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The Practical Side of ILT

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The education of those who are going to be pastors is an important topic. There are many things a person who is going to fulfill the office of pastor must learn. Some of the important things a pastor must know can be learned from the classroom or books, but many of aspects of pastoral ministry can only be learned by guided experience. Many know the academic side of ILT. This side of the ILT education of pastors has been widely discussed. ILT students have a reputation of being theologians. While this is a wonderful thing, it should be noted that ILT students learn theology so that they can be better prepared to deal with the very practical concerns each pastor must face. ILT students go through a rigorous study of Biblical theology, systematic theology, and history. These are the more traditional topics which Lutheran pastors have studied in preparation for pastoral ministry. ILT students must also study ethics and philosophy. These topics are always in relation to the theologica...
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ILT and Woman's Ordination

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Over the past years, some have commented about ILT and the ordination of women because through ILT’s email newsletter and social media it is obvious ILT has students who are women. Let me start by saying that ILT does not have an official position, nor can it ever take an official position on women’s ordination. However, because we do have female students, it is understandable that we receive a question like “Why does ILT ordain women?” There are two facts that need to be made clear. First, ILT has students preparing for pastoral ministry and who, when they graduate, serve as pastors in congregations. Second, ILT is an independent seminary and graduate school and does not belong to any denomination. This means ILT cannot ordain anyone into the office of pastoral ministry. Only churches and church bodies can do this. I can say clearly and with certainty, ILT does not practice women’s ordination, and it will not, because it cannot. We do, however, have many denominations who look to...
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One Week after Accreditation

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We really did not know how it was going to go. I have often said over the last week that I would not want to play poker against any of our accreditation visitation team or the commission members. They did not in any way let us know what they were thinking about ILT as a candidate for initial accreditation. We did not have a good feeling, either way. However, one week ago, ILT was granted initial accreditation from the Associate for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE). Most people connect to ILT have probably never heard of ABHE until they heard that ILT had decided to receive accreditation from them. Most Lutheran schools are accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). There were a couple of hurdles for ILT concerning ATS. One is that ATS does not allow for a 100% online learning modality. ATS accreditation would radically change the way ILT approaches online education. Our integrated online approach which combines the academic classroom into the real life ...
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The License to Sin

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For Sunday morning Bible class the last two weeks, we studied Romans 6 and 7. In these chapters, Paul talks about how we might abuse the grace of God and the gift of salvation offered to us. Paul begins here his conversation with the Christians in Rome about doing good and doing evil. He talks about this in a way different from the way we usually talk about. We might ask if doing this specific work is good or bad. Paul does not deal at the level of the specific but at the level of what is alive in us and in terms of what enslaves us. In chapters one through five, Paul outlines the gift of God's grace which we receive by faith. He first details how we have nothing good in us and how works righteousness is not an option for us because of the corruption of our bodies and the sins we commit. He then goes on to explain that there is a righteousness apart from works we can receive because of Christ through faith. In chapter 6, Paul deals with one improper response to this grace: licent...
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The New Year

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I want to say thank you to all those who have supported ILT in 2017. There are many of you and each of you is important to ILT's success and future. It is difficult to overstate just how much we depend upon each donation we receive. So, from all of us at ILT, I want to give a sincere thank you. We truly appreciate your kindness and generosity. To show just how much this is true, let me tell you a little about ILT's revenue structure. The total operations revenue for ILT in 2017 was $1,163,000. This is the income we received from donations and tuition. We do not pay income tax on this income because it is a part of our non-profit mission. We also received income from the rentals we have in the facility we own. The total rental income, the income we received from library donations, interest and growth on the endowment fund, and other miscellaneous revenue is $118,000. Bottom line, this means ILT had a total revenue of $1,281,000 in 2017. $179,000 of this income was restricte...
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The Church Business

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I've been accused of being in the "church business" before. Of course, this was from someone who thought that we were simply using Christianity to take money from the susceptible. As if pastors and church leaders were simply exploiting the underlying fears people have concerning death and final judgment so as to acquire donations from them. From this perspective, the church is nothing but a business with a specific business model. We, of course, do not want this stigma. We try to avoid looking like we are merely in the church business for the profit. From the Christian perspective, there is a necessary suspicion about using business language or principles with anything connected to the church. Business is after all inherently corrupt and unethical. The way God calls Christians to live together in faith is antithetical to the way business must necessarily operate. But for a business that is connected to the church, there remain these questions: Is there a way for church-...
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Faith and Joyful Suffering

In today's Bible class, we covered the end of Romans chapter four and the beginning of chapter five. In chapter four, Paul comes to the point and then in chapter five he goes beyond it. His point is that anyone who believes in Jesus will be counted as righteous before God. What goes beyond this are the implications for our lives if we believe this. Being a Christian is easy. God does all the work. But it does have an effect on life. Jesus tells a parable about counting the cost of being his disciple. A man does not being building a tower before he is convinced that he has enough resources to complete the project. Likewise, those who would follow Jesus need to count the cost. Paul identifies this cost, or at least part of it, in chapter five. Romans chapters one through four is perhaps the longest instance of Paul's description of the difference between an approach to God based on works verse faith. In these chapters, Paul argues that no one can be saved according to works. Th...
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