wfn.org | Heber Rast Elected President of Lutheran Men in Mission

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 1, 2002

HEBER RAST ELECTED PRESIDENT OF LUTHERAN MEN IN MISSION
02-180-FI

     SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ELCA) -- Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the
men's ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),
elected Heber E. Rast Jr., Cameron, S.C., to a three-year term as
president.  The election was held here July 25-26, during LMM's sixth
delegate assembly.
     Rast is a project manager for Jacobs Engineering and a member of
Resurrection Lutheran Church in Cameron.  Since 1999 he has served as
LMM vice president.
     Over the next three years, Rast said he hopes to "continue to
build an effective, life-changing men's ministry.  Certainly, we want
our organization to grow in numbers, but, more importantly, we want all
the men of the church to grow spiritually."
     Rast said he came away from the assembly with the message that
"men's ministry is basically one man walking with another man, so that
they might both become closer to Jesus."  He said that message
reinforced LMM's ongoing theme -- "Master Builders: Building Men for
Christ."
     Building men's faith, relationships and ministry begins "man-to-
man within our congregations," said Rast.  "I would hope that we could
build on that."
     Rast said he plans to focus on the "excellent short-term projects"
that already make up the Master Builders program -- involving young men
aged 18 to 35 in church activities, printing and distributing the
"Master Builders Bible for Men" and responding to men's concerns around
health and wellness.  He added he hopes to lead the men's organization
in "dreaming" and long-range planning.
     On the fourth ballot for president, July 26, Rast was elected with
64 votes to 32 for Allen Anderson, Nordland Lutheran Church,
Paynesville, Minn., and four votes for Steven Laine, Advent Lutheran
Church, Boca Raton, Fla.
     Anderson was elected vice president; Leroy Simonson, St. Paul's
Lutheran Church, Rolfe, Iowa, was re-elected secretary; and Daniel Joy,
New Hope Lutheran Church, Jamaica, N.Y., was elected treasurer.
     Rast succeeded Charlie Schwartz, a member of Bethany Lutheran
Church, Fredericksburg, Texas, who was ineligible for re-election.
"These past 10 years -- four as your secretary and six as your president
-- have been the most inspiring, God-filled events in my life," said
Schwartz.
     Dr. Jon N. Moline, president of Texas Lutheran University (TLU),
Seguin, Texas, presented Schwartz with the TLU Distinguished Church
Service Award for "extraordinary service to the church."  Schwartz, a
1957 graduate of Texas Lutheran College (now TLU), and his wife Geneva
have established a scholarship named for their son, who died in a car
accident while a student at TLU.
     Doug Haugen, LMM director, presented Schwartz with the LMM
Foundation Award for his service to the organization and the ELCA.
During the assembly, the LMM Foundation Award was also presented to
Darrel Rice, former LMM secretary, Minerva, Ohio, and Ruth Larson,
former LMM administrative staff, Chicago.
     In his director's report, Haugen said the Master Builders Bible is
now in the hands of 11,000 men.  He said LMM plans to send six Bibles to
15 congregations in each of the ELCA's 65 synods, totaling almost 6,000
Bibles.  Instead of selling the Bibles, he said he hoped LMM could raise
enough money to give them away.
     Ken Getzin, outgoing LMM treasurer, Rancho Palos Verde, Calif.,
said donations to cover the printing costs for LMM's Bible program
caused the organization's income to grow each of the past three years;
however, regular contributions declined.  Prudent spending practices
kept the budget "relatively balanced" each year, he said.
     LMM budgets for the next three years project a steady increase in
contributions, bringing total income to $374,220 in 2005, said Getzin.
Budgeted spending for that year would be $325,473, he said, allowing the
organization to build its reserves.  The 2003 budget authorizes $40,000
for research to launch LMM's young men's ministry and $41,000 to settle
its financial commitment to the current Bible program.
     Steve Sonderman, associate pastor, Elmbrook Church, a
nondenominational congregation in Brookfield, Wis., led three leadership
modules.  He is the author of "How to Build a Life-Changing Men's
Ministry" and founder of Top Gun Ministries, Brookfield.
     "The way to reach a man today is through another man," Sonderman
told the delegates.  Most men in church are there because another man
invited them and because they can relate easily with other men in the
congregation, he said.
     A congregation's men's ministries will grow slowly, starting with
the commitment of a few laymen and the pastor, Sonderman said.
Organizing men into small groups is an effective way of building their
faith and relationships, and of training them to share their faith with
others.
     The 105 voting members passed several resolutions.  One asked the
ELCA to review and update positions it has taken regarding domestic
violence and violence against women.  Another pledged to develop LMM's
partnership with the men of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Guyana
(ELCG).
     Joseph Ramnarais brought greetings from the ELCG.  He said the
men's organization of his church on the northern coast of South America
had degenerated into a social club.  With the help of materials received
from LMM, he said the organization got a "fresh start" in 1998 by the
men renewing their commitment to Christ.
     Delegates tabled a resolution until LMM's 2005 assembly that would
put the organization on record supporting the ELCA's current positions
regarding sexuality and homosexuality.  Those positions are the subject
of studies which will bring recommendations to the ELCA Churchwide
Assembly in August 2005.
     Charlene Spillmann, Niederwald, Texas, brought greetings from
Women of the ELCA, the church's women's organization.  She is president
of the ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod women's organization.
-- -- --
     The Lutheran Men in Mission home page is at
http://www.elca.org/LMM/ on the ELCA Web site.

EDITORS: "Heber" is the correct spelling.

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