An acacia tree watches over the entrance to one of the classrooms at the Lutheran School of Theology in Kenya. A rectangular sign nests in the four limbs that branch out of the trunk. Written in black ink are five Swahili words, a period, then “Jesus” and “Amen”. The Swahili words read, Dawa ya dhambi […]
The day my father died I was about to post a video describing the work of forming “soul doctors” through Lutherans In Africa at the Lutheran School of Theology. It got buried in the rubble of this month’s avalanche. But after digging our way out, the message of the video has regained the high ground. […]
The last time I saw my father was on my sixtieth birthday. We were at the international departures terminal at Detroit Metro airport. My wife and I were heading back to Kenya to help Rev. James May and Lutherans In Africa with the winter semester at the Lutheran School of Theology . My father wanted […]
We are currently in Africa and received news that my father fell asleep in the Lord Jesus this day and he now rests with great peace in Christ. We, along with him, await the promised resurrection of all flesh. Funeral arrangements are in process and we are working to arrange return flights back to the […]
A blessed final days of Advent. During the week before our Lord’s incarnation, the early Church sang the “Great O Antiphons”. You’ll recognize them as the collected stanzas in the hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” (Lutheran Service Book #357) For an in depth and rich study of these ancient antiphons you can read a […]
In 2025, I would like to write a book called, The Receptive Life. Think of it as a spiritual travelogue (and field guide) to finding the soul’s sacred rest in the Triune God. Who Needs This Book? Lord God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless (“unquiet”) until they find their […]
A blessed Thanksgiving weekend to all of you. We do praise the Triune God from whom all blessings flow. I’m back in the United States. It was a blessed and productive six weeks with Rev. James May, Dr. Gregory Schulz, Lutherans In Africa, and the students and staff at the Lutheran School of Theology. After […]
It’s been both a physically exhausting and spiritually refreshing month and a half at the Lutheran School of Theology in Kenya. There have been many challenges, but I’m learning that when it comes to the work of the Kingdom, by God’s grace pretty much everything is figure-out-able. Martin Luther noted in his Large Catechism that […]
The Lord bless and keep you and give to you His peace! This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. The Psalmist says in Psalm 92 … It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in […]
Martin Luther noted that when the Christian attempts anything for the sake of the Gospel “all types of strange events” occur. If we would be Christians, therefore, we must surely expect and reckon upon having the devil with all his angels and the world as our enemies who will bring every possible misfortune and grief […]
A blessed Reformation and All Saints Day from the Lutheran School of Theology at the foot of the Ngong Hills near Nairobi in Kenya, Africa. It is with great joy that I share with you the news that the Lutheran School of Theology (LST) has just been granted provisional academic accreditation by ACTEA, the accrediting […]
Much joy and a sacred peace to us in Jesus. The Michigan change of seasons reminds us that though the grass withers and the flowers fade, the Word of the Lord and all of His promises remain the same. (Isaiah 40:8) His mercies are new and abundant every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23) Amen and amen! Global […]
My first experience with Lutherans In Africa wasn’t through a mission presentation, an email, or even a personal conversation with Rev. James May (the Executive Director). It came through a visit to the LIA website. It was 2015. I had just turned 50 and was thinking about how I might best serve the Church in […]
After eight weeks with Rev. James May at the Lutheran School of Theology in Kenya, we are back in the United States. We thank you for all your prayers, support, and encouragement. We had our share of challenges (travel delays and detours, health issues, aches and pains, bugs, bites, flooding, technical complications) … such is […]
In some ways, life at the Lutheran School of Theology (LST) in previous years was like perpetual camping. From 2017 to the fall of 2023, meals for the students and staff at the LST were prepared in a make shift shelter over an open fire. Depending on what was happening on the campus, meals for […]
