Dear Mission Prayer Partners,

Our thoughts turn to the harvest as we prepare for the celebration of Thanksgiving. Indeed we have much for which to be thankful: our life, the gift of a new day, family and friends, the very love of God freely poured out upon each of us. This is a harvest of the abundance of God’s grace in our own lives.

There is another harvest that is waiting to take place as well. It is the harvest of millions who are ready and waiting to hear the Gospel message. In our baptism, God has set us apart for this work. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God equips us for this work. Jesus, the sent one, sends us into the harvest field to share the Good News story in word, deed, and prayer with those who do not know, who have not heard.

In this season of Thanksgiving, let us thanks to the Lord for sending us into the world and giving us the honor and privilege to share with all people the hope we have in Christ. His love endures forever.

As of October 2008, 148,699 faith-sharing moments have been recorded by the Southeastern District Office. To share your story, email sjhiller@se.lcms.

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Editor’s note:

Or you can click on this link “Ablaze Reporting” , or click on the “Ablaze Reporting” button at the top of theis blog’s home page at any time.

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Psalm 105:1

As of November 21, 98 congregations have completed an Ablaze! for God’s Mission funding appeal. 42 congregations are in the midst of their appeal. 139 pledges have been received from individual donors. Together, we have contributed or pledged $5,424,811. That means only $575,189 to reach our goal and to be able to support the new work of 22 mission efforts. Contact chilewitz@se.lcms.org for additional information

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Giving thanks to God for these new mission efforts that are being funded through Ablaze! for God’s Mission.

Northern Region:
Cecil County, Perry MD
Virtual Classroom, BLS, Towson
LINC, Baltimore MD
Mekane-Yesus, Silver Spring
Lamb of God, Landover Hills
Hispanic, Landover Hills MD

Central Region
New Life, Upper Marlboro MD
Hispanic.-Circuit 9 Missionary
Chinese-St. Paul’s, Falls Church
Leesburg Open Arms, Leesburg
Good Shepherd, Midlothian VA
Good Shepherd Early Childhood
Crossway, Norfolk VA
New Mission, New Kent VA

Southern Region
Jordan, Western Wake NC
Epiphany, Greenville NC
New Mission, North High Point
Emmanuel, Rock Hill NC
Point of Grace Cornelius NC
Open Door, Weddington NC
Hispanic-Catawba County, NC
New Hope MIssion, Mooresville

Holy Trinity, Statesville NC in taking a step of great faith called their current pastor Rev. Pete Varvaris to serve as the Mission Developer of the New Hope Missions, Mooresville NC. Holy Trinity is an Ablaze! Covenant Congregation, which means they have committed to planting a new congregation.

In preparation to taking this step, Holy Trinity sent a team to participate in the Mission Development Academy, where they began to pull together the resources that would help them shape this new outreach. Rev. Varvaris says “New Hope Missions has as its goal to be a “sending church”, regularly sending people into the mission field both locally and abroad.” They want to be a church ABLAZE! in every way that sharing the Gospel of Jesus means.

Your partnership with Ablaze! for God’s Mission is helping to grow this sending church in Mooresville NC. With thanks to your support, this mission will be funded for the next three years through an Ablaze for God’s Mission grant. We pray God’s blessing upon them as Rev. Varvaris prays for guidance about this call, for Holy Trinity as they provide support and resources to this ministry, and for the work of the Holy Spirit in Mooresville NC

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

January 24, 2009: Training Leaders for Outreach, DCE Charessa Koontz

March 28, 2009: Training Leaders for Outreach, Rev. Dr. Dave Buegler

May 1-3, 2009: SED Convention, Norfolk VA

July 16-19, 2009: Lutheran Hour Ministries Convention, Greensboro NC
July 31-August 2, 2009: Tending the Flame Conference: Out Fishin’

SED Convention News:
One Name – JESUS

+ Jan 1, 2009: Nominations for Board of Directors, Circuit Counselors & District Nominating Committee are due

+ Jan 1, 2009: Name of Lay Delegate, Alternate Lay Delegate attending from each Chartered Congregation is due (this is different from registration).

+ Jan 1, 2009: Name of Advisory Delegate (retired pastor/pcw; assistant pastor,
commissioned pcw, etc.) due.

When the SED Exec staff meet, they often spend time sharing faith-sharing experiences. At a recent meeting they shared moments that occur naturally during the day. Here are a few examples of the open doors of opportunities that God provides: Rev. Bill Seaman daily walks in his neighborhood with his dog. As he encounters others who are walking (especially their dogs), he has the opportunity for conversations. Many times, he has enough time to direct the conversation to the blessings of God in our everyday lives.

Sally Hiller was in a store where the cashier began a conversation that included his concerns about his future, relationship with his girlfriend, and faith. She was able to ask the question: “Do you know who Jesus is?” God provided the right moment and an empty store for this faith sharing moment.

Steve Heemann shared that he no longer looks for the open door of opportunity, because God is bringing people to him. Immanuel, Baltimore is participating with the Lutheran Mission Society and has a Compassion Center (thrift shop) on Saturdays. As people come through they have an opportunity to speak with someone and share in prayer. Steve is one who is listening, sharing Jesus, and praying with those who visit the Compassion Center.

God indeed opens the door of opportunity in every day ways for us to share Jesus Christ with another. Walk through the door. We do have the best news of all to share with the world!

Praise God for the generous hearts of his people! We continue to move closer to our goal of generating $6,000,000 for new mission work. More than $2,000,000 of your contributions are enabling the development of 22 mission starts. You will find a complete list of these missions on the new web site. It’s not too late to participate in this mission funding effort. Contact Cindy Hilewitz at chilewitz@se.lcms.org for additional information and resources.
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Editor’s note:
The SED is nearing completion of their updated web site… but it is not available to the public yet. When it is available, these details (and more updates as they become available) will be viable to the general public. For now, you can check the previously published list of 22 new mission starts that was distributed by the SED and included on this blog.

God invites us to pray without ceasing for the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the lives of all people. Currently we have 1656 people who are committed to this ministry. Our goal is to have 2000 people praying for outreach and mission work throughout the District by the end of the year. If you are interested in joining this effort, contact prayers@se.lcms.org.