Every once in a while I can’t resist the urge to tabulate statistics. It is something that I have always enjoyed and something that my position at the Home Office occasionally requires, so that works out nicely. I recently took … (read more)
A few weeks ago, I pulled out a bit of history. And this bit pulled back. It happened one day during our annual missionary candidates’ Briefing Course, held every summer during the month of June. I was leading a Bible … (read more)
There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. – 1 Corinthians 12:5,6; NIV For more than one year our family had been planning a trip to Washington D.C. … (read more)
In the first full week of June, our missionary staff, inquirers and candidates, together with a few members of our governing Council, gathered in retreat at a family resort near Balsam Lake, Wisconsin. We gathered to pray for the evangelization … (read more)
Over the past few months we have considered Martin Luther’s counsel regarding prayer. In 1535, he wrote a booklet on the topic. This month we conclude with a final bit of Luther’s profound and practical advice. When you pray, Luther … (read more)
Last year Thrivent Financial for Lutherans ® started a new charitable grant program called Thrivent ChoiceSM. This replaced Giving Plus®, which was discontinued at the end of 2009. Giving Plus® worked out very well for us. Between 2005 and 2009 … (read more)
“Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” – Luke 5:10b When Jesus called Simon to follow him, he was calling an ordinary man to an impossible task. In some gospel accounts it appears that Jesus walked up … (read more)
“How should I pray effectively?” asked Peter Beskendorf centuries ago. Peter was a friend of Martin Luther – the Great Reformer’s barber. Luther responded with a little booklet, published in 1535. “How one should pray,” he called it helpfully. Over … (read more)
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Cor. 4:18 A couple of weeks ago we decided to move the business … (read more)
Last month we introduced a little booklet written by Martin Luther for his friend and barber, Peter Beskendorf. The booklet is titled simply, How One Should Pray, for Master Peter the Barber. Luther presents prayer as a discipline – as … (read more)