WEBVTT 1 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:26.000 Hello and welcome to Word and Work an Intersection. 2 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:27.800 I'm your host Dale Meyer. 3 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:32.600 This hour will talk with Reverend John Schmidtke, Pastor of Bethlehem 4 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:33.700 Lutheran Church in St. 5 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:38.100 Louis. We will talk with him about pastoring an urban multi-ethnic 6 00:00:38.100 --> 00:00:42.900 congregation. Oh there's so much to be learned from his experiences 7 00:00:42.900 --> 00:00:43.500 and insights. 8 00:00:43.500 --> 00:00:45.700 Welcome Pastor John. 9 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:50.300 Thank you for being here glad to have you especially at this time and 10 00:00:50.300 --> 00:00:51.500 in American culture. 11 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:56.000 When we say you're serving in St. 12 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.400 Louis city, you're in the heart of the city and I think it's fair to 13 00:01:00.400 --> 00:01:04.000 say the cruel hard-hearted part of the city. 14 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.800 But but that that's not that's not where you were raised. 15 00:01:07.800 --> 00:01:09.100 I wasn't raised. 16 00:01:09.100 --> 00:01:12.800 I was raised in Sheboygan Wisconsin. Where there are 17 00:01:12.800 --> 00:01:16.000 just Lutheran Churches Catholic churches and bars. 18 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:21.000 It's very different kind of ethnic background. 19 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:26.000 So how did you talk about your personal life? 20 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:27.900 First of all, he became a pastor. 21 00:01:27.900 --> 00:01:29.100 What was your route into 22 00:01:29.100 --> 00:01:35.000 the ministry? I was at Lawrence University four years got a music and 23 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:38.800 theology degree and then came here to Concordia St. 24 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:44.000 Louis. Had four great years my. I vicared at Christ Lutheran Church in 25 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:49.400 Peoria, Illinois. Art Shudde and a great basketball team. Christ Lutheran School at one time had 26 00:01:53.500 --> 00:01:59.700 10% of the Big Ten starting basketball team. Terry Mooney 27 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:03.300 is there a principal who used to be at the Old Zion Lutheran Church, 28 00:02:03.300 --> 00:02:07.600 Zion Lutheran School here in the city just a stone's throw from 29 00:02:07.600 --> 00:02:12.200 Bethlehem. But I was there and then I guess I really didn't get my 30 00:02:12.200 --> 00:02:16.100 vicarage right so they called me back to be there assistant pastor. At Christ. 31 00:02:16.100 --> 00:02:20.700 At Christ. And that's not plush Suburban that that's in the city. 32 00:02:20.700 --> 00:02:21.700 It's on the south side. 33 00:02:21.700 --> 00:02:27.000 And you know, that was really part of God's set up. Art Shudde was a 34 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:32.400 great mentor and you know, I owe so much to Art Shudde for those two 35 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:36.200 years before I came to be the sole Pastor Bethlehem. 36 00:02:36.200 --> 00:02:38.800 Art Shudde has the voice of God. 37 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:42.400 He does he does. 38 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:43.500 He's a wonderful man. 39 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:47.700 So there was a track that the Lord led you on that have brought you to 40 00:02:47.700 --> 00:02:48.100 Bethlehem. 41 00:02:48.100 --> 00:02:48.900 Yes. 42 00:02:48.900 --> 00:02:49.200 Yeah. 43 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.600 Tell us about Bethlehem now just in a general way. 44 00:02:54.900 --> 00:03:00.500 Bethlehem is a church that God has successfully transitioned and still 45 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:01.500 is transitioning. 46 00:03:01.500 --> 00:03:07.700 It was it was a two thousand and communicate member Church many years 47 00:03:07.700 --> 00:03:08.000 ago. 48 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.200 John Fritz was the one of the pastors there. 49 00:03:12.200 --> 00:03:16.800 John Fritz was a longtime dean of students here. JT Mueller. 50 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:21.600 He was or a professor. Professor and assistant pastor there and so it was a big 51 00:03:21.600 --> 00:03:25.300 church totally Caucasian church at that time. 52 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:30.400 And in the area Bremen sort of the north suburbs of the city of St. 53 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:34.900 Louis. It went through as many Urban churches have gone through a lot 54 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:40.700 of changes and lot of decay and it had gone down to 30 people. In fact 55 00:03:40.700 --> 00:03:45.100 there was a 17-year vacancy that was occurring there before 56 00:03:45.100 --> 00:03:52.500 I came. Formally for 11 years of that and then six years there was a retired 57 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:53.600 man who is in there before. 58 00:03:53.600 --> 00:03:54.800 So the church 59 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:57.900 was about ready to close they didn't know what they were going to do. 60 00:03:57.900 --> 00:04:03.700 And they had the courage on I give so much credit to the longtime 61 00:04:03.700 --> 00:04:04.600 members of that church. 62 00:04:04.600 --> 00:04:08.300 They had the courage to say where to give this one more shot. 63 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:13.400 We're going to give it a shot in the community and you know what I 64 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:15.500 look at how God set things up. 65 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:22.500 It's a combination of two really great factors, the first factor was 66 00:04:22.500 --> 00:04:26.900 the longtime members of that church. I remember the matriarch of the 67 00:04:26.900 --> 00:04:32.400 church with a woman named Elsie Welp and Elsie would say this as 68 00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:35.800 things changed in the church and we were reaching out to the community 69 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:41.700 more and worship style changed. And Elsie would say how Bethlehem 70 00:04:41.700 --> 00:04:47.800 worships today is not exactly my cup of tea, but it's exactly what we 71 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:53.200 need to be doing because I see people getting to know Jesus. Wow, wow. 72 00:04:53.200 --> 00:04:56.000 You know when you have that kind of vision, it's huge. 73 00:04:56.700 --> 00:05:01.900 The other side of it was we didn't intentional start up with Children 74 00:05:01.900 --> 00:05:03.300 and Youth in the community. 75 00:05:03.300 --> 00:05:08.200 And that's really our bread-and-butter today with the idea 76 00:05:08.200 --> 00:05:14.100 that it's not a fast turnaround but the kids that were 10 years old 77 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:18.800 when I came, you know, today are 41 and raising their own kids. 78 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:26.600 So God just worked at it in a marvelous way. To me a picture of what 79 00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:32.200 Bethlehem has gone through is the great old Gothic sanctuary 80 00:05:33.100 --> 00:05:38.000 on the register of historical places and like a lot of churches back 81 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.600 in the day big flourishing churches had a bowling alley. 82 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:47.600 So could you talk about that as what has happened to Bethlehem, the 83 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:52.700 change in who it is is a congregation? We worship in our bowling alley 84 00:05:52.700 --> 00:05:59.200 now. So we have a six lane bowling alley. I really been the bowling alley destroyer in my ministry. 85 00:05:59.200 --> 00:06:05.500 We changed a bowling alley in Zion on 20th and Benton near in 86 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:05.700 St. 87 00:06:05.700 --> 00:06:10.600 Louis into a youth room many years ago did Christ Peoria we changed it 88 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:13.700 into some Bible study class rooms of 3 Lane Bowling Alley. 89 00:06:13.700 --> 00:06:17.500 So we were just kind of elevating and we got in this time 90 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:23.600 it's the sanctuary. And the old Sanctuary? The old Sanctuary. The old 91 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:29.800 Sanctuary stood we were out of the old Sanctuary since 1996 and it 92 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:33.100 stood for a long time until Gerard 93 00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:37.800 Bowling my colleague came along and it was his vicarage his a Friday 94 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:42.100 night and not a cloud in the sky and Cardinals were playing downtown 95 00:06:42.100 --> 00:06:46.500 and I was watching him preach one of his sermons. You know guys would 96 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:47.900 preach it before for me 97 00:06:47.900 --> 00:06:52.600 and then we work on it and Bolling preaching was so thunderous. 98 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:57.300 There was a deacon in the church all of a sudden we felt the ground 99 00:06:57.300 --> 00:06:59.200 shake. 100 00:06:59.200 --> 00:07:12.400 Very scriptural and my deacon, James Nash, ran outside maybe its a big truck on Salisbury Street. And he came back after you better come. Bolling had preached 101 00:07:12.400 --> 00:07:16.600 down the old sanctuary, a 1/3 of it had fallen in, 102 00:07:17.500 --> 00:07:18.000 so. 103 00:07:19.100 --> 00:07:24.000 Because it was structurally weak. It was structurally weak. 104 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:29.000 And so we're in a bowling alley. You've preached there it doesn't doesn't look like a 105 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:30.500 bowling alley. No, not at all. 106 00:07:30.500 --> 00:07:31.600 Very functional. 107 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:33.600 That's the key thing. 108 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:38.600 That's the key thing is that you know, Ministry needs to be very very 109 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:42.800 Tabernacle like, you know that it can move and adjust to the way 110 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:46.700 ministries going to be the people in that. The Ark of the Covenant, 111 00:07:46.700 --> 00:07:50.100 I've always been fascinated by this in Exodus 20:5, the Ark of the 112 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:54.100 Covenant talk about the Tabernacle had rings and polls in the rings 113 00:07:54.100 --> 00:07:57.700 and there's a specific instruction from God never takes a poles out of 114 00:07:57.700 --> 00:07:58.100 the rings. 115 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:02.500 That's because the church is moving and also going from generation to generation. 116 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:08.100 If I or one of our viewers and listeners 117 00:08:08.100 --> 00:08:11.600 they got up on one Sunday and hey were adventurous 118 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:13.200 we're going to go to church of Bethlehem. 119 00:08:13.200 --> 00:08:14.300 Once we found it. 120 00:08:14.300 --> 00:08:18.600 You know, what would our experience be because we're not in a in a 121 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:19.100 typical 122 00:08:19.100 --> 00:08:25.600 LCMS congregation? As we have a lot of visitors who come to Bethlehem 123 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:32.000 and then a lot of field workers both those that we have as far as 124 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.900 full-time field workers and then cross-cultural field workers 125 00:08:34.900 --> 00:08:38.790 they serve it at Bethlehem to for a quarter. 126 00:08:38.790 --> 00:08:43.790 And you know what I've seen over the years that nobody has felt like I 127 00:08:43.790 --> 00:08:48.600 wasn't around a Lutheran Church in the sense that every Sunday we have 128 00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:52.900 confession of sins and you know, we have the scriptures and although 129 00:08:52.900 --> 00:08:57.600 covid-19, you know, put it on pause we have communion every Sunday and 130 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:00.800 there's a sermon and there's a Hymn of the day and I we don't sing 131 00:09:00.800 --> 00:09:05.600 five hymns, but there's a Hymn of the day. At the same time, you know, 132 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:11.600 musically, you know, we have a congregation that 75% of 133 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:13.400 everyone there is 45 or under. 134 00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:22.700 So we've got to meet them where they are and you know musically we jam. 135 00:09:22.700 --> 00:09:24.200 Now 136 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:31.500 Gospel songs that we use if the words aren't right we change them and 137 00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:32.900 we still use it. 138 00:09:32.900 --> 00:09:38.700 So God's really given us an incredible Church really gifted place. 139 00:09:38.700 --> 00:09:42.400 I got a great Minister of Music who can play anything. 140 00:09:42.400 --> 00:09:46.700 She was an opera singer, but at the same time she can play great 141 00:09:46.700 --> 00:09:47.200 gospel. 142 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:51.900 So your major back at Lawrence University. The music really has helped. 143 00:09:51.900 --> 00:09:54.900 God saw it all in foresight, 144 00:09:54.900 --> 00:10:03.200 yeah. These are tough times in American society and and maybe I'm generalizing so correct me. 145 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:10.200 But what's the heart of your people when they see what's going on now? 146 00:10:12.100 --> 00:10:12.900 I think 147 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:21.400 part of the heart of our people, big part, is to say I'm glad some 148 00:10:21.400 --> 00:10:27.600 other people are being able to see and understand what we in the 149 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:30.400 African-American community have faced for a while. 150 00:10:30.400 --> 00:10:35.200 There have been struggles in policing in the court system. 151 00:10:36.300 --> 00:10:40.700 There're struggles in otherwise though too in the educational system in 152 00:10:40.700 --> 00:10:45.700 opportunities and jobs in that. And certainly in the African American 153 00:10:45.700 --> 00:10:52.700 Community, but also certainly another communities too. A couple some of 154 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:56.900 the racial differences we going to add to that economics. 155 00:10:56.900 --> 00:10:58.700 Economics plays a big part in it. 156 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:03.500 So I think I'm one hand people are saying, you know, this is a moment 157 00:11:03.500 --> 00:11:07.500 where voice to help other people see what we see and stand in our 158 00:11:07.500 --> 00:11:08.700 shoes is really important. 159 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:11.500 I think I'm the other side. 160 00:11:12.500 --> 00:11:15.200 And I'm grateful that I have a church like this. 161 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:19.500 We have people wanting to understand really well what it means to be 162 00:11:19.500 --> 00:11:20.100 Church. 163 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:23.200 The church has the moment right now. 164 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:30.600 They really do. The church is the best hope that this can be fixed and 165 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:34.600 that things can become better because the church comes with the 166 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:40.400 power of the gospel and the church can speak in ways that that others 167 00:11:40.400 --> 00:11:46.500 can't. And the church as the church is on the move and an action. 168 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:51.700 I think right now one of the most important things what conversations 169 00:11:51.700 --> 00:11:52.600 are important. 170 00:11:52.600 --> 00:12:01.800 I'm on a banner right now of less talking and more serving, less talking more 171 00:12:01.800 --> 00:12:10.900 serving. Because if you think about it we have seen this work. We have a ministry in Ferguson working with 172 00:12:10.900 --> 00:12:15.700 kids and families in Ferguson. And we've been able to empower 173 00:12:15.700 --> 00:12:18.500 Suburban Lutheran's in the Metro St. 174 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:20.800 Louis area to be able to come in and serve 175 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.100 in that Ministry, so we're just not doing it. 176 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:29.400 What we've seen about lives change and ideas change and attitudes 177 00:12:29.400 --> 00:12:34.900 change. They change when people come together in their presence with 178 00:12:34.900 --> 00:12:39.100 others, you know, young kids African American kids from Ferguson and 179 00:12:39.100 --> 00:12:43.200 predominantly Caucasian, you know middle-class people from the 180 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:44.800 the suburbs of St. 181 00:12:44.800 --> 00:12:50.000 Louis. And when people come together not just once but you know, one of 182 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.600 our sister churches takes every Tuesday night when when you sit 183 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:59.300 across, you know next to on a table with somebody with a kid, you 184 00:12:59.300 --> 00:13:02.800 know, they get to know your name because you know, how you are you get 185 00:13:02.800 --> 00:13:07.200 to know them that's the key. We got a number of questions 186 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:09.900 we're going to go through in this segment in the next segment, but 187 00:13:09.900 --> 00:13:11.500 could we stay here a little longer? 188 00:13:13.800 --> 00:13:16.300 I think that most church members, 189 00:13:16.300 --> 00:13:22.000 I may be wrong think of you my church, my neighborhood, my community, 190 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.800 But what you're laying out is is a different model. 191 00:13:25.800 --> 00:13:31.400 I assume that Bethlehem is not able to sustain itself financially. 192 00:13:31.400 --> 00:13:35.100 I assume that you don't have a couple thousand members. 193 00:13:35.100 --> 00:13:38.300 You're what a 150, 160 in attendance. 194 00:13:38.300 --> 00:13:38.600 Okay. 195 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:43.600 So all of a sudden we're talking about doing church and Ministry and 196 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:47.700 outreach in a different way, Partnerships. 197 00:13:47.700 --> 00:13:50.600 Yes. And and and so I'm a member 198 00:13:52.400 --> 00:13:56.900 I shouldn't talk too much, but I'm teeing you up to dwell on 199 00:13:56.900 --> 00:13:57.400 this some more. 200 00:13:57.400 --> 00:14:00.000 I am a member at a Suburban Church in St. 201 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:00.200 Louis. 202 00:14:01.700 --> 00:14:06.200 My church, my neighborhood, my community and that's it. 203 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:11.500 And all of a sudden I'm getting a chance to see a world that I don't 204 00:14:11.500 --> 00:14:13.900 know exist, firsthand. 205 00:14:13.900 --> 00:14:17.200 Yeah, you know 206 00:14:19.900 --> 00:14:22.100 Dave Fidler? Yeah, sure.. 207 00:14:23.500 --> 00:14:28.500 Dave Fiedler said when he came down and served volunteered in our 208 00:14:28.500 --> 00:14:34.000 ministry said I didn't know world that is so different could be so 209 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:36.300 close something like that. 210 00:14:36.300 --> 00:14:38.500 He was right on right on point. 211 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:44.400 And so, you know in the churches, churches actually have been doing 212 00:14:44.400 --> 00:14:48.200 more and more this already. There's a lot of churches with their 213 00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:48.900 membership. 214 00:14:48.900 --> 00:14:53.800 They take even International mission trips in the summer to go to 215 00:14:53.800 --> 00:14:56.000 different places or different places in the country. 216 00:14:57.400 --> 00:15:01.700 Bethlehem is a place where you can take a mission trip to and really 217 00:15:01.700 --> 00:15:06.600 not leave the metro area and yet it's a different world. At the same 218 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:11.900 time, you know, if your family you're raising your kids and you want 219 00:15:11.900 --> 00:15:15.800 your kids to have really up a biblically diverse experience. 220 00:15:15.800 --> 00:15:19.600 Well more than that you want them to have an authentically Church 221 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:23.600 experience that God's people are everywhere and everybody needs Jesus. 222 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:28.800 Well then come as many families have and they've come and 223 00:15:28.800 --> 00:15:32.200 volunteered than we do taking Jesus to the streets and some of the 224 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:38.900 projects housing project areas.They get to sit on the ground and we 225 00:15:38.900 --> 00:15:41.900 put out like sort of a bed sheet and we're working on like a Vacation 226 00:15:41.900 --> 00:15:46.100 Bible School craft and there's conversation, there's understanding and 227 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:50.600 learning about that people are people. And in a lot of that if I 228 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:53.700 remember because you told me once about this taking Jesus Street 229 00:15:53.700 --> 00:15:54.300 several years ago, 230 00:15:55.100 --> 00:15:56.600 It it's not. 231 00:15:57.900 --> 00:16:02.100 It's planned but it's not planned. You kind of go there park someplace on 232 00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:06.000 the street and who comes comes and get in the habit 233 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:07.800 then off coming back the next time they see you. 234 00:16:07.800 --> 00:16:08.200 Yeah. 235 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:13.900 Yeah, so it's the great way to meet and find new people who don't know 236 00:16:13.900 --> 00:16:19.000 the Lord and to talk with them and and build relationships and then we 237 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:20.800 follow up. Following up 238 00:16:20.800 --> 00:16:24.300 you have to keep coming back. You have to keep coming back and connecting 239 00:16:24.300 --> 00:16:24.700 people. 240 00:16:24.700 --> 00:16:31.200 This is a time especially where people have great needs and if we can 241 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:37.100 connect people to their needs I think of fear that some people have is 242 00:16:37.100 --> 00:16:41.900 some people sometimes fear that if I help somebody else, 243 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:47.100 then if I give of myself I'm not going to have enough for 244 00:16:47.100 --> 00:16:47.400 me. 245 00:16:47.400 --> 00:16:52.000 We got to go back to the scripture again, the more you give. 246 00:16:53.100 --> 00:16:58.300 The more he gives to you. And you know, the fundamental piece of of care in 247 00:16:58.300 --> 00:17:02.600 scripture is never for me to take care of me. 248 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:05.090 My job is to take care of you. 249 00:17:05.090 --> 00:17:11.700 And God takes care of me. And as God takes care of everybody 250 00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:16.000 he's got someone else out there whose going to be the glove of his hand 251 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:16.900 to take care of me. 252 00:17:16.900 --> 00:17:21.400 I've got to believe that participating in these kind of activities, it 253 00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:25.800 can be an overseas mission trip to, but is the 254 00:17:25.800 --> 00:17:31.200 most energizing thing that a comfortable congregation to can do to get 255 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:41.400 back in in the game. Yeah. Why do pastors of big churches keep encouraging and you know, and 256 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:46.300 blessing their members spending thousands of dollars to go other 257 00:17:46.300 --> 00:17:51.200 places other than their own church because they realize the biblical 258 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:53.000 mindset that the 259 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:53.600 more you go 260 00:17:53.600 --> 00:17:58.000 and the more energized that you get in Mission somewhere else you 261 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:00.800 bring that energy back to your own mission field as well. 262 00:18:00.800 --> 00:18:06.600 You reflect a lot of this and so much more in it in the new book that 263 00:18:06.600 --> 00:18:07.800 you've written soon-to-be-published. 264 00:18:07.800 --> 00:18:09.100 Tell us about the book? 265 00:18:09.100 --> 00:18:14.700 The book is called A Place Not Forgotten and the book is a collection 266 00:18:14.700 --> 00:18:20.200 of a 93 essays that talk about Urban Ministry and some of the things 267 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:23.700 I've learned and experienced over 30 years. 268 00:18:23.700 --> 00:18:25.500 I was going to say, I don't think we brought this up. 269 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:27.700 You've been there over 30 years doing it. 270 00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:30.300 This guy didn't just graduate from the Seminary. 271 00:18:30.300 --> 00:18:31.600 Yeah. 272 00:18:31.600 --> 00:18:37.400 It's been a great great ministry and my target in writing the book. 273 00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:41.800 I didn't plan to write a book, but there are a lot of guys who have 274 00:18:41.800 --> 00:18:45.300 had its field workers and and other people who have said, you know, 275 00:18:45.300 --> 00:18:47.000 you should really write some of this down. 276 00:18:48.100 --> 00:18:54.500 My target is really simple if I can help five, six guys were thinking 277 00:18:54.500 --> 00:18:58.800 about going into urban Ministry to give them a flavor of it, you know, 278 00:18:58.800 --> 00:19:03.800 then it's been successful. If five or six guys who already in urban 279 00:19:03.800 --> 00:19:07.500 Ministry can read some of the essays and just kinda of nod their head 280 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:11.100 and say boy, there's somebody else who seen and facing what I'm facing 281 00:19:11.100 --> 00:19:15.300 then it's been successful. You invited me to read read read the book 282 00:19:15.300 --> 00:19:16.400 and write a little endorsement. 283 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:17.000 Thank you very much. 284 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:23.500 What I read applies to cushy suburban churches, rural churches because 285 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:26.500 it gets to the heart of people. I think about I think it's chapter 286 00:19:26.500 --> 00:19:30.300 20 where you talk about family and you and you and you deal with 287 00:19:30.300 --> 00:19:32.300 broken broken families all the time. 288 00:19:32.300 --> 00:19:36.700 And you say yeah, they're there a broken families in the more 289 00:19:36.700 --> 00:19:43.200 traditional social economic regions of the metropolitan areas, but 290 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:46.600 they're just hiding it, they have they have the money to hide it. Talk 291 00:19:46.600 --> 00:19:48.100 about you face 292 00:19:48.100 --> 00:19:53.800 this all the time and it's not a it's a big Ministry obstacle that 293 00:19:53.800 --> 00:19:56.100 you got. This broken families everywhere 294 00:19:56.100 --> 00:20:01.600 like you said. The exciting part of that is the church, Christ church, is 295 00:20:01.600 --> 00:20:08.500 exactly the the the vehicle for God to bring healing into families. 296 00:20:08.500 --> 00:20:10.200 And you know it it's not new. 297 00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:11.500 It's the same. 298 00:20:11.500 --> 00:20:13.300 It's the same very 299 00:20:15.300 --> 00:20:20.700 traditional German Lutheran Church that I grew up in in Sheboygan, 300 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:25.000 Wisconsin where there were ice cream socials and where we played 301 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:28.200 basketball in the gym and stuff and all those things. 302 00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:35.300 It's the idea the concept that the people of God are family they're 303 00:20:35.300 --> 00:20:39.900 family to each other. We are family to each other even beyond 304 00:20:39.900 --> 00:20:45.500 ethnicities and bloodlines. And instead of us, you know, just 305 00:20:45.500 --> 00:20:50.000 complaining whether it's in the inner city or even suburban places to 306 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:50.300 say. 307 00:20:50.300 --> 00:20:54.100 Oh, you know the family just not like what it used to be while you're 308 00:20:54.100 --> 00:20:54.400 right. 309 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:59.200 It isn't and we we don't go in the outhouses like we used to go 310 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:04.500 either, you know. But the church the church can come alongside and be 311 00:21:04.500 --> 00:21:11.300 family to people who have no family and you know children are our 312 00:21:11.300 --> 00:21:12.900 bendable branches 313 00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:14.900 and 314 00:21:16.300 --> 00:21:20.400 many times it happened that as we entered a family through the 315 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:25.600 children of the youth the parents followed not always but at least the 316 00:21:25.600 --> 00:21:30.200 parents the parents knew. I like to talk about this more after we take 317 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:35.200 a break stay with us and Pastor Schmidtke will educate me, and I trust 318 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:36.600 all of us stay with us. 319 00:21:37.700 --> 00:21:39.300 Concordia Seminary st. 320 00:21:39.300 --> 00:21:44.100 Louis provides continuing education resources for pastors and lay 321 00:21:44.100 --> 00:21:49.100 people to discover all the Concordia Seminary has for you visit us on 322 00:21:49.100 --> 00:21:51.700 the web at CSL. 323 00:21:51.700 --> 00:21:52.500 EDU. 324 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:57.900 Welcome back to Word and Work an Intersection. 325 00:21:57.900 --> 00:22:02.500 I'm your host Dale Meyer. Today our guest is Reverend John Schmidtke, 326 00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:05.600 pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. 327 00:22:05.600 --> 00:22:07.900 Louis. Before the break 328 00:22:07.900 --> 00:22:10.700 we were talking about family life. 329 00:22:10.700 --> 00:22:13.400 And I remember reading, and 330 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:16.300 maybe it's in chapter 20 where you talk about family like maybe in 331 00:22:16.300 --> 00:22:20.500 another chapter, about a single mother not uncommon. 332 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:23.300 Who 333 00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:28.800 couldn't stay in her home because she couldn't afford the rent. 334 00:22:29.900 --> 00:22:36.300 She was prone to fall into or back into an addiction and the only 335 00:22:36.300 --> 00:22:40.800 place you could live find a live was in South City, South St. 336 00:22:40.800 --> 00:22:41.100 Louis. 337 00:22:41.100 --> 00:22:46.100 Now it would you talk about that family wise but also in all these are 338 00:22:46.100 --> 00:22:49.700 the things I can front you and your congregation everyday in ministry. 339 00:22:49.700 --> 00:23:01.000 Wow. Fictitiously her name is Tiana, but she is there is 100 to 300 340 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:04.600 Tiana's we've met maybe a thousand Tiana's we met in the 30 years. 341 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:09.800 It's the idea that there are, the essay 342 00:23:09.800 --> 00:23:11.100 was called a "Tangled Web." 343 00:23:12.600 --> 00:23:17.200 There's so many factors in people's lives that challenge them 344 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:18.900 especially in lower-income areas. 345 00:23:18.900 --> 00:23:25.400 There will be the factor of it's not as simple as just saying come to 346 00:23:25.400 --> 00:23:25.600 church. 347 00:23:25.600 --> 00:23:28.100 There are other issues in their life. 348 00:23:28.100 --> 00:23:29.100 Yeah, come to church 349 00:23:29.100 --> 00:23:33.200 we want you and God's house in that but then in the case of Tiana, she 350 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:33.800 didn't have a job. 351 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.100 So she got a job now the job wants you to work on Sundays. 352 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:42.400 Okay, she was able to talk to the employer 353 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:50.700 she's able to come every other Sunday, but then she needs her rent 354 00:23:50.700 --> 00:23:53.600 got raised and she's raising some kids. 355 00:23:53.600 --> 00:23:58.100 So now she's taking a second job well where do her kids go did she just leave 356 00:23:58.100 --> 00:23:58.500 them at home? 357 00:23:58.500 --> 00:24:05.000 And she can't really afford childcare. And then her landlord is kind of 358 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:10.200 a slum landlord and he doesn't take care of the the house as it should 359 00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:14.900 be and she's getting Section 8 subsidized rent. 360 00:24:14.900 --> 00:24:20.300 So they have an inspection every year and the Section 8 people come in 361 00:24:20.300 --> 00:24:24.200 and say what we're not going to approve this so she's got to find a new 362 00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:28.800 place for her and her kids to live and she finds a place deep on the 363 00:24:28.800 --> 00:24:32.000 Southside, you know, she's in our neighborhood right now just around 364 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.100 the corner. Which is north. Which is north. 365 00:24:34.100 --> 00:24:35.200 She finds a place 366 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:37.100 that's now 20 to 25 minutes away. 367 00:24:37.100 --> 00:24:39.800 And so how did she get 368 00:24:39.900 --> 00:24:44.100 Church on Sunday? How do her kids become part of programs? 369 00:24:44.100 --> 00:24:48.000 Well in a place like ours, we we do van Ministry. 370 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.500 Yeah people people some people take the bus. 371 00:24:52.500 --> 00:24:58.000 But even when you're it's a 20-minute drive, it's probably an hour bus 372 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:04.500 ride up then worship hour bus ride back and other factors come into 373 00:25:04.500 --> 00:25:07.300 play, you know, with that with time and so forth. 374 00:25:07.300 --> 00:25:11.600 So, where's the church? Does the church just say while we're letting 375 00:25:11.600 --> 00:25:13.000 you kind of go to Tiana. 376 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:17.400 Sometimes we would say well we love to transfer you to another church 377 00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:21.900 that might be close around the corner. Sometimes other churches that 378 00:25:21.900 --> 00:25:26.500 are closer to Tiana's don't always have the same kind of holistic 379 00:25:26.500 --> 00:25:31.100 Ministry of trying to reach her kids and they might not see Ministry 380 00:25:31.100 --> 00:25:36.500 in the same way that we do. As far as in an aggressive Outreach fashion 381 00:25:36.500 --> 00:25:39.600 that we want to stand by you it where do whatever it takes. 382 00:25:39.900 --> 00:25:43.600 Tiana's story reminds me of a what Martin Luther King said and I'm 383 00:25:43.600 --> 00:25:43.700 paraphrasing. 384 00:25:43.700 --> 00:25:46.500 He said it's fine to talk about raising yourself up by your 385 00:25:46.500 --> 00:25:52.800 bootstraps, but it's a cruel jest to say that when you don't have any 386 00:25:52.800 --> 00:25:53.000 boots. 387 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:53.790 Yeah. 388 00:25:53.790 --> 00:25:53.900 Yeah. 389 00:25:53.900 --> 00:25:55.600 That sounds like Tiana. 390 00:25:55.600 --> 00:25:59.700 Yeah, and it's it's not it's an empowerment. 391 00:25:59.700 --> 00:26:04.600 It's it's a help and then and empowerment to help someone, you know do 392 00:26:04.600 --> 00:26:08.200 better but it's it's not just a betterness of this life. 393 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:11.700 Here's the here's the piece for the church is interested in. You have 394 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:16.800 the van Ministry, the ministry that kids after school, you know being 395 00:26:16.800 --> 00:26:17.800 in Tiana's life. 396 00:26:17.800 --> 00:26:22.200 Sometimes helping her with food all of that funnels to say we want to 397 00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:27.700 show you the love of Christ and we want to connect you to the church. 398 00:26:27.700 --> 00:26:32.700 We want to connect you to regular worship so that you can be fed 399 00:26:32.700 --> 00:26:37.600 because it's Christ will raise your spirit and will help you know 400 00:26:37.600 --> 00:26:39.800 what's really important and that's 401 00:26:39.900 --> 00:26:43.900 your sins are forgiven and that you're accepted by God and this 402 00:26:43.900 --> 00:26:47.700 God loves you. And these are the dynamics that a healthy family has in 403 00:26:47.700 --> 00:26:50.200 the church and should be a healthy family. 404 00:26:50.200 --> 00:26:57.100 If you're in the area and you drive up the Salisbury. Salisbury. Street 405 00:26:57.100 --> 00:26:59.100 that you're on and drive through that neighborhood. 406 00:26:59.100 --> 00:27:01.400 You'll be impressed by 407 00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:08.700 the housing units in that neighborhood and there's a story behind all 408 00:27:08.700 --> 00:27:11.800 those hundred and some housing units. 409 00:27:11.800 --> 00:27:14.800 Could you tell us John? We have a housing corporation 410 00:27:14.800 --> 00:27:20.700 we started called Better Living Communities, BLC, which the mayor would tell 411 00:27:20.700 --> 00:27:24.300 you that's really Bethlehem Lutheran Church housing. But it's separate 412 00:27:24.300 --> 00:27:28.700 not-for-profit Corporation so that we can access funds and it's not 413 00:27:28.700 --> 00:27:32.600 it's not like well, the only way that you can stay in these houses is 414 00:27:32.600 --> 00:27:36.600 if you go to Bethlehem Lutheran Church, it's public low-income 415 00:27:36.600 --> 00:27:41.100 housing and it addressed a need. 416 00:27:41.100 --> 00:27:47.400 It really was born out of another Tiana who had to move. This Tiana had 417 00:27:47.400 --> 00:27:52.100 seven kids trying to find a place to stay and I'm sure she had a slum 418 00:27:52.100 --> 00:27:56.100 landlord to and we were able to help keep her in the house that she 419 00:27:56.100 --> 00:28:00.000 was renting and then empower her to be able to buy that house. 420 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:02.600 But as we saw that we realized the bigger 421 00:28:02.600 --> 00:28:06.800 neighborhood problem that there needs to be affordable housing in 422 00:28:06.800 --> 00:28:10.200 urban areas that is safe and that is excellent. 423 00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:15.600 So the church came to do it. We've now built 424 00:28:15.600 --> 00:28:22.400 we built 96 houses ourselves our partners who we built with they built 425 00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:27.700 another hundred and fifty units. So 70 million dollars in development 426 00:28:27.700 --> 00:28:30.800 is come to the Hyde Park neighborhood. And it makes it is a nice 427 00:28:30.800 --> 00:28:35.700 neighborhood to drive through. It is, the best part of it is and I look 428 00:28:35.700 --> 00:28:38.800 at the houses that I'm proud of the houses and I'm glad that they 429 00:28:38.800 --> 00:28:41.500 serve people but it's really just frosting. 430 00:28:41.500 --> 00:28:47.400 You know, it's really just eye candy to me for the real message when 431 00:28:47.400 --> 00:28:51.800 we're in conversation and to be able to say to people who did this 432 00:28:51.800 --> 00:28:55.100 what wasn't the government and it wasn't the private sector. 433 00:28:55.100 --> 00:28:59.000 It was really the church God's people who took the lead. 434 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:00.800 That's why I have great 435 00:29:00.800 --> 00:29:05.000 hope that the church can be a leader at this time as well. 436 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:07.400 But the church has got to serve. 437 00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:10.500 It's got to be with Christ intended it to be. 438 00:29:11.300 --> 00:29:12.700 It's got to be that family. 439 00:29:12.700 --> 00:29:16.300 I mean, you know, when you go back in your read the second chapter of 440 00:29:16.300 --> 00:29:20.100 Acts and at the end of the fourth chapter Acts and you see how the 441 00:29:20.100 --> 00:29:25.100 church was one, you know it in every way and people cared for each 442 00:29:25.100 --> 00:29:26.900 other. And to be honest, 443 00:29:26.900 --> 00:29:30.400 sometimes we sort of dismiss that in America and say that's communism 444 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:37.800 and that's not. No, no that's not what that is. That's people who love each other and are willing to stand with each 445 00:29:37.800 --> 00:29:40.400 other because they share the Savior. 446 00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:45.500 And it's a it's a long time Lutheran belief and it's biblical that 447 00:29:45.500 --> 00:29:48.900 when you plunge yourself into the problems of the community around you 448 00:29:48.900 --> 00:29:50.600 your faith grows. 449 00:29:50.600 --> 00:29:55.100 It does. Drives you to the scriptures more God what's going on here? 450 00:29:55.100 --> 00:29:59.100 That's encouraging. You mention communism 451 00:29:59.100 --> 00:30:02.000 you also you also talk about the government. 452 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:05.300 Now a lot of people say oh stay away from the government. But 453 00:30:05.300 --> 00:30:06.800 Bethlehem 454 00:30:08.900 --> 00:30:14.300 Better Living the Better Living Communities you mention that you work 455 00:30:14.300 --> 00:30:18.000 with the government tell us about that and and and speak to the fears 456 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:23.800 that some people have about the government. Which some cases are true. 457 00:30:23.800 --> 00:30:25.400 Well the government can be a partner. 458 00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:30.800 We've partnered with the government both in the building of our 459 00:30:30.800 --> 00:30:31.200 houses. 460 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:34.200 And we've also started two Charter Schools. 461 00:30:34.200 --> 00:30:36.800 And so the government can be a partner. 462 00:30:36.800 --> 00:30:44.500 Now the government is going to expect us to be you know, totally, totally 463 00:30:44.500 --> 00:30:49.900 a partner who you know goes through the procedures needed and has all 464 00:30:49.900 --> 00:30:51.600 the business plan parts of it. 465 00:30:51.600 --> 00:30:54.000 Just like the church before we build the houses. 466 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:59.500 It was the Lutheran Church extension fund who borrow the money loan 467 00:30:59.500 --> 00:31:05.600 the money to us to buy the land for the houses. I think it was like 1.3 468 00:31:05.600 --> 00:31:06.000 million dollars. 469 00:31:07.500 --> 00:31:14.100 They expected a thorough and on point business plan because 470 00:31:14.100 --> 00:31:15.500 that's all investors money. 471 00:31:15.500 --> 00:31:17.500 You know, it's all just stewardship. 472 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:21.200 I think the government and the church can partner. 473 00:31:22.100 --> 00:31:26.000 The church is just got to be smart about knowing the government's 474 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:30.500 going to be the government but the church has got to be the church. And 475 00:31:30.500 --> 00:31:34.600 when you can have those dynamics, you know, very clear and as you go 476 00:31:34.600 --> 00:31:39.500 forward, I think the partnerships can be really strong and they can 477 00:31:39.500 --> 00:31:42.800 bless a lot of people. One of the ways it's also worked for you is 478 00:31:42.800 --> 00:31:47.900 because you personally have made an effort to know government leaders 479 00:31:47.900 --> 00:31:50.200 in the community and in the in the city of st. 480 00:31:50.200 --> 00:31:50.500 Louis. 481 00:31:50.500 --> 00:31:54.600 Yeah, we've had great again. 482 00:31:54.600 --> 00:32:00.600 There is a God, you know, preparing the soil and preparing people at 483 00:32:00.600 --> 00:32:01.200 all levels. 484 00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:06.600 I think about this example, you know, at our most local level our 485 00:32:06.600 --> 00:32:07.900 Alderman in St. 486 00:32:07.900 --> 00:32:13.100 Louis in a it's really aldermanic rule the alderman really rules his 487 00:32:13.100 --> 00:32:20.900 area. And our aldermen at the time was Freeman Bosley senior. And 488 00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:27.300 the land that we built the first group of houses on was really a land 489 00:32:27.300 --> 00:32:32.300 that there was a plan for the Salvation Army to move all the homeless 490 00:32:32.300 --> 00:32:35.100 population of the entire city of St. 491 00:32:35.100 --> 00:32:38.700 Louis into that area right across the street from our church. 492 00:32:38.700 --> 00:32:44.400 They were going to build 10 ft big walls around and compound homeless 493 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:50.700 kids, homeless moms and homeless dads and also people we're dealing 494 00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:51.500 with substance abuse. 495 00:32:51.500 --> 00:32:52.900 It was a bad idea. 496 00:32:52.900 --> 00:33:00.000 That sounds like World War II. Right, right. But it was an opportunity for great money and you know, the 497 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:05.200 alderman would have would have gotten paid on that. And I credit the 498 00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:09.600 Lord's working in Freeman Bosley seniors heart and Freeman Bosley 499 00:33:09.600 --> 00:33:13.900 senior himself, and he said hey like an option to, you know, bringing 500 00:33:13.900 --> 00:33:17.200 make this a place for families and help families. 501 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:20.200 I'm going to do that. I know 502 00:33:21.400 --> 00:33:26.000 he wants votes and those are votes and I know that but he didn't have 503 00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:26.500 to do that. 504 00:33:26.500 --> 00:33:30.800 If you would have been thinking of himself, he would have never done 505 00:33:30.800 --> 00:33:34.800 that. But you didn't just make one appointment with Mr. 506 00:33:34.800 --> 00:33:38.900 Bosley. No, they were. Because forget that you had a relationship. 507 00:33:38.900 --> 00:33:41.900 Relationship with Mr. 508 00:33:41.900 --> 00:33:45.700 Bosley and relationship with our mayor of that time a relationship 509 00:33:45.700 --> 00:33:52.500 with with State legislatures and that and you know, that's where we 510 00:33:52.500 --> 00:33:57.200 can respect each other's domains of you know, her's how so and so is 511 00:33:57.200 --> 00:34:00.700 going to behave in this particular moment if they have to get in that 512 00:34:00.700 --> 00:34:05.900 moment. But at the same time we can work together for the benefit of 513 00:34:05.900 --> 00:34:09.500 people now their benefit is I want a better world. 514 00:34:09.500 --> 00:34:12.600 Our benefit is we want them to know the Savior. 515 00:34:12.600 --> 00:34:16.000 We want the mission new Mission field that's coming right across the 516 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:16.200 street. 517 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:22.000 This this sounds like we could come up with a oh what should we call it 518 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:30.800 the two kingdoms. Which is biblical and very Lutheran. Two Kingdoms 519 00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:35.500 you have the government the state and the church 520 00:34:35.500 --> 00:34:43.300 it's a perfect example of that. Now I'm a member of a large church 521 00:34:43.300 --> 00:34:44.900 over in, Illinois, Collinsville. 522 00:34:46.500 --> 00:34:50.000 And we're an old white church. 523 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:55.000 We have our daily issues those of us who go over there. 524 00:34:56.800 --> 00:34:58.600 In your experience in and 525 00:34:58.600 --> 00:35:00.400 you can be blunt. 526 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:06.100 How many of our kind of people really care about the situation in the 527 00:35:06.100 --> 00:35:06.500 city? 528 00:35:06.500 --> 00:35:10.300 Oh I think a lot of people care about the city. 529 00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:13.900 I think a lot of people love and care about the city. 530 00:35:13.900 --> 00:35:19.100 I think, you know when when the when the riots happened in Ferguson 531 00:35:19.100 --> 00:35:25.300 and the Michael Brown incident number of years ago, I think you saw 532 00:35:25.300 --> 00:35:29.600 that the people care about the city. The challenge has been 533 00:35:30.500 --> 00:35:34.500 how do people who care about the city who don't live in the city. 534 00:35:34.500 --> 00:35:36.200 How do they connect? 535 00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:40.300 And in the past many times in the church. 536 00:35:41.700 --> 00:35:47.300 International like national church like are are synod many times 537 00:35:47.300 --> 00:35:49.700 people thought it was mainly prayer 538 00:35:50.600 --> 00:35:57.600 and a check prayer and a check. And that was one of the real pieces in 539 00:35:57.600 --> 00:36:01.300 this we have this ministry called More Greater Things. 540 00:36:01.300 --> 00:36:02.900 It's a right now 541 00:36:02.900 --> 00:36:05.200 it's in the second year of its three-year campaign. 542 00:36:05.200 --> 00:36:08.400 There was a earlier 3 year campaign called Greater Things. 543 00:36:09.400 --> 00:36:13.700 Greater things is the idea that we want to take what we've been 544 00:36:13.700 --> 00:36:15.000 blessed with at Bethlehem. 545 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:17.100 We can't write checks at Bethlehem 546 00:36:17.100 --> 00:36:21.600 like our suburban church friends can help us with. We can take what 547 00:36:21.600 --> 00:36:26.500 we've learned in Ministry into other urban areas and try to pour our 548 00:36:26.500 --> 00:36:30.800 DNA into them and and help them to activate the ministry in the 549 00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:31.400 community. 550 00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:37.000 One of the pieces of Greater Things in the second piece called More 551 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:41.000 Greater Things, this second 3 year campaign, is to connect people 552 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:46.300 from the suburbs to do ministry in the areas that we go. 553 00:36:46.300 --> 00:36:47.900 We don't want to do it alone. 554 00:36:47.900 --> 00:36:52.100 We just want to be the catalyst and my colleague Gerard Bolling. 555 00:36:52.100 --> 00:36:55.400 He's done a Monster job of that. 556 00:36:55.400 --> 00:37:01.300 I mean last year there were nearly two hundred Lutheran's from 557 00:37:01.300 --> 00:37:05.000 suburban areas suburban Lutheran congregation who came in and 558 00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:05.800 volunteered. 559 00:37:05.800 --> 00:37:09.300 This is a partnership we talked about in the first segment and it's 560 00:37:09.300 --> 00:37:09.700 worth repeating. 561 00:37:09.700 --> 00:37:14.600 It's huge, you know, but it takes that connecting link, you know, 562 00:37:14.600 --> 00:37:18.400 because most people wouldn't come in on their own but if there's a 563 00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:22.500 connecting link that can set things up and be the catalyst that's how 564 00:37:22.500 --> 00:37:23.600 real change happens. 565 00:37:23.600 --> 00:37:28.600 Now know being a baby boomer, I was born right after World War II, and 566 00:37:28.600 --> 00:37:33.700 there was the mood of optimism in the country, you know, we beat the 567 00:37:33.700 --> 00:37:37.200 enemy we came out of the depression we can do anything why we could 568 00:37:37.200 --> 00:37:42.000 probably send a man to the moon. Yeah. In your forth coming book 569 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:47.300 you talk about disappointments in Ministry and that chapter 570 00:37:47.300 --> 00:37:54.300 really struck me. That you know, it might be one step forward and five 571 00:37:54.300 --> 00:37:54.900 steps back. 572 00:37:54.900 --> 00:38:00.700 Yeah, that's true really in any Ministry, but I think in the city what 573 00:38:00.700 --> 00:38:05.100 you get is you get the highest highs and some of the lowest lows. 574 00:38:06.700 --> 00:38:11.300 What I've learned over the time, Art Shudde taught me this back in Peoria, 575 00:38:11.300 --> 00:38:16.100 one day when I was vicaring and he has in the office for our weekly 576 00:38:16.100 --> 00:38:22.100 meeting and he opened his desk drawer and he said John you need to keep you 577 00:38:22.100 --> 00:38:23.000 see all these letters in here. 578 00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:26.800 You need to keep these letters in here and you need to pull them out 579 00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:27.300 and read them 580 00:38:27.300 --> 00:38:31.000 sometimes when you having a really low day, you know, just to be 581 00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:36.200 reminded that you know, God got you here and your loved and this is 582 00:38:36.200 --> 00:38:37.300 important Ministry. 583 00:38:38.500 --> 00:38:39.400 I do that. 584 00:38:39.400 --> 00:38:43.400 I've also kind of translated in this way and there was a chapter in 585 00:38:43.400 --> 00:38:50.700 the book called the Three to Four Things. And every week every Sunday 586 00:38:50.700 --> 00:38:55.400 specially I try to look and see and say you know, what did God do this 587 00:38:55.400 --> 00:38:56.100 week here? 588 00:38:56.100 --> 00:39:00.600 I could miss it and I can overlook it. In the 30 589 00:39:00.600 --> 00:39:04.800 I'm in the 31st year that I've been there on Sundays 590 00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:10.300 I've never seen him disappoint. And you know I say that in the way that 591 00:39:10.300 --> 00:39:14.700 like our church and like many traditional Lutheran Churches were if it 592 00:39:14.700 --> 00:39:17.900 starts at 9:30 usually by 9:35-9:40 593 00:39:17.900 --> 00:39:22.600 everyone's there. Our church can start, as you might remember, we can 594 00:39:22.600 --> 00:39:30.400 start at 9:50 with maybe 30 people and by about 10:30 or so when the 595 00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:34.400 preacher is getting up to preach it'll be 140, 150 or 160 596 00:39:34.400 --> 00:39:38.200 whatever, you know, that's just the way it goes. Well its hard being the preacher 597 00:39:38.500 --> 00:39:45.100 coming out to 30 at the beginning. But you know what God does? Somebody 598 00:39:45.100 --> 00:39:49.300 in that 30 he's going to drop in as someone who hasn't been around for 599 00:39:49.300 --> 00:39:55.000 9 months, you know. And he's going to he's going to remind you why 600 00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.500 you're there you're there because he's got you there and he's still he 601 00:39:59.500 --> 00:40:01.000 still doing great things. 602 00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:03.900 And those are the eyes of faith and 603 00:40:03.900 --> 00:40:06.400 we have to practice thatt since we're the different time. 604 00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:07.700 We have to practice the eyes of faith. 605 00:40:07.700 --> 00:40:12.800 Let me ask you about something from my perspective obviously as 606 00:40:14.100 --> 00:40:17.300 the outgoing president of the Seminary, but this is true of any 607 00:40:17.300 --> 00:40:18.100 Seminary President. 608 00:40:18.100 --> 00:40:20.800 We need black pastors. 609 00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:27.900 We need to recruit but our denomination is white, aging and in steady 610 00:40:27.900 --> 00:40:28.100 decline. 611 00:40:30.900 --> 00:40:32.400 You know any suggestions? 612 00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:37.900 Well, we need pastors. 613 00:40:37.900 --> 00:40:43.800 We need people who want to be in the city, black and white and brown 614 00:40:43.800 --> 00:40:47.800 and we do need more African American pastors. 615 00:40:47.800 --> 00:40:53.800 But yeah, that's that's something that sometimes gets missed. Just 616 00:40:53.800 --> 00:40:58.200 being African-American doesn't necessarily qualify you 617 00:40:59.100 --> 00:41:03.900 In an African American congregation, you know. You could be white from 618 00:41:03.900 --> 00:41:11.700 Sheboygan and get along. You can be from Sheboygan. And 619 00:41:11.700 --> 00:41:14.300 I want to raise up guys into the ministry. 620 00:41:14.300 --> 00:41:18.600 I think we have to understand too that there may be in in our church 621 00:41:18.600 --> 00:41:22.000 body is working on this there may be different routes in different 622 00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:25.700 ways and we have to be sensitive about it. 623 00:41:25.700 --> 00:41:28.600 But we've got to make it a priority 624 00:41:28.600 --> 00:41:32.900 you know to keep raising up more servants of the Lord. And we need to 625 00:41:32.900 --> 00:41:36.800 think about what are other ways too. Maybe someone's not going to be a 626 00:41:36.800 --> 00:41:41.800 pastor but there's there's full-time Church work for people. And we have 627 00:41:41.800 --> 00:41:47.600 to find funding for it. And we need to become creative about it to. You 628 00:41:47.600 --> 00:41:49.200 know, I'm bi-vocational. 629 00:41:49.200 --> 00:41:52.700 I've been bi-vocational for 12-13 years. 630 00:41:52.700 --> 00:41:53.900 I have a lawn business. 631 00:41:53.900 --> 00:41:55.500 That's what my hair is a little wet. 632 00:41:55.500 --> 00:41:56.700 I was cutting grass this morning. 633 00:41:59.100 --> 00:42:05.500 That in in our context that's what it's going to take, you know, so 634 00:42:05.500 --> 00:42:10.300 thinking through that whole thing that the direction that we take with 635 00:42:10.300 --> 00:42:11.500 pastors may be different. 636 00:42:11.500 --> 00:42:12.700 Now that great. 637 00:42:12.700 --> 00:42:14.100 I wish I were younger. 638 00:42:14.100 --> 00:42:18.200 I wish I were younger and maybe you do to. To wrap to wrap today's 639 00:42:18.200 --> 00:42:19.300 program up 640 00:42:19.300 --> 00:42:24.300 tell us again about your book and where we'll be able to get it. 641 00:42:25.300 --> 00:42:31.700 The book is "A Place Not Forgotten" and it will be on Amazon or even 642 00:42:31.700 --> 00:42:34.800 better if you want if you will contact us at Bethlehem Lutheran 643 00:42:34.800 --> 00:42:37.700 Church, Bethlehem Lutheran Church. 644 00:42:37.700 --> 00:42:43.400 I'll just give you my my email is probably the best way and that is 645 00:42:43.400 --> 00:42:50.500 stljrs3@aol.com, stljrs3@aol.com. 646 00:42:50.500 --> 00:42:56.300 That's probably the best way to to to do it at this point, but you 647 00:42:56.300 --> 00:42:58.500 can get it on Amazon once it comes out. 648 00:42:58.500 --> 00:43:01.200 It will come out beginning of August either 649 00:43:01.200 --> 00:43:07.100 in a, I'm not technology-wise, a Kindle and over something that you can 650 00:43:07.100 --> 00:43:10.900 read on your computer or you can get the book. The Seminary will 651 00:43:10.900 --> 00:43:15.300 make this available on our websites to an will have a positive 652 00:43:15.300 --> 00:43:18.700 review of the book and so on. Because, like I say, whatever 653 00:43:18.700 --> 00:43:23.200 church you're in whether you're lay or pastor or other church worker. 654 00:43:23.200 --> 00:43:25.100 There's a lot of insights into 655 00:43:25.200 --> 00:43:31.100 into the essence of who people are, were flawed sinful people who 656 00:43:31.100 --> 00:43:31.600 need Jesus. 657 00:43:31.600 --> 00:43:34.100 Thank you Pastor Schmidtke for joining us today. 658 00:43:34.100 --> 00:43:37.200 And I thank you our audience for being with us. 659 00:43:37.200 --> 00:43:41.700 I'm Dale Meyer and as always may the intersection of Word and Work 660 00:43:41.700 --> 00:43:43.900 be busy on your corner.