LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 93

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
Stemming from a resolution of our 2022 district convention, the
board of directors authorized the undersigned to form a task force
for the study of classical education and a consideration of the ways
it might inform and assist the work of our Lutheran schools. That
task force had its first meeting in January of 2023, and will aim
to provide a report and recommendations to the board of directors
at the conclusion of this calendar year. It is hoped and expected
that the efforts of this task force will be of great assistance to our
schools in strengthening their curricula, pedagogy, and catechesis,
and also in resisting the growing pressures of “progressive” ideologies.
Also significant in early 2023 was the “Katie Retreat” for the
wives of our district pastors, gathering together in person again for
the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. In this case, the retreat was conducted by Doxology, which has been of such benefit
to so many of our LCMS pastors, but which has not previously
done any such retreats for pastors’ wives. It was well attended and
went well.
The “Katie Retreat” has been a blessing and benefit for many
ladies over the years, but an annual retreat (pandemics aside) is not
the answer or solution for the ongoing day-by-day needs of pastors’
wives. Meeting those needs and providing year-long care for those
women and their children are among a number of key priorities and
emphases that the undersigned has set forth for himself and for the
pastors and congregations that constitute the Indiana District in the
present triennium. Simply stated, those priorities are as follows:
•

Encouraging, facilitating, and/or providing pastoral care
for the pastors of the Indiana District

•

Likewise, supporting and caring for the pastors’ families

•

Promoting an active fellowship between brother pastors
and sister congregations at the circuit level

•

Increasing the clarity and consistency of the practice of
closed Communion throughout all of our congregations

•

Fostering a more harmonious unity of worship practice
across the district, for the sake of the clarity, consistency,
and continuity of our catechesis and confession of Christ

God grant us, according to His tender mercies and steadfast
loving-kindness in Christ Jesus, to maintain the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace, as together we hear and confess His Word,
receive the gifts He freely gives in faith and with thanksgiving,
and live in love for Him and one another, to the glory of His Holy
Name.
D. Richard Stuckwisch Jr., President

93

liturgy in Divine Service as each congregation prepares to receive
the Holy Supper of our Lord. An intentional effort is being made
this triennium to increase our church worker recruitment. We are
working with Synod to be involved in the Set Apart to Serve campaign headed up by Rev. Dr. James Baneck from the International
Center. We have assembled a task force to implement recruitment
efforts with on-site visitations and communications with each congregation.
While we have been blessed in the recent past with few vacancies, the shortage of church workers graduating from our colleges
and seminaries is beginning to increase our vacancies. We make
ample use of available candidates (those currently without a call)
to fill out call lists. The pastoral and lay leadership in each parish
highly value the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions. As
such they dearly desire to be led by properly and adequately prepared servants.
Our goals each year are to assist our pastors in preaching and
emphasize visitation in the homes of their members. The same
is true of the district president. My intent is to exemplify visitation by being present in our congregations, attending the needs of
our church workers and assisting each parish to live the baptized
life that our culture so desperately needs to see and hear. We have
not planted any new congregations these past four years and have
had some congregations close. The challenge to IDE is the demographic changes to our population, and in some cases, pure apathy
of its citizens to the Word of God. Farms are being purchased by
corporate industry, and what used to be 10 family farms is now
cultivated by one or two people. While there are fewer families
who remain in Iowa and tend the farm, there are still plenty who
have no relationship with Christ Jesus as members of His church.
There is as much opportunity for harvest in the populace as there is
in the fields planted with grain. It is a matter of value for what God
gives us as His free gift of grace. What we receive is worth inviting
others to come and receive. Encouraging our membership to invite
their neighbors from all capacities to Divine Service is a focus we
must emphasize. We have the holy treasures of our Lord. Our pastors preach and teach the pure Word of God. Our schools prepare
our children rightly. We have everything Pentecost has given the
church in every era. We have work to do and by God’s grace we
will do it. God help us all and bless us with the promise of eternal
life in Him until we rest securely in the resurrection.
Brian S. Saunders, President
R29

Iowa West District

R28

Iowa East District
Iowa District East (IDE) is comprised of 118 congregations with
131 active, candidate, and emeriti pastors. We also have 8 Lutheran
elementary schools, one high school, and 26 preschools. The commissioned workers number 24 principals, deaconesses, DCEs, parish nurses, and other parish workers. Our schools are staffed with
110 commissioned or contracted teachers and para educators. The
geographical setting of IDE is the eastern half of the state of Iowa.
This district office currently employs two full-time and three parttime servants. In reference to the resolutions passed in the 2022
district convention, IDE remains faithful to the use of the historic

The theme verse guiding Iowa District West (IDW) for the next
triennium is Philippians 1:3–5: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making
my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from
the first day until now.”
It is an honor to bring this report to the 2023 Synod convention
as president of IDW. Our congregations are faithfully proclaiming
God’s Word and administering His Sacraments. Pastors are present with their people as they faithfully visit the sick and shut-ins
of their congregations. Teachers, deaconesses, directors of Christian education, and other church professionals are forming and informing the next generation of Christians. Church members are
2023 Convention Workbook