LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 26

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26

SYNOD REPORTS

education and training program to encourage the Christian teaching of healthy sexuality within marriage between one man and one
woman and chastity outside of marriage.
Health Ministries—International Work
Blessings of the Triennium

LCMS Health Ministries served as a resource to our LCMS mission projects and international partners as we care for both body and
soul of people around the world, using acts of mercy as a complement to the proclamation of the Gospel.
Health Ministries served the international mission field by providing on-site project mentoring, assessment, strategy development,
and viability reporting for upcoming health mercy projects in Chile,
Kyrgyzstan, and Madagascar, and for Lutheran Malaria Initiative
work in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. In addition, LCMS Health
Ministries developed and provided ongoing staffing, management,
and oversight for the operations of two primary care clinics in Haiti.
Medical teams provided primary care and community health education to over 20,000 patients in underserved areas of Haiti, Kenya,
Madagascar, and Kyrgyzstan.
Health Ministries executed grants and assisted in development
of an HIV/AIDS education and testing program in Madagascar with
the Regional Synod in Avaratrimania. The program will include 37
districts and will train trainers for 788 churches while developing
an action plan to prevent the disease and address mobilization for
the future.
Health Ministries is fostering the parish nursing vocation internationally through the development of an international parish nursing
training curriculum, piloted with nurses in the Indian Evangelical
Lutheran Church (IELC).
Opportunities for the Future

Health Ministries oversees programmatic work for the Lutheran
Malaria Initiative. Strategy includes programmatic efforts with church
partners in Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and smaller start-up efforts as
possible in Liberia and Guinea.
Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI—International Programming Report
Blessings of the Triennium

Partnership Work with Lutheran World Relief. Since 2007,
Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI) has reached more than 1.7 million people across 13 dioceses of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Tanzania with critical information about prevention and treatment
of malaria. This has been achieved by training volunteers to engage
their communities, educate those at risk, and direct them to free nets
and services provided by government programs.
In Kenya during the last few years, Lutheran congregations have
distributed 77,000 bed nets in targeted “gap communities” through
the LMI support.
LCMS-Specific LMI Work. Last year 8,000 bed nets were distributed in Kenya through a partnership between the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) and a team of LCMS volunteers from Texas and Wisconsin. Along with providing bed nets,
ELCK-sponsored volunteers taught families how to use them, how
to recognize the symptoms of malaria, and where to seek treatment.
Last year the Lutheran Church of Nigeria hosted LMI clinics at
four of their zonal conventions. The main focus was to provide convention attendees with malaria education, prevention, diagnosis, and
treatment. Thousands of participants received free malaria tests, and
those infected received treatment. Messages of malaria prevention
were delivered to all attendees at the convention.

2013 Convention Workbook

Opportunities for the Future

In 2013, the Lutheran Church in Nigeria will host LMI clinics in
9 of their 14 zonal conventions and will host training and awareness
workshops for church leaders.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya will continue to work
with the Kenyan Ministry of Health to engage local communities to
insure thousands are equipped with nets and the knowledge to prevent and seek treatment for malaria.
LCMS strategy includes ongoing and development of programmatic efforts with church partners in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ethiopia,
with smaller start-up efforts possible in Liberia and Guinea.
Armed Forces Ministry Report
Operation Barnabas Ministry

One key highlight for Ministry to the Armed Forces (MAF) centers on care for Veterans. Operation Barnabas, organized in 2007, not
only supports our pastors who are also Reserve chaplains but also our
Lutheran Veterans in the pew and the millions of Veterans who live
in the shadow of our churches but never attend any church. It is estimated that there are currently over 30 million Veterans alive today
from all wars. This is an unprecedented mission field and opportunity for the church. MAF is leading the way to reach the Veteran
and draw him back to the cross of Christ by the grace of God. Under
Chaplain Mike Moreno, now a mobilized Navy Reservist, our church
body has 18 local chapters up and running in LCMS congregations
from California to Florida. Our goal is to establish 50 chapters by
the end of 2013 and 100 by the end of 2014. We are planning a second Operation Barnabas Training Conference in the coming year.
While Chaplain Moreno is on active duty, two retired chaplains, Rev.
Dr. Gary Danielson, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Rev. Bill Brunold, of
Whittier, California, have been brought on board to fill the gap and
will be managing visitation, program events, and training. Chaplain
Moreno was mobilized in January 2013 and will complete his tour
in September 2013.
Armed Forces Sunday

Chaplains Mark Schreiber, Eric Erkkinen, and Mike Moreno have
continued to engage in numerous visits coast to coast to preach at
our LCMS congregations around the country, leading the worshiping community of saints in Armed Forces Sunday celebrations and
remembrances. These visits to congregations have produced high
visibility for military ministry and tremendous financial support for
Chaplain Corps ministry from our LCMS saints in the pew, enabling
us to fund and support new ministries for our returning veterans who
are members of our churches and for those outside our churches. The
Armed Forces Sunday events also expand our Ministry-by-Mail program as we receive names and addresses of military members and
provide to them a quarterly newsletter and copies of Portals of Prayer.
Recruitment

MAF continues to recruit at both seminaries with periodic regular
visits during the academic year, to create and sustain interest via the
Chaplain Candidate program and Chaplain Corps ministry. Currently
there are about 20 chaplain candidates at Concordia Seminary, St.
Louis, and 10–12 at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne.
Eric Erkkinen leads the charge on this ministry.
DMin Military Chaplain Program

The DMin Military Chaplain Program initiated by the director
in 2005 is designed exclusively for our military chaplains to enable
them to complete a doctoral degree while remaining on active duty.
The DMin program can be successfully completed within a four-tofive-year time frame by completing in-residence intensive courses