PSD School Ministries
Connections
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Rachel Klitzing
Executive Director of School Ministries
Celebrating 30 Years of Service in the
Pacific Southwest District
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We give thanks to God for the faithful leadership of Rachel Klitzing who will celebrate 30 years of service as an integral part of the PSD Staff on Friday, February 19, 2021.
Rachel began her district work, first as an assistant to Dean Dammann, and then as Executive Director of School Ministries with District Presidents Loren Kramer, Larry Stoterau, and Mike Gibson.
Through Rachel’s tireless work congregations, schools, principals, administrators, preschool directors, teachers, DCEs, and more have been supported and equipped in their ministry, resulting in an ever-expanding legacy of student families who know Jesus.
The 150 schools in the Pacific Southwest District continue to be wonderfully blessed by her loving and visionary leadership.
Thank you, Rachel!
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Rachel had a life-sized poster made of Dean Dammann, her predecessor, at LEC in 1997 where they recognized Dean's retirement. |
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Please join us in praying and thanking God for the following schools this week:
Loving Savior Lutheran School and Preschool, Chino Hills, CA
St. Paul’s Lutheran School and Preschool, San Diego, CA
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Below are photos from Loving Savior Lutheran School and Preschool, Chino Hills, CA:
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Lead me to the cross where Your love pours out! |
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Happy 100 Days of School! |
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"I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Donations to a local charity |
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Loving Savior earned Best School honors! |
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Meeting their local officer |
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Below are photos from St. Paul’s Lutheran School and Preschool,
San Diego, CA:
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Junior Kindergarten learning using Scholastic's "My Big World" |
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Preschool three year olds working on balance! |
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Preschool two year olds enjoying the wonder of hands-on learning! |
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1st graders Buddy Reading |
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5th grade music - ukuleles |
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3rd graders harvesting broccoli from their school garden! They ate it at lunch! |
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St. Paul's Lutheran School in Orange, CA, is celebrating Mr. Wayne Waterman! Mr. Waterman was recently honored as one of OC Parenting Magazine's Top Teachers of the Year Honorees. Congratulations, Wayne!
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Red Hill Lutheran School in Tustin, CA, recently had a historic day as students spoke directly with NASA Astronaut, US Space Force Colonel, Michael S. Hopkins. They were able to make contact with the ISS as they traveled 200 miles overhead at 27,000 mph. Local news K-ABC (ABC7) and the OC Register newspaper picked up the story and were on campus.
This was an amazing experience for the Red Hill students, teachers, and entire school community. It is available to view here.
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Thank you for the great response in completing your 2021 PSD Stats @ a Glance! As of this morning, 31 preschools, 16 elementary schools, and four high schools have already completed their stats. Thank you!
This statistical information specific to the PSD is extremely important! Rachel frequently uses this information when talking or communicating with people about the importance of Lutheran education.
The links to complete your statistical information are below. The deadline is March 1. Thank you so much for your attention to this important task!
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Hearts for Jesus Mission Project Ideas |
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Teachers and Administrators, how are you making this year’s Hearts for Jesus (H4J) unified mission project and collection real and relevant to your students? We had a few ideas we would like to share for your consideration:
- Have a class coin collection challenge – put a collection container in each classroom and challenge the students to a free dress pass or donuts for the class that donates the most.
- One of our schools has the students write their names on a heart each time they bring in an offering for the H4J project. They display these hearts on an wall in the church with a highlight of what this year’s project is. The students love to see their names on the wall and how the hearts continue to grow.
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Utilize the LeadaChild newsletters and resources and focus on a country a week. As you talk about the Lutheran school in that country (Ghana, Sierra Leone, Panama, etc.) remind them they are bringing chapel offerings that week for that specific school and their students.
- Use the bulletin inserts and let the students decorate a jar or box they can take home and add coins and bills to. Send those same bulletin inserts home so they can share the stories of LeadaChild with their families.
- For older students – use the word search and ask them to fundraise with family and friends a certain amount for each country they can find in the word search. They can share other resource handouts with those who choose to donate to tell the LeadaChild story.
- Sponsor an “a-thon” and all donations toward books read, laps run, hours danced, songs sung, etc. go into your H4J offering for this year.
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Teachers – you can support the teachers in LeadaChild schools, too! Could you donate a dollar per year of service to this fund? Could you leave a collection jar in the teacher work room for a month and have teachers drop in coins and bills? Could you contact Lisa Hellyer at LeadaChild to set up a Zoom with one of the LeadaChild leaders to share their program as part of a staff in-service day and take up a collection?
We encourage you to support this project this year. We know with remote chapel and remote learning that gathering these collections can be more difficult this year. We challenge you to find a way to make it fun and relevant for your students and staff. Have a great idea? Share it with us and we will share it with our other schools!
Also, thank you to Abiding Savior Lutheran School in Lake Forest, CA, and Yuma Lutheran School in Yuma, AZ, for sharing some Hearts for Jesus photos with us! You can see the photo album here!
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Zoom Workshop for Administrators |
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Administrators - Set aside an hour and a half for a Zoom Workshop with Licensed Professional Counselor, Karen Merritt, from St. Paul’s Lutheran School, Ft. Worth, TX. The workshop will be held on Wednesday, March 3, from 10:00-11:30 a.m. (PST).
Session Summary
Intentional Care During Tense Times -
During tense times we must make intentional adjustments to how we work with our staff, students, and families in order to support and attend to the overall social, emotional, spiritual, and educational health of each person. Join us as we learn about practical applications for administrators to implement, monitor, and encourage Social Emotional Learning within their staff, students, and their families. Additionally, we will talk about the importance of self-care to mitigate the stress of these difficult times.
This will be an extremely valuable session in your leadership role at your school! Click here to register and for more information!
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Results of LCMS Convention Referendum |
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Click the link below to view the official notice from Synod in regards to delaying the LCMS National Convention to 2023. More than the required one-fourth (63.32%) of the Synod’s member congregations registered a vote, and the majority (90.67%) of votes cast favored adoption of the extension. 135 PSD congregations voted (50.19%) and 131 (97.04%) voted in favor of the extension.
The PSD Board of Directors will meet on Tuesday, February 23, to vote on moving the PSD Convention to 2022. The result of that vote and other information will be provided following that meeting.
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News from Concordia University Irvine |
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Rachel recently received this message from Concordia Irvine's School of Education and she wanted to share it with you. Elementary and high school teachers -- identify and talk with those students who could be great teachers in the future! We are going to need them!
Dear Friends of Concordia University Irvine,
We were very humbled and thankful to learn this morning that the California Teaching Commission found all six of our programs more than met the accreditation standards and we passed with flying colors to earn full accreditation status for another seven years. To God be the Glory for all the blessings He continues to bestow upon Concordia University Irvine and our School of Education as we strive to attract, equip, and support servant leaders for today's public and private schools.
May God continue to bless you with strong health and much happiness in 2021!
With much respect and gratitude,
Kent Schlichtemeier, EdD
Dean │School of Education
Concordia University Irvine
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Dr. David Loy presented this year’s Concordia Irvine Trembath Lecture online. “ Called by Whom and How? Reflections on the Structure of Vocation ” is a helpful consideration of vocation of both Christians and non-Christians. I encourage you to watch it here!
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Click here to read the most recent edition of CAPE (Council for American Private Education) Outlook. |
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Dear Administrators,
The Commissioned Minister Call Document has been revised for 2021. The new version is 4.9.2 and is the only version to be used from this point forward. Please share this information with anyone at your school or church who will be preparing Commissioned Call Documents in the future. The sign-in and password remain unchanged. Contact Ellen Pratt if you have any questions at [email protected] or 949-854-3232 ext. 224.
Please note: Version 4.9.2 went into effect on January 1, 2021. We are only reminding you of what was announced in January - this is not another new update.
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Resources from Lutheran Hour Ministries |
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Project Connect booklets from Lutheran Hour Ministries address a wide variety of topics that connect God’s Word to real-life issues and are available in both English and Spanish.
For years, LHM has been producing these handy, little volumes which cover subjects like Jesus, faith, marriage, forgiveness, raising children, prayer, divorce, comebacks, the Bible, outreach, and a whole lot more.
You can:
The ministry of The International Lutheran Laymen's League is currently expressed through a wide range of Christ-centered outreach efforts under the name of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
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Prayers from Loving Savior, Chino Hills, CA:
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For the husband of Valorie Wend, principal at Loving Savior. He is having a vascular issue due to a blood clotting disorder. We pray for them to find answers and treatment.
- Pray for our school and for our junior high students to return to campus soon due to COVID restrictions.
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Prayers from St. Paul's, San Diego, CA:
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For healing for Matt Haar, husband of Sharon Haar, preschool director at St. Paul’s, as he battles cancer and receives treatment.
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A prayer of praise from St. Paul’s Preschool: We thank and praise God for 10 new students enrolled since January 4th! We also thank and praise God for the news that Jill Johnson, our 2-year-old teacher, will be celebrating her first grandchildren this Summer- triplets! We ask for protection during the pregnancy of her daughter, Heather!
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A prayer from St. Paul's Lutheran School: We ask for continued prayers for the health and safety of our teachers and students. We are so fortunate to be able to be in person for learning and blessed by all of the new students and families that have joined our school this year.
Schools we are praying for the week of February 21:
Promise Christian School and Preschool, Murrieta, CA
Zion Lutheran School and Preschool, Victorville, CA
Children of Our Savior Lutheran Preschool, Westchester, 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.
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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
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