# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2007_S10 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 10 SYNOD REPORTS District Conventions 20 District Pastors Conferences/ All Workers Conferences ; 8 Visits to Seminary, College, and University Campuses 28 Congregational Anniversaries, Dedications, etc. . 44 Other Conferences, Miscellaneous Conventions, etc. 31 Miscellaneous Events—Out of town 65 Miscellaneous Meetings/Events—St. Louis 82 Meetings with Individual Pastors, Lay, Staff, etc. Visits from, to, or with Current or Potential Partner Churches American Association of Lutheran Churches Canada Countless Germany Haiti Indonesia Kenya Latvia Lithuania SELK Sudan Meeting with President George W. Bush — ea eS ND SS eS Of Concluding Comments Based on my extensive travels throughout the Synod these past 6 years, participating in many district pastoral conferences and con- ventions, meeting with district presidents, boards of directors, dis- trict staff members, pastors, teachers, and lay leaders from many congregations of the LCMS, IJ have a number of observations to share: 1. The LCMS has a tremendous opportunity and virtually unlimited resources from the hand of God to experience a reversal of the trend of the past 30 years that has marked us as a declining church body. I believe that excellence and faithfulness in Christian education endeavors, human care opportunities, and re-energized mission strategies in our Synod, centered in Word and Sacraments, will result in the LCMS being recognized worldwide as a dynamic, Christ- centered movement and a vibrant, vital gathering of biblical and confessional Christians in mission to the world. We are a biblical and confessional church. Our confession must and will be heard. 2. The LCMS is being refreshed with a renewed spirit of zeal for the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. At times, this zeal is hampered by a partially fractured party spirit. But the presence of God in Word and Sacrament among us, the hope of Christ that is alive in the hearts of our people, and the mission focus that is welling up in so many of our congregations, institutions and entities give me great hope for the future of our beloved Synod, 3. The LCMS is held together by the grace of God. The commit- ment of her pastors, teachers, people, and congregations to that grace of God is increasingly evident. In response to God’s grace, the peopie of this Synod are being compelled and propelled by the love of Christ to engage passionately the billions of unsaved people in this world with the confession of God’s grace in Jesus Christ our Lord. In the midst of such a time as this, we must seize the opportuni- ties provided by the Spirit of God, overcome our challenges by the 2007 Convention Workbook grace of God, and boldly move ahead in the mission given us by the Son of God. As our mission statement declares: “In grateful response to God’s grace and empowered by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments, the mission of the LCMS is vig- orously to make known the love of Christ by word and deed within our churches, communities, and the world.” “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor. 15:58) Respectfully submitted, lace President’s Report Part I, Addendum A ELCA CHURCHWIDE ASSEMBLY GREETINGS From Gerald B. Kieschnick, President The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Orlando, Florida August 12, 2005 Presiding Bishop Hanson, Assembly Members, Special Guests, Friends in Christ: Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, Savior of the world and Lord of the universe, through whom alone we have forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation! I couldn’t help but observe during your assembly proceedings that you are no strangers to the joys and sorrows of parliamentary procedure. As a matter of fact, there was an occasion on which I closed my eyes and felt absolutely certain that I was at a conven- tion of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod! Seriously, it is my privilege today to bring you greetings on be- half of the 2.4 million baptized members of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Even in the midst of our endeavor to reach 100 million unreached or uncommitted people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Re- formation, we have been praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit upon your assembly gathered here as children of the heav- enly Father, “Marked with the Cross of Christ Forever.” In our liturgy for Holy Baptism, we speak these words, “Re- ceive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.” In Baptism, we are marked with the Cross of Christ forever. Luther wrote in this regard what we also confess, “Since the water and the Word together constitute one Baptism, body and soul shall be saved and live forever . . . No greater jewel, therefore, can adorn our body and soul than Baptism, for through it we obtain per- fect holiness and salvation, which no other kind of life and no work on earth can acquire” (LC, Baptism, 46, Tappert). As Lutheran Christians, we cherish this great jewel that adorns us and marks us with the Cross of Christ. Likewise, we treasure the holy, precious Word of God that reveals the perfect law of God and the merciful Gospel of Christ—the light for the path of the Chris- tian Church. With the confessors, “we believe, teach, and confess that the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Tes- tament are the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged” (FC, Epitome, 1, Tappert).