Pastors’ Seminar, Friday 27 August A+D 2021 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Davenport, IA

Presenter: Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodford

Rev. Lucas V. Woodford, MDiv, STM, DMin is President of the Minnesota South District of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod and the Associate Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Farmington, MN.

Pastor Woodford is the author of Great Commission, Great Confusion, or Great Confession? (Wipf & Stock, 2012).  He is co-author with Harold Senkbeil of Pastoral Leadership:  for the Care of Souls (2nd ed Lexham Press, 2021) and their book on contextual mission, Culture of the Word, is forthcoming from Lexham in 2022.  He has written numerous articles published in The Lutheran Witness, Logia and Seelsorger.

Woodford is a member of the Board of Regents of Concordia University, St. Paul, MN. He has served as an adjunct instructor for Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN and the Institute of Lutheran Theology in Brookings, SD.

Dr. Woodford is a Fellow in the Collegium of DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel, charged with research, writing and speaking regarding the care of souls in the contemporary context. He is a frequently invited presenter on matters related to soul care, missiology, marriage, sex and gender issues.

Topic

Dr. Lucas Woodford teaches on how to preach, teach, catechize, evangelize and care for souls in a world of increasing sexual delusion and chaos. Using Scriptural teaching as well as case studies from his own pastoral practice, Dr. Woodford will provide useful examples of how to apply our Lutheran theology using actual examples of pastoral work.

Topic 1: With Faith, Hope, and Love: Living our Baptismal Identity in our ‘Anything Goes’ Age

All around us life is being turned upside down and inside out. Our sexually explicit culture threatens to strip the world of meaningful purpose and the self of any true moral character. This cultural madness and social mayhem infect the digital media and entertainment of our day. It’s anything goes. However, this is also a moment of opportunity for the Church to boldly address the challenges of our age. Rather than retreat from the onslaught, we need to step up and speak up.  Rather than cursing the darkness, we need to light a match to confront the toxic moral and spiritual influences all around. We can show how to find hope and develop good habits of faith and life that combat this evil. We can build biblical character and the family unit not only among ourselves but for the next generation of Christians.

This session gives several real-life examples of how our Lutheran theology brings God’s great light to this present darkness. Gain a clearer grasp of how the baptismal life brings the joyous reality of a redeemed, sanctified, and moral identity in Christ Jesus, and hope and light for a world languishing in darkness and death.

Topic 2: The Temple of the Holy Spirit: Considerations on the Theology of the Body

Our society does not know what to make of the body, what it is meant to do, and how it is to be regarded. We live at a time when some of the sharpest social, moral, and religious conflicts have to do with the body. Consider the disagreements over sexuality and gender, marriage and divorce, homosexual intercourse and same sex marriage, artificial reproduction and genetic engineering, cosmetic surgery and gender reassignment, pornography and voyeurism, sexual abuse and prostitution, abortion and euthanasia, overeating and malnutrition.

As pastors we need to address these concerns and attacks on the body. In this fraternal discussion we will learn how to more confidently and courageously speak the truth in love regarding these foundational issues of human identity and purpose while providing healing and wholeness in Christ to the walking wounded and defiled.

Outlines for Rev. Dr. Woodford’s presentations: 

OUTLINE With Faith Hope and Love; Living Your Baptismal Identity

OUTLINE Theology of the Body; Woodford


Opening Prayer Office: Pastor Randall Golter
Dr. Lucas Woodford, part 1.
Dr. Lucas Woodford, part 2
Dr. Lucas Woodford, part 3

Resources

Doxology provides a safe environment for clergy to reflect on their own spiritual and emotional health and assists them to review and enhance their professional competencies and skills as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s sacred mysteries.

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