Our DNA: Sunday and Monday Recap
This week, 744 people from the U.S. and abroad traveled to Frisco, TX for the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ 15th Annual Gathering. The theme this year was “Our DNA”.
The event kicked off on Sunday night with dinner and an opening worship service featuring Pr. Becky Hand from Life in Grace Lutheran Church of Odessa, TX and the worship team from Martin Luther Lutheran Church of Giddings, TX.
Dessert and a reunion for all church planters within the association followed the service.
Monday morning opened with worship led by Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church of Victoria, TX and Bible study with Rev. Steven E. King, Managing Editor of Sola Publishing.
Rev. Dr. W. Bruce Wilder, Senior Pastor of First Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM took the stage as our first keynote speaker, followed by a panel discussion featuring LCMC Service Coordinator Rev. Mark Vander Tuig, Rev. Bill Sullivan (Lead Pastor of New Life Lutheran Church and former Service Coordinator of LCMC) and LCMC Director of Operations Sharon MacFadyen.
During the afternoon session, LCMC Coordinator for Pastoral Ministry Rev. Steve Lien announced the association's 2016 Leadership Conference, which will take place April 10-12, 2016 at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Altoona, IA. The theme for next year’s conference is Shift: Retooling Church. He extended a special invitation to young pastors and church leaders for the event.
Steve then invited district leaders, certification interviewers, new congregations, new pastors seminarians and military chaplains to stand and be recognized. Pastors who are currently celebrating ordination anniversaries of 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50+ years were also recognized.
During the Service Coordinator’s report, Rev. Mark Vander Tuig announced two events for 2016, Called 2 Serve and Three Days of Prayer.
Called 2 Serve is an LCMC youth event for high school students, which will take place at Grand View University in Des Moines, IA from July 19-22, 2016. Registration for this event will open soon.
Mark also stated that every congregation, church member and pastor is invited to take part in our 4th Annual Three Days of Prayer from January 5-7, 2016. Each congregation can organize the three days in any way that makes sense. The focuses of each day are:
- January 5: Confession
- January 6: Petition
- January 7: Direction
During the opening business session, Pastors Sean Kelly (Area 1) and Enrique Estrada (Area 7) were re-elected to the Board of Trustees. Laurel Swanson was re-elected as Treasurer.
The afternoon concluded with a fellowship dinner, giving LCMC-ers a chance to connect with a fellowship group or district of their choice.
For information on Annual Gathering videos, books and other media, click here.
Author
Kristy Thomas is a nerd with an affinity for 90s music, collecting antiques, and creating her own Halloween decorations. When she needs to unwind (which is pretty much all of the time), she likes arts & crafts, hiking and camping with her dogs, and playing the ukulele. As Communications & Public Relations Specialist, she is responsible for keeping the people of LCMC informed of what’s going on within the association and for tackling all of the creative-type projects. For the future, she would like to see the congregations of LCMC be proactive in raising up future leaders and for the “20-30 somethings” to be able to make some cool things happen, both within The Church and throughout the world.
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