From my Dad's 1972 reflections on 22 years of ministry.

“Our next call took us to the southern suburbs of Chicago. A small congregation which had been in existence since World War I, had now been designated a mission church because of the building boom going on in that larger area. Again, in this ministry, I was kept alive and, I think, growing by my relationships with fellow pastors in the area. This was also a good pastorate. Because I was one of a number of mission pastors in our Synod, I had the opportunity to be active in the larger Church. There I shared the label “liberal” with many others. Looking back, it appears that although I may at times have been bold on the floor of the Synod, a “liberal” away from home, in ministering to that congregation I had no plan, no knowledge of how to enable a congregation to address the societal concerns of racial and social justice, peace, etc. Exhortation is not nearly enough!”