The Gottesdienst Crowd

[From the Archives] TGC 496 – Thinking Out Loud (Easter Vigil)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Easter Vigil, Matthew 28:1–7.

Read the rest of this entry »

[From the Archives] TGC 369 - Thinking Out Loud (Good Friday)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for Good Friday, St. John's Passion.

Read the rest of this entry »

[From the Archives] TGC 495 – Thinking Out Loud (Maundy Thursday)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Epistle reading for Maundy Thursday, 1 Corinthians 11:23–32.

Read the rest of this entry »

TGC 588 – Thinking Out Loud (Lent 6)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Sixth Sunday in Lent, Matthew 26–27.

Read the rest of this entry »

TGC 587 – Saving the Sons of Missouri, Part 3

In Episode 3 of Saving the Sons of Missouri, Rev. David Ramirez moves from diagnosis to response—offering a candid and pastoral path forward for engaging the rising generation of young men in the LCMS. Building on the cultural, economic, and familial realities outlined earlier, this episode wrestles with how older generations can faithfully respond to the zeal, frustration, and searching of younger men today.

Rather than dismissing or fearing that zeal, Rev. Ramirez calls for understanding, repentance, and intentional leadership: removing generational blind spots, making careful distinctions, and guiding young men with wisdom shaped by Scripture. Drawing on biblical examples—from David’s failures as a father to the exhortations of Colossians—he highlights both the dangers of neglect and the opportunity for renewal.

The episode also tackles practical questions: how to direct youthful energy without crushing it, how to avoid bitterness on both sides, and how to rebuild strong families and congregations through mentorship, inheritance, and embodied teaching. The goal is not nostalgia, but faithful continuity—passing on the faith, forming leaders, and strengthening the bonds of Christ-centered households.

At its heart, this episode is a call to action: to turn hearts between fathers and sons, to cultivate holy zeal, and to seize what may be a providential moment for renewal in the Church.

 

TGC 583 – Saving the Sons of Missouri, Part 1

https://www.gottesdienst.org/podcast/2026/3/2/tgc-583-saving-the-sons-of-missouri-part-1

TGC 585 – Saving the Sons of Missouri, Part 2

https://www.gottesdienst.org/podcast/2026/3/11/tgc-585-saving-the-sons-of-missouri-part-2

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 »

TGC 586 – Thinking Out Loud (Lent 5)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, John 8:46–59.

Read the rest of this entry »

TGC 585 – Saving the Sons of Missouri, Part 2

In Part 2, Rev. Jason Braaten and Rev. David Ramirez discuss what happens when a society reaches the end of its cultural experiment. After decades of secularization, humanism, and cultural revolution, many younger people—especially young men—are beginning to recognize that the modern project has failed to deliver the promised freedom and happiness. The result is a renewed search for truth, order, and tradition.

Drawing on historical parallels such as the religious revival in France following the French Revolution, the conversation explores how periods of intense cultural upheaval often produce two opposite reactions: some people become even more hostile to Christianity, while others return to it with renewed seriousness and conviction.

One visible sign of the current reaction is the growing cultural “battle of the sexes,” as younger men and women respond differently to the failures of modern culture. Rather than dismissing these developments, the hosts consider how this moment may present an opportunity for the Church to offer something the modern world cannot: a clear moral vision, stable family life, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

TGC 583 – Saving the Sons of Missouri, Part 1

https://www.gottesdienst.org/podcast/2026/3/2/tgc-583-saving-the-sons-of-missouri-part-1

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 »

TGC 584 – Thinking Out Loud (Lent 4)

Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, John 6:1–15.

Read the rest of this entry »

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 »