# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S154 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 154 OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS munication. We had over 100 leaders sign up for this event and are planning to offer it again. We have also encouraged our laymen with our annual adult gathering. Rev. Dr. Paul Maier, Rev. Dr. Patrick Ferry, and Rev. Dr. Dean Nadasdy were our featured speakers. We averaged 200 in attendance. DJ Schult, my education assistant, has been working to encourage our schools, their boards, principals, and teachers in various ways. Some of which include: Finally, we have been blessed to have Dennis Johnson serve twenty-six and a half years as LCEF Vice President and the district in various capacities including stewardship, business manager, and building supervisor to name a few. He has been a faithful servant to the North Wisconsin District and we have been blessed with his presence, care, concern, and wit. His vacant position will be filled by William Jordan from Stevens Point. Bill will join our team at the end of March. We look forward to welcoming Bill to our district and joining our staff. In closing, I shared with the convention delegates that they are not alone in ministry. Ministry can be tough, frustrating, or even depressing. However, ministry can be one of the greatest joys you will ever experience. The following reminders were shared with them: •• Expansion of the school choice voucher program available in Wisconsin. •• Increased accreditation participation with over 16 schools having achieved the five-year recognition. •• Creation of a regional training event for potential principals to combat the shortage of school leaders. 1. Your church address is not an accident. God placed you there for a reason. •• New funding for non-rostered teachers to participate in the colloquy certification program in an effort to develop Lutheran identity of the increasing number of non-rostered teachers in our schools. 2. Your community is no accident. God wants you to embrace and reach out; celebrate your community. 3. Your calling is no accident. Serve. •• Financial support for teacher technology training cohorts to improve professional practice. •• Financial support for online curriculum mapping tools to develop and align written curriculum. •• School board training in best practice roles, responsibilities, and strategic planning. Our district recently switched to the new Concordia Plan Services compensation tool. We believe this will give good, reliable information to our congregations to make good decisions on salaries and benefits for their church workers. The convention addressed the student debt of our district professional church workers and passed a resolution asking the district board of directors for recommendations to address this concern. Our church workers are required to earn degrees at the college and seminary levels, thus incurring student debt. Many of our teachers do not receive salaries commensurate with those working in the public sector with a comparable level of education. Presently the board is putting a plan together to assist our church workers as many face sizeable student debt coupled with salaries that are not in line with the guidelines. The district continues to offer scholarships to college students from our district who intend to go into full-time church work. This past year we were able to assist 30 students by distributing $118,600 in scholarships. Camp Luther in Three Lakes, Wisconsin, continues to thrive in the north woods with around 400 children attending during the summer along with many other offerings throughout the year. Presently there is a campaign going on called “Filled with the Spirit” with the majority of the funds raised to build a new dining hall. Construction is scheduled to begin in Fall 2019 and be operational in 2020. Besides supporting Camp Luther, the district also supports mission outreach, three campus ministries, the chaplaincy position at Wisconsin Veterans’ Home at King, deaf ministry at various locations, a French African outreach in Appleton, Hmong support, LCMS mission work in Peru, mini-grants to congregations for outreach, national and state youth gatherings, disaster relief, the parish nurse program, and PALS. 2019 Convention Workbook May the light of Christ shine through us and declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Dwayne M. Lueck, President R42 Northern Illinois District Greeting from your sisters and brothers in Christ in the Northern Illinois District! The Northern Illinois District covers 24 counties in the northern third of Illinois. Only one of those counties, Carroll County in western Illinois, has no LCMS congregation. We are made up of 206 active congregations, 47 elementary schools, 3 high schools, and 44 stand-alone preschools and early childhood centers. We are also blessed by our regional camp, Walcamp, located in Kingston. We are united in Christ and under Christ and His Holy Word. These places of worship and education are for the faithful and a beacon of Light and Truth for those who are unchurched or “under churched.” Thousands of laymen and laywomen, young and not quite as young, serve Christ, His Church, and His mission in so many places. We give thanks for their witness, prayers, and generosity in congregations, schools, care centers, and in our communities. In addition to our laity, the NID has 243 called ordained ministers and 462 called commissioned workers. We thank God for our called workers and heed the word of Jesus, “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the harvest” (Matthew 9:38). While there are many places where the workers are trained and raised up, Concordia University Chicago and the School for Missionaries at Iglesia Luterana San Pablo in Aurora are two special places. Concordia University Chicago reports record enrollment and we give thanks for the service of Rev. Dr. Daniel Gard who retires in July of 2019. The latter is raising up Spanish-speaking workers and blessing Hispanic ministry in the NID and beyond. Many of these workers continue their education at the Center for Hispanic Studies at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.