Senior Theses: Recent submissions
Now showing items 201-220 of 356
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Lutheran Worship and Teens: How Proper Worship Education will Help to Keep our Young People in Church
(2017)The goal of this paper is to answer the following questions: Will better education about Lutheran worship help keep teens in church in the long run? Will educating our youth at a young age about Lutheran worship help edify ... -
Post Incarceration Outreach through Community Based Residential Facilities Makes a Church Grow
(2017)In 2011 the Bureau of Justice reported that the prison population in the United States has steadily grown and shows no signs of reversing. An average of six hundred and eighty thousand1 prisoners are released each year ... -
Cultivating a Healthy Brain for Ministry: Using the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment Program
(2017)The Bible has a lot to say about the qualifications a pastor will need to carry out his office. A sharp mind is not one of those qualifications God has given. However, maintaining a sharp mind will obviously aid a pastor's ... -
Knowing How to Help: Forming an Outreach Relationship
(2017)Every pastor, staff minister, or church secretary knows the discomfort of answering the phone at church and being asked for money. When the phone rings and someone is asking for financial assistance, how should the church ... -
Do Not Neglect the Gift You Have: The Blessings and Challenges of Equipping Ministry
(2017)“Why don’t more people volunteer?” “Why is getting congregational involvement in ministry like pulling teeth at times?” “Why does my church have 20% of the people doing 80% of the work?” These questions and others like ... -
A Lutheran Translation: The Time is Now
(2017)In recent years, a lot has happened in the Bible translation world. The New International Version pulled their beloved 1984 edition off the shelves, in order to promote their updated 2011 edition. This could have been a ... -
Intergenerational Education in the Church: Parental Benefits of Learning alongside Children
(2017)The majority of Christian churches structure their Christian education opportunities by dividing groups according to age—Sunday School consists of different classrooms according to grade while a different Bible class is ... -
Our Marriage Practice in the Light of the Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms and an Anti-Christian Culture
(2017)This paper wrestles with the question, “Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that Homosexual marriage is a constitutional right, what should we do?” Marriage is an area where the work of the church and the state overlap. ... -
What Does This Mean—The Connection Between Debriefing and Spiritual Growth
(2017)In this thesis, the author will make the case that debriefing is a powerful tool for spiritual growth. Debriefing is a process that allows concrete experiences to be turned into abstract information that can be used in ... -
The Sacrifices of God: the Broken Heart in the Psalms
(2017)The term “broken heart” appears seven times in the Old Testament. It is notable that four of the seven occurrences are in the Psalms. The phrase is included in three Davidic psalms (34, 51, 69) and one untitled psalm (147). ... -
Spiritual Energy Management: Avoiding Pastoral Burnout by Developing a Healthy Devotional Life
(2017)Experiencing occupational burnout is not uncommon in a society that lives to work, and the pastor is no exception to this. Given the “serve not be served” nature of the ministry, coupled with its specific and wide-ranging ... -
When to Tell Them about Jesus: Exploring How Scripture, Communication Theories, and Modern Day Methods Inform the Christian Evangelist
(2017)Christians know what they are supposed to do: Witness to unbelievers. Christians know whom they are supposed to speak about: Jesus. The Great Commission makes their mission and message clear. What is not so clear to ... -
The Counseling Process: The Relationship between Pastor and Adolescent Males with No Father Figure
(2016)The objective of this paper is to inform the reader about challenges that may face the pastor in his counseling relationships with young male adolescents, specifically those who have no father figure. The goal of this paper ... -
Are Transgender People Sinning?
(2016)While transgenderism in America may be confusing to Christians, they need not be afraid of this important emerging social issue. Instead they need to do their best to understand it. The first half of this paper will walk ... -
Hearing the Helpers: An Examination of How WELS Women Understand the Teaching of the Roles of Men and Women in an Age of Feminism
(2016)The feminist movement’s influence reaches across today’s culture and into the church. There is a stark contrast between modern society and the Bible’s teaching of the roles of men and women. This can be tremendously difficult ... -
Near-Death Experiences
(2016)Since the 1970s, near death literature has proliferated on library shelves and even the shelves of Lutherans. In recent years some of these books, such as 90 Minutes in Heaven and Heaven is for Real, have enjoyed widespread ... -
Meeting a Growing Need: The Pastoral Candidate's Preparation for Spiritual Care to Alzheimer's Patients
(2016)1 in 10 people in the United States over the age of sixty-five currently suffers with Alzheimer’s disease. Over 5 million people have been diagnosed, but thousands more may have the symptoms and not know it. The demographics ... -
Fatherly Concern: A Study of the Ante-Nicene Church Fathers with Emphasis on Christology, the Trinity, and the Authority of Scripture
(2016)There is a common thread found in writings of the earliest Christian theologians. In the years leading up the Council of Nicaea in 325 a substantial amount of Christian literature was produced. This paper will look at ... -
"My Son Is a Homosexual." A Pastoral Approach to Guiding Believers Dealing with Homosexual Family Members in a World of Contrasting Views
(2016)A homosexual’s “coming out” event is viewed by the secular world as one of the most significant moments in their life. Among believers there should be common ground, yet opinions are mixed. Some Christians have given in ... -
Understanding the Word to Preach to People's Intellect, Will, and Emotions
(2016)God has given us a precious gift. He has given us his Word. The Holy Spirit works through this Word to gives the Word its power to change a sinner’s heart. At the same time, this Word also comes to us in the form of any ...