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	June 30, 2005 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 47

	LWML adopts record $1.625 million mission goal

	By Paula Schlueter Ross

	TAMPA, Fla. -- Delegates to the Lutheran Women's Missionary
League's 31st biennial convention here adopted a record mission goal of
$1.625 million for the 2005-07 biennium.

	More than 3,100 people attended the June 16-19 convention under
the theme "Live Joyfully as Salt and Light" (from Matt. 5:13-16).

	The new goal is $50,000 more than the last biennium's $1.575
million goal, which was exceeded by $99,345. That overage -- believed to
be the largest for the LCMS women's auxiliary -- will be applied toward
the new goal.

	LWML President Linda Reiser described the over-goal funds as "a
miracle." Reiser had sent word to LWML districts weeks before the fiscal
year ended, informing them that contributions were lagging. By the March
31 deadline the goal had been exceeded by about $1,000, so the bulk of
$98,000-plus was received after the deadline.

	"We took everything postmarked March 31 and God just kept
growing it and growing it," she said. "I think He wanted to surprise us
and say, 'Look, $1,000's not enough. I've got big plans for you.'"

	All of the organization's mission goals are "faith based,"
Reiser said, and the new goal of $1.625 million is the largest ever
adopted.

	"It's our human goal, but [the real goal] is whatever God puts
in the hearts of these women," she said. "And these mission hearts that
He's given to the LWML are huge. The women in the church know they're
making a difference in the lives of people everywhere."

	The new goal, she added, "will probably be small in God's eyes."

	Contributions toward the goal are given by the LWML's
200,000-plus members nationwide through individual mite-box offerings.

	In other business at the convention, more than 600 delegates
also chose 17 projects to fund with their offerings:

	* $30,000 to ship Orphan Grain Train containers of humanitarian
aid and religious materials to Africa and Eastern Europe.

	* $100,000 to develop Ablaze! training programs and materials to
assist the Synod in reaching 50 million people in North America with the
Gospel.

	* $51,000 to provide counseling, training, and materials for
helping people affected by HIV/AIDS in Kenya, West Africa.

	* $75,000 to provide additional classrooms at Unity Lutheran
Christian Elementary School in East St. Louis, Ill.

	* $50,000 to identify, recruit, train, and mentor Asian
missionaries and evangelists through the Center for Asian Mission and
Evangelism, Alexandria, Va.

	* $75,000 to train leaders, establish worship communities, and
begin youth ministries in southwest Alaska.

	* $32,000 to fund an outreach conference and seminar for
directors of blind outreach centers.

	* $84,000 to provide teachers in Sierra Leone.

	* $44,000 to provide education and training for
Bible-translation leaders worldwide through Lutheran Bible Translators,
Aurora, Ill.

	* $70,000 to fund church-planting-with-childcare ministries.

	* $100,000 to provide pastoral support, training and outreach
materials, and renovations for Hananiah Lutheran Mission in Buffalo,
N.Y.

	* $75,000 to construct a Lutheran Leaders Training Institute in
Pakistan.

	* $54,411 to produce the New Testament in Kiswahili braille for
blind people in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda, East Africa.

	* $80,000 to expand the Leadership Advancement Process outreach
training program for lay people in North America.

	* $100,000 to the Concordia Welfare and Education Society for
education, health, and rural development in China.

	* $100,000 to the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology to
begin a training program for deaconesses.

	* a partial grant of $17,089 to support Hispanic outreach in
west Houston.

	Delegates also chose Pittsburgh as the site of the LWML's 2013
convention. Other upcoming conventions will be held in Sioux Falls,
S.D., in 2007; Portland, Ore., in 2009; and Peoria, Ill., in 2011.

	In her "president's report" to the convention, Reiser thanked
the women for the love and help they have given to others through their
mite offerings and for bringing "gifts from the heart" to Tampa. Those
gifts totaled 1,850 items, including towels and washcloths, children's
underwear and socks, sheet sets, and health kits. All were distributed
to local agencies.

	Reiser compared the willingness of LWML members to exceed the
2003-05 mission goal to 1996 Olympic gymnast Kerri Strugg, who helped
win the U.S. team's gold medal even though she was injured.

	She applauded LWML members for "giving when you didn't have to
give. Giving because you wanted to give, because you know how to love
and how to help."

	Reiser urged local LCMS groups to keep Christ at the center of
their planning and described how the organization is working to involve
younger women. More than 70 "Young Women Representatives" attended the
Tampa convention, and some 120 women under age 40, trained as LWML
leaders in 2004, now are training others. "Teen LWML" recently was
launched for youth, and several of those groups have been formed.

	She shared her vision of LWML as "women young and old alike" who
can be stronger together than they are apart.

	In the past biennium, she said, LWML groups have been started on
college campuses and at Hmong, Hispanic, and African-immigrant
congregations. And the "Heart to Heart Sisters Cross-Cultural
Gathering," held just prior to the convention, introduced 40 "women of
color" to the LWML.

	Reiser encouraged all Lutheran women to pray together at noon
every Monday in an effort to "focus on unity and a combined mission
effort."

	Besides exceeding their last mission goal by almost $100,000 and
adopting the auxiliary's most ambitious mission goal ever,
convention-goers gave daily offerings for specific projects:

	* $26,201.80, contributed at Thursday night's opening worship
service, will go toward the LWML's 2005-07 mission goal.

	* Friday's $14,880.70 will benefit the "Papyrus Camp" for foster
children at Pioneer Camp and Retreat Center in Angola, N.Y.

	* Saturday's $18,688.55 will go to "For the Sake of the Church,"
a Synodwide effort to cover tuition costs for church-work students.

	* $17,432.88 from Sunday's closing worship service is slated for
the Central American Lutheran Mission Society to begin mission work in
the Dominican Republic.

	Saturday morning's "Joyful Jaunt" mission-pledge walk brought in
more than $58,840, which will go toward the 2005-07 mission goal.

	Keynote speaker Dr. Paul Maier, author, lecturer, professor of
ancient history at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, and the
Synod's second vice president, noted that Christianity is based on
historical fact and is not "contrived" like other religions. Still, he
said, today's social mindset seems to suggest that it's not right to
criticize anyone's religion "unless it's Christianity."

	Popular books like Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code" paint Jesus as
a "caricature" and are "riddled with deception and lies," Maier said,
and TV specials like "In Search of Jesus" promote the views of "radical
revisionists."

	"Jesus would not have to change His message one bit" for today's
world, he said, and God's "timeless message" may be even more applicable
today.

	"It's high time for all of us to get that salt out of the shaker
and brighten the world with the true light of Christianity," he said.

	Maier likened the LWML to the women of the New Testament, who
never let Jesus down like the men did. "Throughout the centuries, women
have had a deeper spirituality than men," he said.

	Likewise, the LWML has had an "extraordinary track record" of
supporting God's mission, he said, providing some $80 million in mission
funding to date.

	Maier urged LWML members to become involved in the Ablaze!
movement, which he called "a really great incentive to brighten the
corner where you are." He noted the results of a George Barna poll, that
75 to 90 percent of new church members join because of a "personal
invitation" from a relative or friend. He challenged LWML members to
"catch fire" through the "Ablaze!" initiative and shared his hope that
they "blaze brighter than the rest of the church."

	Also addressing the convention were a half-dozen missionaries
and other mission workers whose ministries have received LWML funding.

	Among them was Rev. Don Treglown, who served among the Tagakaulo
people in the Philippines from 1987 to 2001. Treglown said he was raised
in an LWML household with a mite box in the kitchen, so he was aware of
the organization and its mission work from a young age.

	He told the story of two blankets -- one U.S. Army, one LWML --
and how they comforted a woman he came to know as "Grandma."

	As a teen, the Philippine woman received an army blanket from an
American Lutheran soldier who told her it was given "with Christ's
love." Decades later, she met Treglown, and when she found out he was
Lutheran, asked, "Why did it take you 50 years? I've been waiting to
thank the Lutherans who showed compassion to me as a young teenager."

	Treglown planted his first mission church in Grandma's village,
and one Christmas presented her with an LWML quilt -- a gesture that
brought tears to her eyes. When she died, she was buried, on Easter, in
the quilt.

	"Thank you for that quilt," he told the convention. "And thank
you even more so for introducing me to Jesus Christ."

	Delegates also elected new officers and committee members to
four-year terms. Elected were Vivian Ernst of Ida Grove, Iowa, vice
president of Christian life; Sandra Hardies of Canadian Lakes, Mich.,
vice president of communication; Janis McDaniels of Greensboro, N.C.,
vice president of Gospel outreach; Kay Kreklau of Drayton, N.D.,
secretary; and Rev. Carl Gnewuch, associate pastor of Our Shepherd
Lutheran Church, Birmingham, Mich., pastoral counselor.

	New members of the nominating committee are Donna Gruel of
Westfield, Mass., who will serve as chairman; Betty Dietrich of Morton,
Ill.; Janell McKinstry of Piedmont, S.D.; Ladell McWhirter of Kingsport,
Tenn.; and Barbara Virus of Orange, Calif.

	Providing comic relief was Jan Struck as fictional LWML
convention-goer "Nita Myhtes Daly," who shared humorous cell-phone
convention updates with her "Aunt Jane."

	In one skit, Daly informed her aunt that "there's no mission
speaker -- they're serving donuts!" Then, realizing her mistake, she
adds, "Oh, it says 'ablaze.' I thought it said 'aglaze.'"

	She also tells her aunt about her idea for starting LWML groups
in preschools. "It is never too early to start wearing purple," she
said.

	****************************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

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