Passing The Baton of Discipleship

Dear Disciples of Jesus,

During my oral report at our Convocation, I compared our journey as followers of Christ Jesus to a relay race in which the runners are required to both receive the baton from one teammate and pass it on to the next runner.

St. Paul uses the image of an athlete to describe the discipline of faithfully following Jesus several times in his letters. He describes the relay of faith being passed on from one generation to the next as he encourages Timothy. Paul reminds Timothy that the faith he received started with his grandmother, Lois. She passed this faith on to his mother, Eunice. Eunice passed it on to her son. Now it was Timothy’s turn to run the next leg of this race.  Continue reading “Passing The Baton of Discipleship”

NALC Delegation Attends GAFCON

The North American Lutheran Church sent a delegation of three as ecumenical observers to the third Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem in June. Attending as observers were Bishop John Bradosky, Pastor David Wendel and Pastor Bassam Abdallah. The invitation to attend this “by-invitation-only” conference was extended to us by representatives of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). The NALC and ACNA have been in ongoing ecumenical consultations since the formation of the NALC.   Continue reading “NALC Delegation Attends GAFCON”

Water Mission Project in Indonesia

I recently returned from a trip to Indonesia where we visited some of Water Mission’s safe water projects. It was encouraging to see how God is at work in this distant part of the world.

Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world following China, India, and the United States. It is also the world’s most populous Muslim country. The differences between predominantly Muslim and predominantly Christian communities were fascinating and apparent as we visited a wide range of communities. It was amazing to learn how God is using all of these projects to transform people’s lives.   Continue reading “Water Mission Project in Indonesia”