Andew Kassouf is working on the youth program to make this years’ youth event the best yet.
This is an opportunity for congregation youth to come together for a summer event of fun and faith growth. Come as a youth group or with family. Youth registration fee is $25.
Mugs for visitors, hot loaves of bread to the home, VBS t-shirts advertising, Angel Food Ministries distributed, prayers at the clothes closet - congregations are doing reaching into the community in so many different ways.
On Saturday afternoon, at Evangelism Park, participants will gather together and learn what congregations and ministries are doing to share Jesus.
Special note from Concordia, Conover NC: Concordia is once again chartering a bus to take their group to the summer conference. There are 20 extra seats available. If you would like to travel FREE OF CHARGE and enjoy the fellowship of others in the journey, contact Lori Bedder at 828.459.9746 or email at ljbedder@aol.com
Thanks Concordia!
Dear Mission Prayer Partners,
Pastor Hull from Prince of Peace Charlotte NC shared this wonderful faith-sharing story with me. I just wanted to share a joyful story. Last Christmas our congregation did an outreach event where we prepared 200 hot turkey dinners with all the fixins. We delivered them to the houses/apartments around our church along with an invitation to visit us at Prince of Peace. A few months went by with no response and then a couple stopped by to visit. After talking with them I found out she was Islamic and the husband was a baptized Mormon. They came to worship and Bible study and then said they wanted to be baptized as Christians. I have worked with them on the catechism over the past few months and praise God on July 5th they will both be baptized into God’s family. This wonderful event has given us reassurance that God draws those He wills unto Christ in His time so we maintain faith in our loving obedience to Christ’s command in Matthew 28.
We remember this family who join the family of God on Sunday. What a wonderful way to celebrate the freedom on this 4th of July weekend.
Another piece of exciting news and truly a prayer of thanksgiving. Pastor Rueter shares this invitation from Living Savior, Stafford VA: “Please invite folks to join Living Hope Lutheran Church in a groundbreaking celebration on Sunday, July 12 at 4 pm at the site of our new construction, 325 Courthouse Rd (Hwy 630), Stafford, Virginia 22554. [Northwest of I-95 Exit 140]
Because access to the site may be limited we are gathering at Winding Creek Elementary School, Hwy 630 and Winding Creek Road (.25 mile before the property) to fill cars to carpool to the site. Please arrive early to get on site by 4 pm.
If you’d like, bring a shovel to join us in the groundbreaking; dress for dust and/or mud; we will have a catered meal available after the brief worship. Rain date: July 19 at 4 pm.
We understand that you may not be able to be present with us, but we ask that you include us on your prayer list July 12 and share in our joy at finally being under construction.”
Let us join hearts in prayers of thanksgiving for this development and in seeking God’s continued guidance as this mission congregation continues to grow forward in serving the Lord and sharing the Good News.
Our Prayer Goals for 2009
Let us join our hearts and voices as we pray for:
Those who do not know Jesus Christ and the joy of His salvation for them.
The work of mission outreach teams, missionaries, and outreach efforts that will make a Gospel difference in our communities.
Boldness in each of our lives that we will regularly share the Good News of Jesus with others.
The continued growth in prayer partners for mission. (Our goal is 3000 pray-ers.)
Mission Update
On Sunday, I was at the Open House for the new Open Arms ministry at Concordia, Hagerstown MD. Concordia recently added to their building and are now seeking mission opportunities that extend the church into the community and brings the community to the church. Six students are already enrolled for the Fall and there were several families at the Open House.
Concordia, Hagerstown, Messiah, Germantown MD’s Kindergarten, and the Child Development Center at Good Shepherd, Midlothian VA all open this Fall. We pray that families will be drawn to these centers and that through the ministry of Christian education, children and adults will come to that personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Thank you for your mission prayers, they are making an eternal difference.
Sally J. Hiller
Mission and Ministry Executive
Southeastern District, LCMS
Don’t miss out on registering for this summers Out Fishing - Tending the Flame Conference. “Out Fishin’” is focused on practical hands-on evangelism and witnessing resources for everyone in the congregation and school: from the evangelism committee to ushers and nursery attendants, from Sunday school teachers to elders, from the teens to the children.
Once again, we have over 30 workshops with new topics. We are blessed to have former conference presenters Rev. Glenn Lucas, Sarah Guldalian (Lutheran Hour Ministries) with us for workshop presentations. Workshops also provide resources for those who serve in every area of the congregation: Sunday school, Outreach Committee, Elders, Greeters, Youth, Day School, Visiting Team, and Compassion ministries.
Workshop Listing - Agenda includes four one hour fifteen minute long workshop sessions as well as an opportunity to attend a mini-session with one of our speakers and special guests on Saturday morning.
A Message from the President
From President Jon Diefenthaler
The Tending the Flame conference is always a highlight for me. It brings together people from all of over our Southeastern District. There are plenty of laity as well as church workers. Some come as families with children of several ages. There is an energy that is easily felt, and there is a love for the Lord and his mission that everybody shares and wants to express.
This year’s conference is of particular interest to me. For it comes on the heels of this year’s District Convention, where we resolved to make “faith-sharing” the priority emphasis for the next three years. Thus far, we have recorded some 311,000 such moments, and by 2012, we intend to surpass the 750,000 marker on the way to our 2017 goal of 2.5 million.
“Out Fishin’” is also a theme that serves to capture all the dimensions of the work of outreach to which Jesus calls us. I pray that each of the sessions will serve both to inspire and to provide those of you who come to Richmond with the kind of practical, hands-on assistance in faith-sharing that so many of us are seeking.
Did you know…
There are an estimated 190 million non-Christians, which would equal the 4th largest nation in the world?
85% of all evangelical churches have evangelism” in their mission statement?
Less than 5% of Christians in a typical church are personally involved in evangelism?
A typical church spends less than 2% of their budget on local evangelism?
Only 9% of pastors and 2% of lay people say they are gifted, and most do not feel adequately trained in evangelism?
Out Fishin’ hopes to make a dent in those statistics by providing sessions that will help you grow the skills you need to share Jesus where you are!
Please share this information with others in your congregation who would benefit from OUT FISHIN!
Registration Form
Agenda
Workshops
Holiday Inn Koger Center
Registration fee is $50 per per person until July 10
Children & Youth- $25 each
Already more than 312,000 faith-sharing experiences have been recorded by individuals, district congregations, and the Lutheran Mission Society of Baltimore MD.
Thank you for your stories and letting us know how it is going. We have an opportunity to help reach Ten Million faith-sharing events recorded. Next week I will share our totals. If you have additional stories or numbers for yourself or your congregation, let me know. I will joyfully pass our total forward. Just a reminder - it is not about numbers, it is about lives that eternally changed. Sharing the stories and numbers helps to encourage all of us to keep on being Great Commission people.
So, the great question “How do you record your faith-sharing events?
There are three ways for you to do this. I will outline them here and if you have any difficulty, contact Sally Hiller at sjhiller@se.lcms.org or Jerry Lucas at lucasjs@verizon.net.
1. The easiest way is to email Sally or Jerry with your faith-sharing event. This would be the number of events and/or a brief story/description about the event. You could volunteer to collect these from the congregation and then contact either of us with that information and we will record them for you.
2. Go on the web to the SED Faith-Sharing blog
Click on the “Ablaze! Reporting” box in the upper bar of options and you will find a simple form for recording the information.
3. Go to the LCMS home page at http://www.lcms.org. Click on the “Ablaze sharing our faith ” button in the center of the page. Click on the log in for sharing your story. Locate your congregation or school and fill out the form.
Currently about 25% of the District’s congregations have identified an Ablaze! Congregational Contact. We would like to grow that number so that all of our congregations have someone who is able to share the Ablaze! stories of faith-sharing, encourage members in evangelism and outreach, and be kept current with information and news about this effort. If you are interested in serving as an Ablaze! Congregational Contact or know someone who would be glad to do this, please send an email to sjhiller@se.lcms.org
Pastor Tim Sandeno shares the following faith-sharing moment:
1Recently, a young sailor from the Naval Nuclear Power School visited Good Shepherd. Two weeks later, he brought a friend. I decided to meet with them on a Friday afternoon to get acquainted. My intention was to begin catechesis. We sat at a table in the club where most of these young sailors go on Friday afternoons. Before long, we had sailor after sailor drop by, with several joining us. At one point, there were at least eight young men sitting around the table joining in our conversation of the Ten Commandments. Now the challenge is how to continue these informal sessions of catechesis.
You will have opportunity to hear Art Scherer, Tom Zehnder, and Phil Bickel teach evangelism and outreach principles from Scripture. More than 30 workshops will help to develop evangelism skills. Music will be a very special part of the conference and the children’s program will be outstanding. Registration information is available on our website at www.se.lcms.org or you may call the District office at 800.637-5723.
The most important part of VBS is the follow-up! Are you prepared to follow through and build on what VBS begins? Did you know….
Vacation Bible School is a ministry designed to reach people of all ages, leading them to know and to respond to Jesus Christ as led by the Holy Spirit. VBS is a fun-filled, spiritual adventure that provides concentrated Bible study and encourages real-life application. All aspects of VBS are appropriate for church and mission settings.
In 2006, over 3 million people were enrolled in Vacation Bible Schools.
Over 94,000 people came to know Christ as Savior and this was reported as a result of VBS.
Vacation Bible School is the single largest outreach event for most churches. · About 26% of baptisms are the result of Vacation Bible School.
More people have come to know Jesus as Savior through VBS than through any other single outreach event.
Simply defined, Vacation Bible School is a spiritual adventure designed to reach people of all ages with the gospel of Jesus Christ. How spiritual the adventure becomes, and how effectively we reach people of all ages, is dependant upon how well we are trained and prepared for the work of evangelism through VBS.
(REACHING THE HOME THROUGH VBS written and taught by Michael Stover, 2008.)
Some suggestions for VBS follow-up:
First, get addresses from your participants. Send a post card from their VBS teacher. Invite them to Sunday school. If you have a summer camp program or a Day School, invite them to check you out. Put them on the invitation to church events and newsletter list. Make follow-up contacts by phone, email, and in person. Pray for them, in fact when you call, ask if there are special needs for which you may pray. As a rule, plan for four contacts in the four weeks that follow - try to make one a personal visit and another a fellowship opportunity.