LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 111

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SYNOD REPORTS 111

date, 16 circuits have been visited; the last six will be visited by
2008, when the district will celebrate its 60th anniversary.

The circuit counselors, district staff, and other key leaders have
been receiving training to facilitate working together. In August
2004, more than 40 of us received the two-day intensive “Recon-
cilers Training” from Ambassadors of Reconciliation. In January
2007, we participated in “The Power of We,” led by Dr. David Lud-
wig, that we might fight more effectively the self-centeredness we
receive by nature and which the culture reinforces. Our Lutheran
school administrators also received this training in March 2007.

We are truly thankful for the love and support our fellow
Lutherans provided through LCMS World Relief and Human Care,
Lutheran Disaster Response, Lutheran Services Florida, and
Lutheran Counseling Services to help us respond to the many hur-
ricanes that pummeled our district in 2004 and 2005. While the re-
building and recovery is not ‘yet complete, we celebrate the
progress that has been made.

Strengthening our partnerships serves not only to make us more
productive and supportive but helps us reach out more effectively.
An evidence of the partnership the Gospel fosters rests in the num-
ber of side-by-side ministries that have developed in recent years:
Haitian, Sudanese, Laotian, Ethiopian, Hmong, Eritrean, Korean,
African-American, Hispanic, and campus ministries, which share
facilities with our Anglo congregations. We are engaged in inten-
tional efforts to plant 160 more congregations, including doubling
the number of Hispanic, Haitian, African-American, and campus
ministries in the next ten years.

Partnering is a definite aspect of the district’s approach to its
Ablaze! goals. New church starts are being planted by mother
churches, clusters of circuit congregations, and by the district it-
self, or a combination of the three. In addition to starting new
churches, the district is seeking to equip our members to share the
faith through personal witnessing—workshops to equip members
to witness are one component of this endeavor; strengthening
existing congregations is another aspect of Ablaze!, as is sending
volunteers into the mission fields, especially Southeast Asia, with
which we have a partnership.

The Concordia House of Studies, our program to equip workers
for the mission, operates in conjunction with the Concordia Uni-
versity System schools, that students in the CHS may receive credit
for their coursework and work toward teacher certification and/or
secure the district level coursework for the Distance Education
Leading To Ordination (DELTO) program or for the certified lay
minister program. Working with the seminaries, we currently have
8 students in the Theological Education by Extension of the His-
panic Institute, 13 students in the Ethnic Institute of Theology, and
5 students in the DELTO program.

We were pleased to host the National Youth Gathering (NYG),
“Beyond Imagination,” in 2004, and the International Lutheran
Women’s Missionary League’s convention, “Live Joyfully as Salt
and Light,” in 2005, and look forward to hosting “Chosen,” the
2007 NYG. We pray our hospitality reflects the fellowship we
enjoy in Christ.

Funding for the mission in our district has received substantial
support from the district’s capital campaign: Forward Together—
Servants in His Mission. As this program moves to its conclusion,
increased efforts are being directed to stewardship education that
our missionary commitment is not deterred by lack of financial
resources.

Sad for the district was the decision of the board of directors to

discontinue Woodlands Lutheran Ministries, our camping and re-
treat ministry, a decision that was reached due to the declining use
of the facility, the deferred maintenance, and the operational losses
the ministry was sustaining. At this writing, the facility has not
been sold. A Futures Committee is taking a broad-based look at the
district’s ministries, the context in which we find ourselves, and

the challenges before us so that a well-thought-out strategy may be
developed to help us face the future with hope and confidence as
the Lord’s servants.

Empowering us in this endeavor to help “each church be a mis-
sion and every member a missionary with all of us working to-
gether” (part of our vision statement) is the conviction that the most
powerful partner in our relationship is none other than Jesus Christ,
who with His Great Commission, has given us this reassuring
promise, “Lo I am with you always, even to the close of the age.”
(Matt. 28:20)

Gerhard C. Michael Jr., President

R7-05-07
Indiana District

“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our
prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your
work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your en-
durance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessaloni-
ans 1:2-3 NIV).

We know that God’s desire for us as His baptized children is to
work faithfully together in His vineyard. We daily pray for His
love, endurance, and hope in all that we do. Our faithfulness to the
Lord who loves us and our dependence on His Holy Word make
our witness to the world reliable and strong.

With this goal in our hearts and minds, we strive to work and
walk with one another in bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ
to the world around us! May we always be faithful in our witness as
we work in classrooms, churches, homes, and even the street. May
we by God’s grace be a blessing to one another as we focus on the
faith, which God nourishes as we gather around His Holy Word
and Sacraments. We trust God to guide, direct, and bless our work
together. The mission of the Indiana District is to encourage and
assist the Christian outreach and nurture of its congregations and
other ministries!

Our bond of faith and love in Christ is celebrated in 236 con-
gregations of the Indiana District and among the more than 1,200
professional church workers! We rejoice in God’s grace as we set
our hearts on daily encouraging and assisting one another in the

_ Vital mission we share in the Indiana District!

It is a privilege to provide this report of God’s work among us.
May our work always be produced by faith, may it be prompted by
Christ’s love, and may it endure because of the Spirit-inspired hope
that burns within us.

Encouraging One Another

God has provided our district with a president, outreach execu-
tive, Christian education executive (schools), congregational ser-
vices executive, and financial executive who share the same desire
to encourage all in our district to work together in a spirit of love
and trust. It has been great to work with Rev. David Dubbelde, who
is retiring this summer, Jon Mielke, Dr. David Ebeling, and Larry
Jung as we encourage each other to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus!

God has worked mightily in the hearts of our people and in the
congregations they serve. We are blessed to be the home district of
Concordia Theological Seminary, where students and professors
blend with our congregations in encouraging a biblical and God-
pleasing mission. By God’s grace, the Indiana District endures in
its multicultural ministries and in its desire and plan to begin new
congregations. We thank God for the more than 100 school
(preschools, elementary, secondary) that minister every day with
our children. The congregations of our district demonstrated a com-
mitment to faithful and generous giving to the Lord’s work on the
local, district, and Synod levels!

2007 Convention Workbook