The Rev. Keith Kohlmeier was re-elected to his fourth term as president during the 71st regular convention of the LCMS Kansas District, held June 7-9 in Topeka. Kohlmeier, 59, a resident of Topeka, Kan., was elected on the first ballot of…

By James Heine ST. LOUIS — At its meeting April 28-May 3, the LCMS Council of Presidents (COP), acting as the Synod’s Board of Assignments, assigned first calls to 139 candidates certified for the pastoral ministry. Also, the COP approved…

By Joe Isenhower Jr. ST. LOUIS — The Synod Board of Directors, at its May 17-18 meeting in St. Louis, adopted a national-Synod operating budget of $64,626,022 for the 2012-13 fiscal year that starts July 1. Also approved by the…

By Paula Schlueter Ross It’s never been done on such a large scale in The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done: a thriving Lutheran university offering a helping hand to a struggling sister school in another…

By Kim Plummer Krull It was around 1997 when yet another family told the Rev. John Schmidtke that the lack of decent, affordable housing was forcing them to leave their crumbling inner-city North St. Louis, Mo., neighborhood.  “Where was this family…

By Adriane Dorr LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison declared fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia (ELCL) May 10. This declaration followed the Commission on Theology and Church Relations’ (CTCR) action on April 26 in which recognition…

By Kim Plummer Krull A tsunami wave triggered by a powerful earthquake hit Constitucion, Chile, especially hard in 2010, killing some 350 people in the coastal community alone and causing so much damage that survivors feared their town was all…

By Paula Schlueter Ross Roman Catholic Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades told news reporters he was “really overwhelmed” when a group of some 250 people — mostly pastors and members of Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod congregations in the Fort Wayne, Ind., area —…

The Synod’s two seminaries are offering continuing-education courses in various cities, beginning in April. The courses are designed for pastors, commissioned ministers and laypeople, and Continuing Education Units are available. Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., is offering 23 courses: April 24-26…

By Kim Plummer Krull Sharing of plans to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 was among the many updates addressed when representatives of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) gathered March 27-29 in…

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) — For nearly a century, the stained-glass portrait of St. Patrick looked down on parishioners — as if from the heavens — from the massive nave of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. But the Irish saint, as well as…

By Kim Plummer Krull More than 20 years ago, Linda Husfeld picked up a Laborers For Christ brochure at a Lutheran Women’s Missionary League conference and showed it to her husband, Rich. “This is something we would like to do when…

SPOKANE, Wash. (RNS) — Kevin Finch grew up in meat-and-potatoes country, a small town off of Flathead Lake in western Montana. The only fine-dining restaurant there was half eatery/half bowling alley. Everything came out of the deep fryer. “It was…

By Elizabeth M. Truong Concordia Plan Services (CPS) — the Synod’s benefits provider — announced in January that the Concordia Health Plan (CHP) “Be Well Rewards” program has been extended through the end of 2012. Some 28,500 CHP members are eligible…

Tucked away in a former classroom on the campus of Concordia College, Selma, Ala., is a one-room testimony to Dr. Rosa J. Young — the LCMS teacher, missionary, lecturer and fundraiser who traveled the South in the early to mid-1900s,…