Lutherans in the News

This weekend I had the most amazing experience. I'm writing from Germany, where I was with Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and president of the Lutheran World Federation. We were in Wittenberg, the town where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of the Castle Church in 1517. His theses questioned biblical interpretations and practices of the Catholic Church. What followed was the Lutheran or Protestant Reformation.

The purpose of our trip was for the bishop to participate in a series of events Sept. 20-21 that initiated the "Luther Decade." Local civic and church leaders are planning several events and activities over the next 10 years leading to 2017, the 500th anniversary of Luther's posting of the 95 Theses.

We went to the Castle Church, where Bishop Hanson preached Sept. 21, and we saw the most famous doors in the world. No doubt they were made of wood back then. Today they have been replaced by two large metal doors inscribed with the 95 Theses.

The night Bishop Hanson preached, we were invited to dinner with representatives of the Evangelical Church in Germany. I was seated next to the mayor of Wittenberg, Eckhard Naumann. He is the only mayor that Wittenberg has had since the former East German government collapsed in 1989. Naumann is an optimistic, upbeat person, who has an enormous opportunity to improve Wittenberg's prominence and its economic situation during the Luther Decade.

During our conversation, he said the city must plan meaningful activities and events to attract visitors, tourists and pilgrims. He said that seeing the doors wasn't really enough. I told him I would love to come back to Wittenberg someday, but for this weekend, seeing the Castle Church and the doors was plenty. I told him that for all of my life, since I was a child, I've heard the Reformation story of a German monk who defied church authorities by writing and posting his 95 Theses on a church door. The result was Luther's excommunication, the Reformation of the church, and the roots of Lutheranism. I told him it was a special moment for me to stand outside the church and to see the doors. I thought about all of those stories I heard when I was young and continue to hear today. For this weekend, I needed nothing else, I said to the mayor. In fact, I think for many Lutherans, just seeing where it all began would be very special.

We'll all be hearing a lot about the Luther Decade during the next several years. Check out the details on the Web at http://www.wittenberg.de and http://www.luther2017.de

Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, has been busy in the past few weeks, responding to or preparing for a series of tropical storms and hurricanes. This ministry of the churches has a network of disaster coordinators already in place throughout the United States, primarily through Lutheran social ministry organizations and local church synods or districts. This week, staff was working with coordinators on the ground in Louisiana, following Hurricane Gustav, and preparing for Hurricane Ike, which was headed for southeast Texas. The people associated with this ministry are professionals, who deserve our support, through prayer and finances.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson also asked the ELCA to keep sisters and brothers in the Gulf Coast region in our thoughts and prayers. In a message to the ELCA Aug. 12, he wrote:

"I call on you to respond in the midst of danger and loss. While some are preparing for storms yet to come, others are fleeing from storms, and still others are rebuilding in the aftermath of disasters. I ask you to respond with your prayers, your generous gifts of time and money, your volunteer hours and skills, the open doors of your homes and churches, and your commitment to a sustaining presence for the long haul.

These expressions of our faith remind us that we are called by name and are bound together by our baptisms into community with those who suffer. Thank you for your generous and sustaining response in the midst of the disasters."

This week, 28 bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met in Washington, D.C. to learn about the church's advocacy and to visit members of Congress. This is an annual gathering. It's a good chance for our bishops to become more engaged in advocacy in their regular ongoing work. What was really impressive is that the ELCA Washington Office staff had arranged more than 50 Capitol Hill meetings for the bishops, either with congressional staff from their districts or with members of Congress themselves. These personal connections are important for the church in our work related to such topics as farm and food issues, the environment, serving impoverished people, health care, immigration, HIV and AIDS, the Middle East, etc.

It was a privilege for me to address the ELCA bishops at this meeting about branding, communication and media relations.

Communication Services of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) had the privilege of hosting about 175 communicators from the throughout the church Aug. 7-10 in Chicago. The ELCA Communicators Conference, held every two years, is a continuing education opportunity for all of us. The theme was "Network Power," and what a great event it was this year. Our keynotes, Rick Klau, Clarence Page, Jamila Paksima and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson each brought great enthusiasm for their specific areas of communication to our gathering. Workshop and devotion leaders, Pastor Peter Marty and Pastor Alexia Salvatierra, each brought wisdom and Christian insight to our gathering. We had many workshops, each contributing something to each communicators' knowledge and skills. Check "ComCon Blog" for more detail, and check the conference Web site soon for videos of the keynotes.

Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of this gathering was it got the momentum rolling for the ELCA's tagline, "God's work, our hands." Get ready for this roll out. You'll be seeing and hearing much more about it in the coming months. I'm excited about this, and we think you will be, too!

You may have heard about the a pilot advertising project in the Denver metropolitan area in which staff of ELCA Communication Services, Chicago, and the ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod worked together with local Lutheran congregations. The pilot campaign was funded in part by a grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Minneapolis. The result was a series of billboards, signs and other printed information about the ELCA presented throughout the Denver area under the theme, "God's Work. Our Hands." Find the ads and other resources related to this project at http://www.elca.org/love on the Web.

At a recent meeting of the ELCA Church Council, Kristi Bangert, executive director, ELCA Communication Services, said in each ad, crosses were presented in an "iconic" way. Each ad told stories of the church in action, she said. The goal of the pilot project was to help ELCA members "own and tell" the story about their church. The project was a hit with Denver-area congregations -- members routinely would point to the ads and say, "That's my church," Bangert said.

Research results from the ad campaign are being compiled and should be available to the ELCA soon.

What's next? Other local areas are needed for possible future campaigns, Bangert said. A television component for the ad campaign is also being considered, she added.

I had the pleasure of attending the international conference of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in Philadelphia this past week. Through the plenary sessions and workshops, I discovered again that there are many places where our communications work in the church intersects with the work others are doing in industry, advertising agencies and nonprofit organizations. The theme was "PR Evolution: Innovation, Collaboration, Influence."

The most important session I attended at this meeting was the first one, a plenary session in which Mia Farrow was the speaker. Mia Farrow? At a communication conference? I wondered about that. She was there not there to talk about her film career, but her experiences as an humanitarian activist for the people of Darfur. She was passionate in her descriptions of the genocide that is occurring there. Her enthusiasm for this difficult work is amazing. In the ELCA, we have been doing a lot of advocacy work for this region of the world, and I deeply appreciated Farrow's remarks. I also know that for many people in the audience -- nearly 3,500 people -- much of what she was describing was new information. For me, hers was the most important presentation I've heard this year. I only wish more could hear her message.

I went to a workshop called "Think the Press Release is Dead? Think Again." What I learned is that the work we've been doing to improve our delivery of ELCA News is precisely what we ought to be doing. The experts on this panel talked at length about combining written text with audio and video, and using things such as blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, etc. In other words, use as many vehicles as you can to tell the story. I left this workshop knowing that we must continue to tell our stories in many forms. For example, you may have noticed recently that we're delivering more video news releases, and we continue to embed audio and pictures in our stories.

Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press," among other things, said elected leaders in Washington, D.C. aren't communicating across party lines, and he described the atmosphere as "poisonous." Media outlets have contributed to this, encouraging politicians to attack each other and counterattack, he said. Further, the presidential candidates are not addressing questions with the specifics of what they will do if elected.

“This is the time to try to get commitments from these candidates, asking them repeatedly if necessary, ‘What are you going to do?’ Tell us specifically. Don’t just say, ‘We have to have a withdrawal from Iraq.’ Explain it. How many soldiers? What will be the consequences? What if genocide results? Give us your best sense of planning and preparation,” Russert said.

“We need to have the confidence that our next president has thought these things through the best as humanly possible, and has the judgment and inner strength to deal with problems that are going to confront us,” he said. “They are going to be enormous.”

As I listened to that, I wondered about the impact people of faith can play in engaging political candidates on these issues in the coming months.

Finally, I was impressed with the comments of Brian Tierney, chief executive officer, Philadelphia Media Holdings, and publisher of the The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. Tierney used his experience in branding, marketing and advertising to turn the circulation slide of these papers completely around this year. How did he do it? Two basic strategies: Get the best journalists he could find to work for these publications and give them the tools and support they need to succeed -- and market what you publish. Tierney said when he assumed his current role, $300,000 was being spent to market the products of a $450 million company. It now spends some $14 million on the task and has done some other things to promote the publications, such as putting the Web address "philly.com" right under the masthead.

Now that sounds like a winning combination for any organization.
John B.

Oct. 19, 2007

This is an animated feature that is not to be missed. The film is a superbly animated feature that closely follows Cecil B. Demille's original motion picture by the same name, which featured Charlton Heston. This version of The Ten Commandments is distributed by Promenade Pictures, a worldwide distributor of family films. This picture will appeal to children and adults, and it was meant for families to watch it together.

The film features some big Hollywood names as the voices of the key characters: Christian Slater as Moses, Alfred Molina as Ramses and Elliott Gould as God. Ben Kingsley is the film's narrator.

The film is the story of Moses' life, focusing on his relationship with Ramses, the Egyptian king, leading the Jews out of Egypt to the Promised Land, parting the Red Sea and destroying Ramses' army. The film concludes with Moses' death, after he saw the Promised Land but was not allowed to cross into it.

Prior to its release, there was some controversy involving The Ten Commandments and Radio Disney, which asked for the word "God" to be stricken from advertisements for the movie. Promenade President and Chief Operating Officer Cindy Bond complied with the request, because Radio Disney's listeners are the core audience for the film, she said. Viewers of the film will hear plenty about God and Scripture, but the feature is not overly heavy in its use of "God" language.

I watched a DVD of the movie on a computer screen. This is a picture filled with colorful animated scenery and large landscapes that is meant to be watched on the big screen. Families will enjoy this film, and it provides the basis for more discussion later.

John B.

I don't often get to do things in the ELCA that are strictly personal business, but this week I've got that opportunity. I write to you from Slidell, Louisiana, where I'm spending the week of Thanksgiving as a volunteer with Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR). LDR is here engaged in recovery and rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the severe flooding that followed. I came here on Sunday, Nov. 19 with 15 other members of my congregation, Redeemer Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, Ill.

I came here for two reasons: I used to live in Baton Rouge, La. (about 60 miles west), and I know many of my friends and former colleagues have been affected by the storm and its aftermath. I also wanted to see our church at work.

LDR's set-up here in Slidell is impressive. They've really thought through a lot of things, and they are well-equipped to handle volunteers. Those of us who are volunteers are staying at Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Slidell which has the quarters and staff available to handle volunteers. This week there are volunteers from Ohio, California, Pennsylvania and our group. Today we had an orientation session, and then we were sent to a duplex home in a neighborhood in Chalmette, La. That area is in St. Bernard Parish, southeast of New Orleans. The storm and flood devasted this area. There are FEMA trailers at some houses, and other houses are completely empty. It's like a ghost town in some places. The city looks like something bad happened here. There are a lot of broken trees and businesses that are closed. But slowly I guess people and businesses are starting to come back.

The duplex we were sent to has remained untouched since the storm 14 months ago. All of us must wear coveralls, three sets of gloves, boots, respirators, goggles and hardhats. It's really cumbersome, but we sure needed the protection. If you can imagine everything in your house under about 8 feet of water, mud and whatever, then you can imagine what we were working in. It's hard work -- especially removing appliances -- but the homeowner sure did appreciate our being here. By the end of the week, we hope to have the duplex completely cleared, and all of the drywall and insulation out. Just the support beams and wall studs will be left. Then the owner can begin to rebuild.

I've heard there are many houses like this -- untouched because there is such an overwhelming mess that the owners just can't even begin to clean up. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of homes like this.

Anyway, it's an interesting experience just being here as a participant. It's also a bit strange, but gratifying, to be here again after being away for the past seven years.

John