PSD School Ministries
Connections
September 30, 2020
Spotlight on Our Schools
Please join us in praying and thanking God for the following schools this week:

Zion Lutheran Preschool, Fallbrook, CA
Prince of Peace Lutheran Preschool, Hemet, CA
St. John’s Lutheran School and Preschool, Orange, CA
Below are photos from Prince of Peace Lutheran Preschool, Hemet, CA:
Pastor Gene having chapel with the kindergarten class
Daily morning flag and prayer school opening at Prince of Peace
Below are photos from St. John’s Lutheran School and Preschool, Orange, CA:
The family photo wall in our St. John's 2-year old class.
The smiling faces of our preschool staff before they had to cover those lovely smiles with masks.
Dr. Hollatz Zooming with 7th graders
St. John’s office staff on the first day of school
PSD All Workers Conference 2020:
Register Now!
We excitedly invite you to join us for our first-ever Pacific Southwest District All Workers Conference! Registration is now open. Although our conference will be virtual, we encourage you to safely gather at host sites to view the conference in fellowship with other Lutheran church workers. The conference will take place Monday and Tuesday, November 23 & 24. The cost is $50 per person. Our planning team is enthusiastically anticipating an excellent conference with first-rate keynote speakers and workshop presentations intended to equip and resource workers from all ministry areas. Click here for more information! 
Red Hill Lutheran School Recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School
Red Hill Lutheran School in Tustin, CA, has been recognized as a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School. This recognition and award is based on a school's overall academic performance and progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. ⠀
The coveted National Blue Ribbon Schools award affirms the hard work of the RHLS educators, families, and community in creating a safe and welcoming school where students learn challenging and engaging content. Click here for more information about the award winners.⠀
Please join us in celebrating Red Hill's principal, Dr. Paul Marquardt, and Red Hill's entire faculty and staff on this prestigious national distinction. Congratulations!
Hearts for Jesus Information
Hearts for Jesus packets were mailed out to all of our schools late last week. You should be receiving those in the mail any day if you haven’t already. We encourage you to take a look through all of the information in the packet to familiarize yourself with LeadaChild and the work that they do to provide Lutheran education to students in six different countries/continents around the world! We are also excited about the Teachers Helping Teachers and Run 4 a Child opportunities with this project this year! Take a look and plan now for how your students and teachers will participate and support LeadaChild. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Kim Violette at kim.violette@psd-lcms.org.
PSD School Service Day

This year’s annual PSD School Service Day is Wednesday, November 18. Did you know we have had an annual school service day since November of 2013? This year is no different! While the projects you choose this year may take on a new look, we encourage you to find a way to encourage your staff and students to reach out into your communities with the love of Jesus! Start planning now, and as always, we'd love to share your photos from this special day.
October Devotion on Website
Our October devotion is now on our website. It is titled I Lift Up My Eyes to the Hills and is written by Jeffrey Beavers, Executive Director at Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, CA. Click here to read it. Thank you, Jeffrey, for reminding us to lift our eyes to the cross and look to the Lord for help.
Synod Statistics
THANK YOU to the 43 schools who have already reported their statistics!

A message from LCMS Office of Rosters and Statistics:

It is now time to report your school statistics for the 2020-21 school year. You will be doing this updating and reporting on the new LISN system that was introduced to you last year. If you need helping logging in, please contact the LCMS Church Information Center at 888-843-5267 or you can email rosters.stats@lcms.org

The reporting period closes on November 2, so PLEASE make time to gather your statistics and enter them into the system in a timely manner.  
 
We appreciate your attention to this important matter – we are looking for 100% reporting from our PSD schools!

Reporting from Synod*:
43 schools submitted – 72 schools to go!
ECE - 22 submitted/43 to go
Elementary - 22 submitted/22 to go
HS - 3 submitted/3 to go
37% Reported
*This is the Synodical counting of schools
LCEF Webinar Educator Series
Education has gone through many changes during 2020 and with that, educators have had to adapt to teach and care for their students whether it was through Zoom or in person.

Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) continues to support the work of our elementary, middle, high and secondary school educators by offering two webinars regarding important issues: technology and mental health. These presentations are intended for teachers and administrators as a resource during this uncertain time.
These webinars are free of charge and all you have to do is register. The webinars will be 45 minutes long and will allow for 15 minutes of questions. These webinars will also be recorded if you are unable to attend.
There is limited space, so we encourage you to register as soon as possible.

Webinar #1:
Brent Dieckhoff (our TEC21 partner!)
Connect with the TEC21 ministry for such a time as this!
October 14, 11:00am (CST)

Webinar #2:
Megan Miessler
You Need Oxygen First: Teaching Educators to Care for Self
October 15, 7:00pm (CST)
Prayer Requests
Our Gracious Heavenly Father,
We cry out to you for mercy during these challenging days. Lord, please heal our land, bring peace to our neighborhoods and cities, and tear down the walls of hate and injustice that divide us. Raise up your church to be a life-giving force and ambassadors of reconciliation. Empower us for action that we may model for our world the oneness in Christ, who alone is the hope of the world. Give wisdom to our civil authorities and faith leaders to make decisions and lead in directions that will result in repentance, healing, forgiveness, new directions, and peace. Father in heaven, we pray for our police officers and fire fighters. We ask for your protection, provision and encouragement for our first responders who serve our communities faithfully and sacrificially, facing risks every day on our behalf in order to preserve the peace, our lives and property. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Schools we are praying for the week of October 4:
Searchlight Ministries Lutheran Preschool, Fullerton, CA
Immanuel Lutheran Preschool, Orange, CA
Lutheran High School, Orange, CA

Each week, prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for teachers, administrators, support staff, pastors, students, and families of the Lutheran schools, early childhood centers, and churches of the Pacific Southwest District are listed. To include names on the list, please send information to anna.preus@psd-lcms.org by noon on Tuesday of each week.
School Ministries, Pacific Southwest District-LCMS
1540 Concordia Drive East, Irvine, CA 92612
Phone 949-854-3232 | Fax 949-854-8140

Rachel Klitzing, Executive Director of School Ministries