The Lutheran Hour
Encyclopedia
The Lutheran Hour is a U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 program that proclaims the message of Jesus Christ on nearly 800 stations throughout North American, as well as by weekly audiences on the American Forces Network and XM Satellite Radio FamilyTalk 170. First broadcast on October 2, 1930, and functioning as an outreach ministry of Lutheran Hour Ministries
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Lutheran Hour Ministries is a Christian outreach ministry affiliated with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Lutheran Church - Canada and Lutheran Women in Mission...

, it is the longest-running Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 outreach radio program in the world. Beginning on April 24, 2011, Rev. Gregory Seltz became the Speaker of The Lutheran Hour. The program's sermons are available online 24 hours a day, seven days a week at www.lutheranhour.org.

The Lutheran Hour is the flagship program for Lutheran Hour Ministries
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Lutheran Hour Ministries is a Christian outreach ministry affiliated with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Lutheran Church - Canada and Lutheran Women in Mission...

 (LHM), which is a Christian outreach ministry supporting churches worldwide in its mission of Bringing Christ to the Nations—and the Nations to the Church. LHM is also a volunteer movement more than 100,000 people strong. LHM produces Christian radio and TV programming for broadcast, as well as Internet and print communications, dramas, music, and outreach materials, to reach the unchurched in more than 40 countries.

History of Lutheran Hour Ministries

In 1917, a group of 12 men attending a convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in Milwaukee met to settle a $100,000 debt incurred by the Church body. They accomplished that goal, and in the process, formed the Lutheran Laymen's League (LLL). The LLL next raised more than $2.7 million to fund a pension plan for professional church workers.

Radio Programming

In 1930, the LLL made a commitment to fund one year of broadcasting a weekly national radio program to be called The Lutheran Hour. The first program was broadcast October 2, 1930. The Lutheran Hour continues on the air today, making it the world's oldest continually broadcast Christ-centered radio program. From the program's early years to today, speakers Dr. Walter A. Maier
Walter A. Maier
Walter A. Maier was a noted radio personality, public speaker, prolific author, university professor, scholar of ancient Semitic languages and culture, Lutheran theologian and editor...

, Dr. Armin C. Oldsen, Dr. Lawrence Acker, Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, Rev. Wallace Schulz, Dr. Dale A. Meyer, and the Rev. Dr. Ken Klaus have shared God's changeless Word and offered comfort and hope to millions.

The success of The Lutheran Hour led the organization to kick off another radio program in 1991. Woman to Woman, hosted by Phyllis Wallace, took an in-depth look at issues facing women and handled these topics in a caring Christian manner. Guests included Kurt Warner, Wynona Judd, and Barbara Mandrell. At its peak, the program was heard on more than 400 stations throughout North America, and through RealAudio on the Internet.

LHM launced Life...revised in February 2006 to take the place of Woman to Woman. The program engages unchurched listeners with topics of interest to them while presenting them with a Christian worldview. Co-hosts "Dr. Mark" Hannemann and Michelle Bauer provide wise and lively discussions about family, health, financial, and other issues with Christian integrity, street smarts, and compassion. Dr. Mark is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor, a professional mental health practitioner, and director of a Christian counseling center. Michelle, a talented media professional and mother of three, provides a fresh female perspective to the discussions. The show offers something for everyone. Life...revised reminds Christians and non-Christians that life really is a series of revisions, and there is hope for the future no matter what has happened in their past.

International Ministries

In 1940. the international thrust of the LLL ministry began with The Lutheran Hour being broadcast by Dr. Andrew Melendez in Spanish. That same year the LLL opened its first international ministry center in the Philippines. Five years later, it opened a ministry center in Australia. With the scope of the organization becoming more worldwide in nature, the word "international" was officially added to the LLL's name in 1927. Today, the organization airs programming in more than 50 languages to people in more than 40 countries, staffed almost entirely by nationals of the countries where it operates. These devout Christians use radio and TV programming, the Internet, dramas, music, Bible Correspondence Courses, printed materials, and other media to share Christ in and around their countries, often at great personal risk.

Television Programming

In 1952, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod ventured into television with a dramatic series entitled This Is the Life. The program examined contemporary moral problems and gave Christian solutions. In the early years, This Is the Life was a drama series featuring the Fisher family. In later years, it was an anthology series with a different set of characters each week. Several famous actors made guest appearances on This Is the Life during this period, including Jack Nicholson, Buddy Ebsen, and Leonard Nimoy. The program aired from 1952 until 1988, first in syndication and then on NBC. This Is the Life reruns continue today on a limited basis in the U.S. and other countries, where the voices are often dubbed into native languages.

On Main Street was also a popular TV program. Hosted by Dr. Dale A. Meyer, the former Speaker of The Lutheran Hour, the program shared practical spiritual teaching on today's issues from a Christ-centered, biblical perspective. Guests included Jimmy Carter, Kathy Ireland, and Mary Lou Retton. Broadcast on more than 100 over-the-air stations and nearly 125 cable stations, On Main Street at one time had a potential reach of more than 50 million viewing households per week. The program is no longer in production.

Today's television programming includes Christmas and Easter specials dubbed into several languages and broadcast on stations around the world through LHM's international ministry centers. The holiday specials include Little Shepherd, Red Boots for Christmas, Christmas Is, The City That Forgot Christmas, The Stableboy's Christmas, The Puzzle Club Easter Adventure, Easter Is, and Three Days.

A New Identity

In 1992, due to the popularity of The Lutheran Hour radio program, the International LLL chose Lutheran Hour Ministries as the overall identity for its media outreach programs. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Lutheran Hour Ministries continues to explore new media and to expand its use of others.

Today, through Christian radio and TV programming, Internet and print communications, dramas, music, and congregational outreach training, LHM works with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Lutheran Church—Canada, and congregations worldwide in Bringing Christ to the Nations—and the Nations to the Church. Last year, LHM reached nearly 1 million people worldwide, and nearly 80,000 referrals were made to local pastors as a result of Lutheran Hour Ministries' media programs and initiatives.

Current and past speakers

  • Dr. Walter A. Maier
    Walter A. Maier
    Walter A. Maier was a noted radio personality, public speaker, prolific author, university professor, scholar of ancient Semitic languages and culture, Lutheran theologian and editor...

     (1930–1950)
  • Dr. Andrew Melendez (1941–1972) (Spanish Lutheran Hour)
  • Dr. Lawrence Acker (1950–1951)
  • Dr. Armin C. Oldsen (1951–1953)
  • Dr. Oswald Hoffmann
    Oswald Hoffmann
    Dr. Oswald C. J. Hoffmann was an American clergyman and broadcaster who was best known as a speaker for The Lutheran Hour, a long-running radio program affiliated with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod....

     (1955–1988)
  • Dr. Wallace Schulz (1977–2002) (Associate LH Speaker)
  • Dr. Dale A. Meyer (1989–2001) (Now President of Concordia Seminary
    Concordia Seminary
    Concordia Seminary is located in Clayton, Missouri, an inner-ring suburb on the western border of St. Louis, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod . The current president of...

    )
  • Rev. Ken Klaus (2002–2011)
  • Rev. Greg Seltz (2011-)

2002 Removal of speaker Wallace Schulz

In July 2002, just weeks after his promotion from associate speaker to main speaker, Dr. Wallace Schulz was involved in an LCMS controversy that resulted in his removal from the show. Acting in his capacity as LCMS Second Vice President, Schulz suspended LCMS Atlantic District president David Benke
David Benke
David Benke is a Lutheran pastor and the current president of the Atlantic District of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.-Education and career:Benke was born on May 5, 1946 in Milwaukee, WI as the first child of Raymond and Dorothea Benke...

, ruling that Benke, by taking part in an inter-faith
Interfaith
The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels...

 prayer event at Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...

 to commemorate the victims of the September 11
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

, 2001, terrorist attacks, had engaged in syncretism
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...

 and unionism
Religious pluralism
Religious pluralism is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of various religions, and is used in a number of related ways:* As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values...

, practices prohibited by the LCMS. (Benke's suspension was later overturned on appeal.) The show's board of governors, shortly following Schulz's elevation to main speaker, had requested that he recuse himself from the Benke adjudication to avoid "a conflict of interest" in his duties to the International Lutheran Laymen's League, which operates Lutheran Hour Ministries and had not taken an official position on the Benke case in order to avoid alienating members holding differing views on the issue. When Schulz nevertheless accepted the Benke case, the board relieved him of his duties while keeping him on the payroll, explaining that the radio program had been "compromised" by Schulz's participation in church politics, and that it might serve to "polarize" the International Lutheran Laymen's League. The League soon offered Schulz a return to the show under condition that he accept certain stipulations for future conduct, but Schulz refused to accept these restrictions and thus did not return to the show.

Schulz's removal, like the Benke case itself, proved extremely controversial within the LCMS. His supporters argued that Schulz had a constitutional duty to rule in the case, and thus could not recuse himself upon the board of governors’ request. The Rev. Eric Stefanski, in a column published by the conservative LCMS group Concord, accused the International Lutheran Laymen's League of waging "a massive, twisted PR battle" against Schulz, and of presenting him with "ultimatums that no pastor could agree to without denying his Ordination vows." Supporters of Schulz also argued that a drop in financial receipts at the ILLL, which led to layoffs and program cancellations in 2003, were attributable primarily to donor and listener dissatisfaction over the speaker's removal. Opponents of Schulz's actions, on the other hand, praised the decision to suspend the speaker, with many arguing, as a column published by the liberal LCMS organization Jesus First put it, that those who disagreed with Schulz's actions were "working hard to present views more representative of this church."

Schulz now serves as an evangelist and editor for the Lutheran Heritage Foundation, an LCMS organization dedicated to translating theological works into the languages of the world.

External links

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