At the District Convention in September 2008, a new mite goal of $64,000 was adopted.
Here’s how that breaks down:National LWML Mites (25%) ......$16,000
Mission Grants (~45%) …………. $29,000
Operating Budget (~30%) ….…..$19,000
Our newly adopted Grants are: (these are listed in order they will be paid):
**Professional Church Work Student Assistance - $5,000 ***PAID***
These funds would be sent, as in past biennium, to the SED-LCMS office to be pooled with other funds and distributed to students of professional church work studies from our district to assist with tuition costs.
**Western Wake (County, NC) New Mission Start-up - $4,000***PAID***
(Jordan Lutheran Church)
In recent years there has been exponential growth in the northwest corner of Wake County. Presently, there are no Lutheran churches serving that immediate area. Through the vision of people within Circuit 13 West the decision was made to plant a new Lutheran congregation in this area in order to share the Good News of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and to train up disciples for His service. During the past year, Mike Merker has served as a Mission Track Vicar to both Holy Cross Lutheran Church and Resurrection Lutheran Church. He has laid a foundation for continued work in Circuit 13 West and has seen the energy swell as people look to begin work in the community to start a new Lutheran congregation. In August of 2008, Mike Merker will be ordained as a Lutheran pastor and serve as the church planter for the work of the Western Wake Mission. Reaching out to the community in Northwest Wake County demands that the vision and the message of this new Lutheran church empowered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ be presented to as many people as possible. Promotion of the new church plant will be aided through publishing printed materials which will include prayer updates, newsletters and mass marketing mailers. The increased use of the internet among the target population in the Northwest portion of Wake County will necessitate the creation of a user friendly website. The website will provide a location for people to become connected to upcoming events and to learn about the church plant through visual and audio media. These funds will help this important church plant to go forward.
**Theological Education by Extension (TEE) - $5,000
Under the auspices and supervision of Concordia University, Mequon, TEE offers courses for laymen students leading to certification and service as Lay Ministers in the LCMS. There are 17 courses taken over a period of 4 ½ years totaling 47 credit hours at a (current) cost of $190/credit hour. Each student is also responsible for books, travel to the site, and other incidental fees. There are currently 6 students in the program.
It is hoped that these scholarship monies will encourage these students and result in fulltime workers for God’s Kingdom in the LCMS.
**Southern District LCMS Recovery Assistance, Inc. (RAI) - $3,700
Recovery Assistance Incorporated, (RAI), is a non profit organization created by the Southern District. Its purpose is to be the District's disaster relief arm. Under Rev. Buss' leadership, RAI has grown from a virtual ad hoc committee into a multifaceted, mission-minded organization. RAI's emphasis now extend to home restoration in both Mississippi and Louisiana, restoration evangelism training, and ministry restoration and revitalization in the LCMS church community and in the community at large. RAI's approach to evangelism is to minister to the whole person, the whole family, and the whole community. Using the motto, "Restoring faith, home, and community," RAI spreads the gospel of Jesus Christ through rebuilding homes and churches, encouraging the brokenhearted, and training volunteer workers for the mission fields in Louisiana, Mississippi, and in their home congregations.
RAI is located on the grounds of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and School in New Orleans, Louisiana and has a secondary campus at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Biloxi, Mississippi. RAI consists of a team of professional church workers and lay leaders who each bring a unique set of talents to this unique and exciting ministry. The Biloxi volunteer camp is headed by Mr. John Coyle. Formed by Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), Camp Biloxi has been operational since the fall of 2005. In 2007, following LDR's decision to withdraw its support of the Biloxi volunteer camp, Camp Biloxi began its partnership with RAI. Since its inception, Camp Biloxi has made it possible for more than 700 families to move back into their hurricane damaged homes.
**New Missions Start ups in South Carolina - $5,000
These funds would be sent to the SED-LCMS Mission and Ministry Office directed toward new church plants in South Carolina. The change this year in directing this grant to South Carolina comes because we have chosen to include the Western Wake County (Jordan Lutheran Church) New Mission start as a grant recipient and wanted to make sure that South Carolina also had funds.
**KAIROS of Western NC Men’s Prison Ministry - $5,000
KAIROS is an ecumenical ministry that goes into prisons and puts on a 3 day weekend events to show the residents the love of Jesus, in many cases for the first time. The ministry effort in Western NC began 3 years ago at the Men’s Correctional Facilities in Morganton, NC, and Alexander, NC. The program is able to share Christ’s love with 42 men of all ages at Morganton and 30 young men (aged 18-23) at Alexander twice a year. Once a month a follow-up meeting is held and one day workshops and retreats are also scheduled at the facilities. All outside participants are volunteers that are expected to raise the funding for their participation on the weekends which costs in total approximately $5000 to $7000. This amount covers home made meals and supplies for all participants, both volunteers and residents.
**Trinity Lutheran Church Website - $1,300
Trinity Lutheran Church is a small congregation in a growing retirement area of the NC Mountains. People for all over the eastern half of the US are moving to the area. The biggest challenge of this small congregation is reaching out to and into the homes of people that are generally not familiar with Lutheranism to share the Gospel of Christ with those around us. In this day and age of rising computer and internet use, having a website to put our congregation in the public eye to be available to be found by those searching for a church home in our area as well as sharing our beliefs, programs and outreach efforts with our current members is becoming an essential tool. These funds would allow us to pay for the expertise to develop and have such site hosted.
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I hope you will use these descriptions to help promote these missions in your societies as you gather in your mite offerings. I hope to have a monthly feature on the website (I do know the Web Servant very personally...) as a reminder of what we are working toward. I am working on a CD of the power point I presented at the convention - with the projects re-ordered- for your use out and about the district. Please contact me if you would like a copy. It does run about 10 minutes for your planning purposes.
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PLEASE REMEMBER! The Trainable Mentally Handicapped (TMH) Week at Camp Linn Haven ($3500/year) has been moved to the operating budget. By doing this this ministry will always be funded and will no longer have to be voted on each biennium.
