Threats Roll In - From Bethany Lutheran College

Sam Birner wrote this on Stowes wall: For the love of all that is holy, I really do hope you get the ACLU on this now... "while he was posting on a gay porn site:" Ok, that *is* straight libel there

Caitlyn Mahlum He needs to be sued. This is illegal without a doubt. What a scumbag.
Zak Stowe I submitted a request for advise (sic) from the ACLU by placing a LGBT Harassment Claim 11 hours ago · Like Zak Stowe This has gone too far 11 hours ago · Like Caitlyn Mahlum Awesome, good idea. His last blog update clearly shows harassment. the ACLU isn't something for McCreepinstein to want to mess with. 6 hours ago · Like Daniel Schallert I fear dude'll kinda take any sort of legal action as proof of the world hating him, which would thus be proof of the holiness of his work. Though it would also be hilarious if one of the WELS's rabid detractors were eventually forced into silence by an unholy, damned-straight-to-hell-no-questions-asked gay man and the ACLU. 5 hours ago · Like · 2
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French, Caitlyn. email address - caitlyn.french@blc.edu
Oh dear, dead, Ichabod,

I must ask you to remove a certain and recent screen capture that involves Zak's recent Facebook escapades. You recently took a screen capture that involved the names of a few who had posted comments. My name was in that list. I respectfully ask you to take down that image or I will have to consider legal action. The nature of your blog is defamatory and having my name on it may cause damage to my reputation, much in the same way it has to Zak's.

Now, before you go and post my email as an example of a 'WELS cover-up technique', let me halt you right there. I am NOT WELS, I am actually an ex-WELS. I once attended MLC, the reason I know Zak and others on that thread, and left to pursue bigger and brighter things.

Quite frankly, I don't care what the synod does now. However, I will not stand for my comments to be taken and twisted as pro-WELS comments that seek to cover up your so-called conspiracy. I care for the well-being of my friens Zak. This is the only reason I am furious over your blog. Berate WELS all you want; do not harm my friend's reputation any further.

Oh, did you get that? I. AM. NOT. WELS. Do not twist my words to fit your agenda. If you do, the fallacies will become ever so evident to me in all of your posts.

To be honest, Ichabod, I used to admire your attacks on WELS. However, you have disgusted me due to the huge and insurmountable recent lies in your work.

Good Day.

-Caitlyn Mahlum

***

GJ - Posting in a Facebook wall is publishing - as in public. You chose to post your words in public, and now they are even more public - verbatim.

If you want to apologize, Caitlyn, feel free to send another email. Since you are visiting your attorney soon, I suggest you study the pornographic origin and meaning of "scumbag." You might find yourself out of thousands of dollars while he informs you that you are very much in the wrong and I am within my rights in quoting your public pronouncements.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Check list for the freedom lovers of the 

American Civil Liberties Union

Have I called the participants names - such as Mccreepinstein and scumbag? No.

Have I threatened to shut down Martin Luther College or Bethany Lutheran College? No.

Have I sent pornographic emails and copied them on Facebook? No.

Have I kept anyone from graduating, making a living, or publishing whatever they want? No.

Does Martin Luther College Monitor Facebook Posts from Their Students?

Zachary Stowe, Martin Luther College, WELS, graduate

Forwarded from Stowe's Facebook account.

https://www.facebook.com/zak.stowe?fref=ts

Zak Stowe I submitted a request for advise (sic) from the ACLU by placing a LGBT Harassment Claim 11 hours ago · Like Zak Stowe This has gone too far 11 hours ago · Like Caitlyn Mahlum Awesome, good idea. His last blog update clearly shows harassment. the ACLU isn't something for McCreepinstein to want to mess with. 6 hours ago · Like Daniel Schallert I fear dude'll kinda take any sort of legal action as proof of the world hating him, which would thus be proof of the holiness of his work. Though it would also be hilarious if one of the WELS's rabid detractors were eventually forced into silence by an unholy, damned-straight-to-hell-no-questions-asked gay man and the ACLU. 5 hours ago · Like · 2

It is not libel or slander to quote someone verbatim when I have the copy of the email and its particulars. That is especially true when the same email is foolishly posted on the gentleman's Facebook account for all his friends to see.

Normal people would see slander in Zak's email to me. I see it as the sign of a troubled person who never got the spiritual guidance he needed in WELS.

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From "K" - who is anonymous.

On your latest blog post, I understand you copied the quote from his email, but do at lease correct this part

"while he was posting on a gay porn site:"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindr

He was clearly being inflammatory there to make his point, Grindr isn't actually a porn site, it's just a dating app like any other dating app. While I won't question whether or not you can say the rest, I hope you can at least see that that isn't fair.

***

GJ - I did not post the entire email because it was lewd, obscene, and disgusting. If the readers saw the entire email, they would agree that the point of the email was insulting, slanderous, and unbecoming a recent graduate of a Christian college.

Perhaps dating via a gay website is normal in WELS, but I doubt it. 

WELS headquarters got into big trouble when the FBI raided it for Joel Hochmuth's computer files.

Martin Luther College and WELS Damage Control

Zak Stowe just graduated from Martin Luther College, WELS,
while he was posting on a gay porn site:
"I have some fun pictures on Grindr. All you had to do was message me.
 (Grindr is that app that fags use to find [omitted]."
Email to me, copied on his Facebook account.

I am trying to parse the latest damage control operation by WELS:
1. Lie about the obvious facts.
2. Blame and attack me while citing the Eighth Commandment.

Total page-views are now over 1,000 - and 300 is normally the peak of a big story. This one shows no sign of abating.

Mrs. Ichabod said, "How do you know about all this stuff?" I gave her a detailed answer, which boils down to this:

• Ichabod is the only safe outlet in WELS and Missouri. 
• The micro-minis are already in a death-spiral so no one cares about them. 
• If someone dares to address an issue, it is the first step in being ousted.

SP Mark Schroeder's "Write a letter" advice is useless, since he does not even answer certified letters. By the way, that is the only way to send one. Make sure a signed receipt comes back, so the official has a chance to lie again, as Schroeder did. He claimed, "I never got your letter." I kept the signed receipt and copied it on Ichabod. In fact, no one who got that letter responded, except in a cowardly and sniveling way through an ELCA/Seminex pastor.

When WELS starts lying, witnesses know better.

MLC's Schone is not a fabulous dresser.

Here are some lies and the facts that refute them.

1. No one knew Zak Stowe was gay.
Answer - He had a group of friends at MLC and elsewhere. They knew. How could this not get around, especially on the campus of a tiny sect college where everyone is related? One of his FB friends is Ski. Did Ski know?

2. Zak was not denied student teaching.
Answer - He was, and for good reason.

3. No deal was made for Zak to remain silent, in order to get his degree.
Answer - Half the college is laughing about this claim. They knew about the arrangement. The real question remains - why is the other half completely out of the loop? Between Twitter and texting, college students know everything in a few seconds, whether rumor or fact. Secondly, Zak's post immediately after graduation looks like a response, going back on a deal.

4. "You just made it up to make WELS look bad."
Answer - I did not force Zak to post what he did on his Facebook account. I did not assume the email I got was from Zak, but he confirmed it by posting it on his FB page - as his friends have told me. WELS looks bad for lying again, for covering up their utter lack of direction and integrity.

The heated denials (like student teaching) only underline the facts. I have been impressed by WELS' ability to scare away and silence sources. Notice that there is no outlet allowed in WELS. Intrepid Lutherans has become a link to ELDONA. An entire group of activists cannot get a post published.

WELS denies justification by faith - the Gospel -
and embraces every dogma of the mainline Leftists.
Can corruption inherit incorruption?

Not Just a Thunderstorm - Rain on a Garden Produces Effects, Always

Yesterday we had a sod-soaker. The rose garden was washed, drenched, and given more life.

The first effect of rain is the shower of nitrogen compounds, which spur growth and green up everything. Farmers say, "Irrigation keeps plants alive. Rain makes them grow."

The rain also washes off all the plants. One of the best ways to keep plants healthy is to wash them. That clears off bugs and dust.

I covered a lot of sod with with newsprint and mulch, so the rain fueled the decomposition of the sod into rich humus. I once made a compost pit out of sod from the front yard. That part of the backyard was so rich in humus that it was always jelly-like when I walked on it. Likewise, the prairie soil of Moline was known for being so rich that the ground shivered when people jumped out of their wagons and landed on it.

When I wanted to grow parsley, the richest place in the yard was best for it - and parsley grew abundantly, attracting swallowtail butterflies, who insist on parsley. Years ago, the owner of the Parsley Patch ran out of parsley, so she asked to harvest mine. Needless to say, I gloated about bailing out the professional herbalist with my sod-created parsley patch.

Ideal soil creatures love rain, darkness, and food from recycling. The covered sod, newsprint, and mulch all provide food - and a blanket to shade the sun, a wet blanket to keep the moisture in and the roots of the roses cool.

Sod is a great boost for the garden because the richest top soil is held together with grass roots. When that layer decomposes and shrinks, it produces that humus-rich soil, the Jello of growth and health.

Meanwhile, the rain vastly expands the soil population. Studies have shown that a high population of creatures in the soil will produce the best results. There are many creatures that contribute to soil productivity, from springtails to sowbugs to earthworms, and they all crave moisture and darkness. The earthworms that arrived from the worm farm are normally 50% their size from dehydration on the journey. Rain fattens them up and restarts their life cycle of eating, burrowing, manuring, and laying eggs. They even provide another burst of nitrogen when they die, since earthworms are all muscle and moisture.

As they always said in sales, "Front-end activity always leads to results." By building up the soil, I build up the roses. The bare-root roses and the nursery roses (in paper buckets) can only thrive if their roots grow into the soil and the delicate root hairs have a banquet to serve to the plant above. That banquet consists of usable minerals and moisture. Clay soil is loaded with minerals but they need to be unlocked to reach the plant. As I understand it, decomposition and the soil creatures accomplish this. They also open up the clay for the rapid growth of roots.

Earthworms sweeten soil with their calcium-producing glands, and that sweeter soil is better for most plants and for releasing minerals in the soil for plant use.

Several factors keep me from osterizing the soil, although my neighbor offered up his giant soil mixer. One is the possibility of hitting utilities and running up a fat liability for the repairs. Even when flags are down, that happens, as it did at our local college, when the natural gas line was cut during remodeling.

Another reason - rototilling the soil is a crime against nature, upsetting the natural process of soil renewal. As one Indian said about the effect of the plow, "Soil upside-down." In this case - soil like whipped cream, without the flavor.

http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/soilbiota/
Admit it - you do not know what a springtail is.
Check out the link for some close-ups.

Finally, I resist it because soil creatures and plants do the work. One expert argued that no one needs to stir or rototill ingredients into the soil. The earthworms will rise to the occasion, bring the organic matter down into the root-layer, and thoroughly mix it, creating tunnels for rain and channels for rainwater. Call me lazy, but I like that mulch better.

Results - I learned from a Church Growth seminar to count the results. Yesterday, after plenty of pruning and cutting for the altar flowers, I saw 50 rose blooms on the plants from the nursery. The bare-root roses have leafed out and greened up. They will soon be producing buds.

My neighbor's daughter said she loved roses but did not like weeding them. I said, "No weeding with mulch." The rose plants are set off by the black mulch. I have one lonely weed that worked its way up through the newsprint and wooden mulch. A toddler could pull that weed out.

That was my other concession to laziness. I read the Ruth Stout book on mulching and decided that mulching was really composting on the spot, eliminating back-breaking wheelbarrow trips and weeding at the same time.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/gardencoach/giving-soil-the-respect-it-deserves
This link explains soil creatures.

But wait - I have a large compost pile, consisting of leaves from my many maple trees. I am loathe to remove organic material from the yard, so I am letting the leaves process above ground for future projects. I almost used them this year, but I measured my lack of a wheelbarrow, my lack of ambition, and my potential trek from the pile in the backyard to the rose plantation in the front yard. Bags of mulch won that round.

Nevertheless, the snow and rain have changed the pile, reducing it to 25% of the original mass of leaves. My helper, who mows and rakes, said, "I can't fit anymore in." I said, "You will soon." The chicken-wire cage was soon half-full again. The compost pile is roughly 5' by 7' by 5' - a lot of leaves. Ironically, I am feeding my neighbor's garden, which is next to it, across the fence-line. Graduates of the Wormhaven Compost Pile can easily migrate into his garden.

The rain and snow always have an effect. We have too many city-slickers in the pulpit and not enough gardeners and farmers. If they knew more about Creation, they would trust the efficacy of the Word, the inevitable growth that comes from the Word. Below are three promises about the Holy Spirit at work in the Word.

• The Word will never return void.
• The Word will always accomplish God's will.
• The Word will prosper God's intentions.

Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie should have sent their leaders into the garden instead of Fuller Seminary. Wagner admitted, his stupid Church Growth Principles do not work.

The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ - And Theater Organs. The Hammond Tone Wheel and Leslie Speaker

I went to some special showings of silent movies in our area, many years ago. The theater organ was essential for the original showings.

Some of us remember the soaps on TV having organ background music. The dramatic chord is so well known that I have it on a little sound machine I use in teaching undergraduates.






Hammond organs seem to have 100 different (nearly identical) sounds. But they last forever and are unkillable as an instrument. Many electronic organs have promised everything but they have not lasted long.

This history is fun and reveals hows the Hammond Company succeeded, went bankrupt, and came back as a unit of Suzuki.

Nothing can equal a pipe organ.




I only played classical music and hymns at home when Little Ichabod was growing up. Whenever "Ride of the Valkyries" came on the stereo, I flew him around the room, doing dips and swoops and singing along.

Denials - And Naturally - The Eighth Commandment Cited Twice While Attacking My Motives

A reader said: "LOL, that 2nd e-mailer seriously thinks that MLC didn't know? They knew. Half the campus knew about Zak and his deal, according to my sources."

On Zak's Coming Out

As expected, I noticed your posts about Zak Stowe's coming out on facebook. It was expected, but that's not why a fair amount of us (Zak's friends) are upset. We're more upset that you literally are just making things up about him.

Now, I've seen a few times that you've had the 8th commandment thrown against you in too many situations. And in many cases I agree, they're misused. Hell, as a student at MLC I agree with a lot of the criticisms of WELS and MLC that are put forth and think there needs to be change, so I'm not saying this out of a need to defend holy mother synod or anything. But this is a true case of 8th commandment abuse. 

"The college wanted him to stay in the closet, long after graduation, to make them look good."

That *literally* is just made up, there is no truth to it, you just made it up to make WELS look bad. I'm good friends with Zak, I've known he's gay for awhile, talked with him during the Inherit The Wind debacle and subsequent visits he's had with professors.

That. Never. Happened. They didn't know, they had no clue, there was no conspiracy, they never told him to stay in a closet, never knew he was gay. If you wanna (sic) criticize MLC and the WELS, use actual criticisms, don't make stuff up like this. That *is* an abuse of the 8th commandment, and you of all people should know that. 

Zak had no deal with the college, ever. He graduated with a degree in educational studies because he couldn't student teach for completely different reasons unrelated to his being gay, that was never known by the school. Don't lie.

In Christ,

-K

***

GJ - The message above arrived by email, a few minutes after an obscene, lewd, nasty email - from Zak Stowe. Facebook contacts confirm that it came from Zak, since he reposted it on his own Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/zak.stowe?fref=ts

Among other things, Zak bragged about posting photos of himself on a gay porn site. Did he use Martin Luther College's equipment and bandwidth? One year the seniors had a contest about who could get past the porn-blocking filter at MLC.

Typical WELS - they want to debate the rumor and start making personal attacks. Sorry, but I can only report rumors. That is factual reporting.

Half the student body knows about the deal Zak made with MLC. He just posted that he has been lying for the last 12 years. Why not a few more lies?

According to the two emails today, Schone is oblivious. Of course, WELS has a cover story for every scandal. 

WELS leaders know nothing and remember even less, even if they are eye-witnesses. Look at the stars of Party in the MLC. They deliberately copied every move of a gay video and publicly proclaimed their innocence about all that. Why, they just climbed off the manure wagon to go to college. They only knew about farm animals - and thus they were fooled until someone Googled "gay" after reading Ichabod. No wonder one of them is going to work with a DP - he has the lame excuses down pat.

I am not sure why today's authors are so angry with me. Zak Stowe has the publicity he wanted -842 views already. He posted his original on Facebook for everyone to see. I published his message verbatim. I had no trouble believing it was from a Martin Luther College graduate - 

I want to leave MLC with this message to those who are scared to except (sic) themselves...

Nothing verifies WELSian authorship faster than bad spelling and worse grammar. 

Naturally - everything is my fault.

Boardwalk Organ Being Revived, Repaired, and Played

"No, I will NOT play Fascination."

Wikipedia:
The Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ is the pipe organ in the Main Auditorium of the Boardwalk Hall (formerly known as the Atlantic City Convention Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company. It is the largest organ in the world, as measured by the number of pipes. The main auditorium is 487×288×137 feet (148×88×42 m)^[1] with a floor area of 140,000 square feet (13,000 m²), giving a volume of 15,000,000 cubic feet (420,000 m³).^[2] Consequently, the organ runs on much higher wind pressures than most organs in order to achieve a volume loud enough to fill the hall. The organ has four entries in The Guinness Book of World Records including "Largest pipe organ ever constructed", "Largest musical instrument ever constructed" and "Loudest musical instrument ever constructed", and holds several records in the organ world. It is one of only two organs in the world to have an open 64' rank,^[3] and the only organ to have stops voiced on 100" of wind pressure.^[3] Its console features seven keyboards, called manuals.^[4]

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History of the Pipe Organ:

Boardwalk Hall houses the most powerful musical instrument on the planet—a pipe organ that contains both the largest, and loudest organ pipes ever made. More powerful than a dozen orchestras, it can both whisper and thunder into the 5.5 million cubic feet of air space in the main hall.

After a silence of many decades, the organ has only recently began playing again thanks to the completion of the first part of an ambitious restoration project. Since much of the organ is made from wood (it took 225,000 board feet of lumber to construct), repairing water and humidity damage will be an important aspect of the work yet to be done as part of the 10 year, $16 million dollar project being led by the non-profit Historic Organ Restoration Committee (HORC).

Built between 1929 and 1932 by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company of Merrick, Long Island, N.Y., it was designed by Atlantic County State Senator—and noted organ architect—Emerson L. Richards. He specified almost every detail of the instrument, from its physical construction to the actual sound the various stops should make.

Weighing in at a staggering 150 tons, the instrument is original to the building and completely concealed behind the exquisite gilded grillwork around the main auditorium, the iconography of which depicts stylized sea creatures and plants. It is the first version of what we now think of as “surround-sound”.

The main console, located on the right (house) side of the proscenium arch is the largest ever constructed, the only to ever have seven manual keyboards in addition to the pedal keyboard and 1,235 stop tablets to control the 33,112 pipes.

The Midmer-Losh organ has 449 ranks of pipes in addition to 23 actual orchestral percussion instruments, sounded by pneumatically controlled, weighted mallets. Wind to power the organ is powered by eight blowers, totaling 633 H.P. which generate 36,400 CFM at pressures in excess of 100”—more than double that used in any other organ! The sound colors available in this instrument can be heard nowhere else. These include 10 stops voiced on 50”of wind, and four on 100”. Of these later, the Grand Ophicleide is the most powerful. As The Guinness Book of World Records describes it, it has a volume "six times louder than the loudest locomotive whistle"! Other notable features include ten 32-foot stops and a full-length 64-foot—one of only two ever constructed, and also the largest in the world.

The Adrian Phillips Ballroom is also equipped with a magnificent pipe organ, installed behind the grillwork on either side of the proscenium arch. The console is located in the musician’s balcony (house right). Originally designed to provide the soundtrack for silent movies, the instrument can provide a wide variety of musical styles and genres and can conjure up every imaginable effect from the singing of birds to an entire symphony orchestra. There are 55 ranks of pipes in this instrument controlled from a four-manual console.

Specialty tours giving an extremely detailed history and guided look behind the scenes of some of the normally closed sections of Boardwalk Hall’s pipe organs are available on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month. An optional donation ($20 is suggested) is requested by the docents for these tours to benefit the ongoing work of the Historic Organ Restoration Committee (H.O.R.C.). Tour length is 2 hours. Reservations are suggested but not required. For more information, please contact Steven Ball atsball@accenter.com or 609-348-7499.

Beginning in May of 2014, free concerts will be presented on the Midmer-Losh pipe organ in the main hall Monday-Friday at 12:00 noon, followed by a chance to meet the organist of the hall Dr. Steven Ball and take a free guided ½ hour organ tour. No reservation is necessary for either the concerts or tours.

Pay attention to our upcoming events page for more information regarding programs and fundraising events to support the organs of Historic Boardwalk Hall.

Stephen D. Smith
The Honorary Curator in Perpetuity of the Boardwalk Hall Pipe Organs

Carl Loeser
The Lillian Levy Curator of the Boardwalk Hall Pipe Organs

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Introduction

The organ in Main Auditorium of Boardwalk Hall (formerly Convention Hall) was built by the Midmer-Losh Co., of Merrick, Long Island, New York. Work on the instrument, opus 5550, started in May of 1929 and was completed in December, 1932. The specifications were drawn-up by Emerson L. Richards (1884–1963), a native of Atlantic City and State Senator for Atlantic County. Although politics was his profession, pipe organs were his passion and pre-occupation. He described himself as an "Organ Architect" and, over the years, had some 80 articles published in organ journals. As a result of his design ideas and the practical demonstrations thereof, his influence extended far beyond Atlantic City, and he was dubbed "the Commander-in-Chief of the American Revolution in Organ Building".

The Main Auditorium is a vast space, measuring 488 feet long, 288 feet wide, and 137 feet high. To fill the place with sound, Richards designed an organ with some mind-boggling and previously unheard of specifications. There are ten 32-foot ranks, a full-length 64-foot (one of only two in the world – see Note 1, at the end of this page), four voices on 100-inch wind (a pressure not employed in any other organ) and 10 on 50 inches. With a total 33,116 pipes (see Note 2), the organ is the largest (and loudest!) musical instrument on Earth.

The pipes are accommodated in eight chambers arranged in opposite pairs on the left and right sides of the auditorium – there being four chambers in the stage area and four near the center of the room. The simplified diagram (not to scale), below, shows the contents of the chambers and gives an idea their relative locations.

Remember the Minister of the Means of Grace at Latte Lutheran? She Is Not Certified Yet - In Another Staph Position

Randy Hunter and Elton Stroh flopped big-time at Latte Lutheran,
so Elton is still there with Hunter, and Hunter is a Changer hero.

Kristen Koepsell:

Staff Minister Kristen Koepsell graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran College in 2003 with a B.A. in Psychology and minors in Communication and Theology, and is currently pursuing Staff Ministry certification from Martin Luther College. She served as Staff Minister for Worship at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Middleton, WI, from 2003 until 2012.  As Coordinator of Music and Elementary Education & Fellowship at Cross of Christ, Kristen accompanies worship services, directs the adult choir, and mentors other musicians of all ages in using their gifts in worship. She also oversees Sunday school and Youth Ministries for grades Kindergarten through 6^th.

Kristen likes to spend her free time keeping up with friends and family scattered about the country; reading (esp. sci-fi and classic literature) and writing; listening to, playing, and writing music; resale/thrift/consignment shopping, and pursuing both spiritual and physical fitness.

Email Kristen Koepsell at kristen.kopesell@cocboise.org.

The WELS magazine published a gushing article about this fiasco.

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Wisconsin Lutheran College

Mark Jeske - Koine - Church and Change Workshop

Kristen Koepsell

As Staff Minister of Worship at St. Andrew Church, Kristen is responsible for planning and implementing all worship opportunities. She also oversees the large corps of worship volunteers who serve in many and varied capacities each week. Music is the largest part of the worship ministry at St. Andrew, but the worship ministry also includes lay readers, dramatic and visual arts, hospitality ministries and audio/visual tech support. Kristen works with Pastor Hunter to study biblical worship principles and practices, evaluate current worship practices at St. Andrew, and define future directions for St. Andrew's worship ministry.

Kristen has been involved in worship ministry since she began singing in church with her Sunday school class at four years old, and greatly enjoys carrying on that part of her family's legacy. She graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran College in 2003 with a B.A. in Psychology and minors in Communication and Theology, and is currently pursuing Staff Ministry certification from Martin Luther College. When she's not writing services or running rehearsals, Kristen spends her time reading (her favorites being science fiction, classic literature and contemporary non-fiction), playing piano, writing music, running, and staying connected with friends and family.

Rogate - The Fifth Sunday after Easter. Prayer

Rogate, The Fifth Sunday after Easter, 2014


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn # 202 Welcome Happy Morning                           4:28
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual 
The Gospel 
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #458 Our Father 4:50

Prayer Is the Fruit of Justification by Faith

The Communion Hymn # 207 Like the Golden Sun 4:76
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior 4:24 

KJV James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. 25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

Fifth Sunday After Easter
Lord God, heavenly Father, who through Thy Son didst promise us that whatsoever we ask in His name Thou wilt give us: We beseech Thee, keep us in Thy word, and grant us Thy Holy Spirit, that He may govern us according to Thy will; protect us from the power of the devil, from false doctrine and worship; also defend our lives against all danger; grant us Thy blessing and peace, that we may in all things perceive Thy merciful help, and both now and forever praise and glorify Thee as our gracious Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Prayer Is the Fruit of Justification by Faith

KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 

The central teaching of the Bible is faith in Jesus, as he clearly taught in John 16, a teaching reflected in many different ways throughout the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin - because they do not believe on Me.

We should recognize that faith in all Christian believes who trust in the Savior for their forgiveness, their salvation. That cannot mean faith plus something else, but faith alone, apart from any works or merit of our own. Most Protestants and many Roman Catholics agree about this basic teaching of the Bible. That should be acknowledged.

But there are also many attacks on this from all quarters, which do not need to be described in details. No group or denomination is lacking in those who have another concept, an opposing view, and want to impose it on everyone.

Given that truth, it is sad that so many barriers are put in the way of teaching the Biblical view. Simply put, believing is forgiveness, as Jesus taught. Or, to use the Latin-based words: believing is justification (forgiveness) and justification is sanctification. Good works naturally flow from faith in Christ.

The Gospel is the unquenchable energy of the entire Bible. People may throw all kinds of philosophical wet blankets and legalistic condemnations on the Gospel, but that energy still breaks through.

It is like that humble little pumpkin seed. I just ordered some on sale, since we have late autumns here. I bought the Atlantic Giant variety to share with various children. The vine creates enormous leaves that look like green umbrellas, and big ugly pumpkins known only for their size. When a pumpkin starts growing, it invades the property of other people. I told one neighbor in Midland, long ago, "Chop out what you don't want in your yard. You can't hurt it."

The Gospel seed has that power, to invade and spread and show its influence. Forgiveness of sin is the ultimate blessing, so the Gospel blessings lead to the blessing of others. 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 

Nothing says more about faith than prayer, because prayer defies rational analysis. Even in those wacky shows where they refuse to name Christ, someone will say, "What can I do?" The answer is - "All you can do now is pray."

And what does human reason say? I can think words, and God will answer me, one little individual? Or I can speak them out loud without any proof Someone is listening?

Faith in Jesus means we also believe these words - "Whatever you ask the Father in My Name, He will give it to you."

And then the battle of faith begins. We wonder - whatever? And will He really give it? When? This begins the war against faith waged by our sinful flesh, Satan, and the unbelieving world.

Faith is renewed by worship, where we receive grace through the Means of Grace, where our weak or confused notions are corrected by the Word of God.

24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. 

When the years of training were drawing to a close, Jesus taught His disciples to pray on their own, praying in His Name. We have many associations with that. When there is a message or request backed by another person, we pay attention to that. 

Children name the other parent when making a plea for something. "Mom already said it was OK, if you agree, Dad. Please?" How can that be turned down?

England even passed a law based on this concept. The Riot Act had specific language, which ended "In the Name of the Queen, I order you to stop. So the riot act became a figure of  speech, but it was a law. Now we say, "The boss read the riot act to us about sales." The point is - another authority is invoked.

Jesus' words are Gospel. They do not condemn but encourage us to ask.

25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 

These three verses belong together, pointing toward the post-Resurrection appearances and teaching of Jesus. What will give them the faith needed is the horrible trial they will face, experiencing their fears and weakness, being restored by Jesus' forgiveness and blessing.

The more they know of the Father, the more they trust asking in Jesus' Name. Sometimes much is made of the Apostles' courage, since almost all of them died violently because of the Christian Faith. They were not inherently better than any of us. They were imbued with faith in God's power and mercy, because Jesus taught them the pure Word and helped them grow in their appreciation of it.

This passage includes a great blessing that everyone should remember, when God seems to be silent or absent. "The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have trusted that I came from God."

The world may frown, and it often does, but God loves those who love His Son and completely believe in His Sonship.

29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

When Jesus taught, He often used figures or parables that left the dabblers puzzled. That was the intention, since many dropped by to see what they could get for themselves. Jesus knew their thoughts, so He explained the parables and sayings to the disciples. And this is embedded in the Christian faith to this day. 
The plain, basics teachings of the Bible are clearly stated in many places, in many ways. The deeper meanings need to be studied. The difficulties (for us) make us want to study more.

In many instances, perhaps most instances, we need to know and believe what is taught before we encounter the challenges of life. And they encourage us to return to the Scriptures to learn from God.

Luther used his dog as an example in complete trust. Dogs never tire of asking. Sassy has many signals:
1. Licking her lips - time for some food.
2. Ear flapping - time to go outside. She has no doggy door.
3. Wake the dead bark - I need to go outside this second, and you haven't noticed my signals.
4. The grin - that means, "You know what I want. I will stare you down with this goofy grin until I get it."
5. Paw tap - I need attention.
6. Paw scrape - I need attention now.
7. Dragging the master down on the bed by clawing the sweater - "No more computer. I want some love."
Sassy pawed me to sing the second verse of her song, The Cattle Dog Blues.

Prayer means asking, although we do more than ask in prayer. We offer thanks. We confess our sins. But this lesson teaches us to always to be asking. Asking means trusting, and trusting is another word for believing.

If we do not trust God to answer prayer, we do not believe in His true nature. We have let human reason, our sinful flesh, or Satan teach us. The Word never deceives, never errs.