Here's the church. Here's the steeple. Open the doors, and....

....see all the bickering, fighting, name-calling, war-mongering, and general chaos that is St. Matthew Lutheran Church, located in downtown Logan, Ohio, USA.

Can you imagine what it must be like to be part of a church that has members slaying the beliefs of other members?  Former members accusing current members of thinking God is more pleased with the members who go to church regularly....God it irritates the hell out of me!!!!

Never in my life would I think St. Matthew Lutheran Church would have to go through so much turmoil to leave our Lutheran denomination, and join another Lutheran denomination.  The first vote came around in August of 2010.  During that time, only a few members left the church when the congregation decided to remain with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  Fast-forward to May 19th, 2013, another vote came around on whether St. Matthew should leave the ELCA, and join the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). 

The NALC is a theologically central Lutheran church, with a congregationally focused attitude, compared to the ELCA's top-down approach.  Yeah, the NALC sounds like a much better choice to me too!  However, some members have come to the conclusion that this is Pastor Mark Daniels' doing, and that this whole debacle is nothing but his jabbing at the ELCA for not funding his former mission congregation in Cincinnati.  This is completely not true.  For these last two votes, it was members of the congregation who have initiated the process to leave the ELCA, and not Pastor Mark.

The screaming matches that have occurred during the more than ten informational sessions have gotten us nowhere but hurt, anger, and, for me, confusion and bewilderment.  How can God-loving, God-fearing, faithful people act in such a way that undermines nearly 160 years of Lutheran heritage in the Logan community?  Never in the church's history has something like this happened.  Well, several people (even within my own family!) have blamed this mess on Pastor Mark, saying, "He's brought nothing but trouble to this congregation."  To that I say, "Pastor Mark has been able to visit more shut-ins than the past two pastors combined.  Pastor Mark has increased attendance to the church consistently for six years now.  Pastor Mark has people attending our church from Columbus, Lancaster, Nelsonville, Athens, and other areas, where there are plenty of ELCA congregations.  They chose St. Matthew Lutheran Church for a reason.  They could have simply gone to Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Athens, Ohio, or Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Lancaster, Ohio, or  Redeemer Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio, and many more.  But they instead to come to St. Matthew Lutheran Church, in the middle of podunk hollow.  What does that tell you?  To me, it shows that we have a pastor who has a backbone and is willing to share the Gospel with lost souls.  I know he's saved my life.  Just before he came, I was a tangled mess.  I wasn't going to church, and I was in a seriously depressed state.  He gave me a challenge: Go to church for six Sundays.  I dare you to miss the seventh.  Let's just stay that I have been so involved with the congregation, I'm currently the head sound engineer and radio broadcast engineer for the church (we broadcast weekly on 98.3 SAM FM at 10:15 Sunday mornings).

I don't want the oldest running radio program in the state of Ohio to be cancelled.  I don't want the second oldest Lutheran congregation in Hocking County to dissolve.  But from the looks of things, this is a real possibility.  

Bloodstained glass windows deter visitors.  I don't know about you, but when I see people talking smack about the pastor during the sharing of the peace, I can't help but wonder what visitors are thinking.  I usually shake visitor's hands first during the sharing of the peace, and welcome them to the congregation.  But I can't imagine what they are thinking when they hear our own members saying things like "The pastor has created this mess."

A 2/3 super majority is required to leave the ELCA.  A large number of people who voted to remain with the ELCA are people who only come to church on Easter and Christmas.  This freaking irritates me.  The number of people who voted to leave the ELCA and join the NALC is staggering, and these people have been on-going members who attend every single week, and not just twice a year.  Yes, I do realize that you are a member, and I do realize that you may be doing things on Sunday mornings that require you to be away from the congregation.  But please, try to be there more involved with the church.  There are two opportunities of worship on Sunday mornings (8:30 chapel service, and 10:15 sanctuary service).  There are two Bible-study opportunities on Wednesdays (11:00am, and 7:00pm).  There are summer kindness outreaches, where we hand bottles of water or Coca-Cola to drivers stopped at the red light at the intersection of Hunter Street and Zanesville Avenue.  Do these "twice a year attendees" go to any of these amazing opportunities?  No.  That's all I'm going to say.
Maybe some branches of Christianity do some things right, and some things wrong.  But this is absolutely no excuse to recreate the Thirty Years' War.  As one member put it on the church Facebook page, "Instead of all of the bashing, I wish that they would be that vocal in spreading God’s word, if they did, our church would be filled to the rafters! Instead, they are confrontational on Facebook. Even saying “shame on you”, no, it is shame on all of us for not trusting a pastor to do his job! Let’s not tear our church apart."

I'm reminded of a line from that great Bruce Springsteen song, "Johnny 99" that goes, "Well your honor I do believe I'd be better off dead / if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his head / Then sit back in that chair and think it over one more time / then shave off my head and put me on the killin' line."

St. Matthew To Remain With ELCA....At Least For Another 2 Week

Last Sunday, the people of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, spoke their voice when they voted down a measure to disaffiliate with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and join the North American Lutheran Church.

This has been the second time in two years that we've done so, with the measure failing both times.

Now, today before the service, the congregation president announced another vote in two weeks.  This time, it is a measure to dual-affiliate with the ELCA and the NALC.

I was a pro-ELCA voter in 2010.  I was a pro-NALC voter last week.  Let's just say I'm NOT happy with this.  This will be the third time we've dealt with this issue.

I expressed my concern on Twitter a few moments ago.  Pastor Jonathan Conrad of Grace Lutheran Church in Thomasville, North Carolina corresponded with me.  He said something that struck me hard. If the church is still fighting this issue, it has turned it into an idol and its ministry has been lost.

We shared some "have a good holiday" talk, and he offered to pray for me.  (Thanks, Pastor Conrad).

I Decided To Go Ahead And Vote To Leave The ELCA

After lots of prayers during church today, I decided to go ahead and vote.  I realized that not voting because the church might dissolve is a pretty extreme circumstance that might happen.  I don't think the St. Matthew will dissolve.

I was somewhat disappointed when I found the vote to leave the ELCA failed by one vote.  I hate to see many of my church family leave.  From what I've heard, about 40 families are going to leave St. Matthew Lutheran Church.  That's a lot of people.

Where will I go from here?  I don't know.  I don't know if I'll leave St. Matthew.  From what I'm expecting, I will only be around Logan for another year or so before I go out into the workplace (Nashville? New York City?) There are several NALC congregations in Columbus (Zion LC, Upper Arlington LC, St. John's ELC, Genesis Church, Christ Is Lord Ministries, Rehoboth Mekane Yesus, St. John LC, and Abundant Life Mission Fellowship).  Maybe the North American Lutheran Church will start a mission congregation around here.  If there are not NALC or Lutheran Congregations in Missions for Christ churches where I will be spending the rest of my life, I will go to an ELCA church (that being said, I won't say I will never attend a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod church).

I still think the Affiliation Task Force (the group of individuals who researched and published the official document) blew the whole thing out of proportion.  If we don't want to call a pastor who doesn't believe in the Virgin birth, we don't have to.  I think several people on the task force believed that the ELCA would force upon us a pastor like this.  This is not true.  The CONGREGATION votes on whether to call a pastor.

However, how do we know that the number of pastors who don't follow scriptural authority won't increase?  From the looks of things, this is happening at an alarming rate.  I worry for the generations ahead of me and what they believe.   As we lose older members of the church, the young ones will be taking the reigns of the place.  Are they going to remember this whole ordeal?  Are they going to recall the issues that were presented to the congregation?  I don't want them to fall into the trap of thinking scripture isn't authoritative anymore because contemporary culture says so.

The main problem with the ELCA?  The "Trickle Down" structure.  Too much power has been given to the suits.  The congregations have virtually no say in any matters.  The NALC is congregationally focused.  If something is going to change in the NALC, all of the congregations must vote on the issue. In the ELCA, the suits make all the decisions.  I don't like that.  I think it is important for the congregation to have a say in matters at hand.

I'm Hurt and Ashamed To Be A Lutheran

I'm hurt and ashamed to be a Lutheran Christian today because of what I experienced today at St. Matthew Lutheran "Church." Never in a million years would I think someone at a church would tell another person, "You need to be quiet and learn to listen." I don't care if you've been a member for 55+ years. That is NOT the way to act in church. You do not disrespect other people by yelling at them to shut up and learn to listen. I asked everyone to please be respectful, and that did NOT happen.

This decision to leave the ELCA has been nothing but trouble. I don't care what side you're on. BOTH SIDES SHOULD BE ASHAMED. What I experienced today at "church" makes me want to leave no matter what. 

This is why I will NOT be participating in the vote next week on whether St. Matthew Lutheran Church will leave the ELCA. I will NOT contribute to the downfall of a 161 year old institution.

Hymns and Christian Tradition Final Reflection

[This paper was written for the Hymns and Christian Tradition class at Capital University, where I am seeking a minor degree in religion.]

Final Reflections

Before writing this paper, I was writing another reflection paper for the Music Business and Law class here at Capital University.  The assignment was to write a short reflection on the class, and what my future goals were going to be.  I wrote about how I used some of the components of the Music Business and Law class, as well as some aspects of this class, to compose two hymns, as well as register both with BMI and the United States Copyright office.  One hymn was sung at my church, Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, in Logan, Ohio, while the Collegiate Chorale at Christ Lutheran Church in Bexley, Ohio, performed the other hymn.  There’s nothing quite like having something you made be sung by 150 people at the same time.