A Piece of the Action:
“Your Missions Offerings at Work in Iowa District East!”
St. Paul Lutheran Chapel and University Center
Greetings in Jesus’ name from St. Paul Lutheran Chapel and University Center, your LCMS Campus Ministry at the University of Iowa.
At St. Paul we realize that some things change and some things never change.
We’re undergoing a few changes right now. The biggest change is that our Director of International Student Ministry (ISM), Rebekah Thompson, will be leaving us this fall.
Rebekah is getting married and moving to Kentucky where her husband works as an assistant professor in the school of public health at the University of Western Kentucky. Rebekah’s last day with us will be October 6, 2006.
On October 29, we will welcome Deaconess Intern Leonarda Decker to the Chapel. Leonarda will take over the Director of ISM duties. Leonarda is a native of Lithuania, but received her deaconess training at the Fort Wayne seminary. She is married to Robert and together they have a son named Sebastian. We look forward to welcoming Leonarda.
There are lots of new people at the Chapel. This year we have been in contact with over 100 incoming freshmen and transfer students. Our visitation team has been very busy making calls on these students and the students who attend the chapel. In addition to that, our international student ministry continues to grow as we welcome students from all over the world into the chapel to practice English, learn about life in America and, most of all, to hear the story of Jesus.
We have changed our Wednesday night Bible study format from a time of devotion to a free wheeling discussion group. Each Wednesday we pick a topic and discuss it. First we talk
about what we think about the topic. Then we look at what the Scriptures and Lutheran Confessions have to say about it and then we compare the two and see where our thinking needs to be adjusted. We’ve had some great discussions and a lot of fun.
We’ve got the new hymnal. Lutheran Service Book arrived a few days before the start of school and we have been using it ever since. The students really like the traditional worship and the ease of use of the new hymnal.
Those are some of the changes but some things never change. We still gather for the Divine Service on Sunday morning at 10:30 AM. We still confess our sins and receive Jesus forgiveness. We preach, speak, and hear Jesus Christ and him crucified, dead, buried and risen for us and our forgiveness. We eat his body and drink his blood. Christ still does His thing
among us and in us and through us and that never changes.
Peace,
Rev. W. Max Mons, S.T.M.
St. Paul Lutheran Chapel at The University of Iowa.
IDE Missions Bulletin Insert 8/28/06
