Quote from Chuck Mueller Jr. on January 5, 2021, 9:41 pm

GOAL:  This forum identifies important topics for members of the LCMS (congregations and called workers) and laypeople in the LCMS.  It is here for a civil, real discussion of the issues we face to allow important voices and viewpoints to be heard which often are not allowed in convention debate. 

We pray that this will bring more “light” than “heat” to the conversation we all need to have about:

• our continued scriptural and confessional subscription;
• the mission of the LCMS as specifically set forth in Articles III and VII of our constitution;
• agreement, disagreement, or questions regarding decisions made by our elected leaders;
• various overtures, resolutions, and candidates for office placed before our district and national conventions – especially those not regularly featured in our Synod publications.

This is a members-only forum.  People may apply for membership using the form below who agree to the following code of conduct:

1. Use only real names of real people on this forum.  No hidden identities or using names of old Lutheran theologians.  If you are not willing to have a member of the moderator team call you or your pastor to verify your identity, don’t apply for membership.  If you are not willing to post under your own name, find another website’s forum to write.
2. Be nice and bring more light than heat to the conversation.  Don’t say something online that you wouldn’t say in real life (or in a sermon).  Bad attitudes, bullying, derogatory posts, offensive posts, name-calling, and all other general negativity won’t be tolerated.  Respect the opinions of others, and never be insulting or disrespectful.  If you disagree with someone, do so respectfully and acknowledge that others are entitled to their own perspective.
3. Acknowledge the valid points in your fellow forum member’s comments. When appropriate, please use Scripture and our Confessions to support your opinion.  Have a humble and helpful attitude  (See Ephesians 5 and Philippians 2 and 4 if you have any questions).  NOTE:  Moderators will delete users from the forum who continue to post inflammatory, abusive comments after two warnings.  No threats or harassment of other users will be tolerated.  Any instance of threatening or harassing behavior is grounds for immediate deletion from the forum.
4. No illegal content and cross-posts.  We allow no re-posting of copyrighted materials or other illegal content and delete them.  Be original.  Depending on the topic, cross-posts to other content may be tolerated.  Normally they are deleted.
5. Stay on topic.  Don’t post irrelevant links, comments, thoughts, or any pictures.  Post in relevant sub-forums only.
6. Messages posted in the wrong topic area will be removed and may be placed in the correct sub-forum by moderators.
7. Be style sensitive.  Don’t type in ALL CAPS!  If you do, it will look like you’re screaming.  Run a spelling and grammar check before posting anything to the discussion board.  It only takes a minute and can make a difference by strengthening your post.  People make typing mistakes, but if you don’t care enough to write in proper English, your post may be removed.  In addition, please do not use acronyms novice users may not understand (IMHO, BC, BTW, IDC, ELI5, JK, etc.).
8. Be forgiving.  If a forum member makes a mistake, don’t badger him or her for it.  Just let it go – it happens to the best of us.  Don’t write anything that sounds angry or sarcastic, even as a joke, because without hearing your tone of voice, your peers might not realize you’re joking.  An old proverb fits here:  “When you are arguing with a fool, make sure he is not similarly occupied.”
9. Be brief.  If you write a long dissertation in response to a simple question, it’s unlikely that anyone will spend the time to read through it all.
10. Suggest Forum Topics to the Moderators.  To start this forum off, the moderators will choose the topics.  Moderators will consider suggestions for new conversation topics by users.  While we can’t cover all topics, this forum will be broad-ranging.
11. What the Moderators Say, Goes.  Don’t argue with the Moderators. Our Moderators have the right to edit, delete, move, or close any thread or post as they see fit. They can move a post if they feel it’s in the wrong category or topic, they can close a thread if a newer/better/more active thread is available, they can delete threads that got out of hand or were offensive, and they can block and ban any user for any reason. All Moderator warnings, bans, blocks, and actions are at their discretion.  Stay on the good side of a Moderator’s judgment calls.
12. No spam.  All automated messages, advertisements, and links to unrelated websites will be deleted immediately.

For the Rule Breakers:

a.  For a minor offense or your first offense, a Moderator may send you a message after editing/moving/removing the offending post/topic.

b.  For a moderate offense or your second offense, a Moderator may send you a message after editing/moving/removing the offending post/topic.

c.  For a major offense or your third offense, a Moderator may ban or block your account from participating in the forums. The length of the suspension of your forum privileges depends on the severity of the rule you broke, or how many offenses you have had.

d.  After your account has been banned or blocked from posting to the forums for any length of time, your next offense will result in your account being permanently banned/blocked for posting to the forums.