Synod Stories 13: Confessions, Cryptids & the Baptist Belt

From Synod Stories by Brian Yamabe

April 20, 2026 · 59 min · Episode 13

About this episode

Pastor Willie Grills discusses his journey to confessional Lutheranism and the challenges of pastoral formation in a predominantly Baptist area.

Pastor Willie Grills of Zion Lutheran Church in Alexander, Arkansas came to confessional Lutheranism the hard way — through Reformed circles, the Confessions, and a seminary formation that took him from Peru to Iowa before landing in Baptist country. In this conversation, Brian and Willie work through the real debates surrounding pastoral formation in the LCMS: the history from apostolic discipleship through the modern seminary, the SMP program's original purpose versus how it's being used today, and what uniform confessional training actually buys the church. They also talk about what it means to be Lutheran in a place where Lutherans get mistaken for Mormons, why the Mid-South District has one of the lowest vacancy rates in the Synod, and the worship identity question that underlies much of the confessional debate: what happens when a Lutheran service is indistinguishable from the evangelical megachurch next door? And yes — we get to cryptids. Willie explains how the collapse of New Atheism has created a cultural hunger for the supernatural, why now is the moment for the church to speak into it, and how he became the LCMS's only resident Bigfoot expert, courtesy of Art Bell and…

People in this episode

Host: Brian Yamabe

Guest: Willie Grills

Topics covered

confessional Lutheranism
pastoral formation
LCMS debates
cultural hunger for the supernatural
Lutheran identity
cryptids

Keywords

Lutheranism
pastoral training
seminary
evangelical megachurch
New Atheism
supernatural
cryptids
Bigfoot

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Zion Lutheran Church

Places: Alexander, Arkansas, Peru, Iowa, Mid-South District