Jon Alan Schmidt 🦬

Blessed to announce paperback publication (hardcover forthcoming) of my 6-month daily devotional pairing items in #MartinLuther's Small Catechism with readings from his Large Catechism, each accompanied by questions for meditation & a brief prayer. amazon.com/Lutheran-Catec…

How do you design structures that enhance—not compete with—the natural environment? Bentonville’s 8th Street Gateway Park blends engineering and landscape to create an elevated trail system that connects people, place, and community. 📖Read the article: structuremag.org/article/bridgi…

Stevenson Hall’s seismic retrofit transformed a 1960s campus building into a flexible, light-filled learning space. 📖Continue reading: structuremag.org/article/steven…

April STRUCTURE Magazine is live. From mass timber + steel at Princeton to Bentonville’s elevated trail system and smarter concrete balcony design—see what’s shaping the field. 📖 Read more: structuremag.org/issues/2026-di…

A new cancer center in Miami Beach blends hurricane-ready engineering with coastal-inspired architecture. 📖Continue reading: structuremag.org/article/a-beac…

Two San Francisco case studies show how structural engineering can shape architecture on constrained urban sites. 📖Continue reading: structuremag.org/article/for-co…

@Luthertarian @DarthHarryson #Luther: "After you have thus taught them this short catechism, then take up the Large Catechism, & give them also a richer & fuller knowledge." This might help: amazon.com/Lutheran-Catec…

Remember: Luther's Small Catechism isn't supposed to be collecting dust after your confirmation. It was designed for the head of the house to be a guide in how to teach what we confess as Christians in a simple manner. Can can you do that if you don't even remember it? Can you fulfill our vocation as a husband, wife, or parent if you cannot even remember how to practice what you claim to believe? Pick it up daily! Read it, piece by piece, out loud at the table with your family. Or by yourself, if you are single. It is your vocation to hold it dear. To be studying it, confessing it, pondering it, practicing it, and teaching it. I guarantee your church has a bunch in storage if you've lost yours. It's never too late to get back to the basics!

When Jesus says "My God, why have you forsaken me?" from the cross, he wants you to read the rest of Psalm 22...

A new Courtyard Building at Congregation Emanu-El preserves historic character while improving seismic safety. 📖Continue reading: structuremag.org/article/bridgi…

Launchpad: a concept anthem for NASA's imminent mission to the moon via the Artemis II rocket! youtube.com/watch?v=SEOmCy… #orchestra #cinematic #NASA #space #moon #ArtemisII

128 years and counting of client and community impact founded on a legacy of curiosity, innovation and collaboration. hubs.li/Q048vYks0 #EmployeeOwned #EmployeeOwnership

@lutheranpeasant @AiPinfu2003 Since it has been a few years, here is a thread outlining my alternative story for Episode IX in which Rey is a conservative reformer, returning to the ancient texts: x.com/JonAlanSchmidt…

You watch 4-5-6. Four starts in the middle of the story, and it gradually unpacks throughout the trilogy. Great story telling. Then you watch 1-2-3, which aren't as bad as people say. Still very entertaining. Then you watch 7-8-9 and write a thesis on how to kill the most profitable IP ever created.

アメリカ人、スターウォーズを観る順番を教えてくれ。 4→5→6→1→2→3がベスト？ 1→2→3→4→5→6でもいいかな？ あと7,8,9は堆肥ゴミなのか埋め立てゴミなのか分別はどうなってる？

@KinneDad7 @PastorDeberny I am likewise a confessional Lutheran engineer & usually put it this way: if someone is saved, then 100% of the credit belongs to God; if someone is damned, then 100% of the blame belongs to that person.

@PastorDeberny As a Confessional Lutheran Engineer I explain it this way 1) Calvinists = (+) Predestination & (-) Predestination 2) Arminian = (+) Free Will & (-) Free Will 3) Confessional Lutheranism = (+) Predestination & (-) Free Will ie he chooses us but we still can reject him

Lutherans are neither Calvinist nor Arminian. Both systems of thought attempt to add logical explanation to the mystery of salvation. Lutherans are willing to trust the message of Scripture, even if we can't explain everything rationally.

@brownmp Seems about right.

I guess this is a good thing. But two thoughts: 1) If the difference between LCMS and Arminians is only 8 percentage points, the specificity of the quiz isn't that great. (My guess is that most divergence is on the "certainty" and "core to tertiary" responses, not the actual doctrines. The LCMS as an institution is more sure of a lot of things that I imagine most people would answer.) 2) The idea behind the quiz is very American, but is 100% contrary to what most people in most times and places would think. The direction is not you state what you believe and then find a place that agrees with you. The church is a forming institution. You may have disagreements with it. They may last lifelong. But the assumption is that the church is right, and your disagreements are worked out in the living of the Christian life. 2a) This is one of the reasons I tend to spiritually recommend staying in the tradition that you were raised in, or in which you came to faith. Conversion to another should only come after serious reflection. And afterward a healthy respect for the church as a teaching institution.

@LaLaLisaCooper @TimothySchmidt_ In that case, he might be very interested. I suggest contacting him directly. timothy-schmidt.com

@JonAlanSchmidt @TimothySchmidt_ This would be for next year! I’m just thinking about it now

Anyone want to write some music for a hymn I wrote for Holy Week? 👀 I assume I have some musically-inclined mutuals on here

Church decline is not mainly about attendance, strategy, or culture. It is about this: Christian language is no longer consistently heard as referring to what is real. That is a crisis of intelligibility. New CCR papers here: ilt.academia.edu/DennisBielfeld… #theology #church #Lutheran #philosophy

Discover how a 100-year-old landmark synagogue was seismically upgraded and modernized to serve future generations of students, educators, clergy, and congregants—plus more insights from across the structural engineering profession. structuremag.org/issues/2026-di…

Disputationes should cross 200,000 visitors today. Thank you to all who have read, shared, and supported this ongoing project in philosophical theology, metaphysics, and Lutheran thought over the years. If you have never visited, today is a good day. disputationes.blogspot.com

Indeed, especially the fathers. Luther's Small Catechism does not say of each chief part, "as the pastor should teach it in a simple way to the children of his congregation"; it says, "as the housefather should teach it in a simple way to his household."

@MonteMeyer @lutheranpeasant @becomelutheran The pastor's job description is to "shepherd the flock" (1 Peter 5:2) & "equip the saints" (Ephesians 4:12). Connecting to the community with the Gospel is what the flock itself is supposed to do.

@lutheranpeasant @becomelutheran I think alt routes has more to do with HOW future pastors are formed. Most men coming out of our sems seem to have little use for connecting to their community with the Gospel. They are formed to just concentrate on their immediate flock.

The title says it all. My entire family of 8 cannot wait to leave my job, sell our home, leave our church we love, and move to Fort Wayne, Indiana and be completely immersed and shaped by this process. Sincerely. m.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZ5KQ…