[m-m-online] M-M ONLINE UPDATE, May 12, 2006

Fri May 12 15:40:48 CDT 2006

OUR CHRISTIAN LOVE AND SYMPATHY TO . . . 

CAROL EVERT (Teacher, Faith, Sugar Land) and her family on the death of her
mother, Carol Dugan, on April 24, from complications from diabetes.

MARK AND KATHY ANDERSON (Associate, Trinity, Sealy) - on the death of Mark's
grandmother, Mildred Dickinson, on May 9 in Alturas, CA.

IN OUR PRAYERS . . .

ROGER AND PHYLLIS KOHLS (Members of Messiah, Plano) lost their home in the
Tuesday night tornado near Anna, Texas.  Roger and Phyllis are long-time
members of Messiah and retired.  Roger suffered a deep cut in his arm and is
hospitalized at this time. Phyllis is battered and bruised but they survived
when their home did not.  Please keep them in your prayers as they begin
re-building their life.

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MINISTRY CALLS

PASTORS

NO DECISION 

Todd Stocker, Litchfield Park, AZ to Campus Pastor, Gloria Dei, Houston

Scott Tessin, Oakville, MO to Associate, CrossPoint, Katy

Michael Meissner, Monument, CO to Associate, St. John, Cypress

DECLINED

Michael Meissner, Monument, CO to Associate, Faith, Georgetown

COMMISSIONED MINISTERS

ACCEPTED

Vanessa Seifert, Pilgrim Lutheran, Bellvue, Nebraska to DCE, Shepherd of the
Hills, San Antonio.

Meredith Arldt, Our Savior, McKinney to Prince of Peace, Carrollton

DECLINED

Britany Aves, DCE, St. Mark, Houston to DCE, Christ Lutheran Church, Austin

UNDECIDED

Kevin Dierks, Cross Lutheran, New Braunfels to Cross Lutheran, New
Braunfels, Principal

Herb Mock, St. John, Marysville, Ohio to St. Mark Houston, Principal

DESIGNATED

Nathan Engman, DCE, to Memorial Lutheran Church, Katy, TX

Nicolas Weiss, Concordia Mequon, to Prince of Peace, Carrollton

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IMPORTANT 2006 TEXAS DISTRICT CONVENTION NEWS - 

FROM CONVENTION REGISTRAR RICK PFAFF

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ:

Our convention planning committee wants to share three items that need your
immediate attention.

1. If you ordered a lunch for Saturday, please remember that payments for
those lunches MUST be received in the District Office NO LATER THAN JUNE 1
or your lunch orders WILL BE CANCELLED. Make payments to "Texas District -
LCMS" and mail them to Marlys Erickson, Treasurer, 7900 E Hwy 290, Austin,
Texas 78724.

2. If you HAVE NOT made reservations for your hotel room, please do so
soon.  In order to receive the preferred rates of $96/night and assure room
availability you MUST RESERVE A ROOM BY MAY 23! Rooms MAY be available after
that date, but only at a much higher cost (ca. $219/night).

3. IF YOU HAVE MADE HOTEL RESERVATIONS please double check the dates you
have selected to stay at the hotel. Many of you have registered to arrive on
Wednesday, June 21 although the first activities for the general public on
Thursday are the Open Hearings at 3:00 pm, and Opening Worship at 8:00 pm.
If you have a room reserved for June 21 and you do not show up, your credit
card WILL BE CHARGED $96.00!

Please take note of these important items and act quickly. Thank you so
much!

Pastor Rick Pfaff, Registrar  

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RANDOM TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS IN MAY AND JUNE ASK ABOUT CHURCH WORKER
INDEBTEDNESS 

Confidential Survey Will Query Random LCMS Rostered Church Workers about
Indebtedness

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is conducting an in-depth study on the
indebtedness of LCMS church workers and its impact on their lives. The
Commission on Ministerial Growth and Support created a task force called the
Economic Vitality Action Team to head the study. Results of this nationwide
research will be used in developing potential solutions to this ongoing
issue: financial concerns among rostered church workers. 

"We want to better serve our church workers," says Merle Freitag, President
of the Lutheran Church Extension Fund - one of the LCMS organizations
funding the study. "We want to find ways to reduce the financial worries of
these servants, so they will have more time to focus on their ministries,
families, and future." 

The telephone survey is being conducted by Behavior Research Center of
Arizona throughout May and June 2006. Church workers will be randomly
selected from the Synod's more than 20,000 ministers, teachers, and other
lay workers. Since the sample is small (1,000 interviews), organizers are
asking that selected interviewees participate if called upon to do so. 

"The LCMS needs the input and ideas of each and every selected church worker
in order to realize the full value of this project," says Freitag. "All
responses are completely confidential and anonymous, and we hope church
workers take this unique opportunity to help the LCMS in its planning
efforts related to this issue."

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CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY AUSTIN GRADUATION - MAY 13

Concordia University at Austin will honor over 200 graduates at the 10:00
a.m. Baccalaureate Service and 2:00 p.m. Commencement ceremonies this
Saturday, May 13 at Riverbend Centre, 4214 Capitol of Texas Highway in 
Austin.

Rev. Michael Mattil, Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Denison, Texas, is the
Baccalaureate preacher.  Rev. Mattil and his wife, Cheryl, (nee Thiele) are
both Class of '78 Alumni of Concordia Austin and the parents of 2006
Concordia Austin DCE graduate, Bethany; Rachel, DCE '04; and current student
Leah.

The Commencement speaker is the Honorable Texas State Senator John Cornyn of
San Antonio.

For more information about Concordia's Commencement please check out the
Concordia Website http://www.concordia.edu/

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"Love Completes the Mission"- Armed Forces Sunday, May 21

LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces theme for this year's Armed Forces Sunday
is "Love Completes the Mission." God's love in Christ completes His mission
to the entire creation, both to people and things. In Christ we have come to
know that love and we are part of a New Creation. We now live to share the
love showered on us by God's grace. Through us that love is available to all
people of the world as God's love in Christ provides a bridge of peace.   
There are nearly 45,000 Lutherans serving in today's military, many of them
deployed, away from home and family and serving in harm's way. They are an
important part of our Christian family and we dare not forget them in their
difficult hours.

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has provided ministry to military
personnel since the days of the Civil War. Presently, Ministry to the Armed
Forces supports 80 active duty chaplains and 110 reserve and guard chaplains
serving military personnel throughout the world.

For more than 60 years, the ministry has maintained a "Ministry-by-Mail"
program for our military members, sending Christ-centered literature to
thousands in uniform every quarter. They also supply LCMS chaplains with
special pastoral materials to enhance their ministries and provide them with
much-needed opportunities for periodic spiritual renewal.

Find additional resources or to learn more about LCMS World Mission's
Ministry to the Armed Forces. 

Visit http://www.lcmsworldmission.org/armedforces or send an e-mail to
lcmschaps at lcms.org.

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LUTHERANS FOR LIFE sets 2006 conference to attract more families

Lutherans For Life (LFL) has moved its annual national conference from fall
to summer this year -- July 14-16 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- to make it easier
for whole families to attend.

Registration is open now, by mail or online.  More information is available
on the web site:

www.lutheransforlife.org/2006_conference_home.htm,

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FOR YOUR CALENDAR:

MORE CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY AUSTIN DATES 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame - June 18th 

Make plans now to spend Father's Day afternoon at the Annual Concordia
Alumni and Friends Take Me Out to the Ballgame Event at the Dell Diamond in
Round Rock, Sunday, June 18th.  Concordia will again team up with co-sponsor
Thrivent for this special event.  

The $15.00 cost includes:
2:30 p.m. All-American Picnic 
Ticket to the 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Round Rock Express vs New Orleans
Zephers ball game 

An Event Day T-shirt 

For tickets to this special event, please contact Suzanne,
suzanne.mueller at concordia.edu, 486-1193, Carey, carey.whitten at concordia.edu,
486-1191, or your representative in an Austin area Lutheran Church beginning
next Sunday. 

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We Dig Caving - Do You? 

A very special Alumni and Friends Day at the Concordia owned Friesenhahn
Cave outside San Antonio, 5 miles north of 1604 off highway 281,  is being
sponsored by the Concordia Alumni Association and Biology Professor Larry
Meissner, Saturday, July 15th.

The day's activities beginning at 9:00 a.m. will include an overview of the
ecology of the ice-age, sifting, in-cave digging, fossil identification,
exploring paleontologist methods, and mapping quadrants of the area.  Lunch
will be provided and a free-will donation will be taken.  

To donate to the Friesenhahn Cave Project please contact Dr. Larry Meissner
at

 Laurence.meissner at concordia.edu, 512-486-1115. 
Interested in a Day at the Cave?  Contact Suzanne.mueller at concordia.edu,
486-1193 or carey.whitten at concordia.edu, 486-1191. 

For more Concordia-Austin information check the website at www.concordia.edu

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TEXAS DISTRICT CONVENTION

The links for registration may be found at:
http://www.txdistlcms.org/convention/

Make your hotel reservations now!

Claudetta Theiss
Office of President Jim Linderman
7900 E. Highway 290
Austin, TX 78724
1/800/951-3478
1/512/926-4272 
1/512/926-1006(Fax)