Why should we have a blog on a church website? What purpose does it serve? These are good questions, questions with a different answer for every webmaster or pastor.
Good Shepherd Leadville is unique in that it is the only liturgical Lutheran Church for a radius of at least 50 miles, if not more. It is the highest Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod congregation, and it is in a county where 83 percent of the population does not admit to participating in any organized religion. The only reason the church can keep its doors open, the pastor has some outside income to help defray the cost of living. Without a bi-vocational pastor, there is no way the church could financially survive.
But the small number of people (between 10 and 20 on any given Sunday) who attend each week need the assurance of God’s grace, love, and mercy. They need to hear of salvation by grace through faith for the sake of Christ. They need the objective proof of God’s undeserved love through the properly proclaimed Word, both Law and Gospel, and the properly administered sacraments. They need a pastor who will pray for and with them, visit them when they are ill or in the hospital, and bring the the assurance of life everlasting.
Sometimes the blog will discuss various aspects of being a pastor, such as the joy of service planning. Sometimes it will be an answer to a question, such as the upcoming “What did Luther have to say about the Ottoman Empire?” Sometimes it will be about externals, such as serving as a Civil Air Patrol chaplain.
This blog does not replace a Bible Study, though I certainly will answer questions you may pose. This blog does not replace attending the Divine Service each week, though you are welcome to download each sermon preached in or for this congregation. This blog is truly musings about being a pastor, being a rural congregation, and being in an area that simply has no desire to hear the truth of God’s love.
The people that I am honored to serve, having been called by God through the church to this place, deserve the best that I can offer. The best is the assurance of the forgiveness of sins for the sake of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. The best is the hope of the resurrection, for where there is the complete forgiveness of sins, there is eternal life. (As for the resurrection, you might want to read 1 Corinthians 15 for a description of why temporal death is necessary on our way to eternal life.)
My plan is to post something each week, a bit eclectic but fun nonetheless. I will do this to make the church more accessible as you come to realize that the pastor really enjoys what he is doing. I will do this in hopes that you will come to know that our help is in the Name of the Lord, that in Him we are assured of heaven. That, and it is fun too.