# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S166
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

166

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
with Grace Place Ministries to develop Congregational Worker Care Teams

Our Financial Stewardship. Our SED gives a double tithe
(20 percent) of the mission partnership support received from
the congregations to the LCMS for its work. In addition, we’ve
added 2 percent of our mission partnership support to provide
offerings for our international work. Our mission and ministry
budget, largely supported by our congregations, continues to
be robust, but we also recognize new stewardship strategies are
needed for the next era of the church.
Our Prayer. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give
thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
The Southeastern District staff and board of directors have
been praying over these verses as we move forward with God’s
mission. Specifically, we have committed to praying at 5:17 each
day (either a.m. or p.m.) as we remember to “pray without ceasing.” We invite you to join us as we commit to being “Joy:fully
Lutheran: Rejoice, Pray, Give Thanks.”
John R. Denninger, President

R52

Southern District
Grace, peace, and mercy be unto us all in the name of our
triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!
The Southern District is a large geographical district that
encompasses Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Panhandle of Florida. Within this large geographical area, we currently have 158 LCMS congregations, 3 new mission church
plants, 32,000 baptized members served by 212 called and ordained pastors. In addition, we currently have 14 early childhood development centers, 10 elementary schools, and 1 high
school. All told these 25 schools serve 2,000 students through
the ministry of our 250 teachers. The Southern District staff
includes the president, education executive, part-time mission
executive, three full-time administrative assistants, and one
part-time admin assistant.
In the short time I have been president, it has become increasingly clear that we need to focus on four important and
interconnected areas.
1.

Clergy Health

2.

Congregational Health

3.

Outreach/Evangelism/Witness

4.

Prayer

Our clergy are under stress from a myriad of issues including crushing student loan debt, shrinking congregations and the
corresponding financial burden that creates, health and weight
issues, and a lack of awareness and willingness to engage the
help that is available. Pastors experience burnout and depression at higher rates than other professions. For a congregation
to be healthy, its shepherd/pastor needs to be healthy.
Congregations can become unhealthy and turn inward
upon themselves. Unhealthy congregations do not normally
grow as they most often do not have a heart to reach the lost
and do not intentionally reach out to their community with the
2019 Convention Workbook

Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the power of God unto
salvation; healthy congregations led by healthy pastors reach
lost people in Christ’s harvest fields.
Once the LCMS had a vital outreach and mission heart
for those in our communities who are lost, dying, and going
to hell without coming to faith in Jesus Christ. A people who
are “Joy:fully Lutheran,” are a people who have the joy of the
Lord’s salvation and joyfully desire to share the hope we have
in Jesus Christ alone with their family, friends, neighbors, and
community. We as confessional Lutherans have what our world
is looking for. Too often our pastors and congregations do not
make reaching the lost with the Gospel that has been given to
us a priority.
All these things we bring to the Lord in prayer. We cannot
face the difficult road ahead on our own. In prayer we confess
our dependence upon the Lord, cry out to Him for His mercy,
strength, and grace, and beseech Him to use us, His church, His
baptized children, as His witnesses in our world where people
desperately need Christ, His Gospel, and His church. We pray
to the Lord of the harvest to raise us up to be workers in His
fields that are ripe for harvest in every community.
Over this triennium, we in the Southern District will be
working to help our pastors and professional church workers
to become healthier in body, soul, and spirit so they can lead
healthy congregations that will in turn reach outside the walls
of the church building and into the community with the saving
Gospel of Jesus Christ. To be “Joy:fully Lutheran” is to share
the hope we have in Jesus with others. Being “Joy:fully Lutheran,” we receive from our Lord Jesus Christ His good gifts in the
Divine Service, being filled to overflowing with Christ’s Word
and Sacraments, the Holy Spirit overflows those good gifts out
of us to others who don’t yet know Jesus as Christ. “Joy:fully”
Lutherans are faithful to Christ’s Word, “Go.” “Joy:fully” Lutherans want to share the gift of the Gospel; they want to go and
be workers in the Lord’s harvest fields. “Joy:fully” Lutherans
pray for the church, the world, their family, friends, neighbors,
and community to come to faith and they pray to be used by the
Lord as servants in His harvest fields all around us. Being faithful in Word and Sacraments, we are faithful to the Word “Go”
and we desire everyone to be saved and do all we can to share
the Gospel with people who are lost in the world without God.
We have many struggles and problems facing the church today. We in the Southern District believe that addressing the four
main issues of clergy health, congregational health, outreach/
evangelism/witness, and prayer, the Lord would be pleased to
use us as His servants to speak His life-giving Gospel to the
world around us, trusting Him to cause the growth of the Gospel seeds we sow and to help us face the struggles on the road
ahead with grace and mercy as His church and witnesses in our
communities.
Eric Johnson, President

R53

Southern Illinois District
“Joy:fully Lutheran”;
Confessing Christ: Jesus Is Lord!
The rapid changes of the modern world highlight the need