Think About These Things - 1972 Camp Ambassadors

Series: Music Recordings

Album (originally advertised as a cassette tape) not available at this time. If you possess a copy of this album and are willing to lend it for posting on this website, please contact Gary Alfson (LEM National Youth Director 1967-71, galfson@comcast.net) or Jonathan Anderson (LEM Historian, jonathan@lemdeeperlife.org).

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Selected Bibliography And Endnotes

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

    Selected Bibliography     America’s Hour of Decision.  Wheaton, IL: Van Kampen Press, 1951.   An Ongoing Revival.  Warren, MN: Warren Sheaf Print, 1990, Harvey Dyrud, editor.   Appasamy, A.J.  Write the Vision! Edwin Orr’s Thirty Years of Adventurous Service.  London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1964.   Baldwin, Ethel May, and David V. Benson.  Henrietta Mears and How She Did It!  Glendale, CA: Regal Books Division, G/L Publications, 1966.   Bickel, Ottomar E.  Fishing for Souls.  St. Paul, MN: ...

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Appendix 3 - Do The Work Of An Evangelist

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            Civilization has always been on the advance, but perhaps during no period has it ever progressed as rapidly as it did between 1900 and 1950.  The advances made then in science and technology were enough to astound any American whose adult life spanned that half-century; for it was during those years that electricity, telephones, automobiles, airplanes, radios, TVs, and movies came into use.  Culture too has always been changing, but perhaps it has never done so more explosively than just one decade later during the 1960’s.  The turbulence ...

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Chapter 16 - The Wind Blows Where It Wishes

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            That God did indeed send revival to the U.S. during the ten or so years post World War II is quite clear.  Dr. J. Edwin Orr, being one of the chief revival historians of all time and having lived during that era himself, referred to it in retrospect as “The Awakening of 1948 Onward,” citing not only the national evidences of revival mentioned earlier in this book but also subsequent movements around the world in such places as Scotland, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, South Africa, East and West Africa, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern India, ...

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Chapter 15 - Be Filled With The Spirit

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            As has been recounted in the previous chapters, the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement was one of God’s mighty tools for revival during the post World War II years and a witness to many of His wonderful works.  Yet the LEM was not, of course, without its problems and disappointments.  Strange to say, many of those things seemed to surface especially during the years of revival in the early 1950’s.  In fact, the LEM suffered a sharp decline near the middle of that decade about the same time that revival on the national scene was beginning ...

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Seven Things I Tell Myself Every Morning

Some time ago when I was in college I finally got tired of learning the same spiritual truths over and over again only to forget those lessons and have to relearn them (usually the hard way). Then one day in my college apartment it occurred to me that we had this amazing new technology called writing and that I could actually write down and recall to mind on a daily basis some of these key truths.  Over the next several years I added to my personal “top truths” list until I landed on seven that would be foundational for me over the next 20 years. (Actually ...

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Understanding the Times and What to Do

Greetings to you, friends and supporters of L.E.M. I want to thank you for the invitation to write to you—namely to thank you for your support of the ministry of evangelism within the Lutheran family of churches. Since the beginning L.E.M. has attempted to introduce people both within and outside of the church to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that results in the assurance of one’s salvation. Those of you my age (76 years old) realize how our Lutheran church has changed. In fact, the whole world has drastically changed. I grew up in a church in Jackson, Minnesota where the gospel was preached clearly. People were ...

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Making Disciples Through Media

LEM is committed to making disciples in the 21st century, and assisting churches to do so also. Today, we approach this task through four primary tools: Church planting, Preaching, Retreats and Creative Media. It is this last tool that I want to talk about this month. In our Western culture we are very fond of what might be called “propositional truth.” We like facts and logic. The following statement is an example of it: “Jesus Christ came to earth to save us from our sins.” This is true. It is clear. But it is also a way of expressing truth that is relatively emotionless. It appeals primarily to the head, ...

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Chapter 1 - What God Has Done

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

You probably wouldn’t be too surprised if I were to tell you that there was a time in the history of our country when nearly half of the population attended church on any given Sunday, the Bible was the best-selling book for years in a row, and Congress voted to make “In God We Trust” the national motto.  But you might be surprised to know that such a revival of Christianity occurred within the modern era of electricity and telephones, automobiles and airplanes, radios and movies, within the lifetimes of many people who are still alive today early in the 21st Century.  And you might become even more intrigued ...

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Chapter 2 - God Has Chosen The Weak

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            On the north shore of Medicine Lake in Plymouth, Minnesota, stands a site that is an undeniable testimony to God’s mighty working in the post World War II years.  It’s a site past which hundreds of people walk, jog, and bike on any pleasant day.  It’s a site which numerous Christian people pass daily, unaware, as one historian put it, “that the ground on which they tread has … been hallowed by the footsteps of the Almighty.”1  If the inanimate could talk, then surely the walls of the old stone buildings on this ...

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Chapter 3 - Then Sinners Shall Be Converted To You

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

          If you had been a Lutheran pastor, evangelist, or lay leader in the upper Midwest in 1936, you might well have received several weeks before Christmas the following letter which read in part:1 Dear Co-workers for Christ:             You are cordially invited to attend a general conference on Lutheran Evangelism to be held January 5, 6, 7, 1937 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 40th Ave. So. and 52nd St., Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rev. Evald J. Conrad, ...

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Chapter 4 - While They Communed Together

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            On a certain Sunday afternoon many years ago, two friends were walking together and talking intently as they went.  As would be fitting for any Christians to do on the Lord’s Day, they were discussing Jesus’ suffering and death and its meaning.  And “while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them . . . [and] expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:15,27b KJV)  That was what happened to Cleopas and his friend on the Emmaus road nearly 2,000 ...

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Chapter 5 - Born, Not Of The Will Of Man, But Of God

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

              Throughout the centuries, it has often been a popular activity to compile genealogies or family trees.  Although these are sometimes begun for no other reason than curiosity or hobby, they may aid those of a younger generation in understanding themselves through learning about their ancestral origins and formative influences.  The recording of genealogies dates back to the beginning of time when God in the book of Genesis preserved the ancestries of the first humans who inhabited the earth.  In fact, each of our own family trees if ...

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Living Beyond Membership

God created human nature with a desire to belong—to be a part of something larger than ourselves. This desire is good because it connects us to a greater purpose and vision for our lives and helps us to understand that we belong to Him. He uses this desire to draw us into His presence.  We live in a culture where joining groups either on paper, in cyberspace or as a volunteer, is familiar. We unite around causes that mean something to us, like ending hunger or helping children who are victims of war. We join clubs centered on our interests, we connect with others who are like minded. We also join for financial benefits such as ...

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Chapter 6 - Yes, The Deep Things Of God

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            If its name was to be merely reflective of its largest and most widely-known work, the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement might just as aptly have been named the Lutheran Deeper Life Movement.  It’s true that the original priority of the Lutheran Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Committee was the cause of evangelism, but as God expanded their work He very soon made clear that their calling within the church was to more than one main purpose.  Within the first two years of the Committee’s existence, “as the friends of evangelism began to rally ...

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Chapter 7 - The Power Of God To Salvation

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            What did the members of the Lutheran Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Committee believe was so indispensably distinctive about the work to which God had called them?  By their own admission, “Various efforts to promote sound Lutheran evangelism [have already] been made at various times.”1  What was it then that gave the Committee the driving enthusiasm to carry out their calling as if they were the only ones meeting such a critical need?  There were two things mainly.  First of all, to the best of their knowledge, “no united ...

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Chapter 8 - Though The Vision Tarry, Wait For It

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            “It is our earnest prayer that our beloved church may in these days experience a heaven sent revival and showers of blessings.  It is ‘Revival or Ruin.’”1  So said Evald J. Conrad on behalf of the whole Lutheran Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Committee in early 1940.  Their prayer echoed that same heart cry which had been brought out so prominently at the very first Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Conference in January 1937: the prayer that God might once again move powerfully within His church, arousing the unsaved out of their ...

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Chapter 9 - Out Of Them All The Lord Delivered

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            There is perhaps a danger inherent in this history of the Lutheran Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Committee and Lutheran Evangelistic Movement.  The focus is so much on the positive that the reader is liable to mistakenly get the impression either that there were no difficulties in the movement or that the story has been manipulated to appear unrealistically rosy.  The reason that this account appears so unswervingly optimistic is that its main emphasis is to retell some of the wonderful works of a perfect and good God.  But of course there were ...

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Chapter 10 - God Gave The Increase

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            As World War II entered what proved to be its final months, the invisible hand of One who knew the future propelled the Lutheran Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Committee mightily forward into a vast expansion of their program.  It was a time of urgent preparation and reorganization for what the Committee believed would soon be their greatest years of usefulness.  On the surface, their decisions and organizational efforts might have appeared to be only the actions of men.  But though some planted and others watered, the years of revival ...

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Chapter 11 - A Cloud As Small As A Mana's Hand

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            The spiritual revival for which the leaders of the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement were seeking the Lord during the 1940’s was not a need limited to their sphere of influence.  It was a desperate national need.  The World War II years were not a time of triumph for Christianity in the United States.  In fact, even during the decades leading up to the war, there had been an increasing breakdown in morality.  By mid-century, an expert at Yale estimated that six million citizens were alcoholics.1  Another report claimed that 70 percent of high ...

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Chapter 12 - When You Search For Me With All Your Heart

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            According to written accounts of many who have lived during times of revival, one of the chief characteristics of such times has been the tremendous spirit of prayer preceding and accompanying them.  Thus, older Christians who have observed revival firsthand have often exhorted future generations that to see a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their own day they must pray to God fervently and unceasingly for it.  Perhaps no example of this is more noteworthy than Jonathan Edwards’ book inspired by the First Great Awakening - An Humble ...

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Chapter 13 - All The City Was Moved

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            During the first eight months of 1949, the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement had witnessed in and around their areas of ministry mightier and more regular stirrings of God’s Spirit than had occurred for decades in the United States.  Their leaders were active participants in a city-wide ministerial group under whose sponsorship a revival movement with national implications had begun in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.  And the outbreaks of revival which the LEM was seeing and hearing about showed no signs of decreasing.  Early in December ...

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Chapter 14 - The Word Of God Grew And Multiplied

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            As witnessed by the national press, Billy Graham, the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement, and countless other Christian groups and individuals, the mid-century year 1950 was a remarkable year of heaven-sent revival across the United States.  Even more importantly, it proved to be a door opened wide by God into a new and flourishing era of evangelism during which scores of large crusades were conducted by Billy Graham and numerous others in America’s most populated cities.  “A few years ago we heard it said again and again that mass evangelism ...

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Appendix 1 - To Other Cities Also

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            When Jesus Christ lived on earth some 2,000 years ago, He did not limit His ministry to one location.  Rather He said, “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.” (Luke 4:43 KJV)  Similarly, God’s work on earth through the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent after He ascended to heaven has never been confined to one locale but has permeated nearly every region of the world.  God always finds ways of spreading His work to wherever people will receive it.  This was certainly evidenced in the ...

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Appendix 2 - These All Died In Faith

Series: Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

            It’s not unusual for people to have some type of belief system that motivates them throughout their lives, but it is quite unusual for people to have a belief system that gives them joy and eager anticipation as they face their last days on earth.  Death is perhaps the biggest test of all on one’s faith.  Many people with a so-called faith have died at least stoically, resolutely, or even calmly.  But only the one true object of faith, God the Savior, has ever been able to give such deep assurance of His mercy, compassion, and goodness ...

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Are You desiring Too Little?

Matt 19:29: And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. The call to live the Christian life is a call to follow Christ. It’s a call to take up ones cross as he did and to surrender to the will of the Father. It’s a call to a life of total obedience. And yet connected to this call to live the Christian life is something that we sometimes miss - an appeal to desire. It’s not an appeal to earthly desire, but rather to a desire for something greater than anything ...

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Two Moves of God

Some of you may have noticed the name of Pastor Elmer Anhalt in a recent Lifelines Memorials column.  Pastor Anhalt was an active supporter of the LEM who served on its board and often preached on its behalf.  Before he died at 90 years old, he wrote down his life testimony entitled, “The Guidance Of Jesus In Our Lives.”  To bring praise to his Savior, we’d like to share part of his story with you. In 1965, while serving a Buxton, ND parish, Pastor Anhalt received a letter of call from another ND congregation.  He prayed sincerely for the Lord’s leading.  In the middle of a certain ...

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The Friendship and the Fear

Recording artist Matt Redman's 1997 album was entitled The Friendship and the Fear. The phrase is a profound one and contains within it one of the keys to living the Christian life. The concept of friendship with God is central to us as believers. In 1 John 3:1 we read, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!." Jesus said to his disciples, "I have called you friends, for everything I learned from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). And Paul prays, "...that love may be the ground into which you sink your roots and on which you have ...

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Living For the One

With the New Year holiday just behind us, we are still in a season where it is common for people to spend a little time reflecting on the year that was, with all its joys and sorrows, as well as looking to the year that lies ahead. It is a time where many establish goals, review their priorities and maybe even make a few New Years resolutions. Like many of you I have a variety of responsibilities and pressures that I face on a weekly, even daily, basis and I often long for a simpler, less complicated existence. I’d like to know that in the many tasks and events that come my way I’m accomplishing those things that are ...

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After the But

Leah is one of the most unappreciated heroines in the Bible. Her husband Jacob never intended to marry her—he was tricked into it by her scheming father. Jacob wanted Leah's sister, Rachel, and he married her just one week later. Leah is a great example of coming to terms with God in the midst of our struggles. For years she tried to get Jacob to love her. That was the focus of her life, and she named her first three children accordingly (see Genesis 29:31-35).  But then something changed. After eight long years in a loveless marriage, her fourth son, Judah, was born and she said, “This time I will praise the ...

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The LEM - Past, Present and Future

Back in 1936 something remarkable happened. God began to stir in the hearts of a small group of Lutheran pastors about the need for renewed focus and energy around evangelism within the Lutheran family of churches. Thus was born the LEM (Lutheran Evangelistic Movement). It quickly grew into a movement with scores of Area Conferences each year, thousands attending Deeper Life Camps, hundreds of Evangelistic Meetings each year, and wonderful leaders—Pastors Conrad, Gisselquist and Klawitter, to name a few. There was a clear sense in those early days that God had planted something that could not be uprooted. Pastor Conrad, ...

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What Time Is It?

Series: LEM Early Leaders

Audio of four-part sermon series preached at a 1980 LEM conference. Sermon titles are, "It's Time to Get Ready for the Marriage Feast," "It's Time to Look Up," "It's Time to Check on Ourselves," and "It's Time for a Touch from God."

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Evangelistic Sermon Series

Series: Cleveland LEM

Audio of seven sermons preached on evenings in August 1973 during a Deeper Life Camp at Camp Burton. Sermons are, "The Good Samaritan" (August 11), "Basic Christianity" (August 12), "Judgment" (August 13), "The Reality of Hell" (August 14), "You Must Be Born Again" (August 15), "How God Deals with People" (August 16), and "Beauty for Ashes" (August 17).

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Men with a Message

Series: Cleveland LEM

Audio of three Bible studies given in August 1968 during a Deeper Life Camp at Laurelville Camp and Church Center. Bible study subjects are Elijah (August 7), Micaiah (August 8), and Amos (August 9).

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The Churches in Revelation

Series: Cleveland LEM

Audio of three sermons preached in August 1967 during a Deeper Life Camp at Laurelville Camp and Church Center. Sermons are, "The Church at Ephesus" (August 6), "The Church at Smyrna" (August 7), and "The Church at Philadelphia" (August 10). The Philadelphia sermon is preceded by a presentation from Everald Strom on parents and teens.

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Hell

Series: Cleveland LEM

Audio of sermon preached on June 24, 1965, during a Deeper Life Camp at Laurelville Camp and Church Center.

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Christ, Our Life

Series: Cleveland LEM

Audio of sermon preached on June 19, 1965, during a Deeper Life Camp at Laurelville Camp and Church Center. (Recording stops before end of sermon.)

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