Skip to main content

Newsletter Articles

May 15, 2023

City Mission 2023

Our prayers are with Pastor Craig Moorman and all those who are providing leadership for and participating in City Mission 2023, a multi-generational, multi-denominational outreach effort into the inner city…
May 15, 2023

Web Map

Whenever I fly into an airport I have never been in before, I am always very grateful for all the signs that greet me as soon as I step off…
May 15, 2023

Video Ministry – May 2023

Here is a link to our You Tube channel.  In the top row you will find both our Video Book Reviews as well as our CORE Convictions Videos on various…
May 15, 2023

Congregational Lay Leadership Initiative

We are very grateful for all of the ways in which retired NALC pastor Don Brandt enhances the ministry of Lutheran CORE.  He has an article in every issue of…
May 15, 2023

The Clergy Shortage: Some Historical Perspective

Perhaps my perspective is somewhat distorted by being one among so many retired or retiring Boomer pastors.  After all, the Boomer generation has been accused—often justifiably—of having an inflated view…
March 13, 2023

(Per)Mission to Lead

Editor’s Note: River’s Edge Ministry (REM), of Mt. Airy, MD, traveled to Pine Island, FL in January as part of Cross Country Mission (CCM) 2023. Pine Island was devastated by…
Seminarians
March 13, 2023

Feed My Sheep

I have appreciated Don Brandt’s wisdom and leadership in Lutheran renewal through the years, and I welcomed his article in last month’s CORE Voice. He accurately diagnoses the biggest single…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
March 13, 2023

The Awaken Project Offers a Gap Year Program

Introduction by Dennis D. Nelson: In this issue we will be featuring The Awaken Project (TAP), a nonprofit organization housed on the campus of Mount Carmel Ministries in Alexandria, Minnesota.…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
March 13, 2023

Resisting God’s Call

When God calls a person to a specific task or ministry, resistance is often the first response of the called. Jeremiah claimed that he was too young. Gideon feared he…
Seminarians
March 13, 2023

How Your Congregation Can Identify, Enlist and Train Part-time Lay Ministers

Note:  "This is a ministry resource article for churches that might be interested in the new upcoming CORE ministry called the Congregational Lay-leadership Initiative (CLI). The article below offers a…
March 13, 2023

Video Ministry – March 2023

Here is a link to our You Tube channel. In the top row you will find both our Video BookReviews as well as our CORE Convictions Videos on various topics…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
March 13, 2023

You Do-I Watch: A Hard Lesson in Fully Releasing the Next Generation into Mission

Editor's note: River’s Edge Ministry (REM), located in Mt. Airy, MD, traveled to Pine Island, FL in January as part of Cross Country Mission (CCM) 2023. Pine Island was devastated…
Seminarians
January 12, 2023

Global Lutheran House of Studies

Rev. Dr. Richard Blue, Jr. As the Directors of the Global Lutheran House of Studies at United Theological Seminary (UTS) in Dayton, Ohio (established in 1871), we are honored to…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
January 12, 2023

The Potency of Missional Engagement

Dear Friends— A most happy and blessed New Year to you and yours. No doubt, many of us reading this article can readily receive such a greeting; but, for some,…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
January 12, 2023

Better Call Saul: Discernment at Damascus

Pr. Jeff Morlock Ananias (not Sapphira's husband, but the other Ananias) is an obscure figure in the New Testament. He appears only twice, for a total of eight verses. Yet…
January 12, 2023

Who Counts and Who Does Not

In my letter from the director for December 2022 I wrote about several concerns that arose in my mind as I read a November 16 news release from the ELCA…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
January 12, 2023

The Need for More Lay-led Lutheran Congregations

It has, for decades, been an incredibly unfair reality faced by smaller rural and inner-city congregations.  In a denomination that has traditionally insisted that viable, healthy congregations must be led…
Seminarians
January 12, 2023

Video Ministry – January 2023

Here is a link to our You Tube channel.  In the top row you will find both our Video Book Reviews as well as our CORE Convictions Videos on various…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
January 12, 2023

Introducing Faith GreenHouse

Pr. Dave Wollan More than an internship, a community for leadership formation! Faith Lutheran Church, in Hutchinson, MN, is excited to be launching a new initiative to address the need…
January 12, 2023

Jim Nestingen Tribute

Pr. Jim Nestingen I first got to know the name James Nestingen through what I still believe is the best confirmation text ever produced — the first edition of Free to…
November 14, 2022

Encuentro 2022 – A New Perspective

Many thanks to retired ELCA pastor and former Lutheran CORE board member Keith Forni for organizing, and to St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church (ELCA) in the Hermosa neighborhood of northwest Chicago…
November 14, 2022

Video Ministry – November 2022

Each month we feature two videos – the most recent addition to our video book reviews, and a recent addition to our CORE Convictions videos.  The CORE Convictions series is…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
November 14, 2022

Does Doctrine Matter?

Does doctrine matter?  That is a question that has been asked again and again in the Church.  Sometimes, the question is asked because doctrine seems so dry and boring.  It…
November 14, 2022

Some of the More Common Mistakes Call Committees Should Avoid

As CiT Director I have been in a coaching relationship—since 2019—with a large number of call committees.  I have now provided at least some level of assistance to twenty-five different…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
November 14, 2022

Every Samuel Needs an Eli

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It's a question that youth have been asked since they graduated kindergarten. But in high school, the question becomes a…
Seminarians
November 14, 2022

The Value of Internship

Over a decade ago I had the pleasure and privilege of being on internship. Internship proved to be a pivotal time in which I figured out – with God’s help…
September 12, 2022

Video Ministries – September 2022

Lutheran CORE is always looking for ways to take our ministry to the next level and expand our work of being a Voice for Biblical Truth and a Network for…
September 12, 2022

Highlights of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly

No Mention of God Here is a link to the ELCA’s description of the Highlights of its own recent Churchwide Assembly. Please notice.  Two words are conspicuously absent – the…
September 12, 2022

Encouraging and Improving Congregational Singing

First off, this is not an article about the relative merits of traditional and/or contemporary hymns and songs.  So even if you suspect you might have a “chip on your…
September 12, 2022

Inter-Lutheran Hispanic-Latino Ministry Encuentro Returns October 15th

After two consecutive pandemic cancellations, the Inter-Lutheran Hispanic-Latino Ministry Encuentro will take place again on Saturday, October 15th, 2022, 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. in Chicago's Hermosa Neighborhood, offering a…
SeminariansYoung Timothy
September 12, 2022

No Acceptance of Confessional Faith at My ELCA Seminary

Note from CORE's Executive Director: Many thanks to a seminarian, who wishes to remain anonymous, for writing about what it was like to attend an ELCA seminary.  Students considering enrolling…
September 12, 2022

SIMUL: A New Academic Journal

In the fall of 2021, St. Paul Lutheran Seminary launched a new academic Journal called SIMUL, and since that time its pages have featured articles by Bob Benne, Mark Granquist,…
Young Timothy
September 12, 2022

Igniting Renewal Through Mission

(How ‘City Mission’ was Born, Part 2) Editor’s Note: K. Craig Moorman is an NALC pastor of River’s Edge Ministries in Maryland and is a member of the board of…
July 12, 2022

The Equality Act

This research has been done and this article has been written in response to those who have expressed deep concern over the Equality Act, a bill that is now before…
July 12, 2022

Video Book Review – “The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience”

Lutheran CORE continues to provide monthly video reviews of books of interest and importance.  Many thanks to Dr. Paul Hinlicky, professor emeritus at Roanoke College in Roanoke, Virginia, for giving…
ResourcesSeminarians
July 12, 2022

The ABC’s of Lutheranism Video Series

Wanting to expand our video ministry and increase the number and scope of resources that we offer, we are now developing another series of videos which will answer the question,…