LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 102

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Light is stronger than darkness;
Life is stronger than death;
Victory is ours through Him who loves us.
Martin Luther King, Jr., said:
When our days become dreary with lowhovering clouds of despair, and when our nights
become darker than a thousand midnights, let
us remember that there is a creative force in this
universe, working to pull down the gigantic
mountains of evil, a power that is able to make
a way out of no way and transform dark
yesterdays into bright tomorrows.8
We can see opportunities or obstacles. Opportunities
to be bold: twenty-first-century LCMS missionaries
confessing and confronting a broken humanity with
good news in a bad-news world; opportunities to use
all of our rich resources in engaging, encouraging,
equipping, and empowering each other to bring the
changeless Gospel to an ever-changing world. Or
obstacles of a world so broken and so against us, the
church, that, like Elijah against Jezebel, we flee to our
spiritual broom trees seeking our relief from the terror of sinful humanity.
I remember vividly when the city of Ferguson erupted
over the death of Michael Brown; the Office of National Mission was in a mission conference meeting
with our Lutheran Women’s Missionary League
national leaders about a collaborative partnership,
supporting the work of the Synod’s Office of National
Mission (ONM). I recall a conversation with the Rev.
Steve Schave about what we were going to do about
Ferguson. I said, “What do you want to do?” He said,
“Can we go over there?” I said, “Why not?” We went
to Ferguson to just be a Lutheran presence of Gospel
ministry in one of the worst of times for our region.
We had nothing but the Gospel. We witnessed,
prayed, and offered hope to what was a hopeless
situation among so many hopeless people. The
result of that first encounter in Ferguson brought
about a witness of mercy to the Ferguson community
and a life together with the Synod, Missouri District,
and the North County congregations calling the Rev.
Micah Glenn as our LCMS missionary-at-large to
Ferguson.

Now Micah Glenn—who understands Ferguson’s
people and their challenges as only a fellow resident
can—is beginning his first call as a new pastor:
executive director of the Lutheran Hope Center in
Ferguson. Thank God for the conviction and vision of
the Rev. Steve Schave, director of Church Planting and
Urban and Inner-City Mission with the LCMS ONM
in creating the Synod’s Mission Field: USA effort.
Four new North American missionaries have been
sent out in the mission field. Why? Because of our
Savior’s proclamation, “The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the
gospel” (Mark 1:14–15), and “The harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to
the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his
harvest” (Matt. 9:37–38).
Rev. Glenn joins the Rev. Dr. Antonio J. Lopez, who
will serve Hispanic people along the Mexican border
in Brownsville, Texas, and fellow national missionaries
Rev. Peter Burfeind in Toledo, Ohio, and the Rev.
Adam DeGroot in Philadelphia. Mission Field: USA
is seeking partnerships in Gary, Ind.; Denver, Colo.;
and St. Paul, Minn. These ministries are “very reflective
of our hopes for multiethnic ministry—reaching into
the heart of our cities, having a pivotal role in racial
reconciliation in America, working with at-risk youth,
and reaching out to our neighbors who are least like
us as a church body,” said Schave.
In his sermon for the June 17 “sending service,”
Missouri District President Rev. Dr. R. Lee Hagan
notes that Christ died for all people—including
Muslim terrorists, gay Hispanics in Orlando, Fla.,
and those who get a paycheck from The Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod.
“They are all prodigal sons and daughters, sinners
in need of the healing salve of the Gospel,” he said
in reference to Jesus’ parable about the prodigal son
(Luke 15:11–32).
Glenn, through the preaching of the Gospel and the
power of the Holy Spirit will bring hope and salvation
to the Ferguson community; unlike Micah Xavier
Johnson who brought violence, death, and destruction
to the Dallas community and betrayed his namesake,
Micah, “Who is like Yahweh?”

8 Address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, August 16, 1967.

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U P O N T H I S R O C K • Essay

“Upon This Rock: Repent”