LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 125

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SYNOD REPORTS 125

Challenges for the Rocky Mountain District include continuing to

* foster and enhance an intense passion for the Lord’s Word and
for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

* empower those with grieving hearts for those who don’t know
Jesus to find a way to make a difference in their lives.

* develop an even greater commitment to theological unity as the
church takes the Lord’s solid doctrine to the world.

* provide leadership development and opportunities for church
workers and lay people.

* elicit a lively and explicit trust in the vitality of the Gospel.

¢ exhort and encourage clergy and laity to daily live lives of repen-
tance and faith, rejoicing in God’s grace and mercy.

* recruit and retain qualified, trained teachers and administrators
for our schools and qualified, trained directors, teachers, and aides
for our Early Learning Centers.

* provide better, much better support for the church workers in their
struggle with the devil and the Old Adam, and for churches un-
dergoing conflict or struggling to reach out to a contrary culture.

* assist church workers to retire their educational debt.

* present a broader view of the church to the district so that the dis-
trict works together with other districts and the Synod as a whole
to do kingdom work.

To God be all the glory! May the Lord Jesus bless mightily.
Randall L. Golter, President

R7-05-28
SELC District

“Servant Hearts—Ablaze!” makes all the difference in charac-
terizing our relationship with Christ, in our relationship with one
another, and in our responsibilities toward others. This theme of
the SELC 2006 District Convention also reflects the core values of
our walking together. It is our purpose to Show Everyone Life in
Christ, especially as we Show Everyone the Love of Christ.

Unique in many ways among the 35 districts of the LCMS, the
SELC continues to focus its energies and resources in support of
Christ’s mission. The district has no office or building for which
any rent, mortgage, or utilities are paid; no full-time staff; and no
medical or retirement benefits are provided. The district provides a
vicar to assist the district president in pastoral duties at the congre-
gation in which the district president serves as pastor.

The district budget directs 68 percent of all revenues toward un-
designated support of the Synod, grants and subsidies to new or
continuing mission endeavors, charity support for elderly pastors
or teachers at our Lutheran Haven retirement facility, direct undes-
ignated support of both seminaries, and scholarships, primarily for
the district’s professional church-work students. The workings of
all boards and committees, the total administrative cost, including
all travel and expenses for all district officers and meetings, is ap-
proximately just one-third of the budget.

The district Mission Board has embraced the concepts of “satel-
lite” and “daughtering” in the establishing of new Word and Sacra-
ment ministries, two of which began in 2006 in Viera, Florida, and
in Chuluota, Florida. We have also celebrated the wisdom of part-
nering in the establishment of specialized ministries. The SELC
District, in partnership with Hospitality Ministries of Canada, has
placed a missionary at our Congregation in Montreal, Quebec,
whose primary mission is hospitality outreach into the ethnic im-
migrant community. Many among these are either Muslim or Sikh.
English-as-a-second-language classes serve as an open door to the
community, but much time and effort are devoted to one-on-one
and in-home-visitation ministry.

The distance between SELC congregations can be a challenge
to a sense of unity among the congregations, while actually the dis-
tance encourages a great sense of trust, openness, camaraderie, and

unity among the district pastors who travel the distance and spend
two or three days together in circuit conferences several times each
year. This time together also provides opportunity for in-depth dis-
cussion of scriptural and confessional topics and allows a safe en-
vironment in which pastors learn to listen, debate, disagree, and
reconcile.

To encourage and to develop a missional attitude among the
district clergy, which we believe will help shape the congregation’s
priorities, the district will be working within our Fan Into Flame
emphasis to acquire resources and opportunities for the district pas-
tors to experience a new mission endeavor, a cross-cultural mis-
sion effort, or a foreign mission situation. The district is actively
seeking new mission start opportunities where there is evidence of
high population growth. For our district’s continued existence ded-
icated to mission work, the district is also working with the LCMS
Foundation to emphasize gift planning among SELC District con-
gregations and individuals.

To God alone be the glory!

Carl H. Krueger Jr., President

R7-05-29
South Dakota District

“Courageous Faith—Bold Witness” was the theme for the
South Dakota District’s yearlong centennial observance, culminat-
ing with the 2006 district convention under the same theme.

Mission work began in 1874, the same year that General
George Armstrong Custer led an army expedition into the Black
Hills of Dakota Territory and two years before the defeat of his
Seventh Calvary at the Little Big Horn. German Lutherans from
Germany and Russia with farming backgrounds immigrated to
homestead the prairies of Dakota Territory. Recognizing that these
immigrants were like sheep that had no shepherd, the church sent
missionaries to gather these settlers into organized congregations.

Early missionaries came with “courageous faith,” giving “bold
witness.” By 1875, Rev. John F. Doescher, the first resident mis-
sionary pastor, served 26 preaching stations in 8 counties. Rev.
Ernst Melcher served 17 preaching stations, traveling over 400
miles each round trip to serve the sheep of his flock, being gone
from home for weeks at a time. Missionary Pastor F. W. Leyhe
served 10 congregations and preaching stations in the early years of
his ministry with over 100 miles separating the farthest congrega-
tions. During the first year of his ministry, he traveled 6,432 miles
by horse and buggy to bring the message of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified to the sheep of his flock. One of the early missionaries
was an 1880 seminary graduate by the name of Rev. Fredrich
Pfotenhauer, who later became the fifth President of the Synod.

In 1906, the South Dakota District was formally organized with
a total of 26 voting congregations. Under the blessings of God and
by His grace, the district has grown to a total of 115 congregations
where God’s Word is proclaimed, His Sacraments administered,
and where people continue to receive God’s gracious gifts of faith
and forgiveness and eternal life.

With “courageous faith” and giving “bold witness,” the South
Dakota District wholeheartedly supports our Synod’s mission state-
ment: In grateful response to God’s grace and empowered by the
Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments, the mission of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is vigorously to make known
the love of Christ by word and deed within our churches, commu-
nities, and world.

During the last triennium, our newest mission congregation,
Risen Savior Lutheran in Tea, was received as a member of the dis-
trict and the Synod. In addition, interest has been expressed in es-
tablishing mission work in at least three new locations.

2007 Convention Workbook