God in All Things - Without Borders

June 2, 2023

Calls Accepted

The Rev. Dwayne R. Hendricks has accepted the Divine Call to serve as the Sole Pastor of Lutheran Church of Prayer, Bakersfield, CA (California-Nevada-Hawaii District).

Ministerial Candidate Benjamin Janssen has accepted the Divine Call to serve as Associate Pastor of Holy Cross, Pittsburgh, PA.

Our gracious Lord blesses our English District by providing dedicated and talented professional and volunteer leaders and teachers in child, youth, adult, and family ministry areas. These servants of our Lord exercise their God-given gifts in many creative and unique ways to bless those they serve. The Lumen Christi award is presented to publicly recognize the service of educators, to further promote and encourage all professional and volunteer leaders/teachers who are active members of an English District LCMS congregation.

Mrs. Bethany Dillon of Hales Corners Lutheran Church and School of Hales Corners, WI was nominated by her pastor as the recipient of the Lumen Christi Award in 2023. She was recently selected from a list of nominees for this award. She was selected because Bethany exemplifies the mission and ministry of Hales Corners Lutheran Church and School as their Children’s Ministry leader. Her strong work ethic and clear love of the Lord is shared with the children that she serves. She incorporates Jesus into all that she does. She is a shining example of all the many men and women who serve our Lord in the English District!

The Mission Grant Application form is now available to download here for February 2024 - January 2025.

All applications are due to Rev. Derek Mathers at the English District office by Sunday, August 6, 2023.

“Matthew 19:13-14 “Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’”

Today, people are still seeking to bring their children to Jesus. We see it in our churches as well as hearing their blessed giggling and playful banter. The parents are also bringing their children to Jesus when they enroll them in our Lutheran schools. These schools are bringing Jesus to all of the children who attend through the use of regularly scheduled chapel services. Depending on the number of services that are scheduled, these schools may need help from local and not-so-local pastors.

Last year, I was supporting the local consortium of pastors who were providing pastoral care to the school staff and students. I travelled as much as an hour and a half to support some schools. The number of students ranged from 20 to well over 500 in the five schools where I would preach. Regardless of the number of students present, they all desired God’s Word to be preached faithfully to them. Admittedly, in the smaller schools, the students were more likely to come up to me after the service to express their gratitude for me driving so far to join them and lead them in worship. Each of us has our own preaching style and many of the pastors who come to preach prefer to use the sermon that they preached the Sunday before. I have received many positive comments on my sermons. I trust that many, if not all, of these students had already gone to worship on Sunday, and these chapel services are special and an opportunity for them to hear another message different from those they hear in Sunday worship. I look for a text that would likely apply to their situations. I also ask questions and encourage student participation. This is often tricky while staying within the time constraints that each school has for their chapel service, but I find it invaluable since the students are able to connect to the message more quickly and significantly.

I work in campus ministry at Martin Luther Chapel, East Lansing, MI and engage with students at Michigan State University (MSU) and Lansing Community College (LCC). I see these chapel services, in a manner of speaking, as an extension of my campus ministry. Many of the students who see me in high school will likely attend MSU, and even if they do not, I encourage them to find a church near their college or university. I tell them about the Lutheran Campus Mission Association (LCMA) and the LCMS U. The latter is an extension of the LCMS Campus Ministry branch, while the former was established by Synod’s task force and is the predecessor to LCMS U.

Rev. James B. Robinson, Associate Pastor

Martin Luther Chapel, East Lansing, MI

Members of Christ Lutheran Church, Aurora, ON, and Hope Lutheran Church, Kitchener, ON, joined in the Canadian March for Life on Thursday, May 11 in Ottawa.

Bishop Jamison Hardy is pleased to announce the appointment of Rev. David Tannahill as the new chair of the English District Evangelization Team. Our thanks and appreciation to Rev. Fred Reaman for his outstanding leadership and servant heart during his time as chair of the committee.

Please continue to keep the Evangelization Team in your prayers as they serve to equip and encourage, enable and empower individual evangelism for all the members of every congregation of the English District and to equip congregations for outreach ministry to their communities.

Our district representative meeting at the 31st Annual Parish Nursing and Congregational Health Ministries Conference opened with a communion service at the university chapel led by Pastor Dan Paavola. Following the service, I led a devotion on “The Hands of Jesus” which concluded with each district representative having their hands anointed and prayed over by Pastor Joe Cottam assisted by Deaconess Christie Hansard.

Our speakers for the day were Deaconess Christie Hansard (Michigan District Representative) presenting an overview of the book “Reclaiming the Joy of a Church Vocation” by Darrell Zimmerman; Janet Hitzeman (Indiana District Representative) who gave a devotion on the hands of God to carry the morning devotion forward; Dr. Kevin Voss, professor of Bioethics at CUW, on “Troubling Beginning and End of Life Issues in the Profession of Parish Nursing;” and Deaconess Tiffany Manor of LCMS Life Ministries who gave us updates from the LCMS Office of National Missions.

Our full conference began with a talk by Bill Meier, president and CEO of Kingdom Workers, and Rodd Rosenthal, Operations Director of The Meros Center, a training and research community for Christian health ministry.

We were able to attend Wednesday worship at the university chapel. Our presence of eighty conference attendees bolstered the worship attendance that day!

The remaining speakers of the day were Carmen Stephens who spoke on “Building a Solid Foundation for Care through Joy filled Self Care,” Deaconess Tiffany Manor who spoke on “Mental Health Outreach," Karen Tripp who gave us “Eight Steps to Increasing Quality of Care and Decreasing Workload Stress using Compassionate, Trained Volunteers,” and finally Rev. Dr. Dan Paavola whose presentation was titled “Some Day Jeans: Fitting into God’s Plans.”

The second day of the full conference offered five breakout session times. I chose to attend sessions on suicide awareness, ministering to the homebound, a recap of the 2022 LPNI study tour to Central Australia, caring for the heart of a Christian woman, and the importance of gratitude in our lives.

I was blessed to see old friends and make new friends during this district representative meeting and conference. I thank God for safe travel and for all who put so much work into making this conference a success.

Susan Neff, English District Parish Nurse Coordinator

The Bible's promise is true: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us - 1 John 5:14.



Prayers for comfort and rest for Carol Niles, mother of Rev. Dr. Mark Wood.

Prayers for the Meier family at the passing of Judith Ann Meier, wife of Rev. William E. Meier, Emeritus.

Prayers for the Sanders family at the passing of Commissioned Minister Cheryl E. Sanders, Emeritus.



Please keep Rev. Dr. Roger Ellis, his wife Lynda, and their family in your prayers as Roger is in the hospital being cared for by his family and the medical team.

District daily prayers for June are located on our website.

Your prayer concerns are important to the English District. If you have a prayer request you would like shared in this newsletter, email the District office.

Trinity, Erie, PA

The summer concert series began at Trinity Lutheran Church Holy Grounds CoffeeHaus May 27 with Brandon and Rebecca Fox. Coffee and refreshments were served along with a brief message by Pastor Schmidt. The concerts will be held every 4th Saturday of the month from 7 to 9 p.m.

Holy Spirit, Elk Grove Village, IL

Three souls were made children of the Father, brothers and sisters of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit by Holy Baptism this Easter 7 at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit.

Hales Corners, Hales Corners, WI

This group of brothers in Christ stepped out in faith and attended the Men's STARS retreat. Friendships were forged, laughter abounded, and God worked in amazing ways to bring healing and purpose. Praise God for his work in these men's lives, and may they continue to SHINE for him!



...shine among them like stars in the sky, as you hold firmly to the word of life. Philippians 2:15-16

Bethesda, Chicago, IL

May 31 was Bethesda International Academy's Day of Service and what better way to give back than to spend time at Evanston Vineyard. Students in grades 1 - 8 used their day to learn about the food pantry, clothes closet, and farm all located on Vineyard's campus. A very special thanks to the Sales and Ryan families for organizing such a wonderful day and to Vineyard for hosting us and providing students and staff with lunch.

Redeemer, Pittsburgh, PA

Congratulations to the 2023 Redeemer Lutheran High School Seniors! May God bless you on your journey to college and beyond.

COMMUNICATIONS/MARKETING COORDINATOR

Ascension of Christ, Beverly Hills (English District) is seeking a Communications/Digital Marketing Coordinator for the church and childcare center. The job is part-time (30 hours) with competitive pay, plus some benefits. Contact the church at 248.644.8890 or pastorgrams@ascensionofchrist.org for the full position description and to apply.

ENGLISH DISTRICT LCMS

248-476-0039

info@englishdistrict.org

www.englishdistrict.org

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