Loof Lirpa Accepts Call to Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary

Loof Lirpa, raised in Holland,
became a WELS member through a Seeker Service.

The Rev. Loof Lirpa accepted a call from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin, to teach evangelism, homiletics, and cross-cultural ministry. He wrote in his letter of acceptance, "The Holy Spirit told me in a dream last night that I would do great things for Him at Mequon. I am grateful to St. Mark Partners in Depere, Wisconsin (WELS) for its Seeker Service, where I became a Lutheran and began training for this totally awesome job."

Lirpa was able to earn several degrees online while preparing for this position. Keeping his job at UPS, he studied at Fuller, Trinity Deerfield, and Willow Creek Community Church. His studies were delayed when Willow Creek announced it had been wrong all along and changed their curriculum. Lirpa was also a little shocked when he found out that Willow Creek was not a member of the Wisconsin Synod.

Laughing, he said, "Our congregation is a member of the Willow Creek Association, so I thought it was something like an interest group within the synod. Something was lost in the translation."

Parlow smiled as he said, "We wanted to take Loof to the Drive 08 conference in Atlanta, too, but he was too busy studying. He is going to take Mequon to a whole new level by being pro-active, synergistic, and sensitive to unchurched demographics."

Lirpa admits being confused when he visited other WELS congregations far from Fox Valley. "I had trouble with the liturgy stuff, creeds, and hymns from a book. I wanted to take those pastors and shake them, but Pastor John said - Your hour has not yet come. Wait for a Mequon call. So I did."

Things are looking up, according to Lirpa. "We are getting women into the pastoral ministry, without all that fussy convention stuff. We have seeker-sensitive congregations all over the US. And, we have a vast network of support from the best minds of Christendom - Mark Driscoll, Leonard Sweet, Ed Stetzer, Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, John Maxwell, Bill Hybels, Mark Beeson, and Rick Warren."

Pastor John said, "I would add Kent Hunter and Waldo Werning too, but we are not in fellowship with them."

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Twitter Might Be Useful After All

I was ignoring Twitter, after getting my account. I associated Twitter with cell phones, texting, IM, and other modern annoyances.

As I mentioned before, a friend joined up and linked to my Twitter account, so I felt compelled to use it a bit.

I tried lampooning the thinklets people send out, because those little epigrams almost always come from Buddha, John Maxwell, or a mega-church pastor who has not yet been arrested.

But then I said, "Aha. I can broadcast good and bad quotations from Megatron." So I am doing that. I am not going to write, "I am working so hard today, but I am glad I am getting so much done." Or, "I cleaned the patio today. What a job!"

Twitter is simply a way to send out a very short message to a group of people. The device only allows 140 characters, so forget the complete scholarly apparatus. People probably like it because they can send and receive messages from their computers or cell phones. Twitter can be linked to a blog, as several are on Ichabod.

Megatron is the database of quotations I developed after I began using Professional File (DOS) in 1987. I thought, "If it works for addresses, it can also work for text." I named the database after the battery in my car, never realizing that Megatron would be a famous Transformer years later.

When Wayne Mueller formally denied WELS Church Growth programs in The Northwestern Lutheran FIC, I began adding CG quotations, pro and con. The number of WELS and LCMS CG quotations was staggering. Friends mailed me materials to add to the database.

I added another 700 quotations to write Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant. Once the database reached 3,000 quotations, I stopped adding so many. I learned from going through the LCA's The Lutheran that anyone can forget shocking stories after time has passed. The database remembers all the details, the source, and groups content according to keywords, topics, and Scripture.

As Pants the Heinz: Church Growth May Be Scraping Bottom Soon

Perhaps some should try this at their Lutheran Community Church.

I feel so cheated. At church Sunday I didn’t get to see someone get squirted with ketchup (?) while he sang on stage with flashing lights and special effects. When you go to Ed Young’s church you never know what you’ll encounter, like the Sunday he dragged a bed onto the “stage” to talk sex. Ketchup-enhanced singers and sex talk. Time for the rest of you pastors out there to get caught up on hip ministry these days. Bibles, by the way, are optional.

Slice of Laodicea is an Evangelical website devoted to slicing and dicing the apostasy around us. One section is dedicated to Mega-church Follies.

Their third-rate slapstick comedy often replaces the Gospel, reminding me of various Lutheran Church Shrinkers of the past and present.

Some churches welcome pets.

Thanks to one of many researchers - Joseph F. Schmidt.

I prefer:

As pants the hart for cooling streams,
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God, for Thee
And Thy refreshing grace.

For Thee, my God, the living God,
My thirsty soul doth pine;
O, when shall I behold Thy face,
Thou majesty divine?

Why restless, why cast down, my soul?
Hope still; and thou shalt sing
The praise of Him Who is thy God,
Thy health’s eternal spring.

To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God Whom we adore,
Be glory as it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.