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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Three schools operated by Synod congregations have been named “Blue Ribbon Schools” for 2003-04 — the highest honor for schools given by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). They are St. John’s Lutheran School, Denver, Colo.; Prince of Peace Christian School,…

By Joe Isenhower Jr. The Synod’s Board of Directors (BOD) and the Board for Communication Services (BCS) have agreed that the BOD will continue to manage Synod-owned St. Louis radio stations KFUO-AM and FM “on an interim basis.” Management of the radio…

An amendment to the Synod’s Constitution adopted by this year’s Synod convention and sent to LCMS congregations for ratification is drawing some opposition.  But the chairman of the floor committee that offered the amendment says it is simply a “clarification”…

Dr. John F. Johnson, president and professor of systematic theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, has accepted a call to serve as the 10th president of Concordia University, River Forest, Ill. Johnson plans to serve as the seminary’s president through Nov.…

By Paula Schlueter Ross One hurricane is bad enough, but several in a row have created widespread devastation in Florida that is “just absolutely mind-boggling,” according to Lutheran Services Florida spokesman Zack Koczanski. “This is a very, very large crisis here,” Koczanski said. …

The online version of the Christian Cyclopedia, a one-volume compendium of historical and theological data that has been available since 2002, recently was modified to improve its usability. The updated Cyclopedia at www.lcms.org/cyclopedia will decrease download times for the 26 files…

By Kim Plummer Krull  Three years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, needs continue to surface in New York City, including the needs of children who live under the constant threat of another assault. Little ones are the…

“Luther,” the motion picture about the life and times of Martin Luther that premiered in theaters last fall, will be available for purchase Nov. 30 in DVD and VHS formats. The film is being released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer on the…