This past April, I attended the Call Service at Fort Wayne. There were
about 50 students receiving calls. There were not enough graduates to fill the
additional 90 calls from LCMS congregations.
After eight years of education, and many of the students carrying 20 to 30
thousands of dollars of debt, what would the selected District President for
the occasion tell them?
The speaker for the evening was the newly elected Pacific Southwest
District President, Larry Staterau. He repeatedly told the new candidates for
the ministry that the most important thing is passion.
One has to ask if men spend eight years and tens of thousands of dollars
because they are passionate.
Stoterau made an appearance when I spoke at the VFW hall in Orange,
California in October of 1998, about "Reclaiming the Gospel in the
LCMS" and the importance of keeping the Creeds in worship services.
A number of pastors from the Pacific Southwest District were present at the
meeting and attempted to interrupt and mock my presentation. One of them
insisted that the Apostles' Creed was incorrect because it didn't contain law.
Stoterau was seated with that group of pastors.
At month later, at the graduation ceremony, Rev. Robert Rahn, of the
Lutheran Heritage Foundation, was the quest speaker. In his speech Rahn kept
stating that in every circumstance the "Word works." The Word of God
is the real power in the ministry. The Word of God accomplishes everything in
the ministry. The Word works and to quote his parents, "Jesus never
fails."
Rahn received a doctorate from Fort Wayne after he gave his speech. The
statistics of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation's accomplishments over the past
eight years were read so quickly I can only recall a few. The Lutheran
Heritage Foundation now has approximately 200 workers in 40 countries
translating the Lutheran Confessions, Catechisms, and many other outstanding
works of Lutheranism into the language of the people. Can you imagine, the
Lutheran Confessions are now in Russian and Swahili, just to name two. The
Lutheran Heritage Foundation has published more than a million books. The Word
works.
The new graduates heard two approaches to ministry. One from the Council of
District Presidents promoting passion and the other from Robert Rahn, the man
responsible for more translation work than any Lutheran in history. Rahn says
the Word works.