By Joe Isenhower Jr. As Floridians continue to work at putting their lives back together in the wake of Hurricane Charley, LCMS district officials there say that money and volunteers are needed to help those in southern and central Florida most…
World Mission sets up Web site up to track `Ablaze!` contacts
By Paula Schlueter Ross LCMS World Mission has set up a new Web site to track Ablaze! activities worldwide. The Web site — www.lcmsworldmission.org/ablaze — is set up to record the number of people with whom LCMS and partner church…
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 backyard. That’s the message of the Lutheran Campus Mission Association (LCMA), a newly formed LCMS mission society that has signed…
Pastor fights to regain access at racetracks
By Kim Plummer Krull A veteran LCMS chaplain is fighting to regain access at two Northern Illinois racetracks where he has baptized babies, led worship and checked on the spiritual and physical needs of low-income track workers and their families for…
`What a Way` initiative awards scholarships, launches Web site
The Synod’s “What a Way” initiative officially got under way this summer by awarding 24 scholarships and continuing-education certificates to Concordia University System schools and announcing its new Web site. “We felt that the best thing we could do…
Kids play, recall storms during `hope` camp
When 11 children arrived at Carol Joy Holling Camp near Ashland, Neb., for a July 17-18 weekend just for them, they had one thing in common — they all rode out the F-4 tornadoes that hit a 52-mile swath of southeast…
Robbers loot Nigerian church, beat president, treasurer
The president and treasurer of the Lutheran Church of Nigeria (LCN) have been released from a local hospital and are recuperating after a robbery at the church headquarters July 18. LCN President Rev. E.E. Ekanem says he was roused from bed…
Aug. 2 storm inflicts damage at `island` camp
Strong winds in a pre-dawn Aug. 2 storm toppled scores of trees at Lutheran Island Camp in Minnesota — damaging buildings and vehicles, but inflicting no injury on campers, according to Rev. Tim Vaughan, the camp’s program director. Vaughan said that…
Wheat Ridge announces medical-mission service
Wheat Ridge Ministries is offering a new service to connect short-term medical-mission volunteers with Lutheran and Lutheran-related agencies and congregations. Dr. Les Schmidt of Kansas City, Mo., has been named coordinator of the new program, known as the Short-Term Medical…
Tax-exempt code prohibits political endorsements
As this year’s general election approaches, the Synod’s tax and compliance director is reminding congregations and Synod entities that any efforts to “educate voters” must comply with tax-code requirements concerning political-campaign activities. Karen Sansone, director of the Tax and Compliance Section…
Bjarne Wollan Teigen dies; rep to talks with LCMS
Dr. Bjarne Wollan Teigen, former president of Bethany College, Mankato, Minn., and a principal in doctrinal discussions between the Missouri Synod and his church body — the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) — died July 10 of congestive heart failure at…
Wheat Ridge honors 21 youth
Wheat Ridge Ministries of Itasca, Ill., awarded its Youth Health and Hope Award to 21 young people who are members of Synod congregations at a July 26 luncheon during the National LCMS Youth Gathering in Orlando, Fla. They are Heather…
Seminaries set fall visits
Both Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod seminaries are inviting men who are at least college age and interested in the pastoral ministry to campus-visit weekends, as they have done in past years. The “Prayerfully Consider Visit” at Concordia Theological Seminary is Sept. 23-25;…
Mequon to host health conference
“Ethical Conflicts in Health Care: The Christian Response” will be the focus of the 10th Annual Parish Nurse and Congregational Health Fall Conference, to be held Oct. 15 at Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon. In his keynote address, Dr. John Saleska,…
Conference focuses on `church planting 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 still open for seminary hostels
Registration remains open for “hostels” set for next month at the two Synod seminaries. Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., hosts its Luther-hostel for laypeople of all ages Oct. 10-15. Seminary professors and Stan Veit, executive director of Lutheran Social Services…
