Many thanks to AALC pastor James Hoefer and NALC pastor Cathy Ammlung for providing the latest videos for our You Tube Channel. A link to our YouTube channel, which contains sixty-nine videos on books and topics of interest and importance, can be found HERE.
“WALKING WET: GOD’S BAPTISMAL PROMISE”
by James Hoefer
Pastor James Hoefer has reviewed his latest book, “Walking Wet: God’s Baptismal Promise.” A link to his review can be found HERE.
In this book Pastor James clearly states that baptism is God’s saving work – not our work of obedience and testimony. God does not start with our faith in Him, our witness to Him, or our efforts for Him. Rather He starts with His promises to us – promises He made and gave long before you or I could ever do anything to earn them. Our faith in Him, witness to Him, and efforts for Him would never be enough. They could never give us a solid foundation for life, a sure and certain sense of who we are, and security in our relationship with God. All these are given to us through God’s promises through baptism.
Dennis Nelson, executive director of Lutheran CORE, writes –
This book is clearly written with many very interesting and relevant illustrations. It reflects a pastor’s heart and is theologically solid. I was deeply honored to have been invited to write the Forward for this book. James and I were roommates in seminary and have been good friends ever since. I have always known him to have a deep love for Jesus, a passion for ministry, and a heart for global mission, especially in the Third World.
“TOOLKIT FOR WORSHIP PLANNING – PART FOUR”
by Cathy Ammlung
Pastor Cathy Ammlung has released the fourth in a series of videos intended to provide congregations – especially those with temporary or longer-term pastoral vacancies – with some tools for worship planning. A link to her latest video can be found HERE. A link to the full manuscript of her latest video can be found HERE.
In this video Cathy covers more traditional hymnody and the most common Lutheran hymnals. In her next video she will address hymn selection in contemporary worship.
Cathy writes –
In the present video, we’ll talk about why selecting hymns can be difficult and examine some of the tools the hymnals themselves provide for assisting you. Make sure you have an LBW (Lutheran Book of Worship), ELW (Evangelical Lutheran Worship), or LSB (Lutheran Service Book) in hand so you can follow along. In addition to navigating the lectionary information in the front of hymnals, we will also look at several of the indexes. We’ll use a popular hymn tune as an example as we examine the indexes and give a practical example of how that can be helpful. Finally, we’ll wrap up with some additional “helpful hints” and strategies for selecting hymns, swapping out tunes, teaching and introducing new hymns, and helping people really sing their faith.
In the first video in this series Cathy discussed the importance of worship planning. In her second video she talked about the church year, including festivals. The third video covers the lectionary.
