The Coffee Hour from KFUO Radio

How does Journey Mapping help individuals and congregations support future church workers? Annie O’Donoghue (Manager, Standing Partnership) and Nick Sargent (Vice President, Standing Partnership) join Andy and Sarah for our Set Apart to Serve series to talk about their work with Standing Partnership and their role with Set Apart to Serve, what journey mapping is and how they used this tool to understand a second-career seminarian's journey through seminary, what they learned from conversations with seminarians and their wives, and how their new understanding will create more and better resources for those considering second-career church work.Christ’s church will continue until He returns, and that church will continue to need church workers.Set Apart to Serve (SAS) is an initiative of the LCMS to recruit church workers. Together, we pray for workers for the Kingdom of God and encourage children to consider church work vocations.Here are three easy ways you can participate in SAS:1. Pray with your children for God to provide church workers.2. Talk to your children about becoming church workers.3. Thank God for the people who work in your congregation.To learn more about Set Apart to Serve, visit lcms.org/set-apart-to-serve.Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: listener@kfuo.org.

What is Concordia Counseling and how do they serve the Church? Deaconess Michelle Downey, Director of Concordia Counseling, joins Andy to talk about the work of Concordia Counseling today, how church workers are equipped to respond to needs and crises, how being Lutheran shapes how she approaches mental health and wellness, and how Concordia Counseling has helped the local congregation. Learn more about Concordia Counseling at ConcordiaCounseling.org.As you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let’s be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: listener@kfuo.org.The Coffee Hour is underwritten by Concordia University Wisconsin. Live Uncommon. Learn more at cuw.edu.

The Old Testament is about Jesus, which is reason enough for us to open our Bibles and read it regularly. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). Jesus opens our minds to understand the Hebrew Scriptures (Luke 24:45) and teaches us how to read them. “Everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled... Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:44, 46–47). This year’s “Searching Scripture” columns will lead us through ways that the Old Testament witnesses to Jesus Christ and His grace, mercy and peace, delivered through the holy Christian church. This month we focus on the foundational messianic prophecy of the blessed “offspring” (or “seed”) of the woman first given in Genesis 3 and then reiterated to the patriarchs.Rev. Carl Roth, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Elgin, TX, joins Andy and Sarah to talk about the “Searching Scripture” feature in the January 2025 issue of the Lutheran Witness titled “The Blessed Seed” on Genesis 3:9-15. This year, “Searching Scripture” is themed “Opening the Old Testament” and will walk through ways that the Old Testament witnesses to Jesus Christ and His grace, mercy and peace, delivered through the holy Christian church. Follow along every month and search Scripture with us!Find online exclusives of the Lutheran Witness at witness.lcms.org and subscribe to the Lutheran Witness at cph.org/witness.

How does the Book of Concord help us understand Original Sin? (And what on earth is concupiscence?) The Rev. Brady Finnern, President of the LCMS Minnesota North District and host of KFUO Radio's Concord Matters, joins Andy and Sarah to talk about the Formula of Concord reading plan he created for 2025, including the context of the Formula of Concord in our church history, what was happening in Germany and Rome after Luther's death in 1546, the controversies the Formula of Concord addresses, and what we will learn about Original Sin and Concupiscence in the January readings. Find the full reading plan from The Lutheran Witness at witness.lcms.org/2024/reading-plan, and find correlating Concord Matters episodes at kfuo.org/formulaofconcord.JANUARY | Original SinWEEK 1:• Ep “Summary” 1–8 (p. 473–474)• Ep I 1 (p. 474)• AC II (p. 31–32)WEEK 2:• Ep I 2–10 (p. 474–475)• Ap II (p. 76–81)WEEK 3:• SA I (p. 270–271)• SD 1 33–49 (p. 515–517)WEEK 4:• Ep I 11–25 (p. 475–477)Next month: Free WillAs you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let’s be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: listener@kfuo.org.

Rev. Sean Daenzer, Director of Worship for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and Chaplain for the International Center joins Andy for a brief history of the hymn, Let All Together Praise Our God (LSB 389).Angels We Have Heard on High used with permission from TheHymnalProject.com a resource of the Michigan District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Rev. Sean Daenzer, Director of Worship for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and Chaplain for the International Center joins Andy for a brief history of the hymn, Now Sing We, Now Rejoice (LSB 386).Angels We Have Heard on High used with permission from TheHymnalProject.com a resource of the Michigan District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Deaconess Sandra Rhein, Sacred Music Educator serving the Lord in the LCMS Asia Region, joins Andy to discuss the history of All My Heart Again Rejoices (LSB 360).Angels We Have Heard on High used with permission from TheHymnalProject.com a resource of the Michigan District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Deaconess Sandra Rhein, Sacred Music Educator serving the Lord in the LCMS Asia Region, joins Andy to discuss the history of From Heaven Above to Earth I Come (LSB 358).Angels We Have Heard on High used with permission from TheHymnalProject.com a resource of the Michigan District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Deaconess Sandra Rhein, Sacred Music Educator serving the Lord in the LCMS Asia Region, joins Andy to discuss the history of O Come, O Come Emmanuel (LSB 357). Angels We Have Heard on High used with permission from TheHymnalProject.com a resource of the Michigan District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Rev. Brian Hamer, US Navy Chaplain joins Andy and Sarah to share a brief history of the Christmas hymn, What Child Is This? (LSB 370).Angels We Have Heard on High used with permission from TheHymnalProject.com a resource of the Michigan District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.