Two Approaches to Ministry at Fort Wayne:
Passion or The Word

By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

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.


Rev. Jack Cascione is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS - MI) in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He has written numerous articles for Christian News and is the author of Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS: How to Keep Your Congregation Lutheran. He has also written a study on the Book of Revelation called In Search of the Biblical Order.
He can be reached by email at pastorcascione@juno.com.

June 18, 2001