LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 124

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124 SYNOD REPORTS

* schools bursting with dynamic disciples

* new churches and schools rapidly springing up

« Lutherans speaking joyfully and publicly about Jesus

* believers generously investing their material and spiritual gifts for
mission

The Pacific Southwest District includes 300 congregations and
200 schools in southern California, Arizona, and southern Nevada.
In 2006, under the convention theme, Hearts on Fire, the district
celebrated 75 years of God’s blessings through our work together
in the Southwest. In 1930, there were no LCMS congregations in
southern Nevada or Arizona; therefore, the Southern California
District was born. Today, the 60 congregations in Arizona and 12
in southern Nevada are a dynamic part of the Pacific Southwest
District. In support of our Ablaze! goals, the convention focused
on the response of the disciples who encountered the resurrected
Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Upon recognizing Jesus they said,
“Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on
the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).

The district staff is organized to focus their efforts on four pri-
mary emphases: Church Planting, Worker Health, Congregational
Health, and Schools. Like other districts, the challenge is to revi-
talize congregations and schools that are declining and struggling,
while planting new ministries in a very diverse culture. In the state
of California today, there is no majority ethnic group. We are all
minorities and celebrate living in a microcosm of the United Na-
tions. With 70-80 percent of our population unchurched, the fields
are truly ripe for the harvest.

We celebrate wonderful partnerships with Concordia Univer-
sity in Irvine, the Center for U.S. Missions, and Lutheran Church
Extension Fund. The Cross Cultural Training Center at CUI pro-
vides our district and others with people well-trained for multicul-
tural and bilingual mission opportunities. With the Texas and
Rocky Mountain Districts we celebrate the partnership of “Fron-
tera,” the identifying and training of missional leaders on both sides
of the Mexican Border. We continue to develop our partnership
with the Northwest and California-Nevada-Hawaii Districts in mis-
sional training on the West Coast.

Ablaze! with hearts on fire, the greatest opportunity for the Pa-
cific Southwest District is the tremendous growth occurring, and
projected to continue for the foreseeable future. In 2006, Arizona
surpassed Nevada as the fastest-growing state in the U.S. Four of
the fastest-growing counties in the U.S. are in the Pacific South-
west District. Whether fast-growing suburbs or ethnically chang-
ing communities, it is our desire that every baptized believer be a
missionary and every congregation and school a mission outpost,
mission training center.

Initiated this past year is our Council for Culture-Specific Min-
istries. In an effort to encourage our culture-specific missionary
leaders, we meet quarterly with district mission facilitators and the
district president. In June of 2007, a district missionary conference
will be held on the CUI campus to provide encouragement and
training for all district missionaries.

Larry A. Stoterau, President

R7-05-27
Rocky Mountain District

Another three years of God’s rich grace, mercy, and the Son’s
abiding presence have been afforded the congregations and min-
istries of the Rocky Mountain District. The Lord Jesus was contin-
ually present with His people: forgiving, loving, pushing,
challenging, and admonishing. Sheep not yet of His fold were con-
verted by the Holy Spirit’s work, others were taken to the glories of
heaven, and others remain to be the hands, feet, and mouth of the

2007 Convention Workbook

One who remains present with His church to reach those who have

no clue who the Lord is.

Significant for His work within this vast geographical area—
Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and the cities of El Paso, Texas;
Page, Arizona; and Venango, Nebraska—is the District’s new mis-
sion statement: Igniting Church and Culture for Christ!

Here is the theological understanding of this phrase: Jesus is the
“flame of the Lorb” (Song of Solomon 8:6c), the very presence of
God, who even now is in the midst of His people igniting our hearts
by the Spirit and the Word to believe, work, love, and proclaim.
As He led the people of Israel by the pillar of fire in the Old Testa-
ment (Exodus 13:21), as He revealed His saving presence by fire at
the dedication of Solomon’s temple (2 Chron. 7:1-3), and as He
revealed His enlivening presence through tongues of heavenly fire
at Pentecost (Acts 2:3), He now kindles hearts to keep believing in
His acceptable sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary, paying for the sins
of the whole world.

Jesus is the one who does the igniting through His Spirit and
Word in the Divine Service. Then the baptized return to their
places—into the culture—where God has planted them in their
daily vocations. It is in the places of service that Jesus’ disciples
follow the pattern of the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, “Come,
see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
(John 4:29). The ignited church takes the Word of power and grace
out into the darkened-by-sin world, and God calls those whom He
wills to faith in His Son (John 3:8).

Igniting Church and Culture for Christ! is divided into five critical
targets, all of which shape and define the work of the staff, the board
of directors, conference themes, and so on. They are A Culture of Per-
sonal Evangelism, Healthy Ministries, New Missions, Spiritual
Growth, and Theological Unity.

Significant events within the critical targets included:
¢ Nurture the Faith workshops for all commissioned ministers every

Spring.

¢ Conversations of Grace convocations in Denver and Salt Lake City.

*¢ Calling a missionary pastor to start house churches.

* Over 2,000 students strengthened spiritually and academically in
Lutheran schools.

¢ Nearly 500 youth join in a district youth gathering every three years.

¢ Fall conferences on Communion Fellowship and Healthy Ministries,
two Lay Theological conferences, and a multi-district theological
conference in Reno, NV.

* Calling a director for the start-up of the Hispanic Ministry Education
Center in New Mexico, where Hispanic men and women will be
trained in Spanish to be missionaries; the men could continue to
study to be pastors through a partnership with the seminaries.

¢ The district convention committed to seek to raise $500,000 in
the next three years—matched by LCMS World Relief and
Human Care—to support the seminary of the Lutheran Church in
Southern Africa along with two AIDS projects there.

* Continued work through District-called missionaries to the Arabic
people around the world over the Internet, and to the Navajos and
the Mormons in southern Utah.

¢ As part of our Disaster Response Team’s efforts following Hurri-
cane Katrina, local ministries and individuals gave over $66,680
to support churches and schools in the affected area. Recipients of
such gifts were Our Savior Lutheran Church in Harvey,
Louisiana; Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Biloxi, Missis-
sippi; St. John’s Lutheran School in New Orleans, Louisiana, the
Southern District office; and Camp Restore. Continuing efforts
are underway to implement acts of mercy within the district when
ministries are challenged by disasters. Gifts of love have been dis-
tributed to St. Paul Lutheran Church, Ogden, Utah; Ascension
Lutheran Church and St. Matthew Lutheran Church in El Paso,
Texas; the Ysleta Mission, Immanuel Lutheran Church, and Re-
deemer Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and the
Southern District for its Command Center.