By Paula Schlueter Ross NEW ORLEANS — Christian volunteers have made a big difference on the Gulf Coast in the three years since back-to-back hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed thousands of homes and changed forever the lives of a million people.…

Concordia University System (CUS) schools in Mequon, Wis., and Portland, Ore., are making plans to offer the first CUS programs in pharmacy and law. Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, has named two deans for its new School of Pharmacy that’s slated…

Several events from the 91st International Convention of the International Lutheran Laymen’s League, July 24-27 in Lexington, Ky., may be viewed online. Events available via Webcast include: the opening worship service. a “Lutheran Hour” rally, led by Dr. Ken Klaus, speaker…

The 2008 National Lutheran Youth Workers Conference — known as “NATIONAL” — offered an array of opportunities and settings for 200-plus volunteer and professional workers at the July 10-13 event in Indianapolis to gather insights and resources for youth work…

Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, is extending through Aug. 21 its offer for a free issue of Portals of Prayer with each new subscription. Order a new subscription to the devotional magazine in any quantity to one address, and receive…

By Paula Schlueter Ross When Alan Rork received his first call from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, this spring to serve the Synod’s Indiana District as a missionary to the deaf, his fellow seminary graduates “clapped” for him by waving their…

The Synod’s Commission on Ministerial Growth and Support in 2007 targeted “Wellness Promotion” as being critical for church workers and their families — for their own well-being and in their role as models for wellness in their communities. As part of…

Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, is taking orders for Lutheran Service Book: Guitar Chord Edition, a contemporary treatment of the complete hymnody of the Synod’s most up-to-date hymnal.  The edition — which includes two volumes — may be ordered now,…

Dr. Larry S. Harvala, president of the LCMS North Dakota District since 2000, has accepted a call to the faculty of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., where he will serve as associate professor of pastoral ministry and missions, beginning…

Among nine scholarships and awards that Bethesda Lutheran Homes and Services, Inc., gave this summer to recognize developmental-disability awareness, five are to LCMS college and high school students and one to a preschool operated by a Synod congregation. The Watertown,…

Forty-six new missionaries were commissioned by LCMS World Mission June 26 in St. Paul, Minn., for service in 17 countries, including the Czech Republic, Japan, Hungary, India, Latvia, Panama, Peru, Poland, Slovak Republic, Thailand, Togo, and Uganda. The total includes…

David and Radka Fiala, who taught English for three years in Slovakia and are beginning new terms of service as career missionaries in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, say they were surprised to learn that being an overseas…

Eleven new projects mounted by Lutheran congregations to help immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in their communities are receiving a total of $46,364 this year from the Good Samaritan Fund — a joint ongoing project of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service…

Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Baltimore, is hosting several one- to two-week “study tours” that enable U.S. Lutherans to travel to developing countries where LWR works, meet LWR’s regional staff and partners, and learn how they work together to find solutions…

Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Baltimore, is inviting all past LWR study tour participants to attend the first-ever LWR Study Tour Reunion, Oct. 24-26 at the Heartwood Retreat Center in Trego, Wis. Under the theme “LWR Asks: Are You Willing?,” the…

“You and I sooner or later are going to experience what comes to all people — we are going to experience dying.  But there is a difference between us and the world.  The world looks away from that fact and…