Fr. Schooping's Journey from Eastern Orthodoxy
Our latest Gottesdienst conference in Fort Wayne (May 5-7, 2025) featured the Rev. Joshua Schooping, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Russellville, Arkansas. Fr. Schooping spent five years as an Eastern Orthodox priest. In his presentation, he explains his journey to confessional Lutheranism and shares with us his reasons - both from the Orthodox and Lutheran confessional documents.
Thanks to videographer extraordinaire, Gene Wilken, (whose YouTube channel, Flaneur Record, is a treasure trove), Fr. Schooping’s three-part presentation (and participation in the presenters’ panel) is available to those who were unable to attend:
Also, you can find the presentations of the Revs. Drs. Karl Fabrizius and Burnell Eckardt to enjoy as well.
Back in January, Fr. Schooping was interviewed by The Gottesdienst Crowd. You can listen here (or at YouTube here). He also has his own YouTube channel called Pastor Joshua Schooping. He has been a guest of Issues, Etc. six times. He was also a recent guest on the podcast of LCMS Lutheran Javier Perdomo.
Some twenty years ago, we had a minor exodus of LCMS pastors and a few laymen who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in a time when confessional Lutheranism was in retreat in our synod. In my opinion, many of those who left were running away from deviations from our confession rather than running toward a confession more in line with their own personal faith. I think many of them simply talked themselves into it, and there was some peer pressure exerted by other men who were converting (I was the recipient of some of those high pressure “sales calls” over the phone myself).
We don’t see our people converting to Eastern Orthodoxy so much these days, but it is important for people considering conversion to another communion to go in with eyes open, and to avoid the “grass is always greener” fallacy.
We are grateful for Pastor Schooping’s witness of the Gospel and his willingness to speak to us - and even to present more than he had planned!