ARE YOU READY TO PUT THE REFORMATION INTO PRACTICE?
July 29 - 31, 2024
St. John's Lutheran Church
510 Kewaunee St.
Racine, WI 53402
The Bugenhagen Conference is a three day conference for pastors on practical theology. Attendance and meals at the conference are free to registrants. The conference features three keynote speakers and forty workshops presented by over twenty pastors.
The Reformation held up the great truth of salvation by grace through faith. Faithful Lutheran pastors know that the gospel is to permeate the teaching and the life of the congregation. Our preaching, teaching, and all of our practices should be fully shaped by the Word of God. The Pastor ought to excel in his ministry whether it be in teaching, caring for the sick and dying, providing biblical counsel, or being an example in holy living.
The Bugenhagen Conference was created to help pastors hone their craft and excel in all facets of ministry. Pastors know that there is always room for improvement, whether it be in the routine tasks of administration, or in more particular matters of pastoral leadership in the parish. The pastor is to be competent, confident, and skilled in his ministry.
The Bugenhagen Conference is a gathering particularly designed for the parish pastor, providing a place for him to honestly evaluate himself against the biblical model of who a pastor is to be. Here he can critically assess among brothers what qualities, skills, and characteristics he has developed and, also, where he needs to develop. The workshops allow pastors to hear from brothers in the ministerium who can provide practical guidance in approaching specific tasks and challenging situations that one may face in the parish.
OUR SPEAKERS
Participants at the Bugenhagen Conference will hear three Keynote Addresses. Out of the forty Workshops offered, they will be able to attend eight. It has been said pastors of different ages and experience naturally bring particular gifts to the church: the young, zeal; the middle-aged, stability; and, the elders, wisdom. A healthy mix and balance of these qualities will be brought together at the conference in order to strengthen and build up our ministerium in the Missouri Synod.
Recently retired after serving as the pastor of Our Father's Lutheran Church Greenfield, WI since 1984
Keynote Speakers
2023 Workshop Presentations
(This will be updated for 2024 in in the time leading up to the conference)
I. Preaching and Teaching
Comfort One Another with These Words: Funeral Preaching—Pastor Joshua Conradt
Getting Better at Bible Study: Long-Range Planning—Pastor Matthew Moss
Getting Better at Bible Study: Jonah—Pastor J. J. Stefanic
How to Teach about Equity—Pastor Andrew Preus
“And Their Works Do Follow Them” (Rev. 14:13): Funeral Sermons—Pastor Benjamin Ball
Theology is for Preaching…and Teaching—Pastor Greg Truwe
Upcoming Sunday Text Study: Trinity 8—Pastor David Vandercook
Upcoming Sunday Text Study: Trinity 9—Pastor Christian Preus
Water and the Word from the Beginning to the End—Pastor Joshua Wiladsen
Where Is It Written?—Pastor Dan Gilbert
Writing and Copying: Essential to the Publication of the Gospel—Pastor Edward Naumann
The Year of Jubilee—Pastor Tyson Mastin
II. Liturgical Matters
CLOSED (with a D) Communion Conversations—Pastor Jack Gilbert
Beautifying the Building—Pastor James Roemke
Familiarity Breeds Contemplation:
Using a Single Rite for the Good of Your Parish—Pastor Paul Schulz
Forum on Funerals—Pastor David Petersen
Metered Psalms in Lutheran Worship:
Singing the Bible’s Prayerbook as Hymns—Pastor Aaron Uphoff with Pastor Nathan Wille
III. Care of Souls
Can You Be More Merciful than God?—Pastor David Ramirez
Exhorting the Christian Congregation to Spiritual Disciplines—Pastor J. J. Stefanic
The Faith of Unborn Infants According to Bugenhagen and Luther
and Implications for Pastoral Care—Pastor Karl Hess
From the Moment of Conception:
A Christological Foundation for Being Pro-Life—Pastor Brandon Koble
Fruits of Repentance in the Christian Life—Pastor Michael Grieve
Not In the Passion of Lust:
Pre-Marital Catechesis on the Sixth Commandment—Pastor Sean Willman
Training Martyrs for the Prize—Pastor Karl Hess
Variation on the Consolations—Pastor Erik Rottmann
IV. Congregational Life and Parish Administration
All Things Should Be Done Decently and in Good Order:
Revising Your Constitution & Bylaws—Pastor Matthew Moss
Closed Funerals: Faithfully Exercising the Office of the Keys—Pastor Andrew Harris
Good News: A Simple Way of Teaching the Faith—Pastor Paul Schulz
From School to Church—Pastor Jack Gilbert
Making Big Changes in the Congregation—Pastor Aaron Uphoff
Shepherding through a Building Project—Pastor Travis Kleinschmidt
Congregational Stewardship in a Time of High Inflation—Pastor Heath Curtis
V. Pastoral Leadership
The Greatness of Difficulty—Pastor Jason Braaten
Hunting For Fun and Pastoral Profit—Pastor Heath Curtis
Never Split the Difference—Pastor Jason Braaten
New Pastor Forum—Panel
Other Books—Pastor David Ramirez
Preparing the Next Generation of Pastors—Pastor Andrew Preus
Recovering the Joy of the Office—Pastor Sean Kilgo
When You Fast: Nuts and Bolts for the Lutheran Pastor—Pastor Ryan Loeslie
2024 Keynote Addresses
Monday, July 29: Pastor Jack Gilbert
Tuesday, July 30: Pastor Karl Fabrizius
Wednesday, July 31: Pastor Travis Kleinschmidt
SPONSORS
St. John's Lutheran Church
Racine, WI
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
Union Grove, WI
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, WI
Planning Committee
Rev. Jack Gilbert
St. John's Lutheran Church
Racine, WI
Rev. David P. Ramirez
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
Union Grove, WI
Rev. Aaron Uphoff
Calvary Lutheran Church
Watseka, IL