Missouri Synod Lutherans in Missouri

Yesteday I had the priviledge of speaking for a couple hours to a number of pastors and Christian teachers from the state of Missouri at a beautiful resort called Tan-Tar-A--an Indian name meaning "no Internet here." One of the conference organizers--Ron Rall from Timothy Lutheran Church had read The Externally Focused Church and thought this would be a good plenary topic for the convention to hear. This was a tough audience--I mean Missouri Synod Lutherans in Missouri...in the "show me" state. To lighten the crowd up I thought I'd start with the story of the Missouri Synod Lutheran who was stranded on a desert island alone for 20 years. When he was rescued he wanted to show his rescuers how he passed his time on the island. First he showed off his house, then proudly pointing to another small building with a cross, he said, "And this is the church I go to." When the rescuers asked about the other building with the cross, he said, "And that's the church I don't go to."

The seminar went fine with a number requesting the powerpoint presentation afterwards. Dr. Kalthoff, who is retiring after 17 years leading the convention did a great job setting me up by presenting ambitious plans for growth and church planting. A great group of folks to hang out with.

One of the strange things was how cheap gas was...under $2.00 a gallon. Well, it must be because of the large oil reserve under Rolla...no....the abundance of refineries....no....the cheap transportaion costs....Hey! What's going on here?