Preachers across the country confess that while they have only worked harder to deliver messages that are faith and relevant, they are unsure of the impact of their preaching. Building on our plenary discussion of cultural change, in this session we’ll explore the need for preachers to tend both gospel proclamation and faith formation. We’ll also consider a variety of ways by which to cultivate greater biblical imagination through more participatory forms of preaching.
David J. Lose is the President of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Before returning to his alma mater, Lose taught on the faculty of Luther Seminary (St. Paul, MN) for fourteen years. While there, he also served a term as Academic Dean, was the founding director of the Center for Biblical Preaching, and led the creative team that developed WorkingPreacher.org. Author of Preaching at the Crossroads (2013) and the popular Making Sense series of books and resources from Augsburg Fortress, Lose has also written for the Huffington Post, Patheos, and The Christian Century. You can find his daily bible devotions and other writings and reflections on connecting faith to daily life at “…In the Meantime” (www.davidlose.net). A graduate of Franklin and Marshall College (B.A.), LTSP (M.Div., S.T.M.), and Princeton Theological Seminary (Ph.D.), Lose speaks throughout the US and abroad on preaching, leadership, Christian faith in a postmodern world, and biblical imagination. But his favorite thing to do is hang out with his family in Kennett Square, PA, where he can play tennis, root for the Eagles, or get wrapped up in a game of Settlers of Catan with his kids.
1-02: God’s Mission in Worship and the World, Susan Briehl & Marty HaugenOur God is a missionary God, always moving in love toward the world, including when the Spirit gathers the Church around Word and Sacrament and sends us as a means of grace. How shall we plan liturgies in which we are welcomed into the Mission of God as we worship and as we live in the world God so loves?
Susan Briehl is a Lutheran pastor called by the Indiana-Kentucky Synod to serve the greater church as a teacher, writer, and liturgist. Previously she served with her husband Martin Wells as Executive Director of Holden Village, as campus pastor at Pacific Lutheran University, and as pastor of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Bellingham, WA. She has taught preaching and parish worship at Wartburg Seminary.
Marty Haugen is a liturgical composer, workshop presenter, performing and recording artist & author from Eagan, Minnesota. For the past 30 years, Marty has presented workshops and concerts across North and Central America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim. He has over 40 recordings and more than 400 separate printed editions available through GIA Publications. A number of his published songs, including "Shepherd Me, O God," "Gather Us In" and "All Are Welcome are well-known to many religious denominations. He has several published mass settings for Roman Catholic communities, including Mass of Creation, and several liturgical settings for Lutheran congregations, including Holden Evening Prayer, Unfailing Light (with Pastor Susan Briehl) and Now the Feast and Celebration, as well as a communion setting for the new Evangelical Worship Book (ELW-Augsburg Fortress).
TAIZÉ PRAYER is a combination of scripture, music, intercession and silence, joined together to create a communal contemplative prayer practice. Started in Taizé, France, this worship style has spread throughout the world and is utilized in many ways, such as seasonal devotions, group meditation and interdenominational services. We will consider each of the elements of this prayer form through discussion and example.
Tony and Abby Rheault, music ministers at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Boise, have lived in Idaho for 6 years. They both enjoyed careers in liturgy and church music for nearly 25 years. This included experience planning non-Eucharistic liturgies such as Taizé prayer. Tony is now a Software Developer and Abby is a Librarian.
An interactive, experiential presentation for those people with questions about the ancient yet ever new practice of spiritual direction. What's the point of spiritual direction? Can someone tell me if I'm really praying? Are some kinds of prayer better than others? Does spiritual direction help keep you honest on your spiritual journey? How do you find a spiritual director? How do I know if I'm ready for spiritual direction? Could I ever be a spiritual director?
Sr. Meg Sass, OSB, a Benedictine sister from the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho has listened to the prayers and spiritual journeys of people from many faith traditions for almost 50 years. She has her Master's in Pastoral Studies from Loyola, University of Chicago. Currently she offers retreats, classes and spiritual direction in Boise, Cottonwood, Moscow, McCall, Lewiston and beyond. Grounded in her Benedictine spirituality Sr Meg is a Mission Centered Education certified spiritual director. srmegsass@gmail.com
SESSION 2
What makes dynamic congregations tick? Is there a secret to moving to greater congregational vibrancy? What are the best practices of engaged and engaging congregations? For five years I led a study of 36 congregations of different Christian traditions across the U.S. and Canada that attempted to answer these questions by discovering some of the keys to cultivating more vibrant, healthy congregations. In this workshop I’ll give participants a taste of the process we used and share the key insights we learned.
For most Christians, music is an essential part of public worship. Lutherans in particular treasure the role of music, especially the assembly's song, in liturgy, even as they recognize that music is always at the service of the Word. Amid rapid cultural and technological changes, those of us who prepare and lead worship need to ask ourselves anew why we sing, how best to sing, and what to sing, so that our music always is faithful to the Gospel while resonating with a living and prophetic voice.
“Stewardship is what we do after we say we believe.” (Clarence C. Stoughton, 1949). The beginning of stewardship is to realize that everything belongs to God. In this workshop, you are invited to ponder what makes people and congregations ‘tick’ when it comes to generously sharing what God has entrusted to us.
Vicar Anne Palma is preparing for ordained ministry in the ELCA. A student in Luther Seminary’s Distributed Learning Master of Divinity program, she is completing her pastoral internship at King of Glory Lutheran Church in Boise. She also works as an Internal Medicine physician specializing in hospice and palliative care.
We all want our students to know God's love deeply. Beyond that we want them to live out that love in the world. What practical tools do we have as parents, grandparents, ministers and mentors to give to them? Whether you are a parent, volunteer or professional this seminar will equip you with some practical, tangible and realistic ideas for mentoring.
Zach Davis has been in youth ministry for 18+ years. He has a degree in Social Science from Washington State University and a Post Graduate Certification in Christian Education from Concordia University in St. Paul. He's blessed with a wonderfully supportive wife and 3 teenagers at home. In his spare time Zach can be found playing guitar at local open mic nights, watching movies, or working on one of his writing projects.
SESSION 3
It’s a common refrain: my kids/grandkids don’t go to church? But unless we understand why – and especially what’s different about the world our kids and grandkids are growing up in than the world in which we grew up – it’s hard to do anything about it. In this workshop, we’ll take our conversation about cultural change a step further and investigate the powerful and varied cultural stories our children are listening to and how we might invite them into a dynamic experience of the Christian story.
Join your voices with others to sing! Marty Haugen will lead a choir rehearsal to learn music and liturgy to be a part of and help with Sunday's celebratory Eucharist service. During this workshop, you'll have an opportunity to learn new music, sing with others, and interact with one of our conference leaders. Singers of all ages and all voice parts are invited. Please note, you'll be part of worship on Sunday morning so will need to be available to sing then.
You have probably known people that play a musical instrument “by ear”. That is the ability of a musician to reproduce a piece of music one has heard, without having observed another musician play it or having seen written music. It is a matter of the ear. This workshop will give attention to how we listen to others in order to build community.
Pastor Joel Westby is currently serving as Interim Pastor at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran, Boise. He has 25 years experience as settled pastor and six years as intentional interim pastor. He has been trained in Intentional Interim Ministry, Transformative Mediation, Nonviolent Communication and Healthy Congregations. He has served congregations from Family size to Program size.
This one hour session will explore the first and second century world that the young Christian church grew up in. We will look at the variations in the Gospels and Epistles that inform us of the numerous churches in the eastern Mediterranean. We will also use texts from early historians and the comments of modern scholars. We will conclude with a discussion of how some early church practices might inform a modern home church among small groups of believers.
Bob Parish is a life long Lutheran who has long been interested in, among other things, the first and second century church. He became interested in this when he discovered that there was little unity in the thinking and practices of the early church.
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