LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 31

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
dual accreditation. These partnerships are vital for secondary schools
as students matriculate and apply for entrance into state universities.
As a result of exceptional programs accredited by NLSA during the
past triennium, 20 Lutheran schools (early childhood, elementary, and
secondary) were identified as Exemplary Schools. These Exemplary
Schools developed 39 “best practice” webinars that were shared with
Lutheran educators and administrators nationwide.
The School Leadership Development (SLED) project serves to
recruit and prepare the next generation of administrative leaders to
serve in Lutheran schools. By 2018, it is anticipated that 40 percent
of Lutheran school administrators now serving are expected to retire.
The SLED program has been successful in identifying future leaders as evidenced by the number of SLED graduates who are now
serving in Lutheran schools. Since the last Synod convention, 77
administrative candidates successfully completed SLED preparation
and received an endorsement as candidates for administrative leadership positions in early childhood, elementary, and secondary schools.
Ten LCMS Leadership Coaches were trained, certified, and are
serving with the specific purpose of working with educators and
leaders. Coaching provides an individual with the opportunity to discuss and explore a personal or professional topic and to develop an
action plan with specific goals with a trusted individual who provides
accountability for the process. The partnership between the leadership
coach and the educator embraces the Christian faith and is committed
to the highest ethical and legal standards of the coaching profession.
Lutheran School Consulting Services (LSCS; rebranded from
Strengthening Schools and Congregations in 2013) provides diagnostic services designed to strengthen and revitalize Lutheran schools
in order that the mission of sharing Christ with children and their
families is more effectively accomplished. In the past triennium,
32 schools have been served through diagnostic assessment and the
implementation of improvement plans intended to help schools thrive
and serve students better.
Of 2,111 Lutheran schools, 1,190 serve children ranging from six
weeks of age to five years old. School Ministry serves as an advocate
to affirm, equip, and empower leaders of Christ-centered early childhood ministries to impact the lives of children and their families with
the love of Jesus and His grace. Districts are encouraged to appoint an
LCMS early childhood consultant to work with the education executive to support directors and educators serving in early childhood
programs in the district. Training and support for the consultants is
conducted through monthly conference calls and an annual conference for professional development in the field of early childhood
education. Additionally, a National Lutheran School Accreditation
Early Childhood Task Force revised the accreditation self-study document to better meet the needs of early childhood programs. This new
document will be piloted during the 2016–17 school year and made
available to all centers and programs in the summer of 2017.
The School Ministry staff continues to develop and distribute
resources to schools that enhance the teacher’s ability to serve students. Resources include chapel talks, National Lutheran Schools
Week materials, and the School Ministry Mailing (consisting of 12
monthly articles). Additionally, two manuals have been developed and
published: In His Hands—A Manual for Beginning and Operating
Early Childhood Development Programs and Eternal Treasures:
Teaching Your Child at Home, to support ministries in churches and
schools. Finally, the preparation of materials to support the upcoming celebration of the Reformation and the Rosa Young movie project
is underway with resources to be made available for use in Lutheran
schools.
In an effort to better serve schools and workers, the School
Ministry staff has been actively engaged in improving office procedures and infrastructure. The reconstruction of several critical school

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ministry office databases has been undertaken, resulting in the ability to retrieve, analyze, and share reliable data relating to Lutheran
schools. Additionally, a process is underway to completely digitalize
paper copies of existing records to facilitate document retention and
maximize content search.
Collaboratively, School Ministry worked with the Council of
Presidents, the Office of Rosters and Statistics, and Information
Technologies to complete a project designed to streamline and
improve biographical reporting requirements for commissioned ministers. As a result, calling bodies of the LCMS are now able to more
effectively and efficiently search for Synod-trained workers to fill
ministry needs.
In order to meet the changing needs of LCMS districts, schools,
and workers, the historical Lutheran School Portal has been reimagined to a new online resource to facilitate improved communication
and resource sharing. Additionally, the School Ministry social media
presence has been enhanced to enable regular communication within
Lutheran education. Combined, these steps have added another
dimension to the online presence of School Ministry in the delivery
of content and communication.
All of these efforts (ref. 2013 Res. 3-03A, “To Support, Commend,
and Increase Witness, Mercy, and Life Together Ministry of Lutheran
Schools”) have been accomplished in close cooperation with LCMS
educational executives charged with district, education-related responsibilities. It should be noted that LCMS districts have experienced a
significant transition of education executives through retirement and
change of position. In order to address these changes, School Ministry
conducted an Education Executive Orientation for new and current
executives with the intent that this training is offered annually.
Lutheran schools continue to be on the forefront in providing the
ability to reach out and serve their communities in unparalleled ways.
They operate with the purpose of helping students grow in knowledge
skills and in their love of Jesus. In this way, schools have become faith
incubators for children, preparing and equipping students for life in
this world and for eternity.
Worship—Rev. William Weedon, Director

LCMS Worship exists to strengthen the joy of God’s people as they
receive His life-giving gifts in Word and Sacrament through providing
worship resources, education, and opportunities for those who serve
in worship to grow in excellence in their ministries.
To that end, during the last triennium, Worship offered the Living
Liturgy Conference at a number of locations throughout the country
(September 2013, Three Forks, Montana; October 2013, Huntington
Beach, California; March 2014, Mount Forrest, Ontario; March 2014,
Iowa City, Iowa; August 2014, Cumberland, Maryland; October 2014,
Plano, Texas; May 2016, Plymouth, Minnesota). Worship also offered
two retreats to foster excellence in preaching (August 2014, Lutheran
Island, Minnesota; May 2016, Northern Indiana District pastoral conference). Worship provided resources for numerous Synod-sponsored
events, including two stewardship conferences, Life Ministry, a campus ministry conference, and two Koinonia Project gatherings (at
which Rev. Weedon served as the chaplain).
Ongoing catechesis took place through creative partnership with
Issues, Etc. through which a 24-part series that walks through the
historic liturgy was completed and made available as a free podcast.
Other series completed this triennium include Baptism, Marriage, and
Ordination. In collaboration with Disaster Response, Worship twice
presented plenary presentations (Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, September 2014, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis,
October 2015). Worship assisted in the catechesis of new missionaries a number of times. Chaplain Weedon spoke at both the 2014 and
2015 Making the Case Conference (Collinsville, Illinois) and was
2016 Convention Workbook