continue...