This is a big week for LWML! We are having our Assembly of Leaders (AOL), this year, titled “Follow the Leader”. As always, we will begin with Bible study centered around the Scripture verse, What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me — practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you (Philippians 4:9). Bible studies will be led by our counselors, Rev. Robert Mundahl and Rev. Mitchel Schuessler.
Thirty-nine of our forty district presidents will be attending. New, this year, will be the newly elected junior counselors from the districts attending with their districts. Each district was encouraged to invite two other women to attend. Following the 3-day event, they will return to their districts and hold district and zone events to share information and ideas that they shared here in St. Louis.
Speakers, interest sessions, convention information, communication ideas, and other things used to strengthen their districts will be presented. I hope all of you will be able to attend a presentation they will do in your district.
Please remember them in your prayers this week for safe travel, good health, and a valuable learning time with everyone at this event.
In LWML, we serve the Lord, our Leader, with Gladness!
To be an LWML Pastoral Counselor is huge. The job includes doctrinal review of everything, weeknight and weekday meetings either in person or via computer. You have to juggle family time, congregation time, and LWML time. You can be asked to be away from home at least 25 days per biennium. Your counseling time may include Executive Committee and Board members, district members, office staff, or other counselors. You review legal issues, employment questions, sit on financial committees, and plan and write various services, dedications, and convention worship. Necessary qualities include patience, a sense of humor, and the ability to be silly at times in sketches and “purplemercials”. In other words, we expect a lot out of our counselors!
You have two outstanding counselors elected by your delegates at conventions in Des Moines and Albuquerque. I hope you have a chance to meet them if you haven’t already.
Elected in Des Moines, 2015, our senior counselor, Rev. Robert Mundahl, is senior pastor of Peace Lutheran in Faribault, Minnesota, in the Minnesota South District. He attended Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne and also has a B.S. in K-12 Education/Philosophy from the University of Minnesota. (Peace has a school, 3 years-8). He served as an LWML District Counselor in two districts, Missouri and Minnesota South. He and his wife of 43 years, Peg, have 2 children and 2 grandchildren. His hobbies include camping, photography, golf and hiking and his golden retriever, Glacier, frequently accompanies him. His favorite sports include golf and watching NCAA wrestling. He enjoys all aspects of being a pastor but says if he had to do a different job it would be a school teacher/coach.
Our junior counselor, Rev. Mitchel Schuessler, is pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Troy, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois District. He received his Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and his B.A. from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. He served nine years in prison ministry. St. Paul’s also has a preschool. He and his wife of 34 years, Penny, have two married children. As hobbies he enjoys train watching and model railroading and reading. They have quite a menagerie at their house: Golden retriever, Zeb; chocolate lab, Wrigley; guinea pig, Oreo; parakeet, Rizzo; 2 water turtles, Houdini and Titan. His favorite sport to watch is baseball and if he wasn’t a pastor he would like to be a photographer. He enjoys leading worship and preaching and especially enjoys leading Bible studies.
Because of the heavy workload of reviewing manuscripts, articles and the review of the new history book that is currently being written, we asked Rev. Kenton Wendorf of Neenah, Wisconsin to come aboard as a special appointed counselor for doctrinal review. This has been a wonderful addition and has helped our elected counselors immensely. Many of you know Rev. Wendorf as LWML Past President, Jan Wendorf’s husband of 40 years and co-author of LWML Sunday materials in 2010. They have 11 grandchildren and, surprise, one of his hobbies is playing with the grandchildren! Also enjoys golf, playing the piano and watching the Brewers, and Indian’s play baseball and the Ohio State and Wisconsin play football. If he wasn’t a pastor he would enjoy working in the business sector, possibly in the nonprofit sector.
Our counselors are very special to us. I hope you will find a way to express your appreciation this month to your counselors—zone, district, or national—as they serve the Lord with gladness alongside you!
Patti
For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom from the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints (Proverbs 2:6-8).
LBW’s ministry lovingly reaches out to people who are visually impaired to create a connection to the Word of God and His church. Lutheran Braille Workers, Inc. (LBW) is celebrating their 75thAnniversary on October 20, 2018 at their headquarters in Yucaipa, California. I had the pleasure of serving on their Board of Directors during the two years between being LWML VP of Christian Life and LWML President. LWML has been honored to be one of the keynote speakers at this anniversary celebration. LWML has long been supportive of LBW through mission grants. Many of us serve in Braille work centers across the United States and many of your LWML districts also support LBW with grants.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to present their grant check of $100,000 from our mite offerings when I go out there for the celebration? At this point, we only have half of that amount available. When you look at our mite offerings (www.lwml.org/mites-received) you will see just how far behind we are with them. Please pray about our mites. Then, I strongly urge you, individually and collectively, to do something specifically about it. What will you and your LWML group do now to help pay all of the grants selected at the Albuquerque convention, including this one for LBW?
Remember this grant in prayer: Lutheran Braille Workers (LBW) has been providing God’s Word to the visually impaired since 1943, utilizing the New International Version of the Bible for the past 25 years. With the use of the English Standard Version (ESV) by the LCMS, LBW desires to offer people with visual disability the opportunity to worship and study with the same translation of the Bible as sighted people of the Church. These funds will assist in the cost of the production of the zinc plates for each Braille Work Center along with producing the ESV Bible in large print.
Jesus had a special place in His heart for the marginalized of society and so can we. Our LWML family reaches out to the physically and the spiritually blind as part of our mission. With the help of the Holy Spirit we should strive to do the best we can in both areas!
And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in pathsthat they have notknown I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them(Isaiah 42:16).
The year of district conventions is concluded. The final conventions were the LWML Florida-Georgia convention in Orlando and the LWML Southern Illinois convention in Centralia, Illinois. Forty districts held conventions this year with 40 different themes, 40 different Bible studies, and many different guest speakers, servant events, worship services, and elections of officers.
Patti and FL-GA President Trish
Much like the body of Christ is one but composed of different parts with different functions, we celebrate this reflection also in our LWML districts. Differences come with geographic location, population differences, historical settlement patterns, and emphases of LCMS districts. We bring these districts together in our national organization and benefit from the differing input we receive from all of them. Not only do we benefit from the combination of our Mite Box offerings for grants but also in the talent that is brought to our various committees, our production of Bible studies and devotions, and our work in the area of mission service and gospel outreach.
Taking figures from the reports that the Executive Committee Representatives to the district conventions turned in here is what I see.
Attendance at conventions was 9,517 people
Young Woman Representatives were a total of 312
District grants for 2018-2020 totaled $3,469,997.92
I hope you were able to attend your district convention, the time spent together is never wasted. There is something for everyone at a convention. That something is not the same for each person. Remember to show appreciation to those who worked on your convention. Support your officers and work to fund your mission grants over the next two years. It’s a great time to be in LWML! It’s a great time to Serve the Lord with Gladness!
Engage, Encourage, Equip and Enjoy!
Patti
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing (Psalm 100:1-2 KJV).
This video is a tour of our new LWML Offices. You’ll see as we go down the stairs in Loeber Hall on the campus of the St. Louis Seminary. The last hallway is not ours but I walked down it to show you the storeroom we are renting. Many of you will recognize the hallway as the location of the old food and clothing bank. There is a loading dock out back that we can use for truck deliveries.
Gold mums were planted outside the windows of the office by the Seminary to welcome us. The office staff can decorate their offices this week and get settled in. A huge thank you goes to Product Developer, Beverly England, who coordinated the construction, the move, and the interior decorating. She spent hours and hours on the phone and shopping and “coordinating” everything involved. Thank you, Bev!!
We just have to get window coverings and our outdoor sign done. Again, thanks to a donor who donated savings bonds years ago and also an anonymous donor who gave $20,000 towards the move. No Mite Box offering money had to be used.
Please stop in and “set a spell” if you are in St. Louis. Dedication of the office will be Tuesday, November 6, 2019, at 1:30.
We all love to celebrate special events with our family like baptisms, confirmations, birthdays, and weddings, etc. This past Sunday Rev. Dr. Robert Roegner, LWML Pastoral Counselor 2013-2017, was installed to his missionary position with The Apple of His Eye Mission Society at Concordia Lutheran Church in San Antonio, Texas.
Pastor Roegner and his wife, Kristi, who most recently served on the LWML Church Workers in Mission Task Force, will be working with The Apple of His Eye founder, Steve Cohen and his wife, Nancy, as missionaries in Israel. They will be working with Immanuel Ministries and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Israel.
Another reason for the LWML family to mark this day is the fact that this outreach in Israel was made possible, in part, with your Mite Box Offerings from last biennium. You may remember the mission grant paid to The Apple of His Eye Society to do missionary work in Israel.
Now, as we would following any family celebration, we continue in prayer for Pastor Roegner, Kristi, Steve and Nancy as they set out to witness to the lost sheep of Israel. Thank you for your prayers and for your mission support!
To read more and communicate with these missionaries go to their website: www.appleofhiseye.org.
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)
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:
Connect and engage with pastors and church workers in a strategic manner
Intentionally invite and involve pastors and church workers in LWML events
Connect and engage pastors and church workers to LWML’s mission focus, and
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).
Summer in my family means a lot of time spent at Lake Ft. Gibson, Oklahoma, about 50 minutes from our house. My husband, Bill, is an astronomy buff and one of our favorite things to do is to go out in the boat after dark, park it in the middle of the lake and look at the sky. This weekend was really fantastic.
The ecliptic is an imaginary line on the sky that marks the annual path of the sun. It is the projection of Earth’s orbit onto the celestial sphere. It defines the plane along which the moon, planets and asteroids wander. In other words, all eight planets essentially lie in the same flat plane and follow the same familiar ecliptic path.
This weekend along this imaginary line in the sky from the east horizon to the west you were able to see Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus all at the same time along with the moon. What am amazing sight to see! Mars actually does look red! In the book of Job, God questions Job, “can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Can you establish their rule on earth?” (Job 38:31-33)
Scientists say there are thought to be 50 billion galaxies! How tiny does that make you feel? Yet, looking at those stars in our galaxy we know and rejoice in a God who knows us down to the number of hairs on our head! One who loves us enough to die on the cross so that we can spend eternity with Him! It’s almost unimaginable, isn’t it!
Check out the footnotes to the Job passage about the constellations mentioned. Also, read Genesis 1:16-17. Spend some time gazing at the night sky and contemplate the greatness of God and His love for you.
Love, Patti
If you want to, download the App called “Sky Guide” to your phone to enhance your viewing!
Our Canadian sisters in Lutheran Women’s Missionary League—Canada (LWMLC) held their 25th Anniversary convention this past July 5-8 in Winnepeg, Manitoba. In 1993 the LWMLC became an auxiliary of the Lutheran Church—Canada. Here is the resolution from their 1993 convention manual:
Resolved, that with deep gratitude to God for His blessings, and with loving appreciation to the International Lutheran Women’s Missionary League for the fellowship, inspiration and privilege of working together in the Lord’s service, and with the holy fear coupled with confidence in God’s abiding grace, we, the delegates to this Founding Convention, do hereby establish the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League—Canada in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
With this, we became the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League and dropped the “International” from our name. This happened in 1993 at the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, convention when Ida Mall was ILWML President. Ida traveled to Canada this month to represent LWML at the anniversary convention.
Both conventions had as their theme, “One in Spirit, One in Purpose”. Iris Barta, who many of you heard at our Albuquerque convention, chaired her final convention as President. Linda Long was elected the new LWMLC President. They also revealed a new logo. I’ve included a picture and explanation of it. They use the color blue like we use the color purple.
We thank God for our sisters in Christ in Canada. For twenty-five years they have supported missions, supplied resources and spiritual growth materials and fellowship for the Lutheran women living in Canada. We wish them a “Happy Anniversary” and God’s richest blessings on their work in the future. Please pray for them and their work.
Ida Mall said in her address to the convention, “Although much has changed in these past 25 years, so much has stayed the same because of Jesus, the Word. Even though we are no longer the International LWML, we are LWML women of God in Canada and the United States letting God’s Word dwell deeply within us and with the power of the Holy Spirit to be about the purpose of sharing Jesus with others.”
One in Spirit, One in Purpose!
Patti
A new logo which depicts hearts for mission, service, studying God’s Word, fellowship, and for being united in Christ.
