LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 129

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SYNODICAL REPORTS 129

rectors chaired by the President. There are three program boards: a
Board of Spiritual Care and Supervision (Circuit Counselors and
District Praesidium), a Board of Missions, and a Board of Congre-
gational Support. One member from each board also serves on the
Board of Directors. In addition to the boards listed, the District also
has a Commission on School Matters, a Commission for Commu-
nication, plus a Finance Committee and a number of other ad hoc
committees. The ministry areas of evangelism, education, human
care, stewardship, and youth are handled through the Board of Con-
gregational Support assisted by various ad hoc task forces.

District work is conducted from an office building at 2408
Lebanon Avenue in Belleville, Il]. Besides a full-time President,
the District Board of Directors calls a full-time Schools and Gen-
eral Executive for the areas of missions, education, youth, evange-
lism, and stewardship. The District President’s secretary is the only
other full-time worker. Those working part-time for the District in-
clude a Mission Assistant, an Older Adult Ministries Coordinator,
our LCEF Area Vice-President, a bookkeeper, and a part-time sec-
retary. Truly God has blessed our District with faithful workers.

The Circuit Counselors and District Praesidium form the Board
of Spiritual Care and Supervision. In addition to its Circuit Coun-
selor duties, this Board is concerned with the spiritual welfare of
District workers and congregations. The Board offered support ac-
tivities and workshops to the congregations (e.g., annual pastor/elder
training workshops and an annual spiritual retreat for church work-
ers). The Spiritual Care Board spends considerable time in the study
of theological issues affecting our congregations and functions as a
“support group” for the District President in his work.

Southern [Illinois always places a strong emphasis on missions.
In the fall of 2003 we opened a mission school supported by the
District at Unity Lutheran Church in East St. Louis with a princi-
pal/developer, 2 teachers, and 17 students in pre-kindergarten and
kindergarten. We hope to add first grade in the fall of 2004 and one
more grade each year thereafter. The Mission Board not only is in-
volved in new mission congregations and schools, but also in a
strong prison ministry in the state prison institutions in our geo-
graphical area. We support the work of two full-time chaplains and
seven part-time chaplains and several lay volunteers in 16 jails and
prisons in Southern Hlinois. Two new prisons are under study. Dis-
trict campus ministries are also carried on at Southern Illinois Uni-
versity campuses at Carbondale and Edwardsville. The Campus
Ministry at Carbondale also includes weekly services in Chinese
with an average of 50 worshipers. Zion in Belleville also has a Ko-
rean pastor and Korean service with an average of 45 in worship.
The District is seeking to establish, in partnership with Holy Cross,
Collinsville, a Hispanic ministry in Fairmont City. The District
Church Extension Fund, which is part of the Lutheran Church Ex-
tension Fund, holds annual meetings for report purposes and en-
couragement for congregational representatives. The District is also
developing a mission partnership overseas with the Lutheran
Church in Southern Africa (LCSA). A group from the District
made two trips to Southern Africa in the past triennium to foster
this partnership. Pastors from the LCSA have also visited congre-
gations of the District.

The Board of Congregational Support responds to the requests
of congregations to provide workshops and support activities for
the mission of congregations. The Commission on School Matters
advises the Executive Assistant in the support of the work of our
Christian day schools and preschools. This board also supports sin-
gles gatherings, promotes Bible studies and Bible study workshops,
and encourages attendance at synodical youth gatherings. The
Older Adult Advisory Committee sponsors an Older Adult Retreat
together with Lutheran Senior Services of St. Louis, as well as var-
ious trips and activities for older adults. The District enjoys a close
working relationship with Lutheran Child and Family Services of
Illinois. The Commission on Communications (with the Board of

Congregational Support) actively promotes blanket subscriptions

to The Lutheran Witness in our District, as well as assists congre-

gations in other communications endeavors, such as communica-
tions workshops and secretaries’ workshops.

A retreat for members of the District Board of Directors and
others was held in January 2004 to work on the broad outlines for a
vision for the future of the District: We pray that Christ and the
Holy Spirit will ...

1. Work in us through the Word so that we call and assist al] our
workers and members to grow in relationship to Jesus Christ
through worship, prayer, study of Scripture and the Con-
fessions, and in other ways making diligent use of the means
of grace.

2. Help every congregation and school in our partnership see that
Christ Himself works through each congregation and school as
a missionary outpost in a pagan world, engaged in vigorous
Word and Sacrament ministry, with each member sent by God
to bring Christ to others by means of the Word of God.

3. Strengthen congregations, schools, and our church workers in
firm confession and bold outreach. Every congregation needs
to be strengthened in the Word of God so that it will feed its
members, support its workers, and faithfully proclaim that
Word to all.

4. Draw the District closer together, both theologically and in our
relationships with each other, by providing opportunities
where the Holy Spirit through the Word of God may unite
parishes and pastors in the confession of the faith as it is
purely expressed in the Book of Concord of 1580.

5. Give us the means to help congregations plant churches and
schools through the proclamation of the Word of God.

6. Work through us to expand the specialized ministries of the
District in partnership with congregations (e.g., Prison
Ministry, Campus Ministry, Ethnic Ministries, our Mission
School, Older Adult, and Youth Ministries), so that the Word
of God is clearly proclaimed and taught through all these
agencies of the District.

7. Through the Word of God, deepen our relationship and help us
grow in our partnership with the Lutheran Church in Southern
Africa.

8. Enable us to increase our support for the mission efforts of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod to proclaim the saving
Word of God.

The Southern Illinois District is pleased to be an integral part
of our Synod in carrying on the work of our Lord to bring the
Gospel to the people of Southern IIlinois.

Herbert C. Mueller Jr., President

R7-05-34
Texas District

The State of Texas experiences an annual net growth of more
than 300,000 people. Retirees and winter Texans from the North,
high-tech workers and executives from the West, corporate head-
quarters transferees from the East, and Central American and Mex-
ican immigrants from the South contribute to the burgeoning pop-
ulation of this second most populous state in the U.S.

Reaching the unchurched portion of the 21.5 million residents of

Texas is the task that our Lord has placed before us. We approach that

task with faithfulness, creativity, vigor, and passion, trusting the Lord’s

promise that His Word will accomplish that which He pleases and will
prosper in the task whereto He sends it.

The mission of the Texas District is to strengthen congregations
* to reach the lost;

* to disciple the saved;
* to care for people—locally and globally.

Texas District Facts and Figures

The annual Texas District budget provides the following mis-
sion support:

2004 Convention Workbook