You may have noticed the Flag Counter block at the end of the home page of this blog.  It features the Unique visitors to this site (unique computer IP addresses) since I added it on 5 August 2009 (less than a year ago). the purpose of this blog is to provide information to members of the Southeastern District of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod on outreach and the Ablaze movement.    The information was to be in the form of practical material and references to aid in outreach, and running news about the same.  Over time it has also come to include prayers and Official acts of the District since many of them relate to mission and outreach. My hope has been to also include a lively discussion of outreach issues resulting from posts submitted by individuals and congregations and resulting comments from the general community.In addition we  welcome others who are interested in Christian outreach to view,use, and to respond to  the information on this site in order to grow the Kingdom.

The lively discussion has not materialised, and to date there have been few submissions from individuals or churches aside from the information coming from the district.  What has happened is that the impact of the blog has been more widespread outside of the SED than I had ever  imagined it would be.

I would like to welcome our newest recorded country, Algeria.  The first visit was on June 18.  We have had visitors from 63 countries that have been recorded including the United States.  Our most unique individual  visits  from outside the United States have  come from Corte de Ivory in West Africa followed by Germany and the United Kingdom.  Within the United States California has the most individual unique by IP visitors (84), but visits from individuals in 34 states (and 12 unidentified)  are recorded.  Some of these represent only an individual who has visited, but others show many individuals.  In addition to visits by unique IP addresses (individual computers) the Flag counter gives an overall count of pageviews (5,920) by all visitors, not just unique ones.  This correlates with the more basic Word Press blog statistics that was running a few months longer, 6,296.

The point is that the site is being used as a resource by lots of people all over this country and all around the  world. Praise God for what he has done, and for what he continues to do.  I continue to provide this resource as a service to the District, and to the Church in general.

Please also visit the much newer  blog (only up for a few months now)  that I run for my other outreach effort, Apple of His Eye in the metropolitan DC-Baltimore area www.aohe-dc.org.  Apple of His Eye is a recognized service organization of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Jerry

Before the end of this Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, I wanted to sit down and put keyboard to pixel, to give thanks for the many of you who are sharing the Gospel of peace with friends and strangers around the world. One of the great joys of living in the Northern Virginia/Washington D.C. area is that the Lord has brought the whole world here. Increasingly that can be said of the Southeastern District and many areas throughout the United States. Therefore, when we share the Gospel within our neighborhoods we are really doing World Missions twice. Once to the immigrants who live among us and again as they pass that good news on to family and friends in their home countries.

One such Northern Virginia ministry is taking place between the covenant partners in the Hispanic ministry: Grace Lutheran Church of Woodbridge and Prince of Peace and St. Johns of Springfield. They have called Pastor Pedro Lopez to serve as a “Circuit Rider” with a goal of reaching the large and growing population of Spanish speaking families in Circuit 9. Pastor Lopez works within the existing programs at each of these congregations with the hope that they will develop and grow to be ministries with leaders stepping forward to be trained in outreach  from within the programs .

Last Tuesday I observed the effort Pastor Lopez is supporting at Grace, Woodbridge. Grace has been reaching out to the Hispanic day laborers in their area for some time through a weekly meal. The meal evolved into ESL classes and Bible Study and now includes worship time as well. Tuesday over a hundred Spanish speaking individuals participated. Many of the children and young adults are fluent at various levels in both English and Spanish while the majority of the family elders have limited English and primarily speak Spanish. I did speak to a lady from Ethiopia who was also there to improve her English and take part in the worship and fellowship, so not all of the participants are Hispanic.

The evening began with songs, prayers, and a homily in English and Spanish. Then everyone is broken into groups with instruction tailored to their level of ability in English. With the support of many volunteers from the congregation, all went smoothly, including the registration of several new students. Those children already fluent in English were provided care, bible study,  and entertainment. The children are also encouraged by the Pastor and group leaders to support and pray for their family members as they learn a new language in order to open up employment opportunities. After the classes, most of the families returned to the sanctuary for more songs, prayers, and a benediction. One of the strengths of this program is the opportunity it provides for the whole family to worship and learn together.

Although Pastor Lopez has only been working in the area for about one month, already the Spirit is busy at work through his presence and many people are asking for Word and Sacrament services. It is Pastor Lopez’s pattern to begin with Bible study and then to raise up local members of the community to become the leaders and with his and the local pastor’s counseling , take the training that may eventually lead to ordination. Please pray that these new leaders can be identified soon as the Spirit’s timetable for this mission is on fast forward.

Me? Although I did want to see the program at Grace in operation, I was also there to get Pastor Lopez’s computers working. We set up a local area network connection and printing at the church and his home. One of his laptops was a little more of a problem, but an installation of LINUX (my favorite OS) took care of the issue. I was also privileged enough to go with Pastor Lopez to call on a family who is trying to establish a Hispanic restaurant and catering service. The chicken mole and chicken del Campo was an excellent recommendation for their success. While we were visiting, a young couple whom Pastor Lopez had been counseling made the decision to get married. So the word will go out to friends and relatives near and far of the joy around the new family and along with that news some will hear other news, possibly for the first time, of saving grace, through faith, for Christ’s sake.

Jerry

Editor

Quick Note…

Your Administrator has been away for a little over a week.  I am catching up.  This post is from 5 September 2009, so some of the information is dated.

————————

More than 125 people participated in Session 1

• Tuesday, September 8 will be our first weboffice hours. Sarah and Sally will be online from 7 PM to 9 PM to answer questions, share resources, and encourage you. Check in for a few moments or many. We will use a chat room style, although if you have a microphone connected to your computer, we can talk. Address: http://breeze.lsportal.net/sedt
• DVDs from last week’s class are ready and will go out to each participating congregation in Tuesday’s mail.
• If you would like to review the webcast, go to:Mission U, Session I (on the SED web site)

Mission U, Session II

The second session of Mission U will be  broadcast live from St. Stephens, Hickory NC on Saturday, September 12. (Yes, next Saturday.) Materials for this session will be posted on the SED website by midweek.

Mission U WebOffice Hours

Tuesday, September 8
Tuesday, September 22

Tuesday, October 13
Tuesday, October 27

Tuesday, November 10
Tuesday, November 24

Tuesday, December 8

Tuesday, January 12
Tuesday, January 26

Tuesday, February 9
Tuesday, February 23

Tuesday, March 9
Tuesday, March 23

Tuesday, April 13

Tuesday, May 11

Along with typing out the full URL address of this site:

http://www.lucasjs.com/sedcongregationsablaze/

or using the redirect:

http://sedcongregatiosnablaze.lucasjs.com

It is now possible to type in a much shorter address and still get to this site.  I registered sedablaze.org so now you can type that (with or without the Http://www. in front of it and still get here).

The site has been up for nearly a year now (the Welcome was posted here on March 29, 2008 after we relocated to this host and restarted the statistics) and it is being used.  We have had 1445 hits so far, with the busiest day having 58 hits.

However you do get here, keep coming (and join so that you can comment or post occasionally )

A short promotional video is now available on YouTube. The video is intended to be used to promote interest in the next Tending the Flame conference in August. Check it out and please share the link in your congregation.

Administrator’s Note:

An easy way to share this, or any other post from this blog would be to click on the “share this post” icon below. Follow the instructions and you could email the link to anyone. When I tested the feature I found that it is (hopefully) temporarily broken. I have contacted the provider behind the button and hopefully it will be fixed in a couple of days (if not in a week I will look for a replacement service). When it is fixed I will change this message to read use the button

27 Jan 09 Update: OK, it is working again.  Use the button.  There are still a few issues that only effect me but the people behind the button are working on them.  For all of you it works as before.

28 Jan 09 Update: Even more OK- now all functionality of the “share this Post” button is working great!

So use the button.

Jerry

The good news is that the SED has a new Web site with a new look!

The bad news is that it is still under construction so the old links on my right hand sidebar to Ablaze! related topics at the SED are broken and have been temporarily disabled.

I am in close communication with the staff at the SED and when the dust settles there I will update and re – enable the links. The goal is that in the near future you will have a more functional, useful, and informative SED web site.

You can reach the new SED web site at the old address :

http://www.se.lcms.org/

Of particular interest here is the message on the new front page and it’s Ablaze emphasis:

Welcome

Welcome to the new web site of the Southeastern District (SED) Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). This site is designed as a resource for the church workers and people of the District. The navigation buttons above reflect the five Ablaze! Goals of the Southeastern District. Please take time to look around and become familiar with all that is here. It is our hope that you will find this site easy to navigate. Also, this is still a work in progress. New resources and links will continue to be added in the next few weeks.

Message from the President

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I bid you welcome to our new Southeastern District website. It is intended to provide you with information about us and to help direct you to resources that will enable you to move the mission forward in the particular context you have been called to serve.

Jesus made it very clear that his mission was “to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). He made it equally clear that our mission as the church is to carry on that same mission while we are on this earth in as many places and in as many ways as we possibly can. “Go and makes disciples of all nations,” he said in Matthew 28:19.

It is the reason the SED is vigorously pursuing a set of ABLAZE goals. By October 31, 2017, we aim to share the good news of Jesus Christ with 2.5 million persons who are living without him in their lives and to start at least 100 new ministries and congregations within our five-state region. In support of these same ABLAZE goals, we are actively enlisting 3000 Mission Prayer Partners, holding regularly-scheduled Workshops and annual Conferences on personal witnessing and outreach, and seeking to train and equip 60 Outreach Ministry Teams through our own Mission Development Academy.

Please consider allowing this website to remain an open invitation not only to you to draw upon what we have to offer, but for you to be reminded to pray for the 21st-century mission that God has given to all who follow Jesus Christ!

Dr. Jon Diefenthaler, President
Southeastern District–LCMS .

I wish the team that is constructing the new site all success in this important effort!

Jerry

On an administrative note, this blog has reached a milestone since it was re-hosted in March of this year. We have had over 1000 hits (yes, we’re only over by one, but… hey ). The statistics plugin does not count hits from this workstation.

Blog Stats Summary Tables
Total views: 1,001
Busiest day: 36 — Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Hopefully the material here is encouraging many people to share their faith actively.

Personally, this administrator would like to see more articles and comments submitted to the blog from individuals and congregations, but the Lord is using what is provided here.

jerry

A number of people are having difficulty entering data into the official Ablaze! database on the LCMS web site.

I have spoken to the technical people there and they acknowledge that problems do exist.

The LCMS site is slated to undergo another revision and the hope is that it will be fixed in a couple of months, depending on the priority and budget that the fix is given.

To try to provide a place for members of the SED to submit their Faith-Sharing events so they are not lost while the LCMS database is being fixed, the SED has produced this form for your convenience. To use this feature, click on the “Ablaze! Reporting” tab at the top of this web page. Data entered there is stored in email to be keyed into the LCMS site when it is fixed.

Required fields are BOLD.

Please do not double enter data into this form and at the LCMS site!

Thanks!

Greenwood Lutheran Church, Greenwood SC was featured on the front page of the local newspaper for ‘setting the scene’ at Christmas time. Member Phyllis Krohn organized a display of crèches at the local Mall. She was on site to share the story of the various crèches, but more importantly, the story of God’s love as he comes to us – our long-awaited Savior.

Sally J Hiller
Mission and Ministry Executive, Southeastern District, LCMS
6315 Grovedale Drive Alexandria VA 22310-2501

voice: 703.971.9371, Ext. 205 or 800.637.5723, fax 703.922.6047, web www.se.lcms.org

Because if some troubles at Yahoo I had to re-host this blog. There are still a few things that need to be done (rebuilding the links, etc… ) but the main posts and pages are back and users should be able to register again (see the Welcome page)

Blog on!