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So I see that I still have to log in each time I visit the forum online, despite that I tell  it to log in "forever."  Is this a bug that is fixable?

hmmm, and logging in isn't apparently up to snuff either.  I've always told it to keep me logged in "forever" to save having to do it each time, but that is apparently what I have to do now, no matter what I instruct it upon logging in.  Forever, in new terminology, apparently means "until I close the window."

for me, if you click on the "New" button" next to the forum thread topic, it will take you to the new posts.  If you click on the thread name, it takes you to the beginning.  That has been my limited experience thus far.

That was a lengthy outage since I noticed it.  I'm only on here 1-2x per week!

I haven't seen this movie yet. Are there any suggestions on how to impede or stop this terrible situation?

Peace, JOHN

Yes.  At the very end of the movie, Caviezel speaks about simply bringing awareness to as many as possible.  Most people would find human trafficking (for sex or any other purpose) abhorrent and abominable. Most also don't realize the magnitude of the problem today.  I was not able to watch the whole movie as our church was working (volunteering) at our volunteer theatre where it was shown Sunday evening.  But as we prepared to clean the theatre, no one had left yet (and it was a sold out show) - all the workers were able to hear his message during the credits.

People need to wake up and review primary sources of data and statistics on this subject rather than politically-motivated hit pieces that support the ongoing progressive movement to normalize sexual deviancy and perversion related to the least of these.  Child sexual exploitation cannot be excused, and I question the motives of anyone trying to trash this movie (and the story it relays) or minimize the ongoing crisis of human trafficking.  Considering some of the crap that comes out of Hollywood in the name of entertainment, this movie pales in comparison with respect to content.  Except it is based in fact with some artistic license taken to better tell a story (as the person the movie is based on is very clear about expressing).

Bingo.  The very point made per above.

[are themselves the problem with our society]

...The people who consider the movie problematic or controversial are themselves the problem with our society.

'nuff said right here. 

As for who takes the title "Dr.", who cares? It is like the title "Rev." It takes a lot of effort to earn that title in some circles but not in others. Either way, is anyone really impressed? I used to get irritated by people insisting on being called "Dr." who weren't really doctors or "Rev." because they got a mail-order ordination, but I've taken to not caring.   

I "earned" the honorific "Rev" 27 years ago (at great financial expense even then) and have never really cared that people call me by it or something else.  I guess I see it as more a sign of holding the office than a title to wear proudly or with any other purpose.  The closest I came to "caring" was when some of the youth began calling me "Rev" because I would sign my name in an official capacity as the pastor, which then morphed into "Coach-Rev" when I took on coaching duties with the local high school's Cross Country and Track teams, which I coached for 7 years, along with serving as pastor.  But in that, it was more of a nickname, also which didn't bother me one way or another.

Instead, give me a couple of conceal/carry parishioners.

I know I've mentioned this before in past discussions on the topic, but with Nebraska statutes the way they are, churches are normally prohibited areas for concealed/carry.  There is an exemption, however, allowing for it, and so in our parish, it is posted (very inconspicuouslly to not offend those of delicate sensibilities on the issue), and we have an entire security plan in place, which includes ushers and members both who have legal CHP's and carry. 

Do you really like the idea of using the pregnancy itself, that is, an individual personal pregnancy as the basis for what is almost certain to be divisive rhetoric on the whole birth question? How is that better for a gifting experience than the idea of "we're gonna have a baby!"?

You're missing the joke. It is a language reclamation project. The thing inside the pregnant women is a baby, and it is nonsense to pretend otherwise. Sure, there are technical medical terms for stages of development, but such terms are out of place in common parlance.

Much the way the left today tries to characterize the "fetus" as merely a "clump of cells."  The more we attempt to deconstruct language, the more we relativize, well, everything.

Many here may know the Rev'd Ron Rasmus, STS, who has been retired for some years now.  Following a rare blood condition, he succumbed to his health issues on Wednesday (June 14) and entered the church triumphant.  Rest eternal, grant him, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. 

The problem I see is twofold:

To "covet another pastor" is to essentially make the office into a popularity contest.

Along with that:  What drives a person to covet another pastor?  Would it be their fidelity to Scriptures and the Confessions?  Or would it be another issue?

I agree with Peter here as well:  In every congregation I've served, there have been those who hoped I'd take another call, and the sooner the better.  Right along with them are those who want me to stick around.  When my former congregation voted to leave the ELCA, the tactics of those who wanted to stop the departure were to convince the membership (largely in favor of me sticking around) that if we left the ELCA, I would have to resign and take another call (not true at all).  Once the false information was corrected, a vote that failed by 1 vote passed with 89% of the vote on a second go around.

I"m dual rostered with both LCMC and NALC, as is the congregation I serve.

LCMC has it's share of issues, like every other denomination (though it really is not a denomination per se) - most notably a profound lack of pastoral and congregational fidelity to the Confessions and Scripture.  With a complete lack of oversight of any kind, congregations pretty much do as they please, meaning one never knows where the individual church stands on many major topics.

https://coach-rev.blogspot.com/2021/05/a-memorial-day-remembrance.html

In the three concrete instances I can recall over the past 14 years, All 3 have left the congregation, spent subsequent countless hours attacking both me and the congregation personally, and acquired a small following outside of the congregation.  I'm sure it is likely that I don't take a softline approach on such behavior.  Just the opposite.  So I guess I don't deal with it very well/in a very pastoral sense.  My .02, anyhow.

We as a human race have become exceedingly arrogant with our own past, believing ourselves to be smarter, better, stronger, faster, etc.  than virtually anyone who has gone before us. 

Isn't that a rather Western-centric view? There are plenty of people, all of them part of the human race who don't have that attitude; they just don't live in North America or Europe.

Yes, you would be correct.  But as goes Europe or North America....