The name is taken from an historical event. In 1918 a handful of faithful Lutheran pastors gathered together in Lime Creek, Iowa, to preserve their confession from compromise. They would later form what was known as the “Little Norwegian Synod,” a pale reflection of the old Norwegian Synod’s former glory. But glory was not what they were after. What they wanted above all was to preserve the pure teaching and preaching of God’s Word, something that never earns the accolades, but the scorn, of the world. And scorn they received. Gazing upon that rag-tag bunch of pastors, an outside observer remarked that they looked like a plucked chicken. So it goes with the Evangelical Lutheran Church. It is one of her marks. The church always lives under the cross. In North America today, the Evangelical Lutheran Church still looks like a plucked chicken. Not that it matters much to her. Why? Because she already has what she wants: the pure teaching and preaching of God’s holy Word. And if she has that, the cross must follow.