Introduction – Sunday

Greetings

If you received a text and or e-mail message and are now viewing this page, you are enrolled to receive Concordia Lutheran Conference (CLC) notifications regarding the Conference web site and also to receive daily devotions by Carl Manthey-Zorn.

Before we launch the daily devotions, Scriptural Publications (CLC) would like to give you some background information regarding the text messaging project and the daily devotion project.

Around mid-June of this year, Scriptural Publications became aware of a text messaging web site (https://mobile-text-alerts.com) that would give us many texting options, especially the ability to send group texts and scheduled texts easily and at a cost effective rate. Our original intent was to be able to notify the Conference brethren when the Concordia Lutheran Conference web site was updated with new content (which we intend to do throughout the year), and especially to alert you when the latest issue of The Concordia Lutheran has been uploaded to the web site.

Why texting? As many of us transition to cell phones and more likely Smartphones, the value of communicating with brief messages and having the ability to have instant access to an Internet web site for fuller information is obvious. Data shows that the younger you are, the more likely you will access and use information communicated through cell phones (Snap Chat, Facebook, etc.) and especially texts. Research shows that over 90% of all those who receive texts, read those texts in less than an hour, and will respond if needed to those texts in three hours or less. Ask the younger generation (and yes, we are especially “targeting” our younger brethren with this project) which they use more to communicate regularly, e-mail, cell phone, or texting and the answer is overwhelmingly in favor of texting.

So how does texting help our Conference? How does it help you? We know that the Conference web site has an uphill battle for your daily attention, going up against so many other flashier type web sites, having more breaking news and entertaining information etc.. How do we compete? Well, we have the Word of God, the pure Word of God on the Conference web site, which should be enough to get our attention as sanctified Christians, but wouldn’t a daily or weekly reminder text help redirect our thoughts to more spiritual matters? Would a daily devotion centered around God’s Word help you focus more on “the one thing needful” Luke 10:42? Does having you view a daily devotion on the Conference web site perhaps cause you also to explore other areas of the web site and review the wonderful, edifying, uplifting and spiritual materials there? Yes indeed!. Does a little text or a little daily reminder e-mail from the Conference help you to focus perhaps a little more on “the one thing needful”? It should; that’s the intent.

So, how are these daily devotions going to work? Well, they “work” and are only helpful to you if you actually read them, and that is, perhaps the biggest hurdle that you and this project have to deal with. Scripture reminds us of the good example of the Berean Christians, how that that they “searched the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11), and we are warned in Scripture against having our love toward our God and His Word run “Lukewarm” (Revelation 3:15-16). Motivated by the grace of God in Christ, that Christ who “loved us and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor” (Ephesians 5:2), these daily devotions give us an opportunity to grow in our love for Him who “first loved us” (I John 4:19).

Scriptural Publications will send you a text (and e-mail if you provided one) every day for the next 12 months. It will have a brief message telling you that the daily devotion is available. The link for that devotion will be embedded with the text, you click on the link in the text; and you will be taken to the actual devotion on the Conference web site.

If you don’t want to have 365 texts sent to your phone, and you promise to still read the devotions we can send you an e-mail daily (without any phone text) if you provided us (or will provide us) with an e-mail address. For the first 30 days we will send you a link with the daily text to opt-out of the daily text reminder/link if you so choose.

If you like the idea of daily text reminders AND an e-mail devotion link, we are already set up to do that, and it will automatically start this week, as long as you provided both your phone number and e-mail address when you enrolled.

All past weeks devotions will be available on the Conference web site as we progress through the year for reviewing anytime.

You may be wondering at this point why we don’t simply post the whole years devotions on the Conference web site now and you could simply read them any time, or why we don’t send them out in a weekly edition format. Short answer; it doesn’t work. A web page or content is generally not viewed, on the Internet, and even during our little beta/test period leading up to the devotion launch. Without e-mails, texts, heavy advertising, or it being “Shared” or something to make it go “viral” it sits unviewed.

So here is how the rest of the week is scheduled:

Monday 8/24: Biographical information on Carl Manthey-Zorn.

Tuesday 8/25 – Saturday 8/29: Specially selected daily devotions from C.M. Zorn.

Sunday 8/30: Devotions will begin with The Thirteenth Week After Trinity of the church year.

Then for the next 51 weeks daily devotions following the church year with the varies festival seasons.

Ultimately, if you decide you don’t want to receive texts or e-mails from the Conference you may text the word “Unsubscribe” to 781-728-9542 at any time to be removed from the list.

One final thing. SPREAD THE WORD. Have others enroll to receive these devotions, Conference brethren and members or not. Use them as a mission tool, urge them to enroll, or offer to enroll for them, with their permission. It’s easy! Here’s the link. Click Here