By Sarah Schafer Even as the death toll in Haiti was expected to reach 300,000 and with an estimated 1.2 million Haitians living on the streets, the Synod continues its collaborative efforts to reach out in mercy to its partner…

“The Creator’s Tapestry:  Scriptural Perspectives on Man-Woman Relationships in Marriage and the Church” is the title of a 76-page report adopted by the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations at its Dec. 10-12 meeting.  It is the commission’s latest…

The second annual “Reaching Out Together” evangelism conference is scheduled for Feb. 13 at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. The event is sponsored by the Saturday Outreach School, St. Louis, in conjunction with the seminary, the Synod’s Missouri District, and LCMS…

By Joe Isenhower Jr. TAMPA, Fla. — The Synod’s three “critical targets” of revitalizing congregations, planting new congregations, and enhancing the focus on stewardship received major emphasis at the Lutheran Church Extension Fund’s annual 2009 Fall Leadership Conference here Nov. 20-22,…

Dr. Herbert F. (Herb) Brokering — a Lutheran pastor and well-known author, poet, playwright, hymn writer, and popular speaker — died from congestive heart failure Nov. 7 at his home in Bloomington, Minn. Dr. Brokering, 83, spoke by phone with…

Organizers of the Synod’s Model Theological Conference on Worship, set for Jan. 11-13 in St. Louis, are taking deliberate steps to include pastors, musicians, and laity who represent a range of worship styles from “traditional/liturgical” to “contemporary/contextual.” In guidelines for…

Welcoming seven new presidents elected by delegates to LCMS district conventions this year, the Synod’s Council of Presidents (COP) at its Sept. 19-22 meeting in St. Louis unanimously adopted for use throughout the church a document titled “Theses on Worship”…

By John R. Brooks BALTIMORE — Leaders of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) agreed to do all they could do to continue their longtime cooperative work together in areas of “cooperation in externals,” despite…

“It would be a blessing to our ongoing cooperative relationships” if decisions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly allowing non-celibate homosexuals to serve as rostered leaders in that church body “were not implemented,” Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod President Gerald B. Kieschnick…

By Joe Isenhower Jr. The International Lutheran Council (ILC), an association of 34 confessional Lutheran church bodies (including the LCMS) from six continents, has unanimously adopted a statement emphasizing commitment to the Bible’s position on homosexual behavior. The action was…

By Paula Schlueter Ross ST. LOUIS — They were male and female.  Young and old.  Black and white.  Professional church workers and laypeople. Some consider themselves lifelong prayer warriors, or “intercessors.”  Others are convinced they don’t pray enough. All came…

Barbara Huggins of Glendale, Mo., has been appointed by the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League as its new archivist-historian.  She succeeds Peggi Lawrence of Eureka, Calif., who retired after serving in the post since 1993. Huggins has served for many years…

By Linda C. Hoops Family ministry leaders in the Synod are convinced that intentional family ministry is not another “congregational program” that serves a specific age group. Rather, it is an all-encompassing viewpoint that provides for and encourages the shaping…

Iowa WestJune 21-24 Milford, Iowa Elected: Rev. Paul Sieveking, Fort Dodge, Iowa, president, fourth term, first ballot. Rev. Steven Turner, Algona, Iowa, first vice president. Rev. Steven Schulz, Storm Lake, Iowa, second vice president. Under the theme “Joy in Serving,”…

PORTLAND, Ore. — Delegates to the 33rd Biennial Convention of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, held here June 25-28, adopted a new mission goal of $1.825 million for the 2009-11 biennium.  It is the largest in the organization’s 67-year history…