By Paula Schlueter Ross “It’s not about us,” says Tracey Stillman, whose congregation, Village Lutheran Church in Lanoka Harbor, N.J., has been caught up in disaster-response efforts as a result of Superstorm Sandy. That congregation has been providing hundreds of free meals;…

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation announced Nov. 8 that they would together commit up to $1 million to Superstorm Sandy relief efforts as part of a dollar-for-dollar match program. For every dollar Thrivent Financial for…

By Megan Mertz On Wednesday, Nov. 7, a team from the LCMS International Center met with leaders of the LCMS Atlantic District at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. The team included the Rev. Glenn F. Merritt, director of LCMS…

By Paula Schlueter Ross As of Nov. 6 — a week after Superstorm Sandy tore across the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, cutting a huge swath of destruction and leading to the deaths of at least 113 people across nine states — The…

The online-application process for Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) at the 2013 National LCMS Youth Gathering is open through Dec. 31. Registration for LCMS congregational groups attending the Gathering remains open until May 1. The Youth Gathering is July 1-5 in San…

By Sarah Schafer “Tremendous damages everywhere,” said the Rev. Glenn F. Merritt, director of LCMS Disaster Response, as he toured the south shore of Staten Island Nov. 3. Staten Island was devastated by Superstorm Sandy Oct. 29, with reports of more than…

By Adriane Dorr PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — Speaking on Nov. 2, the last day of the International Conference on Confessional Leadership here, the Rev. Dr. Gemechis Buba of the North American Lutheran Church encouraged global Lutherans to “be a praying church…

By Sarah Schafer While Rick Pullen worked as a rescue diver during Superstorm Sandy Oct. 29, an eight-foot wave crashed through the first floor of his Bayville, N.J., home. A boat docked 15 miles from the bay-front home landed on his…

By Adriane Dorr PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — In a world filled with secularism, relativism, liberalism and atheism, Lutherans can be in danger of “losing our identity and making compromises in good intention but being misled by our feelings,” warned the…

By Sarah Schafer When the Rev. Alan Steinke and his wife, Marie, first saw their Long Island home of 13 years from a distance on Oct. 30 — the day after Superstorm Sandy — most of it was blown away. “It was…

By Sarah Schafer A four-person LCMS team began meeting Oct. 31 with district leaders in areas impacted by Superstorm Sandy, which struck the U.S. Eastern Seaboard Oct. 28-29. Team members are the Rev. Glenn Merritt, director of LCMS Disaster Response; the Rev.…

By Adriane Dorr PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — On Oct. 31 — the 495th anniversary of the Reformation — the Rev. Dr. Alister McGrath, a professor at King’s College, London, called on confessional Lutherans around the world to continue to “unpack,…

By Kim Plummer Krull As he prepared to travel to the East Coast on Wednesday (Oct. 31) to help LCMS districts and congregations reach out in communities battered by Superstorm Sandy, LCMS Director of Disaster Response Rev. Glenn F. Merritt suggested…

(RNS) — Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a non-religious family that’s challenging the mandatory daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in their children’s classrooms. The family, who are secular humanists, claim that the phrase “under…

By Sarah Schafer LCMS districts are beginning to assess damages and identify needs caused by Hurricane Sandy Oct. 29 along the Eastern Seaboard. As of Oct. 30, no deaths among LCMS members had been reported, and it was not yet known…

By Sarah Schafer LCMS districts and congregations along the East Coast are preparing for Hurricane Sandy and two other storm fronts expected to strike the region late Monday or Tuesday, Oct. 29 or 30. “Each district is implementing necessary precautions and alerts,”…