The Lutheran Layman

Summer 2020

Simple Steps to Grow Your HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH

see page 3

Advent Devotions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Nurturing Your Faith. . . . . . . . . . . 9-10 #HopeAbounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13 Online Workshops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Changing Lives Globally. . . . . 20-21 Gospel Adventures. . . . . . . . . . 22-23 Board Election/Nominations. . . . 24

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Fireplace Spirituality God sends His Word and Spirit

to be the fire in your place.

by REV. DR. MICHAEL ZEIGLER, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour

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or the foreseeable future, large group shall come” (Ezk. 11:16, KJV). God promised He gatherings won’t be happening like they would be a small sanctuary for them wherever used to. This is a problem. Gathering is they went. God kindled a fire that had always what we do! We go to church. However, when I been there. Every dwelling could be a place look at this problem through the Bible, I wonder where they write the Word of the Lord on the if we had become too dependent on a churchdoorframes of their houses, where they speak attendance system to practice our faith. And when the Word of the Lord when they sit at home, that system broke, we didn’t know what to do. when they lie down and rise up (Deut. 6:7-9).

It’s like when your furnace dies in Years back, our furnace died in … the fire of the the dead of winter. It happened the middle of winter. If you live in Lord will still fill over a weekend, as these things a modern house, there may not be other ways to get heat. So, you wait the hearth and always do. It wasn’t very efficient, for someone to fix your furnace. Now, home of every but we heated the house with our is that how it is in the practice of our household that fireplace. This was a messy, allfaith? No, it’s not. But, it’s hard to consuming activity, and, kind of gathers around fun. All the busy-ness of our life see the possibilities if you’ve become His Word and was put into perspective. Tending dependent on the thermostat and responds in faith- the fire became our top priority. In have forgotten about the fire.

God’s people in the Old Testament hindsight, no one in my household filled prayer. had slouched into a thermostat ever said, “Remember that time we spirituality. The thermostat for them was the set our thermostat to 72 degrees?” But we still temple in Jerusalem. They had a system of talk about that weekend when we piled together gatherings and services in the temple. If that under blankets around the hearth of our home system was programmed to 72 degrees, they in the presence of an all-consuming fire. could set it and forget about it. Or, so they Have you been trying to program your thought. The temple, however, was not their relationship with God, like you would set and thermostat. It was the house of God, who is a forget a thermostat? If so, God has more for you “consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24). than that. God sends His Word and Spirit to be They let the embers of their relationship the fire in your place. The God who raised Jesus with God grow cold. So, God took away the from the dead can kindle a fire even in your temple. He scattered them to the surrounding home. Don’t get me wrong, I miss being able countries. Nonetheless, God sustained their to gather like we used to in the big sanctuary. faith, not by fixing the thermostat, but by filling I pray the threat of this pandemic will soon the fireplace. God sent the prophet Ezekiel to diminish. But, even if it lingers, the fire of the tell the people, “Although I have cast them Lord will still fill the hearth and home of every far off among the nations ... I will be for them household that gathers around His Word and a little sanctuary in the countries where they responds in faith-filled prayer. =

Tune into The Lutheran Hour throughout September as the program’s 88th broadcast season begins with a four-part sermon series based around the theme of Vibrant Households.

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Do You Have a Spiritually Vibrant Home?

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e all want a home where we can thrive and flourish, but what does it take to have a spiritually vibrant home? You might be surprised by how God wants to work in and through our households! Here’s what people have said about The Spiritually Vibrant Home.

Simple Steps to Grow Your

HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH

by MEGAN MCDANIEL

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utheran Hour Ministries has partnered with Barna Group—an industry leader for research-based insights about faith and culture, leadership and vocation, and generational groups—on a critical three-year study of faith in America. Households of Faith, the second in a series of studies produced through this partnership, presents a vivid portrait of the domestic lives of U.S. practicing Christians. The timeliness of this research is so important since people are spending more time at home than they have before, which makes for a great opportunity to examine your own household. A recently released Households of Faith kit is filled with resources to help your household become spiritually vibrant.

Spiritually vibrant Christian households are more likely to regularly participate in applying spiritual disciplines, engaging in spiritual conversations, and extending hospitality. But, what

does it take to build a vibrant household? It takes wisdom and understanding. By pulling back the curtains on spiritually vibrant homes, we have been given specific wisdom and understanding that we can all use to determine how faith is being nurtured in private—with the spouses, children, parents, roommates and even frequent visitors who spend time under our roofs.

Here are some simple steps you can put into practice from each of the three areas. While some of the following ideas can be put in place now, some will be better suited when social gathering restrictions are lifted. All of the following excerpts can be found in the The Spiritually Vibrant Home book recently produced by LHM’s Content Manager Don Everts. Visit lhm.org/households to purchase the book available in hardcover, digital, and audio formats.

“This book provides Christians with a roadmap to developing intentional rhythms that nurture their spirit, honor their heavenly Father, and pass on their faith to the next generation.”

– BROOKE HEMPELL, senior vice president of research at Barna Group

“If you only have time to read one book this year on energizing your family’s spiritual life, read this one. Since I finished The Spiritually Vibrant Home, I have found myself talking about the content and quoting it every day.”

– JIM BURNS, president of HomeWood

We want to hear how you are incorporating these steps into your households! Send an email to marketing@lhm.org, explaining the resources or steps you have used to nurture your household of faith. Your story might be featured in an upcoming issue of The Lutheran Layman!

see next page The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 3

Simple Steps … continued from previous page

APPLYING SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES FIRST STEPS:

NEXT STEPS:

• Spend more time together playing, eating, or simply having fun. Remember, the research shows a correlation between doing lots together (including lots of food and fun) and doing spiritual activities together.

• Start inserting short, momentary prayers • Purposefully extend your household. into your common life. For example, if someone Bring more Christians into your household mentions they’ve had a bad day or are nervous by inviting people over for a meal or event. about an upcoming event, just “go live” and say • Host a prayer event or regular Bible a quick prayer for them on the spot. study in your home. Bringing the sacred • Pray a quick blessing for people who are into your own secular home can fight headed out the door. Blessings can be as brief as against the temptation of the sacred“May God bless you and give you what you need secular split. for your big day.” Simply start with the words • Together, volunteer for an event that will “May God …” and then finish the sentence. involve moments of prayer and time in the

• Insert an occasional short prayer into your life (like at bedtime or mealtimes). It could be something short and sweet and genuine. Even a nice memorized prayer (Now I lay me down to sleep …) might do the trick.

• Get some words of Scripture on the walls.

Just follow the Moab call (Deuteronomy 6:67, 9) quite literally by hanging a note, sign, or piece of artwork that has a Scripture passage on it somewhere in your home or car—even on your doorposts or gate if you want!

• Buy a new Bible that has a colorful, attractive cover, and leave it laying around the house.

LHM RESOURCES TO GROW: Building a Vibrant Household LHM The Bible Learn course Tells Me So children’s Helping Your booklet Child Have a Learning Relationship to Pray with God children’s parents’ booklet booklet Visit lhm.org/households to download or purchase these materials.

The Bible Tells Me So

PROJECT CONNECT PROJECT CONNECT PROJECT CONNECT

BIGGER STEPS:

• Do a daily or weekly Scripture reading during special seasons like Advent or Lent, or during a family vacation.

Bible. For example, you could all volunteer at your church’s Vacation Bible School or go on a short-term mission trip together.

The timeliness of this research is so important since people are spending more time at home than they have before.

• Use memorized or written prayers together on occasion. Try praying the Lord’s prayer together before a meal—many people already have it memorized! Or read aloud a written prayer from a church bulletin.

• Take your entire household to a spiritually themed event. Many retreat centers offer retreats that all different household types could engage in together.

• Host a movie night, and watch a movie • Ask a question at mealtime about the Bible that is faith-based. text from the last sermon you all heard together. • Go multigenerational. Whether inviting • Create a jar with “prayer sticks”—simple craft people to move in or simply come over, sticks that anyone can write a name on (one you can take steps to ensure that children stick for grandma, another for grandpa, a stick and grandparent-types (whether they are for the new kid at school, a stick for each of your related to you or not) are more a part of good friends from high school that are away at your household. different colleges), and keep the sticks in a jar.

At meals or bedtime have everyone grab one stick and say a prayer for that person.

Online Materials for Congregational Use at Home

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udy Rink, director of parish education and family life ministry at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Elmhurst, Illinois, has known of Lutheran Hour Ministries and our materials for quite a while. Her congregation has used Lenten devotions for many years and her own family receives the daily devotions via email. She shares her story below about learning of Households of Faith and then incorporating the resources into their congregational programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I found out about the Households of Faith program at the Best Practices conference in Phoenix in February 2020. My pastor and I attended one of the sessions and I was excited to win a Households of Faith kit. I thought it was fitting to work to educate our members as to the importance of developing spiritual disciplines in the home when we began sheltering in place during the pandemic.

My background is in family life ministry so I know the importance of faith building in the home and was excited to be able to use the Households of Faith materials. Through various avenues of communication, I shared statistics and the importance of building faith in the home. The magnet notepads were made available for pick up at our church to allow our members to have a visual 4 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

“Since accessing materials was difficult during the pandemic, connecting our members to your downloadable materials was simple and effective.”

ENGAGING IN SPIRITUAL CONVERSATIONS FIRST STEPS:

NEXT STEPS:

• Ask a question about a recent shared experience. What did you think of the movie?

• Have a weekly check-in when everyone in the household can share what they have on the calendar in the coming week.

• Share a story from your day. You’ll never guess what happened to me today…

• Take a pet on a walk or to a park with other members of your household.

• Use a shared drive time to process your day with each other.

• Use some premade conversation starters at mealtime. One family unknowingly bought a package of napkins that have silly, simple conversation starters printed on them. They’ve led to some surprising conversations around the table.

• Start giving deeper words of encouragement to people in your household.

BIGGER STEPS:

• Go out to a one-on-one meal with someone in your household. While we all love eating together as a family, certain conversations will only happen when there are just two of you at • Start the practice of sharing a meal with your the table. household after church. Spend time talking about the message you heard during the service.

• Establish a mealtime rhythm in the evening: at the start of dinner everyone shares a high and low from their day.

• Ask everyone on a regular basis (perhaps at bedtime or before heading off for the day) how you can pray for them—which can lead to wonderful regular conversations and more prayers.

What does it take to build a vibrant household?

• Invite some innately deep, spiritual, mature Christian friends to a meal with your household—their natural depth creates space for others to follow suit.

• Explicitly invite your household into a deeper conversation on special occasions.

• Use premade conversation starters that are a • Write a long, thoughtful letter to someone little deeper in nature or are explicitly Christian. in your household and see how they respond.

Sometimes communicating in a written format gives people more time and space to get honest. There is something about asynchronous communication (no immediate back-and-forth) that can provide the space for Helping Your Child Grow people to get deeper than they normally would.

Through Faith Conversations parents’ booklet • Do a craft together where you each have to create a picture or poem or small sculpture Vibrant that represents, for example, how your faith is Conversations doing. There’s something about art that allows Deck us to discern and communicate deep things that normally can’t quite be captured in words.

Daily Devotions

LHM RESOURCES TO GROW: How to Talk About Your Faith: An Introduction to the Spiritual Conversation Curve booklet

The Reluctant Witness: Discovering the Delight of Spiritual Conversations book

(lhm.org/dailydevotions)

Visit lhm.org/conversations and lhm.org/households to download or purchase these materials.

• Go camping or hiking—an extended group activity that is screen-free and provides plenty of unhurried time for conversation. see next page

“I find the LHM resources doctrinally sound, relevant, and easily accessible.” reminder of setting some simple goals for building spiritual disciplines within their household during the pandemic.”

“Since accessing materials was difficult during the pandemic, connecting our members to your downloadable materials was simple and effective. Through our website, links were provided for the 30 Days of Household Devotions, the daily emailed LHM devotions, the children’s booklets, and faith sharing questions. I also had some printed Household devotions that could be picked up along with the magnet notepads. I had other faith building resources available in addition to the LHM resources. I find the LHM resources doctrinally sound, relevant, and easily accessible. I used some of the information in the books from the kit to help educate members about the importance of spiritual disciplines in the home.”

“I see Households of Faith being a longer-term initiative and have continued to highlight it regularly in our communications. The prayer is that there will be a time that specific households are more open to the idea of prioritizing spiritual disciplines. So I continue to pray, educate, and communicate about these resources. Thank you to LHM for developing these wonderful resources and making them available to our congregations!”

Photos from Immanuel Lutheran Church.

The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 5

Simple Steps … continued from previous page

EXTENDING HOSPITALITY (as social gathering restrictions related to COVID-19 are lifted) FIRST STEPS:

NEXT STEPS:

BIGGER STEPS:

• Host a dinner party for friends.

• Start throwing a specific kind of party and make a tradition of it (a New Year’s Eve party, Super Bowl party, themed birthday parties— even for the adults in your household).

• Buy a bigger table and more chairs.

• Offer to host the next extended family gathering at your house.

• Drop in on a friend or relative’s home unannounced. If you need an excuse, bake some fresh cookies and bring them over as an unexpected treat.

It takes wisdom and understanding.

• Buy a guest book that everyone who comes into your home can sign. Pray about a goal for how many guests you want to sign in the next twelve months.

• Take regular dinner parties a step further by always inviting one or two new people every time you have friends over. You could look on your relationship map and choose someone you’ve never had over before.

• Keep track of every person who comes into your house each month on a household calendar. Just being more mindful of the • Pick a day of the week when you will always people God is bringing within the orbit of your stop by someone else’s house to simply check in household can help. to see how they are doing. Again, bringing fresh cookies never hurts.

• Have everyone in your household make a “relationship map” of their lives: drawing a • Organize a game night or a movie night and circle in the center of the paper for themselves invite widely—try to get every seat in your home and then drawing a line out from them to the filled. various friends, acquaintances, and neighbors • Think creatively about a person you already they have around them. Even this small task know who you could invite over to help you can get them thinking about the wider world meet a household need, rather than simply around them. paying a professional to take care of it.

• Pray regularly for some of the people on your • Offer to roll up your sleeves and help relationship maps. You could even mark on someone with a household need. the map when you’ve prayed for someone and continue this until you’ve prayed for everyone • Choose a young family that might be on your maps. overwhelmed with the frenzy of raising kids and look for ways to bless them as a guest in their • Try walking next door to borrow, rather household. than heading to the store to purchase, the next time you need an ingredient for a recipe.

Equipping Graduates for Future Ministry

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s a gift for concluding students at Concordia Seminary St. Louis and Fort Wayne, LHM sent the graduates packages filled with a collection of Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age and Households of Faith resources to help equip them in their next chapter of life. After sending the resources, we received many thank you emails from graduates who shared how they planned to use the materials in their new positions.

One graduate said, “Please pass my thanks along to LHM. Having greatly enjoyed the book

The Reluctant Witness, I am very excited to read what Don Everts has to say about vibrant households of faith. The work that you all are doing at LHM for the church throughout the world is essential and beautiful.”

“I have had a chance to use many of the materials LHM has put out in the past year and am very excited to dig through The Spiritually Vibrant Home,” shares Paul Dickerson. “My family and I are blessed to be serving in the Saint Louis area, so I look forward to our paths crossing and getting to thank you personally.”

• Rearrange your home to be more hospitable.

You don’t have to have a huge home to do this.

College students in loft dorm beds often move desks into closets so that they could regularly host more people.

• Move to a home that is more hospitable.

• Invite your mom and stepdad to move in!

• Become a state-approved foster family.

• Host an exchange student.

• Informally adopt a young family from your church or neighborhood.

• Informally adopt an elderly person from your church or neighborhood.

LHM RESOURCES TO GROW: Open Doors: The Art of Hospitality Welcome LHM Learn children’s course booklet Helping Your Child Welcome Others parents’ booklet

The Household Magnet notepad

Visit lhm.org/households to download or purchase these materials.

“The work that you all are doing at LHM for the church throughout the world is essential and beautiful.”

Tim Roggow shared, “This past fall during my vicarage, we were able to host one of the Spiritual Conversations workshops here in California. This was a great moment to energize our members plus really open them up to what LHM has to offer. We currently

have two of our home Bible study groups using the materials/studies found online. I am so thankful for all the support and continued resources that you put out!

Blessings in your ministry as you continue to serve our Lord!” = Megan McDaniel reports on the impact of LHM’s ministry work around the world.

Excerpts from The Spiritually Vibrant Home: The Power of Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open Doors, 2020, InterVarsity Press/LHM.

6 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

Prepared for

a Time Like This

by KURT BUCHHOLZ, President & CEO, Lutheran Hour Ministries

He has prepared us perfectly to be bold in this time.

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ou can’t get past a broadcast news report, newspaper article, Facebook post, or anything else without just looking at the world and saying, What is going on? I think we are all in that same place. We are looking at the pandemic, civil unrest, political division, economic uncertainty, social distancing ... the list goes on and on. All these things are drawing people apart.

We know as the Body of Christ, and as members of the LHM family, that when people are drawn apart, they stop talking, they stop listening, and they stop knowing others in deeply personal ways.

These inactions are often the root of why things go wrong in the world today.

We are often driven by emotions and by uncertainty that leads to stress, anxiety, anger, hate, hopelessness, and fear. As we try to process all the things we are seeing, none of them appears to have a simple answer. In fact, in many cases, the answers tend to inflame emotions rather than provide a message of hope or a way through the chaos that we are currently experiencing.

That makes me sad, and it begs the question of What is God calling us to do today?

My wife Jenny and I pray daily for peace, for conversations to happen, for people to be heard, and for people to listen. We pray for

solutions that are not solutions of hate, but ones that bring people back together.

As I look back on the last several years, I realize that God knew these days of chaos were coming.

Nothing that has happened so far in 2020 was a surprise to Him. But when we take a step back and look at things from that perspective, we can also look with great humility at what He has done through advanced technology and Lutheran Hour Ministries.

Think about it. Five years ago, we began talking about this thing called the digital mission field. While we didn’t have all the answers at that time, we knew there was a need and an opportunity to share the Gospel, allowing us to develop platforms like THRED, Vivenciar.net, and THRED.asia, as well as expand our digital efforts in the Middle East and North Africa. These ministries have been critical while people have been spending more time in their homes.

These efforts have flourished because God had a plan, much like He does for us now while we wrestle with the uncertainty in our world today. When we look at bringing people who are separated back together, we are looking at how to have Spiritual Conversations where we are listening more than we are talking. How do we look to develop Households of Faith when people are spending more time in their households? How do we support them in building up their faith lives during this time? When we look to Hopeful

We are prepared to step up NOW because God has truly called us to share these wonderful gifts that He has given us.

Neighborhoods, this new program in development has the potential of making a huge impact on the challenges of our society. Look at the responsibility that God has entrusted in us in the midst of this ongoing chaos, where we are testing and applying what we have learned through our partnership with Barna Group and developing relevant resources that are meant for such a time as this. How great— and humbling—is that for a Godgiven opportunity?

You have my commitment that we will stay focused on exactly who we are and who we have always been—to continue achieving what God has already prepared us to do in today’s world.

When we look at the products, services, and the blessings that we have been creating for God’s church, for God’s people, and for those who don’t yet know the message of Jesus Christ, He has prepared us perfectly to be bold in this time. We will not slow down, and we will not wait for the chaos to be over so things can get back to normal. We are prepared to step up NOW because God has truly called us to share these wonderful gifts that He has given us. I strongly believe He has called Lutheran Hour Ministries to step forward at a time such as this.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support as we all continue walking together as God’s family through these trying times. =

Looking for an Easy Way to Share the Gospel?

An IRA rollover gift is a simple way to support our mission of Bringing Christ to the Nations—and the Nations to the Church. If you are 70 1/2, you may roll over up to $100,000 from your IRA to charity without paying any federal income tax on your gift.

To make an IRA rollover gift, simply contact your custodian and request that an amount be transferred to LHM. Your gift could be $1,000, $10,000, $50,000, or even $100,000.

Contact our gift planning staff today to learn more about how an IRA rollover gift can help you and our mission!

lhm.org/ira | 1-877-333-1963 | lhm-gift@lhm.org The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 7

Advent Devotions Remind Us of God’s Presence in Our Lives by PAUL SCHREIBER

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s we celebrate Jesus’ birth this Christmas, there’s no better time to explore what His coming means for us, and the world. With the oft-told story of Jesus in a manger, comes a rush of familiar images: a village serenely lit by candles and starlight, half-slumbering shepherds in a field, a baby lying in a wooden trough. In God with Us, we recall that while the first Christmas scene is often shown as quaint and idyllic, in truth it’s the most explosive event in history.

Written by Dr. Kari Vo, God with Us takes the reader through the familiar pages of the Christmas story, mining it to fresh depths. From the beginning, Vo shows how God is with us. In “Who Are Your People?” she writes how God works through us—broken human beings, “the high and the low”—to accomplish His divine purposes. In “Enemies,” she writes how God works alongside us, reminding us that “Because we are in His hands, we don’t have to be afraid.”

And in “Sunrise,” she writes how God works for us, giving us “the full knowledge of how Jesus has saved us, laying down His life for us, and then sharing His resurrection life with us even now.”

As the Christmas season is a time of giving, we invite you to do the same—pass these

devotions along to those you care about: neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family.

You can print out a copy for others, you can send them to the websites below for more information, or you can email them a PDF copy with info for listening online.

You can also read God with Us or hear it as a podcast. During the Advent season, you can receive these devotions as a daily email, beginning Sunday, November 29. You can access a downloadable version, which includes a large-font text and bulletin inserts, beginning Thursday, October 1. Audio begins on November 29 with Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour, reading the devotions.

Visit lhm.org/advent for all the details.

Dios con nosotros, the Spanish-language version, will be available to read online or to receive as a daily email through the Advent season beginning Sunday, November 29. Audio will also begin on November 29 with Rev. Hector Hoppe reading the texts. The print version will be available for download starting Thursday, October 1. Visit paraelcamino.com/adviento for all the details. =

… there’s no better time to explore what His coming means for us, and the world.

Paul Schreiber reports on the impact of LHM’s ministry work in the United States.

Sewing School Graduate Makes Masks for Her Community

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She is grateful for LHM–Liberia providing her with the skills she needs and uses daily ...

8 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

ue to the COVID-19 pandemic, LHM– Liberia was forced to make adjustments to their vocational training program. Before the pandemic, LHM–Liberia held training sessions for young women to learn practical skills, like sewing, that afterward they could take their skills and turn them into a job that would provide for their families. While the women gathered to practice their sewing by making shirts and dresses for their children, they would hear the Gospel message from the LHM–Liberia staff.

During this pandemic, when government regulations restricted large gatherings, LHM– Liberia began offering their classes at different times and days, for smaller groups of women.

They also moved classes outside when possible to stay out of buildings. In addition to adapting the classes to have fewer women together at a time, the program made the switch from making shirts and dresses to making cloth face masks.

Since most people living in Liberia cannot afford imported face masks, the niche business of making and selling cloth face masks has become a way for women with sewing skills to earn some

by MEGAN MCDANIEL

money for their families while family members working in other professions may have lost their jobs.

Korto is a graduate of the LHM–Liberia sewing school program and was able to get a job at a local tailoring shop since she had experience with sewing. She found confidence in herself after graduating from the program and can now provide for her family during this time when her relatives are unemployed. Korto works with a small group of women who hand-sew hundreds of face masks each week that they sell to locals. Not only is she using her skills to provide for her family, but she is helping the local economy by allowing people to buy masks locally instead of imported masks.

The masks Korto is making are being used by many people in Liberia. With the skills she learned at the LHM–Liberia training, she has been able to make masks that people desperately need, while also making money to provide for her family. She is grateful for LHM–Liberia providing her with the skills she needs and uses daily that also help protect members of her community from illness during this pandemic. =

NURTURING YO U R FA I T H : PA R T T W O

The Conditions of Forgiveness

Watch a video introduction with Rev. Dr. Chad Lakies, LHM’s regional director of North America, at lhm.org/studies.

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elcome back to Nurturing Your Faith: Forgiveness. In this session, The Conditions of Forgiveness, we’ll look at the profound connection between our sin and God’s forgiveness. To do this, we’ll note how King David dealt with his own sin; what Jesus had to say about forgiveness and forgiving; and how God’s rich mercy and forgiveness transformed the lives of Peter and Paul.

We’ll conclude our study with the reminder that God’s forgiveness is free and available to all.

As Jesus believers, we are reborn in the image of Christ. As His people, we are to mirror the life of Christ, loving Him by showing forgiveness and compassion to others (see Ephesians 4:32).

Needing Forgiveness From the very beginning, God’s people were in need of forgiveness. From mankind’s fall in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3) to the children of Israel’s long and wavering history of apostasy and oppression, idolatry and empty worship (see Jeremiah 2; Isaiah 31:6; Amos 2:4-16), there were centuries of sin and guilt to atone for. By the time King David took the helm, this people who were set apart by divine covenant (see Genesis 15:18-21; 26:3, 28:13) and governed by ordinances, rituals, and sacrifices had long been steeped in sin.

King David was no exception. His lust drove him to sleep with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and then when she was found to be pregnant, he orchestrated Uriah’s death (see 2 Samuel 11). This was a nasty affair, and David took great pains to get beyond it. But David’s conviction of his sin per Nathan’s deft parable (see 2 Samuel 12) deeply affected the king. In Psalm 51 we find David asking God’s mercy, longing to be forgiven and restored.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. … Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. … Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:1-3, 7, 10).

Confessing his sins to God, David desired a life purged clean of sin and washed whiter than snow. He longed for what only Jesus would give. May we long for a similar cleansing in our lives.

Questions: 1. What was the reason for all the ritual and sacrifice in the Old Testament? How did God deal with sin before the Messiah was born?

2. How do you think David understood God’s forgiveness in a new way, following His sin with Bathsheba?

3. What role did Jesus have in the Old Testament as part of God’s plan for our forgiveness? continued …

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Questions:

Understanding Forgiveness The forgiveness David sought was won for us all through Christ’s atoning work on the cross. In Jesus, Israel’s ancient hope was realized. Salvation has come. Forgiveness—complete and eternal—is now possible for each of us as the One promised long ago (see Isaiah 53:4-6) paid for our sins, as no other sacrifice would suffice (see Hebrews 10:1-10).

Jesus, quite naturally, had a lot to say about forgiveness. It was central to who He was, why He came, and what it was He was to accomplish on our behalf: our forgiveness before a righteous and holy God. When He spoke to His disciples (see Mark 11:25), to the religious authorities (see Matthew 9:1-8), to the crowds that followed Him (see Matthew 6:14-15), or to individuals (see Luke 7:48), the forgiveness of sins was not far from His train of thought.

It was with Peter that Jesus had the classic exchange on how many times forgiveness should be offered. “Then Peter came up and said to Him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times’” (Matthew 18:21-22). Peter knew the paralytic story in Matthew 9. He knew that the way Jesus handled that encounter took forgiveness to a whole new level. But Peter wanted to know what that meant for him; he wanted to know if following Jesus required him to forgive unconditionally.

Have you ever wondered the same?

Receiving Forgiveness

n a word, God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ are unconditional. We bring nothing to the table that necessitates or requires God to either love us or forgive us.

Like the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus, the Father’s pardon is unmerited and available to all. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

To our question, “What are we to do?” to obtain this forgiveness, we hear Peter’s reply: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the

Pray

2. Can you give some examples of how Jesus modeled forgiveness to others by His words? His actions?

3. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” on the cross, what did that mean for our forgiveness?

Questions:

Extending forgiveness to others must have been a challenging exercise of faith for Jesus’ followers.

Not only were the hierarchy and henchmen of the Jewish religious establishment out to squelch the fledgling body of believers, the governing Roman authority would have been glad to see them disappear as well. With Jesus now gone, it was time to get back to business as usual. Two personal Jesus encounters, however, empowered the early church with vibrant lessons about God’s love, forgiveness, and mercy.

Both Peter and Paul were major recipients of God’s grace and forgiveness. From Peter’s tragic threefold denial of Jesus on the night He was betrayed (see Luke 22:33-34, 54-62) to the Lord’s triple-question restoration of the apostle by the Sea of Galilee after His resurrection (see John 21:15-17), Peter knew first-hand the power and depth of God’s undeserved forgiveness. It was this same love he would later proclaim in Jerusalem (see Acts 2:14-42) and with eloquence and conviction (see 1 Peter 4:8; 2 Peter 1:4-8) put forth in his letters.

For Paul, virulent tormentor of the early church, he knew mercy of a different sort. His pardon didn’t absolve a teetering faith like Peter’s—one not yet ready to suffer the scourge of persecution. Rather, Paul was the persecutor, hunting down believers and binding them for a fate unknown (see Acts 9:1-2). That is, until Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-22), uprooting him from a life of oppression into a life of dedication and devotion.

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1. Does God really expect us to forgive others the way Jesus tells Peter to forgive?

How is that even possible?

Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38b). This is where we find the forgiveness of our sins and become the new creation God intends us to be.

And likewise Paul tells us in Romans 6:3-4, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him

by Baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Now if our aim is to be like Jesus (see Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:4), literally to be like “little Christs” (see Acts 11:26), then we too are to love and forgive unconditionally. To say the least, this is a tall order, and one that

1. How do you think the forgiveness Peter and Paul received impacted their later ministries? How might their forgiveness of certain things have helped them in reaching others with similar failings (weak faith, belligerence toward Jesus)?

2. Are there to be conditions on the forgiveness we extend others?

How is forgiveness supposed to be unconditional in our lives?

3. Is there anyone in your life you have forgiven with an unconditional forgiveness? Is there anyone who has forgiven you that way?

generations of believers have tried to be true to.

As Martin Luther wrote: “For the love among Christians should be the same kind of love as that of every member of the body for every other one, as St. Paul often says, each one accepting the faults of the other, sympathizing with them, bearing and removing them, and doing everything possible to help him. Hence the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins is the most important of all, both for us personally and for our relations with others. As Christ continually bears with us in His kingdom and forgives us all sorts of faults, so we should bear and forgive one another in every situation and in every way” (What Luther Says, 523.) =

Heavenly Father, without Your forgiveness we would all be lost. Help us live our lives as Jesus did—loving others, sharing the Good News with them, and forgiving without conditions. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

10 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

New LHM Learn Courses Help Build Your Faith Foundation by PAUL SCHREIBER

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ow’s your Scripture study going these days? Has social distancing kept you from church or your small-group Bible study? While details concerning COVID-19’s impact vary with each day’s news cycle, one thing’s for sure: you can continue growing in God’s Word with LHM Learn courses.

To help you do that, two new Christian Foundation courses are now available at lhm.org/learn. They are Embracing the Whole Gospel and Nurturing Your Faith: Called. Both are ideal for personal use or group study (you can use video conferencing platforms such as Zoom to bring your group together).

Embracing the Whole Gospel is a revision of a previous course, What Is the Gospel?, with new content bridging to the course, Eager to Share: The DNA of Eager Conversationalists.

“These changes will increase learner interactivity and support their embrace of the whole Gospel,” said LHM host and Instructional Designer Chris Macky. The course’s aim is to get at the heart of the Gospel—“the message that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world,” he added.

In Embracing the Whole Gospel, you’ll hear others answer the question, “What is the

Gospel?” This query is critical for each of us.

Why? Because often the reply may verge on a Jesus-and kind of response where something is added (good works, rituals and traditions, etc.) to Christ’s once-and-for-all-time-sufficient work on the cross. Downloadable resources for Embracing the Whole Gospel include a printable journal, discussion guide, video transcript, and

tip sheet for use with small groups.

Nurturing Your Faith: Called is a four-session course focusing on God’s calling us into the body of Christ by faith. It’s hosted by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour. Through a focus on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, learners will see how they are called—

by God, to faith, to others, and to share. As God calls and revives us through His Word, Nurturing Your Faith: Called Baptism, Holy Communion, and the Has social distancing witness of others, we are then to take kept you from church His message to others.

Each session of Nurturing Your or your small-group Faith: Called features three distinct Bible study? sections highlighting aspects of what God’s calling means. Three questions for each section allow learners to comment on content and record their thoughts. Course resources for Nurturing Your Faith: Called include a printable journal, discussion guide, … you can video transcript, and tip sheet for use with small continue growing groups. in God’s Word All LHM Learn courses are FREE and require only a quick registration to use. During this time with LHM of COVID, three courses you can take without Learn courses. registration are available at lhm.org/covid-19. = Embracing the Whole Gospel

New Sermon Outlines Encourage Spiritual Conversations by CHAD FIX

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o you want to lead your congregation toward having more spiritual conversations? Encourage your pastor to check out a new five-part sermon series based on LHM’s research conducted in partnership with Barna Group on the topic of Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age. Developed in response to many requests received while leading workshops across the United States, these sermon outlines use research and biblical encouragement to equip your members to share their faith more often while remaining flexible for your particular congregational context. The five sermon outlines offered include: 1) How Will They Hear?; 2) Why We Stopped Talking; 3) Beautiful Conversations; 4) Becoming Eager Conversationalists; and 5) Everyday Conversations.

“We truly believe that the synergy of a pastor’s leadership along with the empowerment of lay members through LHM’s research-based training is just the sort of formative experience that God’s people need,” says Rev. Dr. Chad Lakies, LHM’s regional director for North America.

Whether you or your congregation members have participated in one of our workshops, purchased the Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age Starter Kit of resources, engaged in our LHM Learn courses on Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age, or just want to learn more about this topic, this five-part series of sermon helpers is certain to encourage your congregation members toward sharing their faith more boldly.

Visit lhm.org/conversations/#sermonhelpers and sign up to receive the sermon outlines. =

SHOPLHM.ORG Our brand-new online store makes it easy to find the LHM products and resources you need. Experience it for yourself at shoplhm.org!

You will need to set up a new account, even if you have recently made a purchase on the previous online store.

Chad Fix oversees the corporate communications of Lutheran Hour Ministries.

The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 11

Hope Abounds

by CHAD FIX

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hanargul is a wife and mother of two children who lives in Kazakhstan. She has worked in a café and her husband has been employed as a security guard. They both recently lost their jobs from restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Since they had to spend most of their government aid on their house rental, they often had no money left over for food.

While they both practice a non-Christian religion, an LHM–Kazakhstan volunteer visited them during the pandemic to provide them with some food. During the visit, the volunteer also shared the Gospel and provided some Christian materials. Zhanargul was curious about the Gospel message the LHM volunteer had shared and said she wanted to take their kids to local church services once the local quarantine guidelines are lifted. She has regularly been in touch with the volunteer since the visit and is very interested in learning more about Christianity and growing her faith.

Because of your generous support, we share Christ’s hope all around the world with people who need to hear this message now more than ever.

12 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

Because of COVID-19, Kan has been out of work from his fabric shop and is unsure about the future of his industry. He also practices a nonChristian religion but heard an LHM–Myanmar radio advertisement one day. The ad was about booklets produced by LHM and since Kan loves to read, he was interested in learning more about them. He called the LHM–Myanmar office to set up a time to come in and pick up some of the materials. When he got there, he saw the wide variety of Christian materials and asked to take a bunch home. An LHM–Myanmar staff member regularly follows up with him and he is learning more about Christianity each day.

Manamhaan is a 50-year-old mother whose husband died last year. She is not working now because of the pandemic, so LHM–Mongolia staff members took her some basic supplies like flour, coal, and an immunity booster. While delivering the supplies, they shared the Gospel and prayed with her. They also gave her an audio Bible to listen to while she is at home. After

visiting with LHM staff, she was filled with joy and brought to tears. She said she wants to start going to church, but they are not open because of the pandemic. LHM–Mongolia staff has connected her to a church member so they can pray together and help her continue to grow her faith.

Amid COVID-19, people like Zhanargul, Kan, and Manamhaan are desperately searching for hope and peace. Hearts are hurting—and many people who previously did not know Christ are open to hearing about the Gospel. This makes Lutheran Hour Ministries’ mission to share the Good News of Jesus Christ even more urgent since individuals around the world, both nonChristian and Christian, need to hear Christ’s messages of hope, comfort, and love now more than ever.

Even During Uncertain Times

Hearts are hurting–and many people who previously did not know Christ are open to hearing about the Gospel.

Comforting Resources for an Unprecedented Time

Christ’s Love Protects and Provides

From The Lutheran Hour broadcast, devotions, video messages of encouragement, and topical courses/booklets in North America to radio/ television broadcasts, Bible Correspondence Courses, social media, text messaging, and much more internationally, LHM’s global ministry model allows us to continue sharing the Gospel without interruption.

“Lutheran Hour Ministries has been such a blessing during this ongoing virus,” says Bunny Haugan, a long-time listener from Harrington, Washington. “Normal church services are just a memory that hopefully will be modified shortly. Thank God for The Lutheran Hour on Sunday mornings to keep us anchored in God’s Word!”

“Thank you so very much for your excellent videos these past few months,” says Gretchen Mauritz of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. “They speak directly to my sadness so well and provide some encouragement for these difficult times. I have forwarded them to my family members and friends more than once. Keep up your wonderful work!”

LHM Ambassador John Gisclon of Ashland, Oregon, shares that when he served in Vietnam, he would often tune into The Lutheran Hour to find comfort through the messages while isolated in the war environment.

He feels like this pandemic is similar to his time in Vietnam since people have been isolated in their homes. These uncertain times make him eager to share the Gospel, so he contacted LHM about adding a link to The Lutheran Hour onto his church’s website so congregation members living in areas where access to the radio broadcasts is difficult would still be comforted.

In many mass mailings to current Center for Hispanic Studies’ students and Hispanic-Latino pastors and deaconesses, Professor Mark Kempff has shared the Spanish-language resources available on LHM’s Para el Camino website. “Many of them have responded by indicating the usefulness of these resources, not only for personal use, but to be shared with their congregations,” says Kempff, the assistant to the director and an instructor for the Center.

“Because of this worldwide pandemic, online activity has exploded, allowing for these men and women to send the resources along to many other friends and family—not only in the United States, but Latin America and Europe as well. I don’t think we will ever know the true impact this has had, for only Jesus and the work of His Spirit knows where the Gospel is shared among the nations through these resources.”

As restrictions regarding the pandemic began to be lifted in Liberia, LHM staff there reached out to individuals asking what role faith has played in their lives during these uncertain times. Stephen is a 42-yearold nurse who spent most of his life as a nonbeliever until he encountered LHM–Liberia staff. Stephen heard the Gospel message and used LHM’s materials to nurture his faith. He knows that God has kept him safe while treating patients and he continues to grow his relationship with God. Simon is an LHM–Madagascar volunteer who works full-time as a street vendor selling spices. During the pandemic, people stopped shopping at his stand because they are only buying essentials. He has struggled making ends meet to provide for his family. Even though he was struggling financially, Simon has never stopped sharing the Gospel with people whom he came in contact. He trusts that God will provide for him during this time and shares that hope with other people he meets.

“Lutheran Hour Ministries has been such a blessing during this ongoing virus.”

Spread Hope in Your Own Community Even in uncertain times, we know that #HopeAbounds. Because of your generous support, we share Christ’s hope all around the world with people who need to hear this message now more than ever.

Now, with your gift of $25 or more, we will send you two LHM #HopeAbounds face masks to help spread hope throughout your own community. Visit lhm.org/hopeabounds to show your support and receive your face masks while supplies last.* Two mask options are available.

How does hope abound in your life?

Send your stories to marketing@lhm.org for possible use in an upcoming issue of The Lutheran Layman or other LHM communications. Once you receive your face masks, don’t forget to show us how you are spreading the hope! Post a selfie wearing your mask using #HopeAbounds on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Thank you for your support as we work together to reach a lost and fearful world with His love. = * Shipped in the U.S. only; not for medical use.

The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 13

Use LHM’s Online Workshops to Empower Your Spiritual Conversations

by PAUL SCHREIBER

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on’t let social distancing guidelines keep your congregation or study group from becoming better spiritual conversationalists. While face-toface contact with LHM presenters is on pause right now, groups can still benefit from the content of two Barna-based workshops: Eager Conversationalists and The Spiritual Conversation Curve.

Both workshops draw extensively from research Barna Group did in partnership with LHM. The fruit of that labor—the Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age (SCDA) monograph—gives all the

essential details of this research and was the inspiration for the two workshops. Each can be downloaded for free at lhm.org/ conversations or purchased as a DVD at shoplhm.org.

The first workshop is Eager Conversationalists. It’s hosted by Rev. Dr. Jason Broge, director of design and development for LHM. It introduces a handy assessment resource: the EAGER Profile Inventory. This self-evaluation tool allows participants to honestly assess their preparedness to engage in spiritual conversations and share their faith. The upside

here is that regardless of our reluctance, we can all learn to be more proactive in our witness— and enjoy doing so.

The second workshop, The Spiritual Conversation Curve, is hosted by Don Everts, LHM’s content manager. It introduces the Spiritual Conversation Curve Card: a pocket-sized memory tool to keep handy when sharing and gauging someone’s spiritual posture. Three possibilities— unreceptive, receptive, or seeking—help to reasonably describe the person’s receptivity to the Gospel. With this in mind we can speak sensitively, keeping the conversation easy-going and comfortable.

These workshops can be viewed by individuals or as a group in a socially distanced context. When you go to lhm.org/conversations and click on “Workshop Downloads,” it gives users numerous other FREE resources, too. There’s a workshop facilitator’s guide, an EAGER Inventory handout, EAGER notes, an EAGER activities suggestion checklist, Spiritual Conversation Curve notes, as well as promo

materials to use now or when faceto-face regulations are relaxed.

These workshops are also available to bring to your group in a live, online setting, that allows those attending to be interactive with an LHM host. You can request a virtual workshop date and time at lhm.org/requestaspeaker.

For those interested in how the complete Spiritual Conversations package can empower their witness, the SCDA kit is available at shoplhm.org. It includes three booklets on Jesus, one on how to talk about your faith, and one on the Digital Conversation Pledge—a commitment to remain thoughtful and engaged when using social media online.

Also included are the Spiritual Conversations monograph, 25 Curve Cards, workshop DVD with both presentations, The Reluctant Witness book

by Everts, and the EAGER profile. =

Thousands of Children Hear the Gospel During Online Bible Service

by MEGAN MCDANIEL

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uring the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the world have been impacted by government restrictions and lockdowns. For individuals in India, this caused hardships for many people, especially lower income groups and daily wage earners. Staff at LHM–India were faced with the challenge of not being able to freely travel and provide holistic support to people who needed it. Although they couldn’t travel, the LHM–India staff were able to get 1,200 masks made that they could send to people.

While working remotely, LHM–India staff were able to telecast messages and send audio files to more than 200 people every week. In addition, they were able to conduct an online Summer Bible Service in three languages. The LHM–India staff started the online Bible service because they realized self-quarantining at home can be hard on some people, especially children.

This was the first time to conduct online lessons in Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi-speaking areas. LHM–India staff collected PDF versions of lessons and made audio versions of the lessons. The LHM–India staff created a team of

14 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

people including pastors and volunteers who could reach out to the individuals and groups who wanted to participate in the program.

The whole team would monitor feedback and provide instruction for activities and exercises to supplement the lessons.

Using WhatsApp, a digital messaging app, the team would send the materials to their assigned contact groups. The program lasted 10 days with the 11th day consisting of a closing ceremony and festival for the children. Each day, the lessons started at 11:30 a.m. and ended at 1:00 p.m. However, the children would continue messaging the staff and volunteers until late into the evening, sometimes until 11:30 p.m.

Every lesson began with prayer which was followed by songs that included videos, lyrics, and teaching videos. The LHM–India staff would then send the daily lesson and audio recording to the children. The children were encouraged to memorize Bible verses and participate in arts and crafts during the program, too. The LHM–India staff and volunteers also offered counseling sessions for the children to help them cope with stress

induced by the quarantine. The lessons would end with a puppet show and a time for the children to ask questions about the lessons.

Most of the videos used in the program were very interactive and allowed the children to easily connect the video to the lesson they were teaching.

Through this program, 6,400 Malayalamspeaking children, 314 Tamil-speaking children, and 238 Hindi-speaking children were able to hear the Gospel message. =

… self-quarantining at home can be hard on some people, especially children.

Excited to Serve You in Mission

by DR. KURT SENSKE, Chairman, Int’l LLL Board of Directors

You and I have been commanded by our Lord and Savior to “go and make disciples of all nations …”

(Matthew 28:19).

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s this is my inaugural column serving as chairman of the Board of Directors for the International Lutheran Laymen’s League/Lutheran Hour Ministries, allow me to introduce myself and share why my wife Laurie and I are so passionate about the ministries of LHM. I was raised in a family where for generations every single member served as either a church worker or a farmer. At an early age, I simply knew that I would not follow this vocational trajectory and so I became an attorney as well as worked in politics. However, I soon learned that God indeed has a sense of humor as for the past

29 years I have been called to be a church worker.

For the past 23 years, I was privileged to serve as CEO of Upbring (formerly Lutheran Social Services of the South), a multi-faceted, multi-state, social service agency with nearly 1,000 employees. I have also served as chairman of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, chairman of Thrivent Financial, and on the board for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

I currently serve as chair of the InFaith Community Foundation and treasurer of the ACTS Network, and provide consulting services to faith-inspired non-profit organizations across the country.

In my spare time, I enjoy writing.

Some of you may know me as the author of The Calling: Live a Life of Significance, or possibly through several other Gospel-centered books that I have penned. Laurie and I are the proud parents of

Sydney (along with her amazing husband Cody), and together we enjoy traveling, hiking, and cooking.

My entire family is passionate about supporting the ministries of Lutheran Hour Ministries. During this unprecedented year of a worldwide pandemic coupled with social unrest, its ministries are more vital than ever. Thankfully, LHM continues, via the Holy Spirit, to make an increasingly significant impact.

While people deal with the lingering health effects from COVID-19, the loss of livelihoods due to the economic downturn, or the juggling of career responsibilities while schooling children at home, LHM is well positioned to continue to bring the message of hope via the Gospel to an increasingly broken world.

LHM’s state of the art, multiplatform communications strategy, coupled with the utilization of local, indigenous staff, is uniquely

suited to spread the saving message of the Gospel across 50 countries and six continents during this uncertain time.

You and I have been commanded by our Lord and Savior to “go and make disciples of all nations….”

(Matthew 28:19). I can think of no higher calling and better investment of our time and treasure as together we fulfill Christ’s command through our shared partnership in ministry known as Lutheran Hour Ministries.

I prayerfully request that you join Laurie and me in this Godinspired, worthwhile journey. With your support, along with the tens of thousands of other supporters and volunteers, LHM is privileged to continue reaching more than 136 million people each and every week. To God be the glory! =

START YOUR JOURNEY TODAY! “I learned that God watches everyone in the whole world! I would like to go to Mongolia someday!”

COMING IN 2021

– JERSEY, AGE 10

“I like the music the best!

It’s fun to sing along and see all the pictures.”

– JUDAH, AGE 4

“I learned about being an eagle hunter. The eagle knows their voice and lives with them for 5 years. I learned that God’s love is bigger than the desert!”

– EASTON, AGE 8

The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 15

Online Workshops in Central America Help Families Grow Closer

by MEGAN MCDANIEL

… this year has presented families with challenges they have never experienced before.

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ith schools closed and many parents working from home, this year has presented families with challenges they have never experienced before. As families spend more time together versus leaving the house for work or school, many parents are struggling to figure out how to connect to and nurture a relationship with their children. To help parents and children during this time, LHM–Guatemala hosted a video conference workshop for parents, developed Facebook Live events in partnership with LHM–Puerto Rico, and transitioned its Project JOEL program to a digital format.

The video conference workshop centered on the topic of “How to Improve My Relationship With My Teenager.” A member of the LHM– Guatemala team who is a psychologist hosted the workshop. Someone commented in the chat feature, “Excellent! Thank you! How can I start to read the Bible with my child?” A total of 402 parents from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and the United States participated in the online workshop. Some children even joined their parents to listen to the workshop content as well.

The Facebook Live events in partnership with

LHM–Puerto Rico were meant to help family relationships that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Family communication has been negatively impacted in many households and many people continue to struggle with anxiety, uncertainty, and fear. Through the Facebook Live events, LHM–Guatemala and LHM–Puerto Rico hope to bring help and guidance to hurting families. The events were hosted by a psychologist, local pastors, and LHM staff members and the topics covered included anxiety, depression, hope in the midst of crisis,

effective communication, setting priorities, healthy family life, and others. Nearly 1,100 people from Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and other countries participated in the events. The LHM– Guatemala and LHM–Puerto Rico staff shared that it is a new experience by using talents from two LHM ministry centers, but it was successful and touched the lives of many.

Since students have been staying home and are not able to attend Project JOEL activities normally held in local schools, the LHM– Guatemala team shifted to a digital format by implementing a project called “Facebook Talks.”

The goal of this project was for students to talk with some members of the LHM–Guatemala team and learn about topics such as improving self-esteem, decision-making, improving relationships with parents, the dangers on the internet, dating, school stress, and others. The online events were well-received and were a practical way to impact students without being together with in-person lessons.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused LHM ministry centers to find new ways to reach people, but thankfully people can come together online and stay safe while connecting with others to hear messages of love and comfort. =

The IRA Rollover Gift: Your Savings, Your Legacy by CHAD FIX

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ou have worked hard throughout your lifetime saving for retirement—and your hard work has paid off. Now use your savings to create your legacy, by making an IRA charitable rollover gift.

The way it works is simple: If you are 70½ or older you can transfer your IRA distribution directly to a nonprofit like Lutheran Hour Ministries. For donors with IRA accounts, you can roll over up to $100,000 per year (per individual) directly to ministry. You pay no taxes on the transfer and your gift counts dollar-for-dollar to support our important work.

Donna is a long-time supporter who recently celebrated her 75th birthday. She and her late husband, Bill, saved quite a nest egg with their IRA contributions. Donna has been looking for ways to further support our mission, so earlier this year she made an IRA rollover gift of $20,000 to our endowment in Bill’s memory. She plans to make similar gifts in future years.

The IRA rollover is a great option for donors who do not need the income from their IRA distribution in the next year. Yet for many Americans, an IRA is one of their main sources of income and is used for everyday expenses like buying groceries or paying the mortgage. These donors may not be able to consider giving through an IRA rollover, but they could consider giving their IRA to charity in their will. Depending on your estate, it may be better to give taxheavy retirement accounts, like IRAs, to charity and leave other assets like life insurance to your family.

LHM’s gift planning staff would love to discuss these, and other options, with you. For more information, visit lhm.org/ira, call us at 1-877-333-1963, or contact us via email at lhm-gift@lhm.org. =

16 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

Recent Tax Law Changes Affecting IRAs NEW LAW: Stretch Provision of IRA Eliminated RESULT: Children inheriting your IRA must take all distributions within 10 years.

NEW IDEA: Consider passing your IRA to a charitable remainder unitrust for your children that gives you tax benefits and control over how long they receive payments. _____________________________________ NEW LAW: Increase in Age for IRA Required Minimum Distributions RESULT: Initial distributions must now be at age 72, not 70½.

NEW IDEA: Consider giving from your IRA to charity at age 71. The “early” distribution may save taxes when you must start taking distributions.

Use your savings to create your legacy, by making an IRA charitable rollover gift.

… he has come to understand that peace and perfection is only found in God …

Na Thalang Awarded Honorary Doctorate from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis by CHAD FIX

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Social Media Project Encourages Personal Reflection During Pandemic

by MEGAN MCDANIEL

A

s people have started spending more time online over the last several months, LHM–Latvia came up with a new project to reach people in their local communities through social media. The project, titled #WhatDoYouDoInThisTime, was rolled out on Facebook, Instagram, and the ministry’s website to find out what people do, what they think, and how they see God at work during this unprecedented time. The LHM–Latvia team hopes that these stories will be a witness to people so others can see how God works in our everyday lives.

One of the LHM–Latvia staff members was tasked with finding people to highlight and then coordinating with them to share their personal testimonies and take their picture. Overall, this new project has gone very well, and the LHM– Latvia staff sees potential to continue these stories even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oskars is an individual who was interviewed for the #WhatDoYouDoInThisTime social media project. He is a pastor at a local church in Latvia. He shared that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed like there was more work than ever to be done. Since people were staying home and not able to attend regular

worship services in person, his church recorded the services and broadcast them on Facebook. Each week, thousands of people watched the service videos.

Although Oskars feels like he has more work to do now, he uses every Monday as his “Pastor Sabbath” to have a day of rest.

On Monday, Oskars is home with his wife and son and tries to be fully present for them. His son is learning how to walk and they are working on making adjustments within their apartment so he can safely walk around. As a family, they take walks outside to enjoy the fresh air and have planted a garden at the church with cherries, raspberries, and blackberries.

During this pandemic, Oskars has realized that a lot of the things that we use to fill our lives are not necessary.

He thinks God is showing him that simplicity in life is good and relaxing. He realizes that society often encourages a consumer culture, but he has accepted the challenge of living a more simplistic life and appreciating what is most important, which is his relationship with God and his family. He shared with the LHM– Latvia staff member that he has come to understand that peace and perfection is only found in God and this pandemic is an invitation to put God above everything else. =

unya Na Thalang, Lutheran Hour Ministries’ regional director for Asia, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, during the Seminary’s commencement ceremony on May 15.

The honorary doctorate is awarded to a qualified person within The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) or one of its partner churches who demonstrates outstanding dedication to the theology and mission of the LCMS and its international partners.

Since becoming a Christian at age 27, Gunya has dedicated herself to the extension of Christ’s kingdom.

She founded LHM’s media ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, known as Journey into Light, where she was director from 1991–2002 and became a well-known Thai radio personality. Since 2002, she has served as LHM’s regional director for Asia, overseeing the expansion of LHM ministries in nine countries, and currently directing ministries in 11 countries.

In her role as regional director, Gunya nurtures the development, expansion, and promotion of LHM’s reach in Asia through high-impact programming and focused distribution of material. These efforts result in significant numbers of individuals responding to LHM programming and then being referred to local churches.

“I humbly thank God for calling me to serve Him through LHM for nearly 30 years,” says Gunya. “Through my former work as the director of LHM–Thailand and now as regional director for Asia, I have seen thousands of people come to know Christ and be led to trust in Jesus by the power of God’s Word.”

Gunya was one of six individuals awarded with special honors during this year’s virtual commencement ceremony. Her husband, Rev. Pornprom “Ted” Na Thalang, a former LCMS missionary in Thailand who has served for the past 20 years as director for the Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF) and translator in Asia, also received an honorary Doctor of Divinity. This honor is awarded to clergy who have rendered outstanding service in church life. =

“… I have seen thousands of people come to know Christ and be led to trust in Jesus by the power of God’s Word.”

The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 17

THRED Encourages, Challenges Users During the Pandemic by PAUL SCHREIBER

L

utheran Hour Ministries’ popular social media website THRED (thred.org) is building bridges in 2020. In a year simmering with social unrest, a spreading virus, and a looming presidential election upon us, THRED offers an outlet for people to speak their minds openly about life, Jesus, and faith. LHM’s launch of THRED three years ago has proven fruitful, and since the outbreak of COVID-19 usage has spiked dramatically.

“THRED’s average weekly reach for the first five months of 2020 is 113,271 compared to 39,585 for the same period in 2019,” said Rachel Legouté, LHM’s digital development manager. “This is a time when people are looking for an encouraging word. How grateful we are to be positioned in a place to share content and conversation with a lost and hurting world in such a time as this.

We can use our profiles and online platforms to be voices of hope for those who are taking to the internet with their fears, anxiety, and pain,” she added.

Responding to the pandemic, THRED is producing a video series called “Work from Home.” It features voices from THRED team members

“This is a time when people are looking for an encouraging word …”

Legouté; Jon Christopher, LHM video editor; and other THRED vloggers. Another helpful resource are the COVID-related blogs written by Rev. Dr. Chad Lakies, LHM’s regional director for North America. Recent submissions like “Overcoming the Feeling ‘I Am Not (Doing) Enough’” and “Making Decisions in a Time of Panic” have resonated widely with readers, causing THRED’s blog numbers (interactions) to more than triple since he’s starting writing.

Convenient Ways You Can Support LHM’s Mission

by CHAD FIX There is no question that generous giving is a cornerstone of the Christian faith, and that there is great joy in giving. We are all blessed by the giving of others, and we are all blessed to give.

Your generous financial support allows LHM to share God’s love with unreached people around the world. Here are just a few of the options available for you to show your support wherever and whenever is most convenient so we can continue spreading Christ’s Good News into more than 50 nations.

18 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

These two THRED resources are helping attract interest and build momentum for the website.

Also helping is THRED’s YouTube channel, “What Jesus Says.” Legouté added, “The people we’re creating content for are people outside of the church. To best connect with them, we enter conversations by listening to understand. We ask questions to clarify and better engage the person we’re speaking with. I tell volunteers our job is to keep the conversation going; you do that by having an open and

honest exchange that truly takes an interest in the other person.”

THRED welcomes your involvement in its mission, too.

Simply visit lhm.org/pledge and take its Digital Conversation Pledge. You can also become a Digital Conversation Team member.

These are people who will serve as trained volunteers to interact with THRED users, providing love, hope, and support. It’s another way that THRED is making connections with people on issues that matter in their lives right now. =

Mission Monthly

Thrivent Choice

Mission Monthly is a core group of ministry partners who commit to sharing Christ’s hope with those who need to hear it by making a gift of their choice each month, either by check, online, or automatic payments from their bank account or credit card. A lot of Mission Monthly members choose automatic payments because they are convenient and work for any budget. As a Mission Monthly member, you make an impact on people in places you may never go! To become a Mission Monthly donor, visit lhm.org/give/monthlygiving.asp.

Eligible Thrivent members are designated Choice Dollars at various times throughout the year, based on their insurance premiums, contract values, and Thrivent volunteer leadership positions, that can then be directed to thousands of nonprofit organizations nationwide.

Choice Dollars designated during the calendar year can be directed until March 31 of the following year. Supporting LHM through Thrivent Choice is very simple. Go to thrivent.com/thriventchoice and search for us under Participating Charitable Organizations by entering “Lutheran Hour Ministries”, “LHM” or “International Lutheran Laymen”. Or call Thrivent at 1-800-847-4836. Please remember that you must now go through the gift direction process every time you receive notification that Choice Dollars are available.

LHM Collaborates with Visual Faith Ministry by MEGAN MCDANIEL

T

his spring, Lutheran Hour Ministries’ North American Ministries team started a collaboration with Visual Faith Ministry. Visual Faith Ministry is a crowdsourced, collaborative effort of online and “in-real-life” learning communities to enrich, encourage, and enable the connections between visual and kinesthetic learning and storytelling about God’s faithfulness in our lives.

The founders of Visual Faith Ministry believe so strongly in LHM’s mission to equip laity for outreach that they asked for an LHM employee to serve on their vision team. Dionne Lovstad-Jones, LHM’s regional ministry facilitator, will work alongside Visual Faith Ministry to facilitate this collaboration.

As a part of the new collaboration, Visual Faith Ministry requested that Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age workshops be conducted for 72 of their national and international coaches to attend. Over half of the coaches have attended online workshops so far, and there are plans to create new opportunities for the EAGER Conversationalist and Spiritual Conversations Curve workshops.

Several coaches shared feedback after attending the workshop. “Thanks for an excellent time and good information. I really enjoyed the session and liked the group interactions,” shares one participant.

Another coach says, “Thank you. That

was a very worthwhile experience for me!

I took lots of notes and the breakouts were really helpful in getting a better understanding of the different ‘levels’ of conversation. Well done!”

One individual thanked LHM for the workshop about Spiritual Conversations.

“I wanted to share that in my small group, we prayed for opportunities to grow in relationships with those outside the faith, and each of us had a certain person in mind. God answered my prayers. The girl I had on my heart and in that prayer during the workshop recently interacted with me, which is totally out of the ordinary!”

“We are so looking forward to our continued collaboration to bring the Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age Workshops to each of the coach’s geographically based community groups,” says Lovstad-Jones. “It has been such a pleasure to be part of the process for Visual Faith coaches’ growth and willingness to become further equipped for everyday spiritual conversations. In this discipling-coaching network, coaches are finding new ways to integrate the language LHM uses and the tools we provide into the work that they are doing– to both share the hope they have in Jesus and equip others to do the same, whether in study groups, worship settings, across the picnic or dining room table–with family members, friends, neighbors or people they’ve just met.” =

“… we prayed for opportunities to grow in relationships with those outside the faith …”

AmazonSmile

Text to Give

Employer Matching Gifts

Facebook Fundraisers

Amazon offers a service called AmazonSmile to allow its shoppers to support a cause of their choice. When shopping on smile.amazon.com, you can select a charity such as LHM that you want to support, and Amazon will donate 0.5% of all your eligible purchases to that organization. You can change your charitable organization at any time.

From reading emails to checking social media to making online purchases, people are using their phones more than ever to engage and interact online. That’s why text-to-give is not only convenient for the donor—the secure process generally only takes a few simple steps—but it’s also become a much more painless process for nonprofit organizations to implement as part of their fundraising strategies.

By texting the word “GIVE” to 417-815-8105, you will receive prompts to follow on how to donate to LHM through the convenience of your cell phone.

Standard message/data rates may apply.

An increasing number of companies offer matching gift programs, which means they may match the gifts employees and spouses make to a qualified non-profit organization such as Lutheran Hour Ministries. Visit lhm.org/give/employermatch.asp to find out if your generous gifts to LHM may qualify for a match with your company!

The social aspect of this type of donation encourages your Facebook friends to donate as there is an option to share the fact that you donated through a Facebook fundraiser. In addition to donating through a specific giving campaign, individual Facebook users can solicit donations for the ministry as a birthday fundraiser, which encourages your friends to support a cause that is important to you in celebration of your birthday.

More information about other direct and planned giving options can be found at lhm.org/give. = The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 19

CHANGING LIVES Around the World with the

by MEGAN MCDANIEL

Gospel

JAMAICA

INDONESIA

GUATEMALA

Collette recently met a member of the LHM–Jamaica staff while she was visiting a friend. The staff member gave Collette the LHM–Jamaica address and said she could come visit them whenever she wanted to talk. A week later, Collette came to the office and said she was stressed and felt alone. She was considering ending her life and needed some encouragement.

Collette was once a Christian, but turned away from her faith when she thought God had forgotten about her. She is expecting a baby with her boyfriend of four years, but he denies that the child is his and has left Collette. Her family does not speak to her anymore because they are upset about the pregnancy. After talking with the LHM–Jamaica staff members several times and reading through some of their booklets, Collette is reestablishing her faith. She no longer wants to end her life and is now attending a local church where LHM–Jamaica staff members had referred her.

Harmonis grew up in a poor family and always lacked confidence. She was very shy and would be overcome with anxiety at the thought of speaking in front of people. She has also struggled for a long time with delivering devotions and praying for people because of her anxiety.

Earlier this year, she met an LHM– Indonesia staff member who talked to her about being a disciple for Christ. The staff member shared that he was once shy, just like her, but realized that God chose him to share the Gospel, so he was determined to do so. The staff member supported her and encouraged her to not let her shy personality get in the way of sharing the Gospel. She started to pray confidently and over time, became more confident in herself, which has allowed her to share the Word of God with many.

Isabella is in sixth grade and has been receiving Project JOEL resources for the last two years. She admits that she does not particularly like school and can be rebellious at times. When she was first introduced to Project JOEL, she thought the program was fun and enjoyed learning how to make healthy lifestyle choices. She continued sharing that she knew that the advice that the program gave her would help her in the future. One of the program’s topics discussed domestic violence. Isabella’s mother hits her when she acts out in a rebellious manner. When her mother strikes her, Isabella becomes very angry. As Isabella went through the program, she began to adapt the lessons she learned to her personal life, which caused her mom to hit her less. LHM staff started to pray for Isabella and her mother in hopes that the Lord would help mend their troubled relationship. Isabella then felt encouraged enough to speak to her mother about the abuse. Shortly after the conversation between mother and daughter, the relationship improved. Isabella’s mother even decided that the family should go back to church to develop a closer bond with the Lord and with one another. Isabella shared with LHM staff that she is grateful for Project JOEL because it has changed her life for the better and improved her relationship with her mother drastically.

LHM staff started to pray for Isabella and her mother in hopes that the Lord would help mend their troubled relationship.

20 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

Lutheran Hour Ministries develops culturally relevant programs and resources to reach people in more than 50 nations who may not be familiar with the Gospel. Below are just a few examples to show how God has been using LHM recently to change lives around the world with His Good News.

MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA Ali is a 21-year-old teacher who comes from a non-Christian background. He was not committed to his religion and when times became difficult, he turned to alcohol. He came across a Facebook post from LHM’s ministry in the Middle East and North Africa that inspired him and gave him hope during the dark times he was encountering. He was able to chat online with a staff member and after their conversation, he wanted to learn more about Jesus. He asked how he could follow Jesus and was encouraged to pray and ask for forgiveness from his sins. A few weeks later, Ali shared the Gospel with his wife, who also became a Christian. They shared the Gospel with their neighbors and friends, and now, eight people meet regularly at Ali’s house for a Bible study.

She excitedly shared that God has been working in her son’s life and he became a Christian.

KENYA

MYANMAR

RUSSIA

Josephine is an elderly woman who came to LHM–Kenya staff members in 2018 requesting prayers for her son. He had been struggling with an alcohol addiction and abandoned his wife and kids. The LHM–Kenya staff prayed with her, prayed for her son, and shared some materials.

Recently, the LHM–Kenya staff followed up with Josephine to see how her and her son were doing.

She excitedly shared that God has been working in her son’s life and he became a Christian. She shared that he stopped drinking and turned his life around.

Josephine is thankful for the prayers and materials and knows God is at work in her son’s life.

Myo is 65 years old and works as a merchant. He practices a nonChristian religion, but has many Christian friends. His 28-year-old son graduated college and suffers with depression. Myo doesn’t want people to know his son has depression, and is afraid of what people might say if they found out.

He also doesn’t want to have to send his son to a mental hospital either. One day he heard an LHM–Myanmar radio spot where the hosts offered LHM booklets discussing depression. Myo called the ministry center and asked for the address, so he could come by to pick up the booklets. He said even though he is not a Christian, he knows the booklets will help his son because Christians are humble and kind. The LHM–Myanmar staff is praying that the booklets will provide comfort and hope for Myo and his son, and open doors for them to learn more about the Lord.

Dmitry has spent the last five years in prison. He recently was introduced to the Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age (SCDA) materials that the LHM–Russia staff translated. Before he read the materials, he was tired of living and felt that he was at a dead end in his life. When he read the materials and read the Bible, he learned about Jesus. He shared that the SCDA materials helped him improve his knowledge and made him want to learn more about Christianity. Since he doesn’t have access to a church, he enrolled in the Bible Correspondence Courses through LHM–Russia. He believes that God was calling Dmitry to learn about Him and the SCDA materials were the perfect way to learn. He continues to learn about Christianity and grow his faith. =

The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 21

SHARING THE LOVE OF CHRIST WITH STUDENTS

by MEGAN MCDANIEL uya the golden eagle has already taken more than 30,000 students on a Mongolian adventure this year through Gospel Adventures, an informative and interactive virtual learning experience based around five days of FREE curriculum. In partnership with Group Publishing, Lutheran Hour Ministries takes grade school through middle school aged children on a new weeklong global adventure each year.

With Gospel Adventures: Go Mongolia, students learn about the importance of God’s work by exploring this country’s rich culture. With remarkable landscapes from the Gobi Desert, the Altai Mountains, and more, Gospel Adventures: Go Mongolia is sure to be a journey to remember! Kids will be introduced to kids just like them living in Mongolia who carry their faith with them through day-to-day life. Teach your kids about the foods, animals, people, and places of Mongolia with Gospel Adventures.

Drawing inspiration from Ephesians 3:1719 and letting the immensity of Mongolia illustrate it, participants of the 2020 trip learn about God and “how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.”

Didn’t have a chance to participate in this year’s Gospel Adventures: Go Mongolia program yet? There is still time to sign up for a Mongolian adventure to complete as a group or individually at home. To download a sample of the curriculum or sign up to get started, visit gospeladventures.org.

T

THERE IS STILL TIME TO REGISTER!

Taste of Mongolia

The most common meats in Mongolia are mutton (sheep) and beef. They are usually cooked with handmade noodles or used in soups and dumplings. Most meals are prepared with a wok or griddle. You might be surprised, but Mongolian food is not spicy.

Meat and dairy products are the Mongolians’ main food. Both are readily available from the animals they raise: horses, camels, cows, goats, and sheep.

Dairy products such as thick cream, butter, and kefir (a thin yogurt) are everyday foods.

Aaruul is a cheese that rural people dry on the tops of their gers. Popular drinks include mare’s milk and a fermented milk called airag.

Another staple food for Mongolians is a pastry called boortsog. This snack is deep fried in the oil that often comes from the fat of cooking meat. Boortsog can be stored for around a month. (If you are in the city, it can also be bought at the local grocery.) Check out the day three online curriculum to get the recipe for Mongolian boortsog!

Bonus Materials

Have you tried the bonus materials for Gospel Adventures: Go Mongolia? Registered users have access to Go Mongolia music available from CD Baby, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. There are also downloads available for coloring pages, the Mongolian map and flag, and a workbook.

“My grandkids, ages 8 and 10, were visiting and we were limited on where to go during this pandemic. I had seen ads for Gospel Adventures in the past and thought it was mainly for classrooms, but we decided to give it a try. I’m so glad we did! The videos were engaging and the teachers’ notes and activities brought it all together. My grandkids were very interested. It is a great at-home resource!”

– LEIGH DALTON, CLINTON, MISSOURI

“My 6-year-old grandson and I used Gospel Adventures: Go Mongolia to learn about their culture and how they live and worship God. We enjoyed learning another language and seeing how other people live. He especially enjoyed the crafts.”

– EVE BROWN, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

22 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

Are You Building a Household of Faith?

Only $3

7

$65 valu

e

Gospel Adventures Heads to Thailand in 2021!

W

e are excited to share with you that Gospel Adventures will be heading to Thailand in 2021. We have already seen how churches and schools have enjoyed “visiting” Peru and Mongolia the past two years through Gospel Adventures, and we look forward to “traveling” to Thailand to see how God so loves the world.

Just like Passport to Peru and Go Mongolia, the 2021 adventure, titled Gospel Adventures: Thailand Trek, will be a free resource available to Christian schools, churches, homeschools, and individuals across the United States, filled with fun activities and an interactive website.

“With high-quality videos and engaging activities, the curriculum helps kids learn about life and culture from kids like them—but who live in another part of the world,” says Ashley Bayless, curriculum development manager for LHM. “Kids go to school; they help with chores; they play soccer with their friends, and yet life can still look very different: new foods, different transportation, another language.”

Be on the lookout for more information in the coming months about Gospel Adventures: Thailand Trek and how you can register your school, church, or home school. =

Thailand facts: • It is the only country in the region never colonized by a European power.

• It is home to the

world’s smallest mammal, the bumblebee bat, and the largest fish, the whale shark.

• Most of the

citizens work in agriculture, services, and industry.

• Of its 68 million

people, only one percent of the population are Christian.

“With high-quality videos and engaging activities, the curriculum helps kids learn about life and culture from kids like them—but who live in another part of the world.”

Discover research-based tools to help you nurture a spiritually vibrant home with the Households of Faith Kit. Each kit features an extensive library of resources to equip your household wherever it gathers.

Order your kit today at “We learned about people LHM.ORG/HOUSEHOLDS in Mongolia living in big tent homes with a lot of land around them. I think it would be fun to stay in one of those.”

–Lydia, age 7 The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020 | 23

Members Fill Five Board Seats During Recent LHM Election

by CHAD FIX

M

ore than three-quarters of Lutheran Hour Ministries’ registered voting members cast ballots in the recent election to fill five seats on the Board of Directors for the International Lutheran Laymen’s League/Lutheran Hour Ministries. Jim Dankenbring of St. Louis, Missouri; Virginia Miller of Rochester, Minnesota; Gene Partlow of Williamsburg, Virginia; Patricia Ross of Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Edith Schoepp of Onoway, Alberta, Canada, were elected to three-year terms on the Board beginning with Fiscal Year 2021.

As part of a change approved by the membership three years ago, the Board is now responsible for appointing its four Officer positions from among sitting Board members for each fiscal year. The Board of Directors has appointed Kurt Senske of Austin, Texas, as Chair; Douglas Werth of Arrington, Tennessee, as Vice Chair; and Gretchen Jameson of Muskego, Wisconsin, as Secretary. Jack Ficken of Fairview, Tennessee, was reappointed as Treasurer.

Learn more about your elected members at lhm.org/about/board.asp.

Thanks to everyone who participated this year in the election process!

Want to vote in 2021? Anyone who gives a gift to LHM between July 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2020 will be eligible to register for next year’s voting membership. Look for a postcard in the mail in early February 2021 with details about how you can register to vote before the March 15 deadline so you can participate in next spring’s election.

Board Nominations NOW OPEN FOR 2021!

Do you know a mission-minded individual who is looking for a unique leadership opportunity? Nominations for candidates to serve on the Board of Directors of the Int’l LLL/LHM are being requested now for next spring’s election.

The Board is seeking a diverse pool of dynamic, visionary candidates who are committed to helping LHM share the Gospel around the world to fill open director positions. You are urged to prayerfully consider the God-given talents, skill sets, passion for outreach ministry, and service to the Lord of potential nominees from your personal and professional networks. In addition to being an LHM/Int’l LLL member, all nominees must be members of a congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod or Lutheran Church—Canada and cannot be ordained clergy.

Five open positions will be voted on in 2021, including three spots for current Board members who will be terming out and cannot run for re-election. The Board’s Nominations Committee welcomes and encourages all applications, but is especially interested in seeking individuals who have non-profit, for-profit, or foundation board experience and/or corporate leadership and contacts, as well as backgrounds in information technology, finance, social media, marketing/public relations, fundraising, and international work.

To download a nominations form, or learn about additional eligibility requirements for nominees, visit lhm.org/nominations. Nominations must be received by Nov. 1, 2020 to be considered. =

SENT Celebration Update

by BECKY PAGEL

D

ue to the restrictions put in place around the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SENT Celebration event that was scheduled for Saturday, October 17, 2020, at Union Station in St. Louis, Missouri, has been cancelled. While we had hoped to be able to meet in person, the uncertainty around the virus and concerns about travel and large gatherings necessitates canceling the event.

We do have exciting news to announce related to the SENT Initiative. Five years ago, we set some big goals, and we’ve been working ever since to achieve them.

With a clear focus on four priorities (laity, media, global, and digital), SENT has made it possible for Lutheran Hour Ministries to go further than ever before in pursuit of our mission of Bringing Christ to the Nations— and the Nations to the Church.

Stay tuned this fall for more information via email, on our website, and in The Lutheran Layman as we share final updates on the SENT Initiative and stories of how Lutheran Hour Ministries is reaching even more people around the world and in North America with the life-changing message of the Gospel. Thanks for being our partner. We can’t wait to see how and where God continues to lead us because of your ongoing support. = Becky Pagel is director of constituent advancement for Lutheran Hour Ministries.

24 | The Lutheran Layman Summer 2020

Speaking of

JESUS

A timely podcast that invites Jesus into your everyday conversations Each week, real people have a real conversation about life, Jesus, and what He means to them.

Join the conversation on your favorite podcasting app, or at lhm.org/speakingofjesus.

Check out our other podcasts at lhm.org/podcasts.