LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 12

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12

SYNOD REPORTS

that the LCMS has invested very little in actually reaching out to and
caring for those individuals and families who are affected by samesex attraction. I have appointed a task force of experts who are busy
identifying the LCMS capacity that exists on this issue and who are
also planning the future of a national consortium/coalition of care
and ministry on this topic. Pray for its success! It’s time for compassionate action.
National Offering
Every three years, LCMS households, congregations, and organizations are invited to participate in a synodwide ingathering of
financial gifts called the National Offering. Culminating in a collection to be received in worship services during the 2013 convention
in St. Louis, this triennium’s offering gives participants five choices
through which they can share Christ’s forgiveness and mercy both
at home and abroad. It also affords LCMS congregations and their
members an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to our life
together as the world’s leading confessional Lutheran body.
For the 2013–2016 triennium, five gift designations cover a range
of Witness, Mercy, Life Together efforts, all of which happen only with
broad support from LCMS congregations and households. Baptized
for This Moment, you are free to join with your fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ in sharing His forgiveness and mercy in a world
desperately in need of it. Please join with others in support of this
triennium’s National Offering. The five National Offering designations are as follows:
•	Together as Synod
•	Global Mission
•	Lutheran Malaria Initiative
•	The Joint Seminary Fund
•	Global Seminary Initiative

Worldwide KFUO: The Messenger of Good News
Our new branding (“Worldwide KFUO: The Messenger of
Good News!”) expresses the mission of our Synod’s radio station
to expand to a worldwide audience the message of Jesus Christ and
Him crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of sins. With the
Lord’s blessing, this mission continues to be met. We like to say that
“Worldwide KFUO is on the move!” We are expanding in the following areas.
New Listeners

Through intentional efforts (weekly church bulletins and HisTime
congregational participation), we are seeking to expand beyond our
St. Louis area base on AM 850 to the rest of the Synod and to the
world. New technologies allow us to do this: iPhone and Android
phone apps (over 5,000 users), iPod casts, and streaming through such
devices as laptop computers, iPads, WiFi radios, and even now some
TVs with WiFi radio apps. This allows listeners all over the world
to listen live to our streams and archive much of our programming
on demand. All of this has blessed Worldwide KFUO with increased
listener analytics. They show that in an average month we have listeners from all fifty states and the District of Columbia, as well as 86
countries, including Egypt, Brazil, Argentina, China, India, Nigeria,
Kenya, Iraq, Canada, and many more. Worldwide KFUO reaches all
continents with the Good News of Jesus Christ, and these numbers
are increasing!
New Programs

As we reach outside the St. Louis area, our program schedule continues to meet the needs of all demographics, covering the gamut of
our church body, our country, and our world. To date, we have added
four new programs produced and originating from KFUO:
2013 Convention Workbook

•	HisTime: Our morning program revolving around the Church Year,
featuring daily Bible studies, interviews, news, and a Matins worship
service.
•	Faith ‘n’ Family: Lutheran family experts help all of us with our families under attack from so many angles these days.
•	BookTalk: Interviews and conversations with the best Christian
authors.
• WLN (World Lutheran News) Digest and the Minute: Provides a reliable source for significant, timely news for the Lutherans worldwide.

These additions to our existing program lineup, and some others now in development for high school and college listeners, are
growing our listener base. Our musical library has undergone major
purging, and music purchases permit the oldest and most reliable
stream of classical and sacred music to be streamed 24/7 at kfuo.org
and classic99.com.
New Underwriters

We are “listener supported” and so depend on the kind and generous gifts of listeners as well as our “underwriters.” This group of
organizations has been expanding as they see KFUO expand, at the
time of this writing including Mid-American Coaches, Children’s
Concern Society, Concordia University Wisconsin, Lutheran Senior
Services, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Lutheran
Family & Children’s Services of Missouri, Reliable Heating &
Cooling, and Thrivent Financial. By the time you read this report,
many others will likely be joining the KFUO team.
New Studios

The historic studios formally located on the St. Louis Seminary
campus were in need of extensive and prohibitively expensive renovation. Further, the daily need to interview Synod staff as well as
guests to the International Center led to the building of the new, beautiful studio complex there. These new facilities are also extremely
functional, allowing Worldwide KFUO to expand our mission—to
be “The Messenger of Good News!”
SMP Task Force
Here following is a letter regarding the work and report of the
Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Task Force. In Appendix IV elsewhere in this Convention Workbook, you will have opportunity to
read the report provided by the task force, as also provided to the
LCMS Council of Presidents and the two LCMS seminaries. I commend this report to your reading so that as this matter is discussed at
the convention, you may have access to a number of facts about the
program. I agree with the thrust of the report. The program fills an
important need for specific situations, but the program also needs to
comport more narrowly with its intended purposes.
Wednesday of Lent III, AD 2013
March 6, 2013
Dear Delegates and Members of the Synod,
Grace and peace in Christ Jesus.
In January 2012, I asked three very competent individuals to serve
on a task force to provide information and a thorough evaluation of the
Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program at our two seminaries. The
members of the task force are Rev. Dr. Raymond Hartwig (Secretary
of the Synod, and thus very knowledgeable about the history of convention action on this issue and related issues); Rev. Randy Golter
(former District President of the Rocky Mountain District and now
executive director of the Synod’s Office of International Mission,