LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 27

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
students pursuing church work. These videos are a great resource
for personal use, youth meetings, Bible class, and congregation
and school meetings. The website also houses a SAS FAQ, a
description of all LCMS ordained and commissioned church
vocations, bulletin inserts, easy access to the KFUO Coffee Hour
episodes, and resources for Church Worker Appreciation Month.
This website will continue to be refreshed and populated with
useful resources in developing a church work recruitment culture
in your congregation and school.
Pray the Lord of the Harvest. Jesus said, “The harvest is
plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the
Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt.
9:37–38). The number of church workers will always be few.
Jesus said it. Luther said it. Walther said it. We say it today. At
the same time, we don’t ask how many workers we will need in
three or five or 10 years from now. There always will be sinners
and there always will be millions of people who do not know
Jesus Christ and are therefore without eternal life in Christ.
There is a Synod focus on planting new churches. Neighbors of
all ethnicities are in our very own communities, many of whom
do not know Jesus Christ. The Office of International Mission is
desiring to send at least 80 additional missionaries overseas just
this year. Praying the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers
into his harvest includes actively and intentionally talking to
our children about considering a church work vocation and
supporting them through the journey. Praying the Lord of the
harvest includes treating our church workers with love and respect
for the sacred and joyful office they fill. Praying the Lord of the
harvest includes believing that Jesus is the one thing needful and
therefore encouraging our children to consider full-time church
work and also supporting all those in your congregation and
school who are pursuing church work. Praying the Lord of the
harvest is forming and recruiting pastors and all church workers
so that our children and grandchildren, family and friends, and all
God’s people know Jesus Christ for life and salvation. Praying the
Lord of the harvest is believing that this is what baptized children
of God in Christ Jesus do until the day of His return.

B. Post-Seminary Applied Learning and Support (PALS)
PALS was created by the Council of Presidents and LCMS
Commission on Ministerial Growth and Support (CMGS) in 1998.
The purpose of PALS is to assist new seminary graduates and their
wives transition into the first three years of his call. After restructuring in 2010, PALS is now under the LCMS Office of Pastoral
Education.
PALS utilizes geographic cohorts. Each cohort is facilitated by
an experienced pastor and his wife. The pastor facilitates the men
and the pastor’s wife facilitates the women. Ideally, PALS cohorts
meet six days per year. Pastors can self-report up to six PALS CEUs
each year on their district Self Evaluation Tool (SET).
PALS also serves the purpose of the pastor’s first years of continuing education. Each time a PALS cohort meets, they participate
in worship, a study topic, support and casuistry, and fellowship.
Cohorts are free to use either curriculum developed by the PALS
office or a study topic of the group’s choice. Courses written by
the PALS office are always developed in response to the request of
PALS pastors, wives, and facilitators.
PALS is designed for the transition and care of the pastor’s wife
and children as much as for the pastor. Specific courses, books,

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and topics are written for the pastor’s wife, dealing with issues
of boundaries, vocation and expectations, loneliness and isolation,
parenting, spiritual life, and more. The LCMS PALS office pays for
all childcare during PALS gatherings, if so desired. Often, during
a PALS gathering, the men and women meet separately for study
topics that most pertain to each.
PALS is a rich partnership of the LCMS, districts, congregations, and pastors. The annual PALS budget is approximately
$145,000. This includes PALS administration, facilitator contracts
and expenses, seminary presentation dinners to concluding-year
seminarians entering PALS, conference expenses, and books and
materials. Participating districts contribute $500 per participating
pastor per year. LCMS PALS more than matches that amount. It
could be said that the Synod invests more than $1,000 per year per
pastor to facilitate a successful transition into his first call.
In the last four years, there has been an average of 28 active
PALS groups across the Synod. Approximately 123 pastors and 81
wives have been active in PALS over this past quadrennium. We
encourage congregations calling candidates from the seminary to
support and expect their pastors to participate in PALS. Such participation is of great benefit to both the pastor and the congregation
for many years to come. There are 27 of the 35 LCMS districts who
currently participate in the PALS program. The LCMS Executive
Director of Pastoral Education and the new full-time Director of
PALS, Rev. Jonathan Manor, strongly encourage all 35 districts
to participate in PALS for the benefit of the pastor, his wife and
family, the congregation he serves, and the district and Synod at
large. Some districts transition and train their new pastors in their
particular context apart from PALS. PALS encourages our districts
to integrate this training with PALS and to see the rich benefits of
transitioning our new LCMS pastors in our life together. PALS is
grateful to the delegates of previous Synod conventions who have
strongly advocated and supported PALS.
To learn more about PALS, including PALS courses, annual report, and Facebook page, go to lcms.org/PALS.

C. Theology Professors Conference
The Theology Professors Conference is a biennial event. It is
directed toward our Synod’s valued theology professors engaged
in service at the LCMS colleges, universities, and seminaries. The
Missouri Synod, the formation of pastors, and the teaching of theology in the Synod’s higher education institutions have all been
strengthened because of these conferences.
This conference brings together the Synod’s theology professors to think carefully about God’s Word, the Lutheran Confessions, the Church, and society. This is the only event that gathers
all those teaching theology to future church workers and students
preparing for various God-given vocations at the Synod’s universities and seminaries. This conference is a prized opportunity for our
Synod’s theology professors to examine Scripture, the ecumenical
creeds and Confessions of the LCMS, church history, and worldview to address life in both of God’s kingdoms—the left-hand of
society and the right-hand of the Church.
Due to the pandemic, the 2020 conference was canceled. The
conference resumed in May 2022 at Concordia University Chicago. The conference theme each year is focused on a portion of the
Lutheran Confessions. The 2022 conference focused on AC XI and
XII, Confession and Repentance. Four plenary speakers presented
on “The Natural Basis of Repentance,” “Repenting in an Age of
Violence,” “AC XII, Clergy Sexual Misconduct, Clergy Discipline,
2023 Convention Workbook