Please join us in praying and thanking God for the following schools this week:

Christ Lutheran School and Preschool, La Mesa, CA

Lutheran High School, La Verne, CA

Word of Life Christian Preschool, Surprise, AZ

Below are photos from Christ Lutheran School and Preschool, La Mesa, CA:

Chapel

Kindergarten Art

Preschool reading

Below are photos from Lutheran High School, La Verne, CA:

LHSLV ran a pumpkin patch this year and met many new community members.

Homecoming 2022

A group of LHSLV fans who faithfully watch the girls volleyball games. There are some Hope Lutheran, Glendora, middle school students who are also supporting the girls!

Below are photos from Word of Life Christian Preschool, Surprise, AZ:

Our Offering Buddy Barrels for Garuna Kids

Trike-A-Thon to raise money for classroom kitchens

Our new playground!

We can't wait to be in fellowship together this weekend!

LEC APP

Ready to attend the Lutheran Educators Conference 2022? We will use an online platform called Whova for our event. Here is all the Whova information. You can Download the Whova app to access the event:

• View the event agenda and plan your personal schedule
• Access to documents and slides shared by organizers or speakers
• Find who else is attending this event and reach out to people ahead of time
• Plan some social activities such as a morning run, coffee hours, or meet-ups with your fellow attendees. You can even post job openings.
• Receive updates such as last minute session changes from the organizers

After downloading, use your email address when signing up on Whova mobile apps or web portal. Make sure you choose a strong password. You can also sign up using a social media account. Once you have signed up, you should be taken directly to your event!

If you aren’t directly added to the event and are asked for an event invitation code when accessing the event, please type in this invitation code: LEC2022SAN (Please do not share this invitation code with people who are NOT attendees of the event).

Already used the Whova app in the past? Double-check that it is installed on your phone, and log in using your existing account email and password.

If you need more guidance on how to use Whova to attend the event, please visit Whova User Guides.

Check out a brief video of our LEC speakers on our School Ministries Facebook page!

HOTEL CHECK-IN

Just a reminder that hotel check-in is not guaranteed until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. If your room isn’t ready when you arrive, please be gracious to the hotel staff and let them text you when your room is ready. They will be doing the best they can for you so let us do the best we can for them and treat them with the dignity and respect that God would have us show them. That understood, you may want to come dressed for worship as you may not be checked into your room in time to change.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

Each school should designate one person to pick up the envelope with your school’s name badges at the LEC Registration in the Indigo Foyer, which is around the corner from Hotel Registration. Please be sure all staff know who your contact person is so that they will be able to get badges from that designated person (who might be you) and not ask for them at the registration counter. Badges should be worn at all times for proper identification as a paid attendee. If your school is sending more than 30 staff members, you may pick up your name badges individually at LEC Registration.

WORSHIP SERVICE PLAYLIST

Click here for a Spotify playlist of the worship music at LEC! Listen and get familiar with the songs so that you can sing loudly at Sunday's worship!

WORSHIP/COMMUNION

God’s Word teaches the real presence of Christ’s body and blood invisibly in, with and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of our union with Christ and with one another. We take seriously the spiritual care of those who commune at our altar. God intends this gift for His baptized children who recognize and repent of their sin, trust in Christ as their Savior and desire to live for him alone and join together in joyfully confessing the faith confessed at this altar. Any who are not yet instructed, in doubt, or who hold a confession different from this, and yet desire to receive the sacrament, will first want to speak with one of the pastors before communing. (Prepared in consultation with CTCR staff and builds on the CTCR’s model Communion Card statement. 09/2019)

MINISTRY MOMENTS PREVIEW VIDEO 

Click here to get a preview of one of our Tuesday keynote Ministry Moments from John Molchon, Faith Lutheran Middle School & High School, Las Vegas, alumni and NFL football player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

MONDAY LUNCH ON YOUR OWN

The hotel is providing a cash lunch option outside of Sapphire Ballroom for those who don’t want to explore other area or hotel options. These cash-and-carry lunch option include a sandwich/salad box (with fruit and chips), a la cart sandwiches, salads, cookies, chips, candy, soda, and more, ranging in price from $10 - $20.  

WORSHIP OFFERING AND THANKOFFERING

Each year at LEC two offerings are taken: the worship offering and the Thankoffering. 

This year’s worship offering will be directed to Garuna Ministries. Garuna has been a past Hearts for Jesus recipient and builds schools and provides support for students and their families in Cambodia and southeast Asia. If your school would like to support the work Garuna is doing as a chapel offering, be sure to stop by their booth in the Exhibit Hall!

As is our custom every year, the Thankoffering is a suggested $1 per year of service donation that is collected from PSD educators to provide scholarships for the children of Rostered church workers to attend a Concordia University and become a Rostered church worker. 

How to give:

• The offering for Garuna will be collected Sunday afternoon at the LEC worship service. You can deposit your checks, payable to Pacific Southwest District, in the collection baskets, or you can Text to Give using (855) 931-3232. You can designate your giving for worship by using the code LEC2022.
• The Thankoffering can be brought to the collection box in an envelope from each school by their designee at the banquet on Monday night or you can utilize the Text to Give option for the Thankoffering by using the code LECTHANK when dialing the number above. Please be sure all ThankOffering checks are made payable to Pacific Southwest District. 
• QR Codes will also be available on the screens during worship and the banquet to direct your contributions electronically at those specific times.
• If you are not attending LEC and would still like to participate in either or both of the offerings, or if you would like to give your offerings now, please utilize the Text to Give options above, send a check payable to Pacific Southwest District to the attention of School Ministries – 1540 Concordia, Irvine, CA 92612, or utilize PayPal on the District website by using this link for the Garuna offering and this link for the ThankOffering. 

Thank you for your generous hearts toward both of these worthwhile offering recipients!

Students at Garuna Christian Schools, our worship offering recipient.

We pray you are having a tremendous day sharing God's love through your service to others in a variety of ways today. We'd love to see pictures of your students in action so we can share them on our Facebook page and in the next edition of Connections. Please email photos to [email protected]. Thank you!

Connections will not be sent next Wednesday, November 23, during Thanksgiving Week. We look forward to seeing you at LEC! Happy Thanksgiving! We have much for which to be thankful! We are thankful for each of you!

Click here to learn more about Concordia University Irvine's Non-Traditional DCE Certification!

Click here to read all about how God is at work through Serve Weekend at Summit Community Church in Buckeye, AZ, in the latest #AroundthePSD article!

The next “Finance Friday” is scheduled for this Friday, November 18 at 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Central Time and again at 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Central Time. This is put on by our national LCMS office!

Grant Manor and Al Freeman (LCMS Drector of School Ministry) will be presenting on: Preparing the Budget - historical budgets, departments requests (including request forms), hard income, soft income, etc.

We have exciting news as this will be a Finance Friday Bonus Time! Aimee Knoepfel, Director at Amazing Grace Early Learning Center in Oxford, FL, will be presenting from 11:00 a.m. -11:30 a.m. Central Time and from 3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Central Time on budgeting for the Early Childhood Center!

Come for one or come for both! Budgeting templates will be provided for each session, including Aimee sharing a budgeting template specific to Early Childhood Centers!

Zoom Link: Finance Fridays Zoom Link

Director/Pastor/Principal Conference - Thursday, January 26, 2023 

What better way to spend a day during National Lutheran Schools Week than with your school’s ministry leadership team in fellowship with other teams in the district? Join us on Thursday, January 26, from 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Bethany Lutheran in Long Beach, CA, for our one-day Director/Pastor/Principal Conference. PSD President Mike Gibson will speak on “Church and School Life Together,” and we will share best practices. Registration will open in December.

Please mark your calendars for the annual PSD Administrators Leadership Conference at the Miramonte Resort and Spa in Indian Wells, CA, Wednesday through Friday, July 19-21, 2023! Andrew McPeak with Growing Leaders (Tim Elmore’s partner) will present “A New Kind of Diversity”, and each participant will receive a copy of their new book by the same title! You won’t want to miss this grand opportunity! Save the date!

LEA NATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS CONFERENCE 2023

Registration for the 2023 LEA National Administrators Conference (NAC) is now open. This special one day event will be held in Phoenix on February 15, 2023, at the Crowne Plaza Phoenix Airport, which precedes the Best Practices in Ministry Conference (BPM) held at Christ Church Lutheran February 16-18. All are welcome to attend the NAC by itself, but if plans are also being made to attend the BPM conference, this is a great way to take advantage of using only ONE flight and staying in the same hotel for both events. The program will highlight timely and important topics of concern to all administrators, specifically Lutheran education’s relationship to governmental, cultural, and legislative topics important to the future and safety of Lutheran schools. Check the NAC Registration site for complete information about the program and to register. (A special discounted registration is available for your pastor and other colleagues in your ministry who will also benefit from these topics.)

NOMINATE FOR LEA AWARDS

All individuals are welcome to nominate educators in Lutheran ministries for any of 14 national LEA awards. Selection will take place by February, 2023. The deadline to submit nominations is December 1, 2022. More information about the awards and nomination forms are available here.

• Prayers from Christ Lutheran School and Preschool, La Mesa, CA: Thanksgiving for a newly renovated preschool playground! We are thankful for the hard-working construction crew and the joy they brought to our children!
• Prayers from Word of Life Christian Preschool, Surprise, AZ: Prayers for the health of our students, families, and staff during cold and flu season. Prayers for protection over our families as they travel during the holidays. We are so thankful for God's blessings upon us this year and for the grant funds that allowed us to build our new playground!
• For today's District-wide Service Day, that it is a blessing to all those involved.
• For those attending LEC, that the Spirit of the Lord and His power will be in this conference.
• For those leading LEC – the presenters, the worship team, the tech team, the prayer team, and all others leading in some capacity.
• Praise and thanks to God for the LEC planning team!
• For safe travel to and from LEC for all attending.
• For a blessed Thanksgiving for you, your family, your students, and your school. We have so much for which to be thankful!

Schools we are praying for the week of November 27:

Abiding Savior Lutheran School and Early Childhood Center, Lake Forest, CA Grace Lutheran School and Preschool, Lancaster, CA

Circle of Love Lutheran Preschool, Manhattan Beach, 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 Tuesdays.