LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 87

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REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
Lord God, You have made me a pastor and teacher
in Your church. You see how unfit I am to administer
rightly this great and responsible office. And had I been
without Your aid and counsel, I would surely have ruined it all long ago . . . Do not forsake me. For if I am
left to myself, I will certainly bring it all to destruction.

Whatever we are called to do, whether as professional
church workers or people serving God in many other vocational callings, without God’s presence, aid, and counsel, we
would ruin whatever we touch, bringing it all to destruction. That’s simply because we are finite, weak, sinful, mortal human beings.
But when God’s grace and Christ’s love are present and
living in His people, powerful stories of the shining Gospel
light occur. An example of such an occurrence is shared
about Amy from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Amy got involved in the life of Kris, a young, single mom
who had recently arrived in Green Bay with her two children and was staying in a local shelter. Little did Kris
know how dramatically her life would change because she
responded to an invitation to Pilgrim Lutheran Church’s
VBS.
Amy met Kris, and being a single mother herself, she
understood the challenges Kris was facing. She said,
“Somebody needed to help! Why shouldn’t it have been
me?”
Over the next six months Amy drove Kris around town,
helping her find a place to live and a place to work. She
often cared for Kris’s children, all the while demonstrating
Christian care and encouragement.
Amy’s words of kindness and acts of love provided the
Gospel witness that helped lead Kris to the baptismal font
and adult confirmation on Feb. 9, 2003. The changes in
Kris’s life have been monumental. In Amy’s words, “You
can hear the excitement in her voice” when Kris speaks of
the things God has done for her through her new church
family.
How thankful I am, and I know you are as well, that the
grace and power of God have moved Amy and many more of
the people of our Synod throughout its 157 years of history
to be engaged in being a light for the Gentiles, bringing
God’s salvation to the ends of the earth.

87

This spring in Nigeria, we visited a cemetery in Obot
Idim, reserved exclusively for LCMS missionaries and their
families. Over 65 years ago, your forefathers and mine had
the wisdom and courage to send missionaries there. Especially 65 years ago, if Obot Idim wasn’t the end of the earth,
one could certainly see it from there!
These missionaries and their families made the Spiritled decision to accept God’s call and move thousands of
miles away from hearth and home to the African continent.
Some of them died after contracting malaria or black water
fever. Others, both mothers and children, died during childbirth. The grave markers in this photo are those of adults,
children, and infants, all of whom gave their very lives for
the sake of the Gospel.
Today, the Lutheran Church of Nigeria, whose President Effiong Ekanem is in our midst this morning, numbers 80,000 members. All because the LCMS cared enough
to send its very best, missionaries who by the grace of God
were able to plant the seed of the Gospel in the hearts of
the wonderful people of Obot Idim.
That same story can be repeated numbers of times. The
presence in this morning’s service of the Presidents or Bishops of 28 sister churches of the LCMS is testimony to the
fire of God’s love burning in the hearts of people from one
nation, who pass the torch of His love to others, even when
doing so requires the sacrifice of their own lives. May this
kind of passion, dedication, and commitment for Christ’s
mission be multiplied among us!
In response to the love of Christ and for the sake of
many who are lost and in need of being found, whether
their stories are like that of the missionaries and people in
Obot Idim, or Dominic Williams, or Amy and Kris, or Herb,
or simply the story of your family member or next-door
neighbor, we are called to be Ablaze! with the love of Jesus.
It is time for a re-igniting of the LCMS as a bright and
shining light for the Gentiles to the ends of the earth—to
be a church that is truly in ONE Mission—Ablaze! May
God grant it, for Jesus’ sake! Amen!
Gerald B. Kieschnick, President

2004 Convention Proceedings