Lutheran Resources

Where Love Abides

Please enjoy the photo gallery in this post. It includes photos of the production team for “Where Love Abides”, Donna Pyle, the audience at the taping, Mikayla and I, Debbie Curry and I, and finally the Texas District leaders that attended the taping of “Where Love Abides”.

Ambient noise check – Applause check, loud, enthusiastic, not so loud – No gum chewing – nod in agreement – show “ah-ha” moment facial expression – Don’t look into the camera. Ready to roll!

That’s what you heard as a member of the audience for the recording of the fourth LWML DVD Bible study by Donna Pyle titled, “Where Love Abides”. This study is based on John 15, the story of the Vine and the Branches. About 70 people were attending this event which the LWML Texas District hosted to participate as audience members during the Audio Visual recording sessions at Salem Lutheran Church, Tomball, Texas, July 21-22.

If you were in the middle of a speech and someone interrupted to say you needed to start back and correct something you said, could you do it? Not many of us could. You have to remember what you said, what your expression was at the time, where you were onstage, etc. It’s amazing to watch Donna and her production team work. This team includes two pastors backstage with earphones doing review of her speech as she does it. If they hear something that needs to be said a different way, they interrupt, conference, and she rerecords that portion. If the air conditioning vent is making her sweater flap, rerecord.

Other things occur like stopping to remove a stapler she had used as an example from the table where she stands to teach because it was reflecting on her like a mirror does with the sun. Duct taping fruit to the vines onstage. It can be crazy funny sometimes!

Crazy funny but crazy good, too! It never ceases to amaze me how you can study God’s Word and go over a story for the umpteenth time and the Holy Spirit reveals something you hadn’t seen before! I’m not going to tell you what that was. You’ll have to do the study and find out for yourself if you learn something new looking at this story of the vine and the branches again.

Filming winds up this October at the Gage Orchards and Vineyards in New York state. Thanks are given for the generous donor who gave money to finance this DVD Bible Study. I hope you will look forward to this study. It is visually impressive with beautiful vineyard shots and you will learn more about vineyard cultivation.

There are three DVD studies currently available from LWML. These are so easy for your group to do in any setting – church, home, groups or private study. The latest one is “Peter – From Fisherman to Fisher of Men”. Engage in Bible study! Be encouraged, equipped and enjoy! http://www.lwml.org/store

Enjoying my chewing gum!
Patti

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

LWML Convention

LWML Convention Is Close!

Bags are packed, cats are scheduled at the kennel, meeting agendas are printed off, clothes are clean — guess I’m ready to go to convention in Albuquerque. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there! It’s so nice that today’s media offers you the chance to watch the convention happenings on your computer at home, either live or recorded for later. I hope those of you who can’t attend will watch and perhaps plan to attend in person when we go to Mobile, Alabama in 2019!

Convention is mainly to accomplish the business of the organization. Over the years we have added many events to enhance the convention experience for those attending. At convention our activities reflect the objects of our organization — mission inspiration, mission service, mission education and gathering of funds for mission grants.

There are three women who have been at the head of planning for this convention. Lois Anderson, LWML Treasurer 2011-2015, from the LWML Utah-Idaho District, is the Host Committee Chairman. Nancy Bogenhagen, Vice President of Communication, from the LWML South Dakota District is the Convention Programming Committee Chairman. Marguerite Christman, from the LWML Oklahoma District is the Convention Manager. These women have worked tirelessly over the past two years to bring this convention into being. Much appreciation goes out to them.

As of Friday, June 16, our registration total was 3,427. There are 83 Young Woman Representatives attending this convention. The Mission Pledge Walk has 1,106 registered to participate. The choir has 252 singers signed up. We will have five Mission in Action speakers telling about their ministries, 66 exhibitors in the Above All Exhibit Hall and programs for children attending with their parents.

This convention is dedicated to proclaiming Jesus Christ above all. Our prayer is that after attending, either in person or through the media, LWML women will be renewed in enthusiasm to do just that!
Gotta run print off my airplane ticket and see if I got “TSA Precheck”! See you soon!

Love, Patti
2017 Convention Logo

 

 

 

 

 

More LWML convention news can be found here www.lwml.org/2017-convention

LWML Convention

Gifts From the Heart

Tomorrow my LWML group will be boxing up 93 quilts to take to the Albuquerque Convention! Sunday we prayed in church for the recipients of these quilts with all our members. They are one of the Gifts From the Heart donations brought to convention by convention goers. I’m not sure historically, when LWML conventions first started having people bring items to convention for distribution to local and national agencies. If someone knows, please write to me. I do know that like our mite offerings, where an individual’s small but Spirit-led contribution is added with those of others to bring about a tremendous offering, so, too, these gifts will combine for a huge “gift” at the convention center!

Organizations receiving our shared material blessings are Albuquerque Christian Children, a privately funded foster care that emphasizes Christianity; Care Net, a pro-life group working with unplanned pregnancies; Lutheran World Relief (LWR), a Lutheran organization focusing on international disaster relief and sustainable development; and Ysleta Lutheran Mission, providing ministry and human care in the El Paso/Juarez border area.

Our quilts will go on one of two trucks that LWR is bringing. Other items such as new baby kits, school kits, health kits, sheet sets, children’s underwear and, of course, gift cards will make a definite impact in caring for God’s children in need in the immediate Albuquerque area and worldwide. This is so much a part of the heart of LWML! Women who identify needs and work to fulfill those needs. They take to heart the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:40, “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 it to me.’”

Buses, cars, suitcases and purses will be carrying Gifts From the Heart—an apt name for gifts given with heartfelt gratitude for the blessings received from our gracious God. If you’d like to add yours, find someone going to convention and send it along with them!

What to bring or send? Click here http://books.cph.org/lwml-gifts-from-the-heart

Gotta run get my gift cards purchased!
Love, Patti

Pictured is Patti and baled quilts at LWR warehouse. 35 quilts per bale.

Lutheran Resources

LWML History Books

While researching for an article I wrote last week, I was deep into the LWML history books:

  • Women on a Mission by Ruth Fritz Meyer, 1967
  • Women IN God’s Service, WINGS by Marlys Taege, 1991
  • Women In League With the Lord by Marlys Taege Moberg, 2005

LWML History Books

The first two listed are now out of print. If you have extras of these lying around the house would you consider sending them to the LWML Office, please? Also, if you are cleaning up a house of a past LWML member who might be downsizing or has gone to her heavenly home, would you consider mailing them in? It’s a great resource for those who are called on to write about our history.

Carolyn Blum

Carolyn Blum

Carolyn Blum, former LWML South Wisconsin District President, former Associate Editor and News Editor for the Lutheran Women’s Quarterly, past LWML Vice President of Organizational Resources, and 75th Anniversary Committee member has taken the job of writing the next history book.

Our LWML history is filled with changes. Even our beginning as an organization was influenced by the changing role of women in society. They were looking outside the sphere of the home and family to become more involved in the work of their church. Missions, foreign and domestic, held their interest. Caring and loving outreach were the interests of others. Still others, gifted as writers, ventured into writing Bible studies and devotions. Pooling resources and focusing on certain joint ventures enhanced the effectiveness of women’s outreach in their church body. Coming together as a national organization gave strength to these initiatives.

As our 75th year anniversary approaches, we must embrace changes within our organization to respond to changes in our church, family life, culture and soccer. (Yes, soccer games on Sunday is one of my bugaboos!) (I’ll probably get some angry emails for saying that!) (I don’t do Twitter!)

Where am I going with this? Oh yes! We have some big changes coming up in LWML. Be prepared, as we step out of our comfort zone and change something.

Through it all Lutheran Women in Mission will continue to represent the church in mission, the all-inclusive mission of serving their fellowman though the preaching of the Gospel and the practical application of that Gospel. May all be done to God’s Glory!

Lutheran Reflection

Happy Mother’s Day!

No one denies the ups and downs of motherhood! We are called upon to make changes in our lives sometimes daily because of our own mothers and our own vocation as a mother. Changes are hard and we kid about Lutherans having difficulty with change! But let’s face it! We have adapted to changes throughout our lives whether it is as a child with a mother or as a mother ourselves.

When toddlers change from those who want to snuggle to those who at the age of four want independence and then again to adolescents who prefer to walk several steps behind you, we continue to love them and take care of them (although done in secret at times). Then as they morph into adults, we have to change our attitude about how we are seen by them.

As women caring for mothers who may now be dependent on us instead of the other way around we face that change and have to adapt. No longer do they care for us but we are caring for them. These changes coming with aging mothers are very hard to deal with as they are generally thought of as negative. However, this is a chance for us to show our love and care for someone who may not be able to reciprocate as they did before. What a privilege to care for them as they advance in age.

Jesus and Mary at the crossJesus made caring for His mother a priority during his agony on the cross. He not only died for her sins but made provision for her physical care. So we are called to care for our mothers’ physical and Jesus Heals a Childspiritual needs. Just as Jesus wanted the little children to come to Him and healed many children, so we mothers want to provide spiritual and physical care for our children.

Don’t let anyone tell you that we have difficulty with change! As mothers and daughters we do it all our lives! One thing we can depend on through all these changes is our changeless, Triune God who loves us, forgives us and helps us in our daily lives. Together with Him we are able to celebrate and adapt to motherhood and all that it encompasses.

Happy Mother’s Day from me to you!

Love, Patti

[The Lord God] will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

Isaiah 40:11

Lutheran Women in Mission

A Convention Invitation Changed A Woman’s World

This week I wanted to share with you a story that touched my heart and adds reason to why I love LWML so much. Here’s Deborah’s story:

Between the doors of the sanctuary and the welcome center, she stopped me. “Would you want to go to the LWML convention in Des Moines with me?” “Sure,” I responded. Once a month, outside the sanctuary doors , a rectangular table covered with a purple cloth held a large container half filled with change and small purple and white boxes labeled “Mites” and “LWML”. That had been the extent of my LWML knowledge.

Sandy and I took the bus from Green Bay, WI to the convention center in Iowa. I experienced fellowship with other Christian women, sang praises to our Lord, and listened to devotionals—and that was only the bus ride! At the convention center, I observed in awe all the women gathered to celebrate God’s work in numerous mission fields, both in the United States and across the seas. I received communion at the opening service with thousands of others, participated in Bible Studies, Special Interest Luncheons, and Exhibit Hall events, and listened to Mites in Action speakers. I learned the far-reaching impact that small purple and white box had.

Outside the sanctuary doors of Our Savior Lutheran Church, the rectangular table with the purple cloth still greets people the second Sunday of each month. The change container awaits the emptying of Mite Boxes and new boxes are there for the taking. Now, I am there, too, telling people about the missions we are supporting and arranging speakers to give people an inside look at what their mites can do. Sandy’s invitation changed my world.

Deborah Young
Green Bay
Deborah Young

Like Deborah, I hope you all have been impacted positively by LWML. Registration for the LWML Convention is still open www.lwml.org/2017-convention. I hope you can join us!

Lutheran Resources

Wake Up with the Word

Many of you do morning devotions faithfully, don’t you? A great way to start the day. If you are rushed and off to work, you may have the Mustard Seed Devotions that come into your work email daily from LWML. Those quick devotions and the ability to click on the Bible verse and be taken into the Bible to read more are a blessing to the start of your day. They are also a way to share God’s message by easily forwarding them to friends or sharing on your Facebook page. Sometimes they prompt you to remember to do something you’ve been putting off or have forgotten about.
Thanks be to God that He has put those into our hands and (into our computers). If you know someone who would benefit from receiving these daily devotions, please tell them about them.
There are some other “morning devotions” I’d like to tell you about. At our 75th Anniversary Convention we are continuing to offer Bible study before convention sessions begin. We call them “Wake up With the Word” and they take place from 6:45-7:45 on Friday and Saturday mornings. There are three each morning. No prior sign-up is required. This will be nice for you who are early-morning people or for you who come from the Eastern Time Zone and are 2 hours ahead of time during convention!
Here are the studies we have planned for you to enjoy.
Friday morning, June 23, 2017
1. An LWML Bible Study, led by Jan Brunette
2. A Spanish language LWML Bible Study, led by Marilyn McClure.
3. A CPH-sponsored Bible Study, led by Deb Burma.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

1. An LWML Bible Study, led by Janice Wendorf.
2. A Bible Study led by the LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces Chaplain Craig Muehler and Chaplain Steven Hokana
3. A CPH-sponsored Bible Study, led by Donna Pyle

Lutheran Women in Mission have always embraced the importance of being in God’s Word as the starting point of our mission outreach and service. I hope you have your favorite times and places where you delve into God’s Word daily.

In joyful service,
Patti

Lutheran Reflection

My Favorite Part of the Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly

 

Sheila Lutz

Sheila Lutz

Do you receive the Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly? That is our LWML magazine published four times a year (quarterly) for all women–not just Lutheran women and not just women participating in LWML. It is a great magazine. It has feature articles, mission grant updates, Bible studies (one is always translated into Spanish), news from LWML groups, a note from the Gifts of Love team and updates on new “witness wear” or resources.

My favorite part of the magazine takes up one column on one page. It’s called “Praying the Psalms”. Christian Living Editor, Sheila Lutz, takes a Psalm each issue and reflects on the text in poetic form. I take out my Bible and read the psalm she has selected and then read her phrasing of the verses. It becomes a study of what the psalmist is saying to us! Above all, it is beautiful to read.

I’ve often told Sheila, who is currently working on the Quarterly and also serving as LWML District President of Central Illinois District, that I love her reflections. She will tell you that she doesn’t always know what she will write but the Holy Spirit guides her as she sets about her task.I strongly urge you to read this part of the Quarterly and see if you will agree with me that it is a wonderful part of a wonderful magazine.

 

Lutheran Woman's Quarterly

Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly

This magazine is available in print or electronically. Every woman should receive a copy and find their own favorite part. Praise God for women who use their unique God-given gifts to encourage the rest of us in our faith walk! This is what LWML is blessed to do.

What is your favorite part of the Quarterly? We’d love to hear from you!

 

Blessed to serve with all of you,

Patti

 

Lutheran Women in Mission

Diving into His Word Part II

Karen Kolke is a member of Christ Lutheran, Albuquerque, NM. She will be an airport greeter for those of you flying to our June 22–25, 2017 LWML 75th Anniversary Convention. She also enjoys working as an LHM Petal Pusher every December! I have invited her to share her Diving into His Word story here:

My husband Jerry and I were involved in a very serious car accident 25 years ago. There were many prayers said for us. Those prayers were answered according to God’s Will.

The accident left me in a wheelchair, but I don’t let that hold me back! After the accident, I did a lot of water therapy. This gave me strength in my quads to move and stand; however, I don’t have any balance to walk.  In the water you are buoyant and don’t need any balance — what a freedom!

My husband convinced me to learn to scuba dive. This really opened up my world to traveling with my dive buddies and seeing “God’s Amazing Underwater Aquarium!”

I love to scuba dive … it is always an adventure diving into God’s Underwater Aquarium! To drop into the water and be free … free from the world above with its noise and seemingly endless problems and distractions — to be free from anything touching me, namely my wheelchair. When I am underwater there is no difference between me and anyone else. I don’t use regular fins on my feet, but I have webbed gloves that I use for my propulsion. There is no noise, your thoughts go right to the wonder of God and His workmanship. You see the brightly colored fish, the imagination that God had for the shapes, sizes, and beauty of a world that many will never see.

In one coral cave there was a wooden cross placed on a shelf with memorabilia around it. The cross replaced a cross-shaped coral that was broken off during hurricane Wilma. I had seen this cross — it was beautiful! Life changes above the water and below. God is always there through the easy times and the hard times. Changes occur, but God’s love is constant. There is such a peace underwater, I feel closer to God when I am on a dive trip. That freedom and peace fills me up, I take that back with me to the world above. When your focus is on God and His workmanship, the world is an easier place to be.