LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 66

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66

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

Visits from, to, or with Current or Potential
Partner Churches
American Association of Lutheran Churches

4

Canada

1

Germany

1

Haiti

1

Indonesia

1

Kenya

2

Latvia

1

Lithuania

1

SELK

1

Sudan

1

Meeting with President George W. Bush

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing
move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the
Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in
vain.” (1 Cor. 15:58)
Respectfully submitted,

1

Concluding Comments
Based on my extensive travels throughout the Synod these
past 6 years, participating in many district pastoral conferences and conventions, meeting with district presidents,
boards of directors, district staff members, pastors, teachers,
and lay leaders from many congregations of the LCMS, I have
a number of observations to share:
1. The LCMS has a tremendous opportunity and virtually
unlimited resources from the hand of God to experience
a reversal of the trend of the past 30 years that has
marked us as a declining church body. I believe that
excellence and faithfulness in Christian education
endeavors, human care opportunities, and re-energized
mission strategies in our Synod, centered in Word and
Sacraments, will result in the LCMS being recognized
worldwide as a dynamic, Christ-centered movement
and a vibrant, vital gathering of biblical and confessional Christians in mission to the world. We are a
biblical and confessional church. Our confession must
and will be heard.
2. The LCMS is being refreshed with a renewed spirit of zeal
for the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. At times, this
zeal is hampered by a partially fractured party spirit. But
the presence of God in Word and Sacrament among us,
the hope of Christ that is alive in the hearts of our people,
and the mission focus that is welling up in so many of our
congregations, institutions and entities give me great
hope for the future of our beloved Synod.
3. The LCMS is held together by the grace of God. The
commitment of her pastors, teachers, people, and
congregations to that grace of God is increasingly evident.
In response to God’s grace, the people of this Synod are
being compelled and propelled by the love of Christ to
engage passionately the billions of unsaved people in this
world with the confession of God’s grace in Jesus Christ
our Lord.
In the midst of such a time as this, we must seize the opportunities provided by the Spirit of God, overcome our challenges by the grace of God, and boldly move ahead in the mission given us by the Son of God. As our mission statement
declares:
2007 Convention Proceedings

“In grateful response to God’s grace and empowered by the
Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments, the mission of the
LCMS is vigorously to make known the love of Christ by word
and deed within our churches, communities, and the world.”

President’s Report Part I, Addendum A
ELCA CHURCHWIDE ASSEMBLY GREETINGS
From Gerald B. Kieschnick, President
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Orlando, Florida
August 12, 2005
Presiding Bishop Hanson, Assembly Members, Special
Guests, Friends in Christ:
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, Savior of the world
and Lord of the universe, through whom alone we have forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation!
I couldn’t help but observe during your assembly proceedings that you are no strangers to the joys and sorrows of
parliamentary procedure. As a matter of fact, there was an
occasion on which I closed my eyes and felt absolutely certain that I was at a convention of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod!
Seriously, it is my privilege today to bring you greetings
on behalf of the 2.4 million baptized members of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Even in the midst of our
endeavor to reach 100 million unreached or uncommitted people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we have been praying for the
guidance of the Holy Spirit upon your assembly gathered here
as children of the heavenly Father, “Marked with the Cross of
Christ Forever.”
In our liturgy for Holy Baptism, we speak these words,
“Receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead
and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ
the crucified.” In Baptism, we are marked with the Cross of
Christ forever.
Luther wrote in this regard what we also confess, “Since
the water and the Word together constitute one Baptism,
body and soul shall be saved and live forever . . . No greater
jewel, therefore, can adorn our body and soul than Baptism,
for through it we obtain perfect holiness and salvation, which
no other kind of life and no work on earth can acquire” (LC,
Baptism, 46, Tappert).