The Gottesdienst Crowd

TGC 583 – Saving the Sons of Missouri, Part 1

What kind of world have our sons inherited—and how different is it from the one their fathers and grandfathers knew?

In Part 1 of Saving the Sons of Missouri, Rev. David Ramirez lays out the situation. Before offering solutions, he insists on telling the truth about how radically the religious, cultural, economic, and familial landscape of America—and the Missouri Synod within it—has changed in just a few generations.

Drawing on historical data, generational comparisons, and lived experience, this episode traces the shift from a broadly Christian culture to a post-Christian—and increasingly anti-Christian—one. Listeners are walked through the realities faced by those born in 1960, 1980, and 2000, highlighting how changes in church life, worship, catechesis, male and female roles, family structure, and public morality have compounded over time. What once could be assumed now must be taught—and often defended.

Rev. Ramirez also explores the wider civil and economic pressures shaping young men today: declining trust, fractured national identity, collapsing pathways to stable family life, and unprecedented generational economic decline. The result is a cohort of young men who are often angry, restless, and searching—not because they are uniquely rebellious, but because the world handed to them is profoundly disordered.

This sets the table. The hard questions are named.  Only then can faithful and wise responses follow.

Tell the Good News about Jesus Convocation (2025)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAL2mMQkURReJEKYKZtJlMhjZth7bWFAt

The Great Awokening

https://www.gottesdienst.org/podcast/2022/3/2/tgc-172-the-great-awokening?rq=great%20awokening

Aaron Renn's Negative World

https://firstthings.com/the-three-worlds-of-evangelicalism/

 

 

 

Read the rest of this entry »

[From the Archives] TGC 482 – Thinking Out Loud (Lent 3)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Third Sunday in Lent, Luke 11:14–28.

Read the rest of this entry »

[From the Archives] TGC 479 – Thinking Out Loud (Lent 2)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday in Lent, Matthew 15:21–28.

Read the rest of this entry »

TGC 582 – Thinking Out Loud (Lent 1)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the First Sunday in Lent, Matthew 4:1–11.

Read the rest of this entry »

TGC 581 – Brux Theologorum

Brux Theologorum examines a theological temptation in the church today: the refusal to acknowledge legitimate implication and inference in biblical interpretation. Drawing its name from a historical figure in the Missouri Synod whose hermeneutical approach narrowed the reach of Scripture, the podcast explores how reducing doctrine to only its “essentially similar” cases can sever the vital connection between doctrine and practice, recast settled teachings as adiaphora, and reshape church life according to subjective criteria rather than the whole counsel of God. We aim to diagnose this tendency — what the guest calls the Brux Theologorum — and to reclaim a robust, confessionally grounded approach to reading Scripture that faithfully honors both explicit commands and their undeniable implications.

Links: 

https://revjosephgreenmyer.substack.com/p/brux-theologorum

Read the rest of this entry »

TGC 580 – Thinking Out Loud (Quinquagesima)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for Quinquagesima, Luke 18:31–43.

Read the rest of this entry »

TGC 579 – Christian Nationalism on Trial: A Conversation Pro and Con

In this episode, we tackle the contested and often misunderstood question of Christian Nationalism. With two guests offering opposing perspectives—David Ramirez arguing in favor and Peter Burfeind raising concerns—we explore what the term actually means, where it comes from, and whether it can be squared with Lutheran theology. The conversation probes the relationship between Church and state, the limits of political authority, the nature of Christ’s kingdom, and the risks of confusing the Gospel with national identity. Our aim is not heat, but clarity—testing claims carefully, naming real points of disagreement, and helping listeners think more precisely about faith, nation, and Christian witness in the public square.

Links:

Books/Articles: 

"The Challenge of History: Luther's Two Kingdoms Theology as a Test Case" by Prof. Cameron MacKenzie 

http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/mackenziechallengeofhistory.pdf

Gnostic America by Pr. Peter Burfiend

https://www.amazon.com/Gnostic-America-Contemporary-according-Christianitys/dp/0692260498

Martin Luther and Religious Liberty by Pr. David P. Ramirez 

https://www.academia.edu/89633865/Martin_Luther_and_Religious_Liberty

"Are Rulers to Uphold both Tables of the Law" by Pr. David Ramirez

https://cc.lutherclassical.org/summer-2025/are-rulers-to-uphold-both-tables-of-the-law/

Interviews (in chronological order):

Christian Nationalism-The Gottesdienst Crowd

https://www.gottesdienst.org/podcast/2022/11/2/tgc-232-christian-nationalism

Biermann-Ramirez Debate on Christian Nationalism-On The Line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIru3RAff28

A Christian Response to Christian Nationalism-Issues, Etc.

https://issuesetc.org/2025/10/09/a-christian-response-to-christian-nationalism-pr-peter-burfeind-10-9-25-2822/

 

Read the rest of this entry »

[From The Archives] TGC 470 — Thinking Out Loud (Sexagesima)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for Sexagesima, Luke 8:4–15.

Read the rest of this entry »

TGC 578 – Higher Stakes Than Combat: Training Pastors for the Real Battle

In this episode, the Gottesdienst Crowd welcomes back Jarryd Allison—former MARSOC officer and current software engineer—for a conversation with David Petersen on pastoral formation, accountability, and courage in the Office of the Ministry. Drawing on the rigor of special operations training, the panel raises necessary questions: If the eternal stakes of the ministry are higher, should the training and evaluation of pastors be more demanding? Why do nearly all seminarians graduate, yet so many pastors leave within the first years of ministry? Together they explore attrition, peer evaluation, ongoing training, lay responsibility, catechesis, and the need for humility, standards, and perseverance—arguing that the Church must recover a serious, formative approach to preparing men for the weight of preaching Christ, teaching the faith, and caring for souls.

Previous episode with Jarryd Allison: https://www.gottesdienst.org/podcast/2025/10/29/tgc-561-fit-for-the-call-why-the-man-and-the-office-both-matter

 

Read the rest of this entry »

TGC 577 – Thinking Out Loud (Septuagesima)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for Septuagesima, Matthew 20:1–16.

Read the rest of this entry »