LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 127

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SYNOD REPORTS 127

These same goals prompted our board of directors and staff to
take another look at our SED vision. What we now see at the center
of all we plan to do as a district are creative partnerships resulting
in church transformation and kingdom growth. When examined
one by one, some of these SED Ablaze! goals appear to involve
changes in the climate of many of our churches, while others seem
to promote the expansion of God’s kingdom in our world. There is
the recognition among us, however, that when considered as a
whole all of these goals affect both church transformation and king-
dom growth, and that there is, in fact, a synergistic relationship that
they can have with each other. While we may need to alter some of
our churchly behavior for the sake of the kingdom, growth in this
regard will also change us.

No better example of this might be given than the SED’s newly
formed Mission Development Academy. This is an arm of our
Training Leaders for Outreach (TLO) program and it’s designed to
help us achieve our goal of training and equipping 60 outreach min-
istry teams. It may be that a congregation or circuit wants to start a
new mission in partnership with the district. Or, perhaps it is a new
building that has prompted congregational leadership to seek new
ways to reach people in the community. In any event, these same
outreach teams consist of two or more persons who are “prepared
to launch an outreach effort within a local congregation, commu-
nity, or potential new site.”

While enlisting 3,000 mission prayer partners and reaching 2.5
million people with the Gospel require no additional funding, our
other Ablaze! goals clearly do. These include not only the new mis-
sion starts and the training of lay and professional mission leader-
ship, but also the revitalization of our outreach in urban and other
established church settings. It is why the 2006 convention endorsed
a districtwide mission funding effort. It is called “Ablaze! For
God’s Mission,” and it is being conducted in partnership with the
Synod’s Fan Into Flame campaign. The goal is to raise a grand
total of $6 million by the next district convention in 2009.

The SED is very diverse in terms of geography, ethnicity, cul-
ture, and some of its congregational practices. Yet, we seek to re-
main united in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this
reason, we followed the lead of the Model Theological Conference
at Phoenix in 2005 and scheduled our own theological convoca-
tions on three Saturdays in February 2007, at six regional sites.
Under the theme of “Relationships: Redeemed and Reconciled,”
each gathering of clergy, other church workers, and laity featured
major presentations on the “Office of the Public Ministry” and the
“Priesthood of All Believers,” followed by table discussions of spe-
cific case studies from mission contexts.

As we see it, none of our goals will be achieved unless all of
our Ablaze! efforts are spiritually grounded and nurtured. It is
through Word and Sacrament that the Holy Spirit works to em-
power us, and it is as communities of God’s people that He brings
us together and strengthens us. For this reason, we not only want to
surround every new mission or outreach effort on the part of an es-
tablished congregation with prayer, but also are in the process of
forming an overall Spiritual Life Team to provide related resources
to church workers and congregations throughout our district.

Jon T. Diefenthaler, President

R7-05-32
Southern District

The need for the church to be empowered by God’s Word to
passionately fulfill our core purpose is what gave birth to our 2006
convention theme, “Spirit Kindle.” Kindle—a verb 1. To start
burning; or to catch fire 2. To stir up; to bring into being; to be-
come animated 3. To cause to glow; to become illuminated.

“Spirit Kindle” is a prayer that the people of God would burn
with the gracious love of Christ, become animated, and illuminate
the world with the light of life they have received. It is a prayer as
old as faith itself as reflected in the ancient prayer of our church
fathers: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful people
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.”

“Spirit Kindle” is a promise from God that when we live in one-
ness with Jesus Christ and His will for ‘‘all men to be saved and to
come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Our witness will
glow from the fire of His faithful presence in our hearts.

“Spirit Kindle” is a power that is given to us from God Him-
self. Whenever we hear the Word of God or speak it to others, it is
the Holy Spirit alone who unleashes His power to bring into being
the fire of faith and keep it burning eternally.

The most significant events of the past triennium have to be the
forces of nature that have done their best to quench the spirit of the
Southern District.

Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005. In
the wake of the storm, the temporal lives of millions of people were
forever changed. It was into this heartache that the Church of Jesus
Christ came, bringing relief, healing, and hope. Lutheran Christians
in the Southern District and from around the country remain on the
front lines of relief and recovery. It is important to remember that
Katrina was not the first or the last storm that affected the people of
the Southern District in the past triennium. Rita, Ivan, Jeanne,
Cindy, and Dennis caused varying degrees of damage to 27 con-
gregations, | elementary school, 4 preschools, and over 500 mem-
ber homes. These numbers put into perspective the epic storm
named Katrina. Her path affected 53 congregations, 8 elementary
schools, 3 preschools, 1 high school, and over 3,500 member
homes. They are in neighborhoods where schools and hospitals re-
main barely functional and where approximately 500,000 uninhab-
itable homes need restoration.

During and following the storm, congregations both inside the
“hurricane zone” and from around the district became actively in-
volved in providing relief. They used their buildings as shelters and
evacuation centers; provided spiritual care and emotional support
for evacuees; distributed food, water, clothing, and medical sup-
plies sent to the area from other parts of the country; served on
teams rescuing people and possessions from flooded areas; and
used their buildings to house volunteers coming to the area to assist
with cleanup.

The Southern District Recovery Team helped locate displaced
workers and published their locations and contact information after
the storm; provided emergency relief grants of $1,000 to all pro-
fessional workers; provided emergency salary support grants for
support staff members; hosted retreats for professional church
workers, church secretaries, and clerical staff; coordinated pastoral
care and stress debriefing teams made up of pastors from around
the country to visit congregations and staffs in the weeks immedi-
ately following the storm; provided severance support for those
workers who had to be released from their position; provided
schools with major tuition assistance grants to assist in replacing
“Jost tuition” due to a decline in the number of students; began pro-
cessing grants for ministry opportunities and building needs; pro-
vided a variety of spiritual care resources for congregations to use
with members and the community; coordinated partnerships of vol-
unteers to assist with the cleaning up and distribution of gifts from
all over the country; helped establish “Lutherans Locate” on the
Web to find evacuated family members; established the “Family-
to-Family Connection” ministry that has connected over 300 af-
fected families with other Lutherans from around the country for
support and encouragement; assembled and distributed 4,000
Christmas and 3,000 Easter gift boxes for members and friends of
all congregations in the hurricane zone.

2007 Convention Workbook