This Sickness Will Not End in Death
If the previous couple months have affirmed one thing to me about the nature of the Church, it is our togetherness. The spring of 2020 will undoubtedly go down in history as a vulnerable and difficult season of concern, grief, isolation, and loss. And, in our great...
One Little Word Shall Fell Him
I am becoming ever more convinced that the Western world doesn’t know quite what to do with the character of Satan. And by all accounts it seems that my hypothesis may be correct. A 2009 study by George Barna found that 59% of those who claimed to be Christian agreed...
Separated by Sin
I really wish I was perfectly good! As a kid I grew up thinking I was pretty good. I could compare myself to my friends and thought I came off favorably. I did not get in much trouble, so I took that as a sign that, all in all, I was good. But as the years go by, I...
The Last Enemy
The Thursday after Easter Sunday I was making rounds, and I came across a man sitting in a wheelchair by a table of the common room. I didn’t believe we had met before, certainly not on this unit, but there was something familiar about him I couldn’t place. This was...
100 Years in Chad: Foundations
Pastor Poulo Jacques, the Director of Evangelism and Mission for the EFLT (Chadian Lutheran Brethren Church) paused for a moment, and said, “Here is the foundation of the house originally built by Missionary Kaardal in 1920…” Pastor Jacques could hardly contain his...
Chad Centennial Address
Eglise Fraternelle Lutherienne Au Tchad (CLB of Chad) Centennial Address “The CLB in America, Chad, and the World—A Journey of Grace and Mission” March 15, 2020, Léré, ChadRev. Paul M Larson, CLBA President Dear President Souina Potiphar, my brother called with me to...
Test Me in This
“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will...
WMCLB: Update
This has been a very busy year for the WM Leadership Team. We have completed the reorganization of our ministry team. As part of this reorganization we needed significant updates to the Constitution and Bylaws as well as new job descriptions. We also have been...
Coronavirus: New Challenges, New Ministry
I pen this article on April 1, realizing so much will have changed by the time you read it. While we don’t know what will happen tomorrow, most indications point to a dramatic increase in coronavirus cases and deaths in the weeks to come. A week ago the CDC reported...
Time to Recalibrate
What have you been hearing and reading about most the last few months? I am guessing 99% of you quickly landed on coronavirus and everything connected to it. Therein lies our problem. As understandable as it may be to focus a great deal on COVID-19, we need to be...
Light in Darkness
Today feels somewhat like a plague out of the Dark Ages. At this moment, we have no vaccine or cure to rely upon and there is much we cannot control; we’re not used to that. What we do have are examples of our Lord Jesus and His Church to guide us in how to respond in...
An Update on Covid-19 from Japan
It’s FINALLY happened! After a long week of preparation and debate, the Prime Minister of Japan at last announced a State of Emergency in several of the large metropolitan areas. Although we all knew about this on Monday, discussion and debates continued throughout...
Who Knew?
Three months ago our house was overflowing with joyful expectation. It was Christmas Eve and the house was full: me, my wife, our children, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, three grandchildren, and my mother-in-law. We were preparing to eat our family’s traditional dinner...
Sleeping in the Storm
It has been truly a strange sight to watch “the city that never sleeps” settle into a collective slumber over the past week. The lights on Broadway went dark. The largest public school system in the nation closed. A city that thrives on eating out and night life...
Lord of All
As I sat in my office on Thursday, March 12, the news was coming fast and furious. I could visit traditional news sites, but I didn’t have to. Scrolling through Facebook, nearly every post was related to the coronavirus. Link after link to various news sources, videos...