By Alan Watte
Amidst efforts to handle growing local and national support, FOCL is preparing what promises to be its most dynamic annual Reformation Rally to date.
AAL SUPPORT
The 1994 Reformation Rally is supported by a grant from Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), a fraternal benefit society with more than 1.5 million members nationwide.
Dr. James Burtness, internationally prominent professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Theological Seminary, will keynote a 5 P.M. gathering October 23rd, at Sacramento's Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 1615 Arden Way. Editor of two theological journals and a leader in the International Bonhoeffer Society,
Burtness has served as chair for the World Mission Division of the American Lutheran Church. He is one of the authors of the Luther Seminary faculty members' protest, signed by thousands, to theELCA's Human Sexuality draft document.
THERE'S MORE
Burtness will be joined by Dee Posey, president, Sierra Pacific Synod Women of tricELCA(WELCA).Alsoofferingremarks willbethe distinguished founder of the 1.3 million member Mekane Yesus Church of Ethiopia, and former Education Secretary of the Lutheran WoridFederation, Dr. Hebert Schaefer. They will address the ELCA's current crisis in doctrine, the continued radical drift of its leadership, and the future of the church.
Dr. Burtness will also be featured at a workshop on evangelism atBclhel Lutheran, in Cupertino, Saturday October 22nd, from 9 A.M. to noon. The Lutheran theologian will preach at three Bethel worship services that morning before capping off his West Coast appearance with the Sacramento rally
FOCL GROWS
Over the last 10 months, FOCL has seen a tremendous increase in support. FOCL POINT readership has nearly doubled. Attendance continues to swell at FOCL events as lay Lutherans, shaken by recent headlines disclosing dissident efforts to redefine acceptable human sexual expression, and angered by a national ecumenical convention that presented a grab bag of extremist "neo-pagan" proposals, are awakening to the growing gulf between ELCA statements of belief and church practices.
As a result of last year's annual rally. which featured Dr. Carl Braaten' s masterful critique of the ELCA, FOCL received more than 100 requests for video tapes of his address. This year's FOCL rally portends an even greater impact. Be certain to mark your calendar.
* AlanWaite is the treasurer of the Fellowship of Confessional Lutherans, and co-editor of FOCL POINT.