For the fourth year in a row, U.S. News and World Report has included all 10 LCMS colleges and universities in its “America’s Best Colleges” issue. But for 2005, eight Synod schools are in the “top-tier” lists of the magazine’s rankings…
Lutherans send aid to Haiti
LCMS World Relief and Human Care has sent an initial grant of $18,000 to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti to provide emergency supplies of food, water, medicine and other necessities to hurricane survivors in hard-hit Gonaives and the surrounding…
New education boards choose officers, exec staff
Two new boards established by this year’s Synod convention — the Board for Pastoral Education (BPE) and the Board for University Education (BUE) — met for the first time last month in St. Louis. They elected officers and chose as their…
Minnesota church defiled by vandals
By Paula Schlueter Ross Vandals broke into St. John Lutheran Church in North Branch, Minn., over Labor Day weekend and left a host of frightening messages: A doll from the church’s preschool was hung by a noose made from the pastor’s…
Campus-ministry group wants to link colleges, congregations
Note to outreach-minded congregations: If you’re near a college or university campus, a huge mission field is right in your own back yard. That’s the message of the Lutheran Campus Mission Association (LCMA), a newly formed LCMS mission society that has…
Gift reflects soldier`s love for children
By Kim Plummer Krull Pvt. Michelle Witmer died in Iraq, but her love for children continues to live through a matching gift to Bethesda Lutheran Homes and Services, Inc. “Michelle had a special place in her heart for the disabled orphans in…
LYF chooses executive board
Young people from congregations with groups at this year’s LCMS youth gathering elected a new five-member executive board for Lutheran Youth Fellowship (LYF), the Synod’s youth organization, when they met as the LYF delegate assembly July 24 at the Rosen…
ALOA Lutherhostel set for Tucson
The 11th annual Arizona Lutherhostel sponsored by the national Association of Lutheran Older Adults (ALOA) will be held March 7-11 in Tucson, Ariz. The event is designed to provide an “opportunity for older adults to experience intellectual, social and spiritual…
Conference focus: starting churches with child care
A conference designed to show Lutherans how to start a congregation with a child-care center will be held Nov. 2-4 in Las Vegas. The conference is sponsored by the Open Arms Institute, a ministry that fosters and guides “Lutheran church planting…
Registration opens for LEA convocation
Registration — online or via “snail mail” — is open for the Lutheran Education Association’s eighth triennial convocation, set for April 7-9 in Indianapolis. For instructions and access to the online registration form for the convocation and housing, go to www.lea.org/convocation/reg.htm. …
Pressure Points, with Dr. Bruce Hartung (October)
My e-mail address lit up after the September column about church-staff compensation and benefits (it’s available at www.lcms.org/?5775). Thanks to all the readers who responded. Many echo one reader: “It has been my observation that a congregation with money problems is…
Concordia, Austin, publishes book on Wends
To celebrate the 150th anniversary this fall of the Wendish immigration to the United States, Concordia University Press, the publishing arm of Concordia University at Austin, has published A Rock Against Alien Waves: The History of the Wends. Written by Dr.…
Sem adds discussion board to lectionary resource
“Lectionary at Lunch,” a Web resource from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, that provides audio files to help pastors prepare sermons, now offers a new discussion-group feature. At www.csl.edu/lection.htm, pastors can hear seminary faculty members translating the Old Testament and Gospel…
Parish-nurse tract now in Spanish
A brochure on the growing ministry of parish nursing is now available in Spanish from LCMS Health Ministries, a unit of LCMS World Relief and Human Care. The resource is for anyone who speaks Spanish and is interested in learning…
Wheat Ridge issues Christmas seals
Wheat Ridge Ministries is rolling out nine seal designs from the past for its 2004 Christmas seals. Getting set to mark its 100th anniversary next year, Wheat Ridge has offered seals and received donations from those using them since 1911.…
`Harvesters` can help with parish outreach
With 25 two-member teams ready to serve, “Harvesters for Christ” would like to hear from congregations that need a team to help begin, revitalize, enhance or expand their outreach-ministry efforts. Since 1997, more than 100 congregations in 29 districts have used…
