Lutheran Women in Mission

All for Jesus – Know him, Confess Him, Serve Him Philippians 3:7-11.

All for Jesus – Know him, Confess Him, Serve Him Philippians 3:7-11.
This was the theme and scripture for the 2017 Black Ministry Family Convocation held in Birmingham, Alabama, July 12-16. LCMS Black Ministry is celebrating their 140th Anniversary this year!

As LWML President I have the opportunity to go to many different events and bring greetings from all Lutheran Women in Mission across our 40 districts. I had the opportunity to give your anniversary congratulations and support to those attending the Friday morning session of the meeting.

LWML Vice President of Special Focus Ministries, Kaye Wolff, presented a breakout session about LWML on two different days. There were many LWML members in attendance, as well as several pastors who had been LWML Pastoral Counselors. LWML Public Relations Director, Michelle Zollinger, attended as did LWML Michigan District Past President and LWML board member, Willie Marie Henry. I also got to talk with several women I met at Louisiana-Mississippi district convention last year.

I was able to meet five pastors from the six New Orleans’ churches who received one of our grants for the coming biennium (Grant #8 NOLA 4H: Hearts for the Hungry, Homeless, and Hurting.) To say they were excited is to put it mildly. You have become part of their ministry to God’s people in New Orleans!

Another grant recipient at the convocation who expressed excitement and thanks to LWML was Rev. Matthew Heise of Lutheran Heritage Foundation (Grant #6 Lutheran Children’s Books for Families Worldwide.) Representatives from Bethesda Lutheran Communities (Grant #15 Sharing Jesus with People with Disabilities) were eager to tell us what they would be able to do now that LWML was supporting their ministry with a grant. And gratitude was expressed by the prison ministries included in the grant for the synod-wide conference in 2018 (Grant #20 Prison and Jail Ministry Synod-wide Conference in 2018.)

We got updates from former grant recipients Rebecca’s Garden of Hope, Rosa Young Academies and the Acts 2 Enterprise in Detroit. Inquiries about starting LWML organizations in Liberia and Kenya were very exciting as possibilities in the future!

Since I share your encouragement at these events, I wanted to share with you how thankful the recipients of our grants are. I am blessed to be in the position to hear their stories and their plans. You are answers to their prayers. God is enabling you to engage, encourage, and equip these dedicated fellow servants of God! Thank you for serving the Lord with Gladness by supporting these mission grants!

Serving with you,
Patti

Lutheran Reflection

There’s No Greater Act of Faith Than Sleep

Are you a lark or an owl? I’m an owl. Definitely don’t function well before 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning. My most productive time of the day is 3:30 pm until midnight. My favorite shift as a nurse was 3-11. I happen to be writing this at 11:55 p.m.

I wore a Holter monitor as part of a science experiment one of my sons was doing in middle school and sure enough, my heart rate was slowest at rest between 6:30-8:00 a.m. when I was deepest asleep. I guess you would call that my biorhythm.

Where am I going with this besides letting you know not to expect much out of me early in the morning? On the subject of sleep, at the LCMS Black Ministry Convocation, Rev. Dr. Leopoldo Sanchez gave one of the keynote addresses. Most of it was way over my head but he said that there was no greater act of faith than sleep. God is solely in control during that time.
My mother always said you slept well if you had a clear conscience. Maybe it’s sort of the same thing?

Speaking of sleep …
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper.
(Psalm 121:1-5a)

Pleasant dreams, sleep well!
Love, Patti