LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 87

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SYNODICAL REPORTS 87

the District has been encouraged to develop care committees for
their professional workers and families. Materials and training
have been offered to all congregations as part of this encourage-
ment. (2) Annual Pastors’ Wives’ Retreats and Professional
Workers’ Marriage Retreats are offered to families at little or no
cost. (3) A retreat center for professional workers in the Arkansas
Ozarks has been secured and is offered to Kansas church workers
for a “getaway” vacation or retreat. (4) A Peacemaker’s Confer-
ence for District pastors addressing the issues of reconciliation
and care for fellow pastors, peers in ministry, was central to the
annual Pre-Lent Conference for pastors. (5) “Timothy Gather-
ings” for pastors in their first three years of ministry following
seminary graduation are offered by experienced pastors and the
District staff. These twice-a-year gatherings for new pastors and
their wives provide a time of discussion for growth in pastoral
skills and reflection on the parish experience.

The establishment of new missions. Three new mission com-
munities are in the process of forming in the Wichita, Leaven-
worth, and Kansas City regions. Each of these mission initiatives
is in partnership with an area congregation and the Kansas Dis-
trict Board of Mission.

The addition of new staff leaders. Mr. Elmer Karstensen,
Kansas District business administrator and LCEF Vice-President,
retired after fifteen years of District service in January 2000. Mr.
Larry Crume, selected from an extraordinary slate of candidates,
accepted God’s call to District ministry and began service in Oc-
tober 1999. Mr. Crume comes into the administrator position with
over twenty years of experience in banking and finance. Mr.
Marvin Kohlmeier serves the District under the Synod’s Depart-
ment of Ministries Support as one of the mission department’s
four mission development counselors.

“Christ Be My Leader.” This prayer of Kansas leaders has been
answered in ways and through people in the past three years far be-
yond all that we could ask or imagine. We are learning day by day
to both trust and realize the promise our Heavenly Father makes
through St. Paul, “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at
work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Howard Patten, President

R7-05-11
Michigan District

Psalm 100:1, 5—“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. For
the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness
continues through all generations.” The past triennium has been
an exciting one for the Michigan District! Under the banner ‘‘Cele-
brating the Good News in a New Day,” the 2000 District conven-
tion focused on ministry directions in a new millennium.

We have continued refinement of the District organization man-
dated by the 1997 District convention. As a result, the Board of Di-
rectors is providing excellent leadership and direction. In the area
of finances, the spending plan has been changed to a ministry doc-
ument within the Board of Directors’ limitations policies. All ac-
counts using the name “Michigan District” must now be processed
through our office and our accountants. We are in the process of
developing an asset protection plan to be proactive in caring for
District-owned properties. We have revised congregational com-
mitment forms to accommodate their fiscal years, not ours. The
Operations staff has been changed to include new positions in com-
munications, resource library, assistance to deployed facilitators,
and accounting, as well as an added executive staff position in De-
velopment.

The District executive staff is now complete with five Congre-
gation Ministry Facilitators (CMFs), four of whose responsibilities
are based on congregation average worship attendance. The fifth

CMF is for urban, ethnic, and special ministries. The CMFs also
have an added responsibility in one of the following areas: church
planting; stewardship; family life; District operations; and campus,
deaf, and special ministries. The addition of our fifth CMF enables
us to focus on special ministries. Urban and ethnic ministries are
also expanding, with mission societies and RSOs such as People
of the Book Lutheran Outreach (POBLO) and Lutheran City Min-
istries (LCM). New ethnic missions have been planted among im-
migrants from Pakistan, India, Mexico, and the Middle East. We
are exploring the DELTO program in providing staffing for these
ethnic contexts.

In the area of missions, new churches have been planted and the
District is again calling missionary pastors as well as encouraging
the mother-daughter model of local congregational sponsorship.
We continue to authorize grants to enable ministry to move for-
ward. Faced with a continuing shortage of pastors, we are using
church planters trained at LCMS Mission Planter Institute to assist
in mission development.

In the area of education, we anticipate opening three new
schools in the 2001-2002 school year. A decision will be made on
a Lutheran high school in the Grand Rapids area. The fastest grow-
ing educational ministry continues to be preschools, which now
number !56 with 7,000 children. Our 95 elementary schools num-
ber about 15,000 students, and we have increased the number of
Lutheran high schools from 5 to 7, with 2,000 students. In order to
meet the needs of congregations serving children under the age of
five, the District has developed an Early Childhood Cabinet whose
members serve as consultants to parishes. With the addition of an
assistant superintendent of Lutheran schools, we now have two
full-time staff to service District schools.

The year 2001 marks the 100th anniversary of the Church Ex-
tension Fund in the Michigan District. On June 18, 1901, the
Church Extension Fund, as we know it today, began with this res-
olution: the “Michigan District of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod
of Missouri, Ohio and other States, limited to Michigan” resolved
to “create a Corporate Board of Trustees to take, hold, invest, sell
and otherwise manage and control property.” The Fund showed
steady growth from $46 thousand in 1916 to nearly $2 million in
1950 and $160 million in assets today! In the past triennium, total
assets of CEF in Michigan have grown to $160 million, up from
$147 million in 1997. Loans outstanding increased nearly 25%
from $96 million to $119 miilion in the same period of time. We
thank God for those visionary men in 1901 and praise Him for the
blessings of the CEF ministry in the Michigan District these past
100 years!

Continued review and refinements, where necessary, enable us
to serve congregations more effectively in our purpose of “bolster-
ing” congregations and congregational leadership so that Word and
Sacrament ministry might be strengthened. This new ministry ap-
proach has resulted in a closer working relationship between con-
gregations and the District.

The Michigan District has continuing challenges that will pro-
vide an exciting future in all areas of ministry. A major challenge is
in the area of communication. A revised Web site is in place to in-
clude all District forms, networking congregations with one another
based on ministries, and creating links to other ministry sites. We
continue to work toward becoming “paperless” in communicating
to congregations. Development continues on a new magazine peri-
odical with resources for professionals and news of events in the
field. There is an increased use of technology for in-building com-
munications as well as providing technology for field-deployed
staff. We are blessed and privileged as we go forward “Celebrating
the Good News in a New Day!”

C. William Hoesman, President

2001 Convention Workbook