Dear Friends,

Summer is basically over and what a summer it has been. Last week my wife and I attended the annual ACELC Conference in Lincoln, NE. “And it was good,” to borrow a mighty good expression. Here is what’s new for the month of Aug.

1. I have taken the 1 hour presentation titled Part I Church Government – History, which is part of the Lay Leadership training series available on the website and added a 3 hour “front end.” Basically, what happened was the adding ofmaterial covering the expansion of Lutheranism from the time of the Reformation in Wittenberg to the Saxon Immigration. It is an overview format touching on the highlights and reasons for this expansion throughout central and northern Europe and then into North American. It is all about trying to tie the modern day Lutheran’s to their “roots” as it were. I hope you enjoy this additional material. It can be found at this link:http://churchmatterssolutions.org/education/lay-leadership-in-the-congregation/. As usual the PowerPoint presentation is free to download.
2. I have converted an older file I have on the NIV study Bible into a new presentation called How to use the ESV Study Bible. This presentation is designed for those who don’t know their way around in a Study Bible, which is where new Christians and some who don’t regularly attend adult Bible classes find themselves. The new Study Bible has many additional features, which makes it bigger, but worth it. In the near future I hope to find time refresh the older NIV version of this study and make it available too. Free to download. Check it out at: http://churchmatterssolutions.org/bible-studies-on-the-books-of-the-bible/.