LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 86

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86 SYNODICAL REPORTS

The Board of Directors has chosen this imagery to express our
values, our vision, and our mission through the motto “A Harvest
of Joy.”

Serving as a District of the LCMS we value growing trusting
relationships. We enjoy a climate within our District that promotes
growth. We trust one another and have experienced very little con-
flict. When it occurs we seck to resolve it through biblical peace-
making principles.

We value growing lifelong disciples through Christian Educa-
tion. We seck to faithfully pass on our faith to future generations
through our Sunday schools and confirmation programs and our
congregations’ 48 preschools and 10 Christian day schools, in-
cluding two new ones opened in the past triennium. Our youth are
nurtured through active youth ministries supported by District-
sponsored retreats, camps, and youth gatherings. Adult Bible
classes equip our people to live productive Christian lives.

We value growing passion for mission. Our people lead the
Synod in per communicant support for world missions through
their weekly offerings. Over and above our regular offerings we
support cross-cultural missionaries in Des Moines, Sioux City, and
Los Angeles, CA, working with our sister congregations in the Ne-
hemiah Project. Our Campus Ministry at Memorial Lutheran
Church, Ames, serves not only our own students, but also the in-
ternational students whom the Lord sends into our midst. He also
sends Hispanics, Sudanese, Laotians, and other ethnic peoples to
Jive and work in our rural communities. Our congregations are
reaching out to them with the Gospel. We have called a missionary
at large to serve the deaf population in Des Moines and through-
out our District. Evangelism workshops equip our people to per-
sonally reach out to their neighbors, “Telling the Good News about
Jesus.” lLOWAY (Individual Outreach With Adults and Youth) has
sent out more than 150 of our members into other mission fields in
California, Laos, Mexico, China, Russia, and Africa.

We value growing leadership. More than 50 young people from
our District are preparing for full-time church work and are receiv-
ing financial aid from our District Endowment Fund and the gen-
erous support of our District LWML. Two men are preparing for
the pastoral ministry through the DELTO program. We regularly
offer workshops tor our professional church workers and for our
layleaders.

We value growing compassion through our human care min-
istries. Our institutional chaplains serve the hospitals and nursing
homes in Des Moines and Sioux City, and shut-ins throughout our
District via their radio ministry, “The Good Shepherd Hour.” Task
forces on rural issues and the aging population seck to serve the
specific needs of our changing communities.

We Envision a Harvest of Joy

Joy in Ministry! We seck to encourage our dedicated pastors,
commissioned ministers, and the thousands of faithful layleaders
to experience joy in their service.

Joy in the Journey! We are 72,000 members in 175 congrega-
tions joyfully walking together as members of the LCMS.

Joy in Sharing and Serving! We are well served by two full-
time executive assistants: Rev. Earl Pearce in Missions and Stew-
ardship and Rev. Robert Riggert in Education and Youth; and two
part-time executive assistants: Rev. David Fechner in Evangelism
and Rev. Erland Asmus in Human Care. Mission awareness for
special mission projects has been raised through the ministry of our
Mission Development Counselor, Mr. Gary Thies. Our LCF
Planned Giving Counselor is Mr. James Schroeder, and our LCEF
Vice-President is Carole White. This wonderful team shares their
love for the Lord, their vision, and their joy as they deploy through-
out the District.

2001 Convention Workbook

Joy in Modeling! A new men’s ministry, Encouragement, of-
fers fathers, sons, and grandsons opportunities to enjoy Christian
fellowship and spiritual growth.

Joy in Salvation! In January 2001, we were saddened by the
death of our President Emeritus, Dr. Richard Kapfer. He was our
mentor, our friend, and our pastor. He was a man of great faith, and
so we rejoiced and celebrated his eternal victory and ours in the
risen Savior.

The Mission of Iowa District West is Connecting, Resourc-
ing, Partnering with the congregations for the extension of the
Gospel throughout the District into all the world. Rural Ameri-
cans are familiar with the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
Some refer to it as “idle acres.” It ts in fact a conservation program
to properly care for the precious fields that they might become even
more productive. We are not idle in the mission fields of lowa Dis-
trict West. The Lord is blessing our work with “A Harvest of Joy.”

Paul G. Sieveking, President

R7-05-10
Kansas District

“Christ Be My Leader” and “Christ Be My Teacher” served as
the themes for the 1997 and 2000 District conventions and the
thrust of Kansas District mission and ministry the past triennium.
Under these themes Christ has led the Kansas District through

¢ The gift of a Leadership Development Center. The renovation
of the three-story, three-million-dollar building was completed in
December 1999 and now serves as a state-of-the-art educational
center for the spiritual growth and leadership development of lay
and professional ministers, an office building for District staff.
and a center for mission and ministry to and for the Kansas Dis-
trict. The original gift of the building was complemented by a
bequest covering renovation costs. These gifts, together with the
sale of the former office building, allow the District today to serve
debt free for the first time in almost 40 years.

The continuing partnership with the Lutheran Church of
Guinea, West Africa. This mission partnership initiated in 1996
by the Board for Mission Services, missionary Tim Heiney. and
the Kansas District has grown dramatically through the develop-
ment of lay pastors and an expanding mission team in spite of
continuing civil unrest and the necessity of staff redeployment.

The development of a School of Lay Ministry. A Commission
on Lay Ministry was formally created at the 1997 District con-
vention and through the work of this commission the first class
of a two-year program leading to credentialing as a Kansas Dis-
trict deacon began in fal] 1999. The students meet for an extended
weekend (Friday evening through Sunday afternoon) once each
month for two years. Courses in Scripture, the Lutheran Contes-
sions, church history, biblical interpretation, sermon preparation
and presentation, pastoral care, parish education, evangelism,
stewardship, and administration are offered. In May 2001 the first
class of 22 men graduated into a deeper ministry and an expanded
mission to their congregations and the Kansas District. The pri-
mary goals for the development of a corps of deacons in the Dis-
trict are service within the deacon’s congregation to complement
and supplement the pastoral office; service in smaller, more re-
mote congregations where an ordained pastor cannot be secured
or financially supported; service as missionaries to communities
where there is no Lutheran presence; and service as models of a
spiritually growing lay leadership to other district lay leaders.

The expansion of the District Commission on Ministerial
Health. In response to the many concerns regarding the decreas-
ing supply of professional church workers and the issues of re-
tention and recruitment presented in the Synod’s “The Clergy
Shortage Study,” the Commission, staffed by District executive
chaplain Rocky Mease, has developed both short-term and long-
term responses to these issues and needs. (1) Each congregation in