"Blessings, Gifts, and Challenges" -- May 2011 Lutheran Witness

The May 2011 Lutheran Witness is hot off the press. You can get it from the Lutheran Witness site. (Download here). President Harrison begins the issue:

"At my request, The Lutheran Witness staff has put together this issue to inform the good folks of Synod about the financial realities that we face. The funding of this multi-billion-dollar institution called The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is complex, to say the least. It took me a good five to six years working at the International Center before I actually began to understand it. The first step in addressing a challenge is honesty about its existence and its probable causes. But this must be done with an eye on our blessings, which are truly extraordinary. We are in a definite predicament, but it’s hardly all doom and gloom."

Articles Include:

• From the President -- Matthew C. Harrison
• The Constancy of Change -- Larry Rast
• Body and Soul Work -- Albert B Collver / Kim Krull
• Mission Heritage -- Kim Krull
• Fan Into Flame -- Kim Krull
• Righting the Financial Ship -- Kim Krull
• The Lord Gives Christians Manage -- Jerald Wulf
• LCMS Agencies
• LCMS Seminaries -- Roland Lovestad
• LCMS Schools -- William Cochran
• The Concordia University System -- Adriane Dorr
• Witness, Mercy, Life Together, and Restructuring -- Albert Collver
• The Future Is Here -- Barbara Below

All in all, I think it makes for a fascinating read.

0511 Witness