St. Louis, MO – 9/3/2010

With the amount of information exploding via internet and other publications, sometimes people just want to have the basics at hand to help them in their walk with the Lord.

In order to serve our mission partners, we are now publishing a new series of easy to digest materials that help people go and grow.

The first installment in this series focuses on Rosh Ha Shannah, beginning on September 8th and Yom Kippur, ten days later.

We invite you to please print these and share them and forward them to your Christian friends far and wide. We are doing this as a service of our mission and do not charge for these.

Your gifts of mission support are welcome to help sustain our growing mission work.

Thank you.

Yours in Y’shua -

Steve Cohen

Click here to get the document

Click here to support the mission now

Thank you all for your prayers and your support of this year’s Tending the Flame. It was a powerful, exciting, and uplifting event.

This morning at the prayer breakfast, Dr. Jonathan Blanke who teaches at the Japan Lutheran Seminary was with us to share the incredible work of this mission. Dr. Blanke is set and supported through LCMS World Mission. You can follow his story through the LCMS World Mission.

Directors of Christian Education Jennifer Hills and Barb Haar served as emcees throughout the weekend. They facilitated the Prayer Breakfast leading a time of prayer for mission both globally and locally.

The weekend was wrapped up with a celebration of the Lord’s Supper that gathered us as one family in Christ and sent us out as one District in mission. President Jon Diefenthaler was the preacher and he reminded us that “Mission is not a church project. Mission is not just a priority. It is a 24/7 way of life in which we get to be blessing people.”  He also said that for much of the people outside the church, scripted outreach is like junk mail and they won’t even open it. That is why we must be the church in the midst of life – sharing the One who life was given for the world.

There are so many people who assisted in making this event possible. Justin Gaines was the videographer who captured the event. Watch for a video summary. Andrew Kassouf and Joel Armes developed and led a wonderful teen event. Sirpa Quinn, Cathy Long, and Cindy Haupt from SED staff were ever present and helpful. Donna Lucas was put to work in a host of areas. And as people walked by and offered to help – we put them to work. Thank you all.

Nest year’s theme will address family and multi-generational mission and outreach opportunities. We look forward to welcoming Mary Manz Simon, Joel Dietrich, Victor Belton, Marilyn Sharpe, and Dien Taylor on July 29-31 in Richmond. And, lest I forget, Echelon will be back for the teen program and our very capable Child Ministry team has promised to return.  Mark the date – July 29-31, 2011.

And now, as God has blessed you, may you bless others in His name.

Sally Hiller
Tending the Flame
July 30-Aug.1
Holiday Inn Koger Center
Richmond VA

“Blessed to be a blessing.” The call of Abraham in Genesis 12 is our call today. We know the story, we live in the full confidence of the promise of Christ who has given us everything through his own sacrifice. We, who have been blessed by God, are the “blessing people.” What opportunities today will we have to bless another – to be the church to another?

This theme carried through Reggie McNeal’s presentations as well as others. Esther Johnson, a sophomore at Concordia-Nebraska and a member at Ascension, Landover Hills MD shared the story of how after she had to return to her home country of Liberia without the hope of remaining in the U.S. for college, her high school principal remembered her. And through that action, an answer to prayer, the door was opened for her to return and attend Concordia where she could be study to become a Lutheran teacher and share the Gospel message with children in her home country.

Joe Murchinson, a member of Our Savior, Laurel MD, founded Side by Side a non-profit group working with students and families in partnership with the local school. He shared the story of how the local faith community came together to be the church to a family in crisis.

The stories of being the church filled the day. Ed Reich, Messiah Charlotte NC, brought greetings from the Lutheran Laymen’s League and described the wonderful partnership LLL has with the District. Sarah Guldalian, Lutheran Hour Ministry, told of the new resources available for congregations and teens. She shared that the new Mission U, through LHM, was given birth through the SED Mission U program last year.

Conference gatherers had ample opportunity to attend workshops – more than 50 were offered. The workshops included topics such as developing a congregational prayer team, how to use demographics to understand who is living next door to the church, how to raise healthy young boys, sharing the faith, what the Bible has to say about sharing the faith, welcoming your neighbor – and the list goes on.

A special event in the Conference was the evening Festival of Mission and Music. Random Calling (St. Stephen’s music team) started this event and Echelon (a Christian music ministry who worked with the teen program) continued with music interspersed  presentations from SED missionaries. We heard about the new work being done in Baltimore, Northern Virginia, Richmond, Conover-Hickory, Bowie, and through the compassionate outreach of the Lutheran Mission Society. We were blessed with the ministry of the Liturgical Dance Team from Resurrection, Richmond VA. At the end, LCEF Vice President Steve Heemann and his assistant, Cindy Haupt, shared a bit about the partnership LCEF has with congregations and investors. And in a special drawing, Rev. Ken Fuehler became the recipient of a Kindle.

So much flooded the day – this is to give you a glimpse of what took place. I’ll send one more report – after Sunday’s prayer breakfast and worship service.

Sally Hiller
Tending the Flame
July 30-Aug.1
Holiday Inn Koger Center
Richmond VA

Bringing you greetings from Tending the Flame where more than 450 adults, children, and youth have gathered under the theme of Living Letters. Friday has been a full day with three workshop opportunities in addition to an evening mass event.

Random Calling, the music team at St. Stephen’s, Hickory NC opened the mass event with a time of music that shaped the evening. Rev. Dave Guelzow, pastor at St. Stephen’s and Chaplain for the event gathered us around the Living Letters theme of 2 Corinthians 3:1-3: “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the livingGod, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

Picking up of that phrase God has “written on our hearts,” we have a calling, both Pastor Guelzow and Reggie McNeal encouraged us be Living Letters.

Teacher Marlys-Jean Natonick (Our Savior, Rehoboth Beach and St. John’s, Dover) shared her experience of teaching a conversational English class in China and the opportunities it presented to engage students in a conversation about faith – about the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Deb Posey and Sylvia Shives brought greetings from LWML and highlighted the ways that LWML supports ministry with the District through its mites as well as through wonderful resources.

President Diefenthaler, greeting the assembly noted that we are “one District together in mission” and that we must address the challenge of being the church – being the hands and feet of Jesus so that the 75% who do not know will come to know Jesus as Lord.

Tending the Flame
July 30-Aug.1
Holiday Inn Koger Center
Richmond VA

Living Letters in Motion!

The District office is filled with the activity of preparing materials, gathering supplies, and packing boxes for this weekend’s event.

A few final notes for you:
* Registration begins at 11:00 on Friday morning.
* Dress is business casual.
* An offering will be received on Sunday morning. The ministry will be announced at the Conference.
* Workshop schedule is posted on the website. Agenda & Workshops
* A special lunch session with President Diefenthaler has been scheduled. The topic is a sharing of the actions of the LCMS Convention.

The Child Ministry Team gathered last week to prepare sessions. Laura Kmitch and Martha Spinosa return to the program. Esther Johnson, new this year is a sophomore at Concordia – Nebraska and desires to be a Lutheran educator.

Don’t forget the bookstore. LVS will once again provide wonderful resources for congregation, family, and personal use.Check out their assortment of books and gift ideas.

LCEF Booth – Be certain to check out the resources at the LCEF booth and speak with Steve about stewardship ministry.
Don’t forget to register for a spectacular door prize.

Echelon  – Fresh from the National Youth Gathering, Echelon joins the teen program to lead the music and to share their faith story.

Teens will participate in a local servant event on Saturday.

Plan to Visit the Lutheran Malaria Initiative Table

Many wonderful displays will be available for your browsing. Be certain to check out LMI.

One of the already frequently asked questions I am receiving in the aftermath of the 2010 LCMS Convention in Houston is , “Will Ablaze continue?” The answer is a resounding “yes.” The Convention, in fact, adopted a solid resolution to this effect.

Under the Ablaze! banner, the Southeastern District is being richly blessed by God. The number of faith-sharing moments that have been tabulated to date is approaching 600,000, and we are more than halfway toward our goal of 100 new mission starts. Surrounding these missions are more than 2000 mission prayer partners.

My proudest moment at the Convention, moreover, was the fact that two out the three congregations that received special recognition for their participation in the Ablaze! fundraising effort were from the SED. (pictured above)

Even more encouraging was the Convention’s overwhelming endorsement (1080-33) of the Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI). LMI not only aims to mobilize all Lutherans in the US in the global fight against a disease that kills one million people worldwide each year. It provides a unique opportunity for us to bear witness to the Jesus that so many in our culture long to see.

In my view, the uncertainty and the challenges created by the sweeping leadership and structural changes of the Convention dare not distract us. The Lord of the Church, after all, is Jesus Christ. The mission opportunities that God has given to our congregations must remain our focus.

Dr. Jon Diefenthaler, President
Southeastern District, LCMS

Greetings from the Southeastern District, LCMS,

Only eight more days until we will be gathering in Richmond for Tending the Flame on July 30-August 1, 2010. We hope that you are as excited as we are about this Conference; in addition to Reggie McNeal, our Presenter, we will be offering five sessions of amazing workshops covering topics of prayer, witnessing, mission planting, faith-sharing, evangelism, and discipleship.  If you know of others who are interested in attending, please tell them to call our office at 703-971-9371 or 800-637-5723, ext. 207.

If you did not sign up for the Sunday morning prayer breakfast when you registered, there is still time to do so, just give me a call at the above number. The cost of the breakfast is $20 for adults and $10 for children.

President Jon Diefenthaler is planning a session for congregational presidents; if you are serving as the President of your congregation, please let me know so that we can forward additional information to you.

The address of the hotel is as follows:

Holiday Inn Select Koger Center
1021 Koger Center  Blvd.
Richmond, VA  23235-4756
804-379-3800

http://holidayinnkoger.com/

Conference registration opens at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, July 30 with the workshop sessions beginning at 1:00 p.m.
* Hotel check-in time is 4:00 p.m.; check-out time is 11:00 a.m.
* Each guest room is equipped with a small refrigerator and a microwave
* You do not need to pre-register for the various workshops; after checking in at our registration table in the lobby, at the appropriate time you can go directly to the workshops you wish to attend
* If you have youth, children, or infants who will be attending with you, their “program” rooms will be open at 12:45 p.m.  When you arrive on Friday, please check in with us at the conference registration table in the hotel lobby before taking your children to their respective room(s)
* There will be no special programs for the children and the youth on Sunday morning so that everyone will be able to attend the Worship service and Celebration of the Eucharist
* A schedule of the workshops has been posted on our website at http://www.se.lcms.org/top-menu/news.php?id=50
* Directions to the hotel are attached
* Some of the roads in this area are toll roads, so you should have a few quarters with you just in case you need them
If you have any questions about the conference, please feel free to contact me.

Cathy Long
Database Manager, Ext. 207

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Final Report – at least from this writer. I am certain that your newsletters will be filled with stories and pictures that show a Gathering filled with the discoveries and experiences of your youth. This has been an excellent event.

I wanted to leave last thoughts with you about being green! Not green with envy, not green with environmental concerns – just green. You would think there would be plenty enough green with all those bright green backpacks traveling throughout the city. But no, the folks from the Lutheran Malaria Initiative provided each participant with the same beautiful bright green color in a t-shirt. So, 25,000 times 2 we were blessed until our vision became quite green.

Kids care. We know that. Their hearts are moved to compassion and generosity and the realization that 25,000 people will die every nine days of malaria is astounding. One youth gathering’s worth of population every nine days. They care about this. And they care that our church cares and wants to do something about it.

The 64th Regular Convention of the LCMS adopted a resolution to support and participate in the Lutheran Malaria Initiative. Youth at the National Gathering are responding as well. Their response will help to stop malaria as they get involved in the fight against it. This initiative is about protecting people from malaria-infected mosquitoes by sending a net to save a life. It is that easy.

In an unprecedented collaborative effort with Lutheran World Relief, the United Nations, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, we will work together to crush the powerful hold of this disease that claims more than one million lives a year.

Your teens are coming home ready for action – they were sent from We Believe with a command: Go and Look. Go and Listen. Go and Live – live in the sharing of Jesus in word and deed. I look forward to the many ways  youth will take the message of this gathering and continue growing in the faith and in living lives that are actively engaged in sharing Jesus whether through the Lutheran Malaria Initiative, telling their friends about what they believe, or serving the community and congregation.

Thank you for your prayer support on behalf of all our youth and counselors. I know this was not the only event that teens participated in this summer. You will have an opportunity to learn more in the next SED newsletter.

God bless. I hope to see you in two weeks at Tending the Flame.

Sally Hiller

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Greetings from New Orleans where the LCMS National Youth Gathering is taking place. Tuesday has been a gorgeous day here in the city. As I make my way to the Convention Center, I am giving thanks for the long line of buses that waits to take thousands of teens to early morning servant events. It is incredible to see the work that is being done here in the local area. Nearly 100 different locations have been identified, locations where young people will be painting, repairing, visiting in nursing homes and special needs centers, helping local parks and areas ‘go green’ with environmental clean-ups.

In addition to going out for servant events, youth assembled, made, gave the following contributions:
·      3,000 personal care kits for area shelters and community organizations
·      1,000 units of blood for southeast Louisiana hospitals
·      400 fleece blankets
·      50 haircuts for Locks of Love
·      125 baptismal banners for local churches
·      3,000 pounds of non-perishable food items for Second Harvest Food Bank
·      200 batches of play dough for local preschools and Boys & Girls Clubs
·      2,000 thank-you notes for local oil spill recovery workers

The day ended with an incredible worship service. The service was filled with the music of a choir and band consisting of youth from our congregations. It was powerful, moving, and majestic. Rev. Dean Nadasy, 4th Vice President of the LCMS was the preacher for the service and his message connected with the teens. Drawing participants through the theme of We Believe, the worship service presented the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in every way: visually, musically, dramatically and as powerfully in the sermon. Communion was a celebration of the forgiveness we have in Christ Jesus and the hope he gives for
tomorrow.

With energy and excitement, participants left this worship for their last night at We Believe. (How is it that they have so much energy?)

By the way, it was heartwarming to have young people stop by the booth, notice the name of the District and say “That’s us!”

Until tomorrow -

Sally Hiller

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Monday at the Gathering found participants in the routine of this event: short night of sleep, Bible study, servant events, food, workshops, exhibit hall, food, sports, music, food, mass event, evening events, food.  Yes, all this work does make one hungry and everywhere you look there are green backpacks in line. But they do more than stand in line.

Listening in to the conversation reveals the hearts of people who love the Lord. They are talking about texting a prayer request to the prayer hot-line, or the Jesus-painter at the mass event. Another conversation may be about the Bible study presentation while the next is about weeding gardens at the servant event site.

There are so many ways for youth and adults to participate in the Gathering that it is easy to fill the day. My days are spent in the District Booth Exhibit area with Donna Lucas and Chuck Hiller who are assisting our District effort. More than 70 groups have lingered long enough to play the boomwhackers and video-tape their song. We estimate that at least 800 are stopping by during the day between “boomwhacking” a song picking up one of the 1000 bars of soap (daily)  that we have to contribute to the care kits that youth are making. While there, we get to learn a bit more about them – where they are from, what parts of the gathering they are enjoying, and what is impacting them. It is an amazing event overflowing with Christ-centered energy.

I am reminded, especially as I talk with the leaders who are working their way through the exhibit hall, that these wonderful volunteers have given up work and vacation time to spend 5 (and for many 7 or more) days (24-hour days) with teens. This is a gift of love that shows a passion for serving the Lord through the ministry of young people. Lift them up in your prayers. This will be the day when some extra prayer energy will be much appreciated.

One important prayer note. DCE Chris Henze (Concordia, Conover) fell and has broken some bones. He is currently in the hospital. His group is in the very capable hands of their counselors: David and Amy. Please lift up Chris in your prayers for God’s healing in his body. Remember David, Amy, and the Concordia team as they continue to experience the Gathering – but in a very new and unexpected way.

I will be sharing more – tomorrow – so, until then -

Sally Hiller