Convention Opening Service features youth from across the Synod

Dr. Jonathan Rudy, kantor at Grace Lutheran Church, Clarksville, Tenn., plays organ, and Jonathan Busarow, executive artistic director of the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir, directs a special convention children’s choir during the Opening Divine Service of the 69th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod on July 18 at the Phoenix Convention Center in downtown Phoenix. (LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

By Stacey Eising

PHOENIX — “Had Christ, who once was slain, Not burst His three-day prison, Our faith had been in vain: But now has Christ arisen, arisen, arisen; But now has Christ arisen!”

These words rang out loudly from an assembly of thousands gathered in the Phoenix Convention Center yesterday evening, Saturday, July 18. They were echoed by a highly skilled youth choir and accompanied by a jubilant band of brass instruments.

This hymn, “This Joyful Eastertide” (Lutheran Service Book 482), began the Opening Divine Service of the 69th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), which is being held July 18–23 at the Phoenix Convention Center. The readings, hymns, vestments, choral pieces and instrumentals were all that of an Easter service — perhaps an unexpected choice on a hot July evening, but a fitting one to begin a convention held under the theme “Christ Is Risen Indeed,” based on 1 Corinthians 15:20–22.

It was also a fitting reminder of the central tenet of the faith — not only for the more than 1,300 convention delegates and representatives preparing to commence five days of churchly deliberation, discussion and decision-making, but for the many around the world who watched the service livestream.

As LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison wrote in his report in the first issue of Today’s Business, “The theme of this convention is ‘Christ Is Risen Indeed.’ Let this not be a slogan we sing … and then leave behind when we enter the committee rooms. Resolutions are confessions. When we adopt a resolution on church planting, we confess that the risen Christ still saves sinners. When we adopt a resolution on the Lord’s Supper, we confess that He is truly, bodily and graciously present in that Meal. When we adopt a resolution that bears witness to the inerrant Word, we confess that His Word is living, active and trustworthy. Let our resolutions sound like the Gospel they confess, as they are clear in doctrine, charitable in spirit and hopeful in expectation.”

Earlier on Saturday, the LCMS convention’s floor committees, responsible for drafting the resolutions that the Synod will consider in the coming days, met to hear final feedback on these drafted resolutions from the church body. The deliberation and voting on these resolutions begins today.
A Saturday evening Divine Service traditionally precedes the opening of business for the LCMS convention.

Theodore Schultz from Redeemer Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Ind., serves as crucifer during the Opening Divine Service for the 2026 LCMS convention. (LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

“It is wonderful to have the opportunity to get together with fellow members of the Body of Christ and those that we share a confession with. … It is a wonderful chance to see a picture of the bigger church that truly is, and which we’ll see on the Last Day,” said the Rev. Sean Daenzer, director of LCMS Worship.

This year, the convention’s Opening Service presented an even more representative picture of the greater church, welcoming 55 young singers, altar guild servers, crucifers and acolytes. Children were visible in the service from the very beginning, with three young men leading the entrance processional, bearing the crucifix and two candles.

All of these youth — from congregations in Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas and Michigan — are part of the pilot cohort of LCMS Worship’s “Sing, Pray and Keep His Ways” (SPK) initiative. This initiative, made possible by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., has selected an initial cohort of 12 congregations, which are undertaking intentional efforts to raise up LCMS children through their active participation in the Divine Service (such as through children’s choirs, Sunday school music programs, acolyte programs, altar guild programs, bell choirs and hymnal instruction). Recruiting for a second cohort will be further promoted after this summer’s convention.

“The Lord gives faith even to infants, He brings us all into His church and into His life through holy Baptism. … We think it’s really important to take every opportunity to help children grow into that faith that they’ve received from Christ. … The natural ways that children are involved in worship really present an opportunity for us to give deeper spiritual care, Christian discipleship, teaching and instruction. … It is important not only to give [youth] a place in the church right now, but especially to give them a vision of their own life growing into the church in the future,” said Daenzer.

The youth choir sang 10 robust choral pieces, including settings of several hymn stanzas, handling compositions by J.S. Bach, Jacob Weber, Samuel Eatherton, Kevin Hildebrand, Mark Bender and others with dexterity and beauty. Further, 10 young women assisted as members of the altar guild for the service, and 10 young men served as crucifers and acolytes.

The Rev. Michael Kessler, pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Yuma, Ariz., was presiding minister for the service, and Jonathan Busarow, executive artistic director of the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir, was choral conductor. Serving as organist was Dr. Jonathan Rudy, who is leading the SPK initiative at Grace Lutheran Church in Clarksville, Tenn., where he is kantor.

“This is a wonderful initiative that the Synod and LCMS Worship have undertaken,” said Rudy. “We are eager to serve as a part of it. … We want to make sure that whatever we learn goes to support the other congregations of our Synod and the Christian church at large.”

Rudy hopes that the visible place of these youth in the Opening Service will be a blessing to the convention: “We live in an era where some churches … have a lot of children in their pews, but a lot of congregations don’t, for one reason or another. And so [this is a great opportunity] to show the delegates at our convention that there are children that are willing to sing and serve in worship, to be the next leaders of our Synod, the next pastors, the next teachers, the next DCEs or deaconesses, [the next] directors of parish music, and we should support them. … I think that people who don’t regularly see children in their pews need to know that they exist, that they don’t hate worship, and that we shouldn’t lose heart.”

The Opening Service included an initial collection for the 2026–2029 LCMS National Offering, which is also keeping the youth of the church front and center. Under the theme “Christ Is Risen! Tell the Next Generation,” this offering is raising funds to be put toward youth, family, campus ministry and school ministry efforts carried out in LCMS congregations, districts and Recognized Service Organizations.

“Christ rose triumphant over death this glad morn, so henceforth, death, devil, temptation, I laugh to scorn,” sang the children’s choir in J.S. Bach’s “With Loudest Rejoicing” as the assembly of delegates and other convention attendees received Holy Communion from stations set up throughout the hall, distributed by members of the LCMS Council of Presidents and other pastors.

The Rev. Michael Kessler, pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Yuma, Ariz., reads the Gospel lesson during the Opening Divine Service of the 2026 LCMS convention in Phoenix on July 18. (LCMS/Frank Kohn)

As the delegates prepared for the coming days of discussions, many of which will include issues of great controversy both within the assembly and in the greater culture, the attendees sang together the words of LSB 467: “The world against me rages, Its fury I disdain; Though bitter war it wages, Its work is all in vain. My heart from care is free, No trouble troubles me. Misfortune now is play, And night is bright as day.”

The service’s Gospel reading, Matthew 28:1–10, reminded those assembled of the source of that levity, which can be theirs even amid the most thorny discussions in the days to come: “But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said’” (vv. 5–6).

“My friends, Christ is here,” preached Harrison in his sermon on the text. “The God-Man is among us, even us, despite all our sins and weaknesses and failings. He is seated at the right hand of the Father — and the right hand, as Luther taught and the Psalms teach, is wherever God’s power is. Christ is there. And Luther says so wonderfully: The resurrection is distributed by His Word and His Sacrament. You are beloved. You are forgiven. You are here. And you are His.”

As the LCMS begins its work as an assembled Synod this week, may the words of this resurrection Good News continue to ring in their ears.
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2026 LCMS Convention

Under the theme “Christ Is Risen Indeed,” the 69th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod met July 18–23, 2026, at the Phoenix Convention Center in downtown Phoenix.

There are several ways to get convention news, including:

Web

• lcms.org/convention/national

Video

• lcms.org/convention/national/livestream

Audio

• kfuo.org

Social media

• facebook.com/lcmsconvention

Email

• lcms.org/reporter-signup

Posted July 19, 2026