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LWML Working for you!

Last week was a week of meetings in St. Louis for the LWML. The district archivist-historians met with LWML Archivist-Historian Caroline Honeycutt and worked at Concordia Historical Institute as well as learning more about preserving their district’s history.

The Convention Programming Committee met to firm up more plans for the LWML convention coming up in Mobile, AL, June 20-23, 2019. We have great speakers, worship leaders, Bible study leaders, and activities to make it a great experience for anyone attending.

Then the Executive Committee came in for their meeting and were followed by the entire Board of Directors and advisory personnel for the Board of Directors’ meeting. They passed along the grants to be considered for funding at the convention, selected convention offering recipients, approved bylaw amendments to be brought to the delegates, and had a fun “mite challenge” that raised $27,000 for the mission grants. These women are committed—Time, Talent and Treasure!

Group photograph of the LWML executive committee and the LWML district presidents at the International Center of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019, in St. Louis. LCMS Communications/Erik M. Lunsford

We also took time out to tour the LCMS International Center and met with LCMS President Matthew Harrison on the importance of the work of LWML in the larger church picture. Also, showing their appreciation by talking about specific missions helped were Office of International Missions head, Rev. Dan McMiller and Office of National Missions head, Rev. Robert Zagore.

Ministry to the Armed Forces, Chaplain Steven Hokana also thanked the group for the grant they received. Deaconess Ministries head, Grace Rao, stopped by the meeting to express her thanks and inform board members of how their contributions were being put to work.

Mary Hamilton, Grants Manager, Mission Advancement for LCMS commented, “Our staff, too, cherishes the personal connection with the LWML. The heart-warming passion for mission the ladies have is inspirational. Their prayers for our missionaries provide encouragement and renews their hearts and minds.”

In spite of the cold, blustery weather we received a very warm welcome from President Dale Meyer as he welcomed the Board members to Concordia Seminary campus with a “welcome home, LWML!” as we toured the new LWML offices and the campus. Some of the district presidents had arranged to meet the seminary students they support.

All told, it was a great week! Engage, Encourage, Equip and Enjoy! We did it all, thanks be to God and to Him be the glory for the opportunity to work together with all His talented, gifted, and called servants in LWML, in our church body, and in the mission fields!

Love, Patti

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“Captive Souls … Mercy for All”

Strategic Plan Facilitator Carol , President Patti, & Jr Pastoral Counselor Mitch

Traveling again for LWML found me in St. Louis this past weekend for the LCMS 2018 Prison Ministry Conference. If you look at the list of 2017-2019 Mission Grants you will see that Mite Box offerings financed this conference. Thanks to our faithful family of Lutheran Women in Mission these pastors and lay people involved in prison and jail ministry came together to share experiences, hear numerous speakers, and share resources.

To tell you that this was a worthwhile grant says way too little. These servants of the Lord actually risk their lives, face lawsuits, long hours, and long drives as they deliver the Word of Jesus that He forgives and loves. To listen to their experiences you realize these people are special, called to an incredibly tough ministry and deserve our daily prayer support to protect them from earthly and spiritual attacks. I was incredibly humbled to meet many of them and see their dedication to the marginalized and despised children of God who are in our penal system. They depend on the strength and action of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.

If you have a local or district prison ministry I urge you have them come and share about how they do their ministry and then find out what you can do to help them.

We all read Matthew 25 and think, yes, Lord, I can feed people, I can give water to people, I can clothe people but whoa, I can’t go visit prisoners. However, through your Mite Box offerings, service projects, and prayer, you can hold up those wonderful men and women who do! As the hymn says, “We can be like faithful Aaron, holding up the prophet’s hands.”

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did is to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)

Patti

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LWML Office is Moving Part 2

Concordia Seminary St. Louis chapel

The LWML office is moving to the Concordia Seminary St. Louis campus (CSL) this fall! This is the second part of a two-week blog. Please start by reading last week’s blog if you haven’t yet done so.

At our Board of Directors Strategic Planning meeting in October 2016 (elected officers and LWML district presidents), one of the major goals we adopted was to “Communicate a fresh image to LCMS pastors and church workers.” That was to be done by completing these objectives:

  1. Connect and engage with pastors and church workers in a strategic manner
  2. Intentionally invite and involve pastors and church workers in LWML events
  3. Connect and engage pastors and church workers to LWML’s mission focus, and
  4. Increase LWML visibility at LCMS meetings and events.

When the offer to move our offices to the CSL campus came up we found it fit well with this goal and its objectives. It will put us in a great setting for the students and staff on campus to get to know LWML and our mission a little better.

Being a presence on campus will put us visibly in their environment. It will allow our office staff to attend chapel, eat at the cafeteria, and visit with students and their families that come to visit them on campus. When new LWML resources become available they can be readily accessed. Although our staff is small—currently three full-time and one part-time, they represent the best of LWML. They are friendly, open, knowledgeable, hard-working, and love their Lord. They will be an asset to those on campus.

We praise and thank God for a faithful steward who years ago, left in their estate, two U.S. Savings Bonds for LWML. This year after reaching maturity they were cashed in on the advice and approval of the LWML Finance and Operations Committee and the LWML  Executive Committee. The amount of the savings bonds will cover expenses involved in the move. The rest of the cost will be paid monthly with our rent over five years with no interest charged.

We have been blessed! Little did this donor know years ago that they would be helping their LWML make this move and enable us to move forward on one of our goals! We thank and praise God for that donor and for the generosity and support given by CSL.

Be sure to come by and visit when you are in St. Louis!

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

 

Patti

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LWML Office is Moving

The LWML office is moving to the Concordia Seminary St. Louis campus (CSL) this fall! After years of renting at Concordia Publishing House (CPH) 3558 S. Jefferson we are moving to CSL campus. CPH has been a super landlord for us and we thank them for that business relationship, friendship, and Gospel partnership. They will continue to warehouse our resources and products for us and take care of our order fulfillment.

This first came about as a result of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, 2017. I had the honor of representing LWML riding on the Lutheran Hour Ministries Rose Parade float. I got to ride next to Rev. Dr. Dale Meyer, President of CSL. It was very much on my heart as to how we can make our pastors coming out of seminary more knowledgeable about and supportive of the mission of LWML. I asked him how we could have a bigger presence on campus and he responded, “Why don’t you move your offices to the seminary campus?” Well, I thought, why not?

I don’t know if you know the campus at all. There is a building directly across to the south from the Chapel called Loeber Hall. We are building out half of the lower level for our new office space. We estimate to move sometime late September, early October. Even as we have gone through the process of negotiations and building planning we have already been in contact with seminary students working in various roles on campus. They will get to know LWML as an integral part of our LCMS church with more contact. We are hoping to have some functions with the seminary wives, as well. Hopefully, when your new vicar, deaconess intern, or new pastor or deaconess from CSL arrives at your church next year or after, he or she will be better-acquainted with LWML!

More on this story next week!

Love, Patti

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17).

Lutheran Reflection

Traditions

Learn more about LWML here

 

Happy New Year! Our guest blogger this week is our LWML Junior Pastoral Counselor, Rev. Mitchel Schuessler. He and his wife, Penny, live in Troy, Illinois where he is pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church. 

 

I pray that your 2017 went well and 2018 will be a blessing to you. Me? 2017 saw me elected to the office of LWML Junior Pastoral Counselor. WOW! Never thought it would really happen but the Lord does amazing things.

Do you have a favorite tradition you do around Christmas/New Years? Penny and I do. We make raviolis on the day after Christmas. It is always an adventure that ends in a very tasty fashion. It is amazing how, even after doing this for years, we forget what we are doing. After the first set of raviolis come out of the press, we start to remember. “Oh yeah, that is what we do,” is often said. Fun times and good eats are a part of this Schuessler/Rex tradition.

What tradition do you have in your family? One tradition that I never had in my family was the LWML. As I look back, I wish that my mom would have been involved in the LWML but she was not. I did not grow up with the LWML but I did raise my family knowing and participating in the LWML in various ways.

Penny and I have been active throughout the past 35 years, which is hard to imagine. The day we brought our daughter Rachael home from the hospital, I took her over to the church at Trinity, Harvel, IL, to meet the ladies of the LWML society. From that point on, she has been a part of the LWML, a tradition we have handed down to her and to our son Matthew. We look forward to one day passing it on to the next generation.

Happy New Year and enjoy those traditions.

Rev. Mitchel Schuessler
LWML Junior Pastoral Counselor

Pastor Mitch and his wife Penny

Lutheran Reflection

Thankfulness

For all the faithful women who served in days of old. So starts hymn number 855 in our Lutheran Service Book.

As we near the end of our Lutheran Women’s Missionary League’s 75th Anniversary year of 2017 (http://www.lwml.org/75) and as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this week and take time out to thank God for his abundant blessings, I was thinking of specific things our organization was thankful for. I thought of the women who worked hard for years prior to our founding convention who struggled for recognition, put up with all kinds of criticism, derision, and still kept on until they were able to organize a national women’s organization within the synod. They are in my prayers of thanksgiving this week and in my heart.

Today we are thankful for all Lutheran women and their dedication to work that shows God’s love and forgiveness to believers and nonbelievers through our LWML. Groups in the local church, the zones and districts and the national organization put in countless hours of work and prayer as we go about our business to enable women to use their God-given abilities to serve others. (http://www.lwml.org/get-involved)

I’ll share the rest of Hymn 855, For All the Faithful Women with you and let you know that I am thanking God for each of you this week that you continue to Serve the Lord With Gladness!

For all the faithful women Who served in days of old,

To You shall thanks be given; To all, their story told.

They served with strength and gladness In tasks Your wisdom gave.

To you their lives bore witness, Proclaimed Your power to save.

 

O God, for saints and servants, Those named and those unknown

In whom through all the ages Your light of glory shone,

We offer glad thanksgiving And fervent prayer we raise

That, faithful in Your service, Our lives may sing Your praise.

 

All praise to God the Father! All praise to Christ the Son!

All praise the Holy Spirit, Who binds the Church in one!

With saints who went before us, With saints who witness still,

We sing glad Alleluias And strive to do Your will.

 

 

 

 

Patti

LWML Convention

LWML Makeover Part II

Last week we talked about LWML receiving a makeover and compared it to a popular TV show called, “What Not to Wear”. After receiving a new “look”, the person with the new look often commented on how much more self-confident they felt. They frequently said that they felt better and had a happier outlook on life and themselves.

LWML is set to reveal a visual makeover at our 75th Anniversary Convention in Albuquerque this June 22-25, 2017. To back it up we look forward to providing more and better ways to enable women in the LCMS to use their God-given gifts in service to their Lord and the world. With resources, education and leadership help, just like the people who receive a makeover, we will have tools to go forward with confidence.

This new look will reflect the confidence we have in God’s continued blessings going forward for the next 75 years. His makeover of us through Jesus Christ is the basis for our confidence. Because of what Jesus has done for us we are moved by the Spirit to want others, who do not know Him as Savior, to be “made over” by Him as well. That is why LWML—Lutheran Women in Mission works to make people aware of those missions and support them financially through our mission offerings.

I pray your work in LWML and your association with your sisters in our wonderful organization will encourage you to face the future with confidence and joy! I’ll leave you with words from one of my favorite hymns:

Jesus lives! For me He died, Hence will I, to Jesus living, Pure in heart and act abide,
Praise to Him and glory giving. All I need God will dispense; This shall be my confidence. LSB 490

Here’s a look at some of our NEW resources. You can find them at www.lwml.org/store :
Dear Mother Book Cover
Text Messages from God coverTogether Is Better cover