Reports - Central Illinois District - Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

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Triennial Report of the Central Illinois Commission on Mission ServicesThe Commission, through its appointed members, is intent on raising awarenessthroughout the district and among its congregations of the Kingdom work the Lord has givenus and would have us do. The portion of the District budget used for our mission work,personnel, and site maintenance is sizeable. Close to half of CID’s congregationalcontributions to the District are used for our District’s preaching stations, missioncongregations, campus ministries, work among the deaf and the developmentally disabled,prison ministries, and our foreign mission efforts in partnership with the Evangelical LutheranChurch of Latvia.The District Handbook outlines our responsibilities. First of all, locally we are to mirrorthe work the Synodical Board for Missions. Secondly, we are to focus on and promote all theDistrict’s efforts to further the Lord’s Kingdom throughout the 51 counties that comprise theCentral Illinois District. We are to look for opportunities for new mission starts. We are tosupervise the work of our CID missionaries. Much of our day-to-day work is performed in thecommission’s stead by the abundant and excellent abilities of the District’s Assistant to thePresident for Missions and Evangelism, the Rev. Joel Cluver. The Commission highly prizeshis advice and leadership, and fully respects, duly acknowledges, and gratefully thanks Rev.Cluver for his faithful service rendered to his Lord and our congregations since 1993.We continue to support and supervise the work done at our preaching stations. A vicarunder the direct oversight of President Bueltmann serves Risen Savior Lutheran Church ofBuffalo. Retired Pastor James Bloch serves Christ’s Family Lutheran Church of Mahomet.Following his vicarage there, the Rev. Scott Weiler was called as CID missionary to serve atOur Savior Lutheran Church in St. Joseph.During the past triennium, a highlight was the purchase through District and Synodicalfunding of the John Deere Credit Union building in East Moline into which Christ the King(formerly Grace) Hispanic Lutheran Mission moved. Pastor Pablo Dominguez has beenfaithful and diligent in his work there. Also to be commended is the assistance rendered by theHispanic Mission Council, which is made up of interested and active people from the churchesof the Rock Island Circuit.Grace Lutheran Church of Canton, amidst many obstacles and challenges, still exists as theonly Missouri Synod presence in all of Fulton County. The Rev. Ken Serr, recently ordained,continues his service to these people following a convertible vicarage.The Rev. Tom Phillips of Jacksonville serves in the capacity as full-time missionary andpastor to the deaf and has expanded his outreach to several other communities besidesJacksonville and Peoria. After much delay and deliberation, we are looking to demolish theparsonage at Christ Church of the Deaf in Jacksonville and build some office and meetingspace in its place.Deaconess Linda Schaefer, a prized CID resource for the developmentally disabled, hasexpanded her work load by adding, quite successfully, the Jacksonville facility for the disabledto the list of those places where she stops and shares her gifts and God’s Word. DeaconessSchaefer is still a salaried part-time worker of CID, and her position is reviewed and she is2009 Convention Section B – Reports Page 48
eappointed on an annual basis. We consider it a blessing that we were able to continue herservice throughout this last triennium.Prison work in Lincoln, Pittsfield, and Mt. Sterling continues on a part-time basis throughthe dedicated efforts of the Revs. Charles Olander and Steven Southward.Much of our expenditure of mission dollars goes into support for our work among collegestudents in the Universities found within the friendly confines of our District. We continue toexamine how to effectively use the limited and shrinking dollars we receive and not all ourexperimentation and labors have been well received. For several reasons our focus was turnedto the Wittenberg Center at Illinois State University in Normal. The Lord took the Rev.Dymann Jirovec to heaven, Pastor Jerry Koch (et. al.) has ably served the vacancy, and aconvertible vicar, Bill Jensen, from Concordia, St. Louis, and a member of Good Shepherd,Sherman, will be in place this summer. Our attempt to encourage Wittenberg to become atown/gown ministry did not work and Wittenberg will remain strictly student-oriented as acampus ministry.Other campus work continues at University Lutheran (University of Illinois) under the ongoingand blessed leadership of the Rev. Rick Milas. The campus ministry in Charleston atEastern Illinois University has seen much success under the direction of the Rev. Ken Hooverand especially through the hard and faithful work of Mr. Greg Witto. Our efforts continue atWestern Illinois University through our partnership with Immanuel Lutheran Church inMacomb. The Rev. Mike Burdick serves as pastor of Immanuel and Campus pastor of St.Timothy Student Center.We still have a partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia and itsArchbishop, the Rt. Rev. Janis Vanags. We have had exchanges of visitors. Pastors andChurch officials from this formerly communist Baltic state (and now EU member) who havepresented the work and mission of the Latvian Church. We have established closer parish-toparishrelationships between CID congregations and those in Latvia. We have providedfunding to help with the purchase of cars and computers, and to support seminary andcontinuing pastoral education, and benevolent outreach and relief ministries in Riga.The devoted and determined efforts of the commission members are offered to our Lord,and the Central Illinois District, its congregations and members, as our act of gratitude to beable serve and to be of assistance wherever the Lord of the Church so desires. We pray thatthese efforts would be so blessed by the Lord that His Kingdom may benefit and the Gospelmay profit and be spread to every corner of Central Illinois and “to the ends of the earth.” SoliDeo gloria!CID Commission on Mission ServicesThe Rev. Mark A. Miller, ChairmanThe Rev. James A. Stuenkel, Vice ChairmanMrs. Liz Neumann, SecretaryMr. Raymond StuckemeyerMr. Daniel Bangert2009 Convention Section B – Reports Page 49
Page 1 and 2: President’s ReportAs I write this
Page 3 and 4: helping with vacancies and problems
Page 5 and 6: Majewski, Aloysois (STL 06) ordaine
Page 7 and 8: Lohnes, Mark S. Resigned 12/31/04Po
Page 9 and 10: Gullen, Linda (SID) installed as te
Page 11 and 12: Saeger, David R. to North Wisconsin
Page 13 and 14: TREASURER’S REPORT - Mr. John Rod
Page 15 and 16: MISSIONS - EVANGELISM - HUMAN CARE2
Page 17 and 18: We have many areas in our Central I
Page 19 and 20: CONCLUSIONMuch work still needs to
Page 21 and 22: Prison WorkLincoln Correctional Cen
Page 23 and 24: SHOULD WE START A MISSION?Not enoug
Page 25 and 26: 13. Church planting is essential fo
Page 27 and 28: MR. GLENN W. GOERESADMINISTRATIVE A
Page 29 and 30: Elementary Schools 23Elementary + H
Page 31 and 32: among the program directors in thei
Page 33 and 34: Congregational Life and Stewardship
Page 35 and 36: Table 1 Average Percentage (%) of H
Page 37 and 38: ∑ Gutting of National Stewardship
Page 39 and 40: CIRCUIT COUNSELOR REPORTSBloomingto
Page 41 and 42: Milford—Our Savior (Rev. Jason Wa
Page 43 and 44: they are trying to reach out in the
Page 45 and 46: Throughout the years, our Lord cont
Page 47: On a historical note, the members o
Page 51 and 52: Congregational Life CommissionCommi
Page 53 and 54: CID-YMC Report2006∑ Adult & Youth

Reports - Central Illinois District - Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

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