kindness in your warm greeting. – Mother Teresa

Below are photos from North Valley Christian Academy and Preschool (PS-12), Phoenix, AZ:

Below are photos from Ascension Lutheran Preschool, Torrance, CA:

We now have 850 educators registered for LEC! New information has been uploaded on the LEC website.

LEC Servant Events will support LeadaChild and Garuna this year. You can bring donations of items for LeadaChild directly to the Exhibit Hall. While you are in the Exhibit Hall, you can write notes of encouragement to teachers around the world including those who serve in the seven Lutheran schools in Cambodia supported by Garuna!  Please print this flyer for more information and to encourage any donations from your school. Not going to LEC? You can still donate items or write cards! Contact [email protected] for more information.

LEC Photos and Videos: Thank you to the 25 schools who have submitted pictures and 15 second videos for the LEC presentation! We are closing access to that folder at the end of the day, this Friday, November 5. If you have not participated yet, PLEASE upload up to five pictures of your teaching staff or administrators and/or your video to say thank you HERE. Don't delay!

The J.W. Marriott is sold out for Sunday night. We have booked a block of rooms for overflow at the Courtyard by Marriott Palm Desert - 74895 Frank Sinatra Drive, Palm Desert, CA 92211. Rooms at the Courtyard are $99 per night. If you still need a hotel room, please book your room at the Courtyard by Sunday, November 7. The hotel’s reservation line is: 760-776-4150. Ask for the room block named “LCMS PSD Lutheran Educators Conference (LEC)”. Individual reservations are guaranteed with a credit card.

Our deepest gratitude to the 38 early childhood centers, 27 elementary schools, and six high schools who have partnered with School Ministries and sent in their School Services contributions! As of this date, we have received $86,270 for K-12 School Services and $29,650 for Early Childhood School Services, for a total of $115,920! Praise be to God! Thank you for your partnership!

It is our hope that the remaining early childhood centers, elementary schools and high schools who have not yet partnered with us, will do so in the months ahead. We share a partnership through our office which provides a myriad of resources, including: conferences, accreditation services, in-services, School Consultancies, call lists, workshops for professional growth, information on new or changing laws, our Admissions Director and Resource Teacher networks, trends in education, curriculum and assessment resources, the new Rigor and Relevance Framework training, the new Coaching Initiative, and a new network of School Counselors. Additionally, we maintain membership with CAPSO, AZ CAPE, and NV CAPE. We communicate with the state legislature key agencies, the Offices of the Governors, the WASC Accreditation Commission for Schools, and the California Interscholastic Federation. Your partnership is instrumental in making all of this happen. If you would like to confirm if your school has contributed, please contact Kim Violette. Most importantly, thank you for your partnership in the Gospel!

Thank you to the 101 of our 106* schools who submitted their statistics within the reporting period of time. We are so grateful and thankful that you recognize and understand the importance of submitting this data each year. While the information that is collected from schools in previous years is always put to good use at the district and national levels of Synod, this year’s data will be extremely important in guiding the decision-making process at many levels in the years to come. We received word yesterday that the Synodical office extended the deadline, so there is still time for the remaining five schools to submit their data. We will reach out to you again by phone later this week or early next week.

We encourage you now to be sure to bookmark the LISN website and save your user names and passwords. You can log into this website throughout the year to upload any staff changes or contact changes. You will also now have everything you need when you get the email from Synod to report your statistics in September of 2022. Again, thank you so much for your partnership!

PSD Reporting from Synod: 95.2% Reported

Elementary Educator of the Year   

Jr./Sr. High School Educator of the Year   

Sarah Williams, Valley Lutheran High School, Phoenix, AZ    

Administrator of the Year   

Click here to read how God is at work at Trinity Lutheran Church and Preschool in Temecula, CA!

Our November devotion is now up on our website. It is written by Dr. Cari Chittick from Concordia University Irvine, and titled Focus! Click here to read it. Thank you, Cari, for encouraging us to fix our eyes on Jesus!

Our annual PSD Service Day is Wednesday, November 17. How are you and your students planning to serve your school and community?

The 46th Regular Pacific Southwest District Convention is scheduled for June 22-24, 2022, at Faith Lutheran Middle School & High School in Las Vegas, NV. Our District Convention theme is Abundantly More based on Ephesians 3:21.

Nominations are now open. All information and forms relating to the Nomination process can be found on the PSD website.

Registration Update: Churches could begin mailing their registration materials on November 1. Online data entry for Gathering participants is now open on the Gathering website.

District Event: The Pacific Southwest, California/Nevada/Hawaii, and Northwest Districts are working together to plan a Tri-District event in Houston during the Gathering. Please save the date for Wednesday, July 13. The event will take placing directly following the closing worship. Watch for more information and final details coming soon.

Registration materials, including the necessary forms to register your group for the Gathering, are available on the Gathering website at lcmsgatherings.com.

Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) is conducting its 11th Annual Coloring Contest! Students from preschool through 8th grade are eligible.

Download the Coloring Contest pdf at petalpushers.org/color.

Lutheran Elementary School Tournament (LEST) will take place at Concordia University Irvine February 18-20, 2022!

LEST OC 2022 | Informational Zoom Call with General Details: Wednesday, November 3rd (TODAY!) from 3-4pm via Zoom

You can register directly on the website (cui.edu/lest), and you can email Leah Roney directly ([email protected]) for the links for the Zoom meetings.

E: [email protected]

TLC Lutheran Preschool, Casa Grande, AZ

Shield of Faith Christian School, El Monte, CA

St. Paul’s Lutheran School and Preschool, San Diego, 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 [email protected] by noon on Tuesday of each week.