Friday, September 18

1 · The board vote — and what it unlocks

• Did the board meet Tuesday, and what did they decide? Mark · first two minutes

  Nothing has reached Gary since the call, so this is the open question. Mark’s read last Friday: “I’m sensing they will approve it next week.” Also worth restating for the record, since it caused a scare on the 11th: the $3,000 tier covers the whole Academy — Year 1 and Year 2 rebuilt the new way — plus posting the Liberty Action Alerts. The $4,500 figure was the full LCRL site rebuild, a separate conversation for next calendar year. One wrinkle Mark raised: Dr. Seltz’s podcast contract runs only through December, so the LAA share of the retainer is worth a second look in January either way.

  Read the proposal
• Agreement: two blanks, then signatures Both · the day it’s approved

  The draft has been ready since the 11th. The only yellow left is the tier (now known: Build, $3,000 a month) and the LCRL signing authority now that Dr. Seltz has retired — Mark was finding out. Question for Mark: whose name goes on it? Once that’s known, Gary fills it in and sends a clean copy the same day.

  Open the agreement draft
• Invoice to Georgia Endicott, with September 1 onward on it Gary · same day

  Georgia (Administrative Assistant, LCMS Office of the President) asked for an invoice on September 9 so there’s no gap in service. Gary answered that it follows once budget and scope are set. The three weeks of September already worked go on this first invoice rather than as a separate bill.
• Stripe: Mark invites Gary onto the LCRL account as a developer Mark · after approval

  Accounting cleared the separate account on August 14. The invite is the starting gun for the subscription build — and last week’s pricing decisions drop straight in as coupon codes.
• If the vote slipped: what moves anyway No money needed

  Simplifying the pricing page to last week’s decisions, Mark’s conversations with the two pastors, St. Stephen’s follow-ups, and the note to Dr. Seltz about recording his own post. All of it is below, none of it waits on the board.

2 · Academy pricing — decided last Friday, one thing left

• What Mark decided on the 11th Settled · for the record

  The price is $100 a year per person, not a month — the “$100/month” in the earlier notes was a slip, and Mark confirmed it on the call. Boulder keeps the 50% Pastor Jarvis was promised (“Mark already threw a bone out there and he can’t take it back”). St. Stephen and every chapter after it get a 30% Founding-Member rate — the industry-standard discount, and the new normal. The price gets published even before anything is charged, because people need to know the value (“we don’t want it to be free”), paired with a standing line: if money is the obstacle, tell us and we’ll work it out. Gifts: a donor can buy seats for a whole group — the ask goes to Carly, and the seats are granted by email, no card required.

  The pricing draft & comparables
• Decide today: how long the Founding-Member window stays open Decide today

  The one piece left dangling. Mark: courses he’s bought give three days; on the call he floated “a week, two weeks, four weeks.” Gary’s earlier suggestion was a hard stop at December 31 for the whole founders program.
  
  Recommendation, so it’s one rule for every chapter: a member has 30 days from their chapter’s first meeting to claim the founders rate, and the program itself closes December 31, 2026 — whichever comes first. Long enough to hear it twice from the pastor, short enough to mean something. Since nothing is charged until Stripe exists, claiming the rate is a sign-up, not a payment; the discount is honored when billing starts.
• Did St. Stephen hear the offer on Wednesday? Mark / Carly

  Mark planned to tell them at launch night that they have a window to come in at the founders rate. If it was said, Gary matches the printed piece to it; if not, it goes in with the pastor’s note below and Mark says it at the October meeting.
• Pricing page stripped down to the decisions Done this morning · kit next

  Rewritten before the call: one page — the price, the two rates, the window (30 days / Dec 31, marked for Mark to confirm), gift seats, the hardship line — then the pastor’s spoken sentence, the note to both pastors, the kit-insert copy and the chapter-page paragraph, each with the Boulder swap noted. The Sept 11 comparables are folded up at the bottom. Next: once Mark confirms the window, the insert and paragraph go into the kit template and both chapters get rebuilt with them.

  Open the decided version /boulder /st-stephen
• Mark talks with the two pastors Mark · once the page is simple

  His action item from the 11th. Pastor Jarvis already knows the number; Rev. Rodriguez hears it fresh. Same sentence for both, just a different percentage.

3 · Chapters

• St. Stephen launched Wednesday — how was the first night? Carly · two minutes

  Carly confirmed on the 11th that “they liked what we did” — dates, contact and name all stand as built, so the September 1 pieces were the launch-night pieces. Worth hearing: turnout, whether anyone came from beyond the congregation, and anything the poster or handouts got wrong. Next meeting is October 21.

  St. Stephen chapter page The chapter kits
• Boulder trip cancelled — the “start a chapter” one-sheet is on hold Held · Carly, Sept 15

  Carly asked Tuesday morning for the one-sheet Gary offered on the 11th (it was the last piece for the Boulder pocket folders), then wrote back two hours later that Mark can’t make the Colorado trip this weekend and to hold off. Held. Two questions: is anyone from Champions still at the ULC conference tomorrow with the two-page flyer in hand? And does the one-sheet still have a job — see the next item — or does it wait for the next trip?
• Interest is spreading on its own: Cedar Rapids, Mitchell SD Decide · what do those conversations land on?

  Mark on the 11th: “the mantle is starting to take off.” A Cedar Rapids chapter is in the works, and Mark’s father-in-law in Mitchell, South Dakota asked him to come present — Mark sent the two-page flyer up that day. His read on why: “the website … and being able to share the Session One example — they’re starting to go, I get it, this looks very doable.”
  
  Recommendation: that is exactly what the one-sheet is for — a printed “start a chapter” page with a QR to the chapters page, so a hallway conversation has somewhere to go. Build it the week the budget lands, from the kit template, and Mark carries it to Mitchell and Cedar Rapids. If Mark would rather wait, it waits.
• Two-page flyer — the piece Mark is handing out In use

  The July conference two-pager is the one Mark sent to Mitchell and asked Carly to print for the ULC conference. No changes needed.

  Brochure editions

4 · Advocate Weekly

• Shelly’s first pair is issue #1 the day the budget lands Gated on the vote

  Agreed on the 11th: wait for the budget, then start. The Illinois assisted-suicide lawsuit and the Räsänen UK ban become the first AI-built issue — 48-hour draft, Mark approves by reply, out through Resend to the list from Carly’s Mailchimp export. Still to confirm with Shelly: the sending-domain verification from August 14. If the vote passed, Gary writes Shelly today.

5 · Sessions, review, and new resources

• Doctrinal Review — Mark is running the “review a page” question up the flagpole Mark · to Barb & Georgia

  Settled on the 11th: sessions go to review in batches of three or four. Still open: whether reviewers would take a gated link instead of a PDF. Mark can’t ask the reviewers directly (they’re anonymous), so he’s asking the President’s office, copying Georgia. Gary sketched two ways to build it if the answer is yes — any word back? The two options, and why it matters →
• New: a Two-Kingdom hymns page on LCRLfreedom.org Mark sends the materials · after the contract

  Mark commissioned two hymns with a two-kingdom theme — one writer for the text, a composer for the music — because the hymnal has none. He has the text, the music, a recording, both writers’ bios and headshots, and a signed permission to publish. What he wants: a page under Resources on the LCRL site — each writer’s bio on half a page, the hymns downloadable, free for congregational use, anything beyond that goes back to the artists. The hymns have already cleared Doctrinal Review. Mark’s own words on timing: “let’s get through the contract first.” So: queued, not started.
• Mom & Pop Papers — approved on sight; three small follow-ups Gary · after the pricing page

  Mark, opening No. 3: “Oh, that’s beautiful.” Three things came out of it. (a) He’d like to see one example with a visual metaphor for the paper’s idea before deciding whether the series gets art. (b) Link the papers from the Academy sessions as further reading — “now it’s starting to pop.” (c) Still needed: Paper No. 1 and anything else in the shared Drive folder, which Gary’s account still can’t open — a re-share to gary.ricke@orbisdesign.com would do it. Mark’s bigger idea — a 10-week Bible study built on the papers, because pastors keep asking for something to use in Bible class — is parked in the build queue behind the contract.

  No. 2 No. 3 No. 4
• Dr. Seltz’s farewell post — asked once more to record it himself Sent this morning

  The post is live with an AI voiceover; on August 26 Dr. Seltz said he might send his own recording and then went quiet (a minor procedure that week). Gary replied on that thread this morning — no deadline, the script is one scroll down, the swap is same-day if he sends it, and it’s fine if he doesn’t. Mark’s view on the 11th: “it feels like an important message not to be AI.”
• Year 1, Lesson 1 — where does the script sit? Mark’s own September target

  No pressure intended, just the standing question. With two chapters now meeting monthly and a third and fourth in conversation, the rebuilt first session is what they’ll be asking for. Related, from the 11th: a weekly targeted audio — AI writes the script from the session or paper, Mark reads it (or an AI voice, labeled) — as a lighter way in for people who don’t do the reading. Fits inside the Build tier; parked until Mark wants it.
• Heard on the 11th, no action for us Context only

  LCRL’s post-retirement publishing schedule is in flux for the next six months or so; the board is sorting it. The LAA podcast continues through December under the current arrangement. The Friday blog images come from the LCRL side, not from Gary — he set up the blog template originally, that’s all.

6 · Shipped since September 11

• Liberty Action Alert — Brad Brandon, live the day it was reviewed Sept 16

  “Sharia Law, the Constitution, Religious Liberty, and Christian Mission: How Should That Work Here in America?” Sent for review at 10:50, Mark at 11:40: “Looks great, Gary. Post it!” Live by 1:30.
• On the call itself: pricing draft, agreement draft, Mom & Pop series Sept 11

  All three were built for the 11th and walked through on the call; the decisions they produced are in sections 1, 2 and 5. Transcript filed.

• Pricing page → one page of decisions, the pastor’s line, the note to both pastors Done · Sept 18

  Live at /academy-pricing. Kit insert and chapter-page paragraph go into the template once Mark confirms the window.
• Note to Dr. Seltz about recording the farewell post Sent · Sept 18

  One ask, no pressure; the swap is a five-minute job whenever he sends it.
• Agreement finalized and the first invoice to Georgia Day of approval

  Tier and signing authority filled in; September 1 onward on the invoice.
• Stripe subscription build Gated on the vote

  Begins with the developer invite. $100/yr list; coupon codes for Boulder (50%) and Founding Members (30%), expiring per today’s window decision; admin grant-by-email for gifted seats; monthly and annual.
• Advocate Weekly issue #1 — Shelly’s Illinois + Räsänen pair Gated on the vote

  Template with attribution line, Mark approves by reply, out through Resend. Master list from Carly’s Mailchimp export first; Mailchimp cancelled after.
• “Start a chapter” one-sheet with a QR to the chapters page On hold · Carly, Sept 15

  Built from the kit template in an afternoon when Mark says go — for Mitchell, Cedar Rapids, and the next conference.
• Two-Kingdom hymns page on LCRLfreedom.org After the contract · Mark sends materials

  Two half-page bios with headshots, the hymns as downloads, the usage terms in plain words. Squarespace, under Resources.
• Mom & Pop: one visual-metaphor example, No. 1 added, papers linked from the sessions Gary · after the pricing page

  Then, later and separately, the 10-week Bible-study series Mark described.
• Doctrinal Review page — comment box or highlight-and-note Only if the answer is yes

  Built once Mark hears back. The PDF path stays either way.
• Session template — individual / group toggle, mobile first, rotating leader Ahead of Year 1 Lesson 1

  Built into the template once so every session carries it.
• Weekly targeted audio from the session or paper Parked · Mark’s call

  AI script, Mark’s voice (or a labeled AI voice), published weekly. Fits inside the Build tier.
• Log this meeting to the Status build log Gary · end of day