TOPICS:

1. Mafia Envy
2. Conspiracy and Power
3. Church workers and family dynamics
4. Prayer

CRAFT of PREACHING WORKSHOP

August 4-6, 2025 at St. James, Chicago

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts, and Eddie Switek

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

Guest Rev. Matt Hoffmann

TOPICS:

1. Reflections on Independence Day
2. Conspiracy Theories
3. Preaching with Metaphor and Illusions
4. Gospel vs. Politics

CRAFT of PREACHING WORKSHOP

August 4-6, 2025 at St. James, Chicago

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts, and Eddie Switek

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

Other:

The Lonely Street

Welcome special Guest Dieter Reinstorf, Former bishop (2010-2023) of the Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa (FELSISA).  His academic expertise is New Testament and Hermeneutics, and he has served as a research associate of the Department of New Testament Studies in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria.   

TOPICS:

1. Post-apartheid Preaching in South Africa
2. Listening to the voice of the oppressed 
3. Interpretation should challenge the Interpreter
4. Recovering interest in the Christian Faith

CRAFT of PREACHING WORKSHOP

August 4-6, 2025 at St. James, Chicago

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts, and Eddie Switek

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

TOPICS:

1. Dress like a Man
2. Gen Z worship trends
3. Men and women in church
4. Why the tree of good and evil?

CRAFT of PREACHING WORKSHOP

August 4-6, 2025 at St. James, Chicago

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts, and Eddie Switek

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

TOPICS:

1. Manly Poetry
2. Why not follow the OT law?
3. What its like to work for Joel…
4. Living Together before Marriage 

CRAFT of PREACHING WORKSHOP

August 4-6, 2025 at St. James, Chicago

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts, and Eddie Switek

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

Other Stuff:

Word Made Fresh: An Invitation to Poetry for the Church, Abram Van Engen 

The Four Quartets, TS Eliot

TOPICS:

1. Hope for Humanity at the Ball game
2. New Pope talk
3. Christ’s Ascension & Implications

Guest: Rev. James Hopkins

CRAFT of PREACHING WORKSHOP

August 4-6, 2025 at St. James, Chicago

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts, and Eddie Switek

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

TOPICS:

1. The Call Day Experience
2. Choosing a Church
3. New Pastor Advice
4. Essential Friendships in the Ministry 

JOIN US!

readingtwotexts.com

CONFERENCE JUNE 10-11, 2025

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts, and Eddie Switek

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

TOPICS:

1. Absurd Easter Memories
2. Passing of Pope Francis
3. Resurrection and Remembrance
4. Confession Absolution
5. The “Closed” Canon of Scripture

JOIN US!

readingtwotexts.com

CONFERENCE JUNE 10-11, 2025

(Registration open until May 10)

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts, and Eddie Switek

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

TOPICS:

1. The Impossible Prize: A Theology of Addiction NEW BOOK
2. Words of Identity
3. Community in Recovery
4. Empathy vs. Sympathy
5. Symbols in Worship

GUEST: Rev. Donavan Riley

NEW BOOK: The Impossible Prize: A Theology of Addiction

JOIN US!

readingtwotexts.com

CONFERENCE JUNE 10-11, 2025

(Registration open until May 10)

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts, and Eddie Switek

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

TOPICS:

1. Swearing Pastors
2. Why does Mark’s Gospel end like it does?
3. Fear and Trembling
4. “They know not what they do”

JOIN US!

readingtwotexts.com

CONFERENCE JUNE 10-11, 2025

(Registration open until May 10)

Thank you: 

1517.org 

thejaggedword.com

Grace Lutheran Ventura

St. James Lutheran, Chicago

Monthly Sponsors: Frankie Meadows, Blayne Watts

YOU CAN BE A RINGSIDE SPONSOR: 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZBU7UQQAWEVN

Music:

Joel Allen Hess - More on bandcamp

Dead Horse One - “I love my man”

Other:

Technopoly, Neil Postman 

Dune 2