St. Paul's Chaple in Iowa City

Welcome to St. Paul’s Lutheran Chapel

Opening Weekend 2007

Opening weekend at the University of Iowa greeted new students with sunshine and cooler temperatures. The weather provided the perfect backdrop as the students, staff, and congregation of St. Paul’s Lutheran Chapel welcomed both internationals and Americans to Iowa City.


The work began on Thursday, August 23. The Peer Ministry team assembled for a BBQ and planning session. They finalized details of outreach events while munching on burgers, chips, melon, and cookies. It became readily apparent that the next three days were going to be a lot of work but a lot of fun.

The first event of the weekend was the International Student Ministry (ISM) dinner. Deaconess Intern Leonarda Decker secured Pavilion 3 in Upper City Park, and at 5:00 PM on Friday the 24, international students and the ISM core of volunteers got together for food and fellowship. It was great time. Many new faces were in the group, which is always exciting!



On Saturday the Peer Ministry team loaded their backpacks with 500 bags of M&M’s bearing a Chapel information sticker. Each bag of candy had the Chapel address, phone number, and worship schedule. The team headed off to the dorms, handing out M&M’s to new students and their families and inviting folks to join us on Sunday.

On 9:00 A.M. Sunday, the Peer Ministry team and members of the permanent congregation arrived at St. Paul’s and started hauling tables, chairs, and sun shelters out to the parking lot. The annual Welcome to the U BBQ is a favorite tradition of all the chapelites. Together we joined in celebrating the Divine Service, and after the worship, the crowd headed out to meet and greet the new students and enjoy a picnic lunch in the parking lot. There was much joy and feasting, and very little food was left by the time the picnic was through!

We had a great start. We’re looking forward to a great year.

Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Ansgar

Wanted to purchase:

5 "Faith Alive" Bibles - Black edition

Like new condition

Contact: Rev. Byron Northwick

Immanuel Lutheran, St. Ansgar

641-713-4782

ilsta@omnitelcom.com

Rev. Dean Rothchild, Assistant to the District President

CAN YOU SAY "WOW"?

Wow! is an expression which we sometimes use when something extraordinary happens. WOW also describes an event which I witnessed recently at Camp Io-Dis-E-Ca.

During this past summer, WOW took place each Thursday evening at Camp. It's a dramatic presentation of the Gospel, using the Camp counselors as actors, narrators, and stage hands. This year the WOW script was written by some of those same counselors. They did an excellent job in putting this together and presenting it to the campers. Let me tell you about it.

I arrived at Camp in the evening just as all the campers were walking down the road to the canoeing pond. They were led by a tour guide, a counselor, who was also serving as the event narrator. The theme for Camp this year was “In the Name.” In the Name of course is a link back to our baptism “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Hustling to catch up to the group, I arrived just as they were presenting Noah and how God brought him and his family through the flood. Peter said: “When the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 3:20-21).

After Noah we met Namaan, who was a leper. In the Scriptures, we read of Namaan, “And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean. So we went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (II Kings 5: 10 & 14). The counselor portraying Namaan dipped himself seven times in the pond, representing the River Jordan, and proceeded to walk out of the water to the words of the above Scriptures. In Baptism we have been cleansed of our sins and forgiven!

We embarked upon a hilly walk to the other side of the pond where we found Jesus standing in the water with John the Baptist. John baptized Jesus and we saw Jesus came up out of the water. I couldn't help but to wonder Where are they going to get a dove? when, lo and behold, a dove appeared, hanging down on a string from a pole being held in the background by one of the counselors. From behind us came the words of the Father, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

We continued our trek around the pond and our eyes were drawn to a hillside across the pond where Jesus was hanging on the cross. We heard Jesus’ say, “I am thirsty,” and saw the sour wine hosted to his mouth. Jesus then cried, “It is finished,” and we saw Him bow His head and gave up [out] His Spirit.

During this whole WOW evening a sense of awe and respect was evidenced. The campers were very quiet. In silence, the group headed up to the campfire area where the last teaching moments of the day took place. Again, the emphasis was upon “The Name and Holy Baptism.” After about 10 minutes of instruction, we headed to the amphitheater area where we met the resurrected Christ Jesus! We closed the WOW event by singing two verses of I Know that My Redeemer Lives!

Now it was time for the evening campfire. (I noticed that a wonderful fire was lit without even using any paper!) We were led in some fun singing, including the German Song which was new to me. The middle aged school campers present that week really enjoyed and connected with the singing. After a brief skit tying in the idea of name, the Pastor of the Week, Rev. Michael Scudder had a few closing remarks and the campfire closed with the singing of a traditional song of Benediction. It truly was a WOW evening at Camp Io-Dis-E-Ca.

I thank God that we have such a fine Christ-centered Camp to the serve the congregations here in Iowa District East. If you have a few extra shekels, there are many worthwhile needs at the camp which could use your support! Your prayers and gifts and labors will help enhance this wonderful outdoor and year-round learning environment.

To God be the glory!

District President Gary Arp's September IDE TODAY Letter

2007 September

To the Saints of Iowa District East:

I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable summer! Marjorie and I have had an enjoyable summer and as I write this we are looking forward to a vacation later in the fall when we will also attend the baptism of our second great-grandchild in Florida, Lord willing.

LCMS 2007 Convention
As I’m sure all of you are aware, the 63rd Convention of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod was held July 14-19 in Houston, Texas. You should have the opportunity to hear a report from you Circuit Delegates sometime in the not too distant future so I will not go into any details about resolutions. Dr. Kieschnick was re-elected by a rather slim majority which indicated once again that we are a divided synod. Anytime votes are taken some win and some lose - that’s the nature of the process. I’m not convinced it’s the best way to “run” a church, but I doubt anyone will come up with an acceptable alternative! There was, however, one person elected by 100% percent of the vote - the treasurer of Synod - he was the only one on the ballot!
Whether or not you are pleased with what the Synod did in convention, the good news is all the delegates went back to their home congregations where the Good News of God’s redeeming love in Christ is proclaimed and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s command!

Palanga Project
Here is the latest report from Pastor Petkunas regarding the progress on the building project:

“The exterior of the church is nearing completion. Within the next several weeks the installation of the exterior insulation and its painting will be completed, and before the end of August, the steeple will be raised and installed on the top of the church tower. Much interior finishing work remains to be done. This decorative work includes the installation of hard wall (gypsum) on walls and ceilings, the construction of some non-weight bearing walls in the interior, and flooring on the second floor. At this point about 70-80 % of the plumbing and electrical work is finished. Most important is the preparation of the building for government inspection. This includes the inspection of all utility work. For this all plumbing, heating, electric, fire and security alarm, ventilation, flooring materials (tile and imitation wood), balconies, etc must be completed... If we are able to submit building governmental for inspection this autumn, we would then be in a position to continue the plastering of the walls and the installation of all necessary internal equipment (lamps, faucets, etc.) and to consecrate building in June-August 2008. Words are inadequate to express the depth of our gratitude for the help that you have given us. The church and welfare center will stand to the glory of God, the welfare of the needy, and the strong bound of brotherly, confessional oneness which binds us together.
Yours in Christ,
Darius Petkunas”

Would you be interested in organizing and/or participating in a work crew? We have one work crew that is preparing to go to Lithuania later in the fall. There will be a good deal of finish work to be done on the inside of the building.

Wittenberg
In the March IDE TODAY, I mentioned that Rev. Torgerson was planning to start a Lutheran Mission in Wittenberg, Germany. There is no Lutheran Church in Wittenberg, the birth place of the Lutheran Reformation! Rev. Torgerson sent me an e-mail giving us an update on the progress. Here is a portion of his e-mail:

Now I have a moment to let you know a bit about how things are going in Wittenberg (WB). I've been able to welcome several groups to the city and give them a tour of the local Luther sites. At the beginning of August it was a group of pastors and their wives from the Southern District... Many weeks ago I had tried to arrange for use of the Castle Church for an English communion service -- to my surprise, no, shockingly, the Protestants refused permission to use the building (which is not even church property but belongs to the state). So -- GET THIS -- that afternoon the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod celebrated a Lutheran mass in the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST. MARY in WB !! Conservative Lutherans were refused use of Martin Luther's church for the celebration of the blessed sacrament! Figure that one. But there is good news, too. The building (Old Latin School OLS)has finally been cleared of the junk and debris of decades. It is now almost fun to take groups through there and explain the intent of the WB Project...
Rev. Torgerson

If you get a work crew together to go to Lithuania, you might want to schedule a stop in Wittenberg, Germany to visit the new mission there. I am confident Rev. Torgerson will be happy to give you a tour of the Luther sites.

St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg

A reception was held on Sunday, August 19 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg, honoring Mrs. Janiece Kramer for 10 years of service to the church.

Mrs. Kramer became the Administrator and Preschool teacher of Fun in the Son Daycare and Preschool in June of 1997. During her time as administrator, the congregation built a new facility and moved the daycare from the fellowship hall of the church into the new building adjacent to the church. In the past 10 years, Fun in the Son enrollment has consistently increased, the preschool program has been expanded and new programming has been developed.

The members of St. Paul's thank and praise God for providing such wonderful leadership to our Daycare through her!

Grace Lutheran Church in DeWitt

Rev. Timothy J. Carr was installed as Senior Pastor at Grace, DeWitt at an afternoon "Worship Service of Word and Sacrament" on Sunday, August 19th.

Rev. Garland Gotoski, Grace, DeWitt gave the welcome; Rev. Allan Buss, Immanuel Lutheran, Belevidere, Illinois gave the message; Rev. Michael Vokt, Trinity, Davenport was Liturgist and Rev. Brian Saunders, Our Savior, Muscatine, 2nd Vice-President of Iowa District East, installed Rev. Carr.

Rev. Carr has served, during the last nineteen years, as missionary and pastor of congregations in California, Illinois, Indiana and Texas. He and his wife Catherine ar parents of three children: Eric, at the U. S. Naval Acadmeny; Anna, a senior at Central Community Schools and Michael, a freshman at Central Community Schools, DeWitt.

The congregation hosted a reception in Grace Hall honoring Pastor Carr and his family following the installation. About 250 attended the installation service and almost that many were served at the reception meal.

The installation of Pastor Timothy Carr was a wonderful day for the congregation of Grace Lutheran as they had had a vacancy for nearly two years. The members of Grace Lutheran are very thankful to God for His blessings to them in sending Pastor Carr to shepherd this flock. "To God Be The Glory!"

Risen Christ Lutheran Church in Davenport

Reverend Glen Thomas of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis came to recognize Richard L. Wenz for his service on the St. Louis Seminary Board of Regents. The service was held Sunday, August 19th at Risen Christ Lutheran Church, Davenport. Reverend Thomas thanked Mr. Wenz for his years of service on the Board of Regents, but also recognized his many achievements and honors in his life of Christian service. Mr. Wenz continues to be a valuable asset to the many he serves, and is an example of serving the Lord whole-heartedly!

Pictures: Back row Mrs. & Rev Glen Thomas, Rev Stephen Henderson. Front row Richard L. Wenz, Janet Wenz (From left-right)

From the Sunday Bulletin:

Richard L. Wenz

Mr. Wenz has served many communities, and most recently has served on the Board of Regents at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Today we want to take this special time to recognize and thank Mr. Wenz for all that he has done.

Mr. Wenz was educated in Lutheran schools, attending Trinity Lutheran School for his elementary education in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Concordia High School in Seward, Nebraska. Mr. Wenz graduated from Concordia Teachers’ College in Seward, Nebraska in 1956. He then went on to get his masters degree at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.

Upon graduating from Concordia Teachers’ College, Mr. Wenz began a long and very distinguished career as an educator. He served as a teacher at Concordia in Maplewood, Missouri, principal at St. John’s Hannibal, Missouri, principal at St. John’s in Ellisville, Missouri, and principal and church administrator at Trinity in Davenport, Iowa. At Risen Christ, Mr. Wenz has served in many capacities including Coordinator of Older Adult Ministry, Church Administrator, member of various boards, and is currently serving on the Little Blessings Daycare Board.

Mr. Wenz has served several districts of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in a distinguished manner. He served the Missouri District as School Committee Chairman, Patterns of Performance Committee, Teachers Conference President, and St. Louis Principals Conference President. He has served Iowa District East as School Committee Chairman, Board of Directors, School Evaluator, Parish Education Committee Advisor, Board of Mission Chairman, Salary Committee Chairman, and is currently on the District Goals Committee.

Mr. Wenz has served our Synod on two convention floor committees (1969-1971), Department of Lutheran Elementary School Principal Program Committee, Evaluation Team for Concordia, Seward, Doctrinal Review Committee, Treasurer of Lutheran Education Association, Planning Council for Mission and Ministry, LCMS Reconciler, LCMS 150^th Anniversary Committee, Commission on Ministerial Growth and Support, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Board of Regents.

Mr. Wenz has not just served our church, but our communities as well. He served as a School Evaluator for National Blue Ribbon School Awards in the US, the Department of Education, the Iowa Department of Education Coordinating Council, and Iowa Governors’ Advisory Council for Non-Public Schools.

Mr. Wenz has been recognized many times, receiving the Alumnus of the Year award from Concordia College in 1987, Iowa District East Exemplary Lutheran Educator in 1988, the United States Department of Education Blue Ribbon School Award in 1990, the National Distinguished Lutheran Principal award in 1993, and the United States Department of Education National Distinguished Principal award in 1993. Mr. Wenz also represented the State of Iowa on a three week visit to schools in the former USSR in 1988.

Mr. Wenz has been an example to all Christians. He has demonstrated what it means to be a man of God through service for others. Mr. Wenz continues to serve the LORD as he volunteers at the Davenport Cancer Center ministering to people as he has done for so many years.

We wish to take this opportunity to say thank you to Richard L. Wenz for the service that words of gratitude could never convey. May God bless those whom he calls to serve; that they may follow the example of Mr. Wenz serving the LORD whole-heartedly!

Thank You

Your Risen Christ Family

September Issue Deadline

The deadline for the printed edition of the September issue of the IDE Today is August 1st.

VBS in Alaska

VBS MISSION TRIP to ALASKA--- 2007

We prayed, planed, prepared, purchased and packed. And on July 27th our eight member VBS Mission Team departed from the Cedar Rapids Eastern Iowa Airport, destination Anchor Point, Alaska. Team members were Jan Basemann, Jackie MacLaren, Alice Hoffmeier, Brad and Rachel Lowery, Irene Reinking (Trinity Lutheran Church, Cedar Rapids), Kristy Jane Reinking (First Lutheran, Cresco), and Tammy Rogers (St Paul Lutheran, Marion).

Since there is no Lutheran church in Anchor Point, Vacation Bible School was held at the Nazarene Church. The nearest LCMS is Faith Lutheran in Homer, about 20 miles north of Anchor Point, at the southern most end of the Alaska road. Pastor Dennis Neals also serves two other small churches in remote areas that are reached only by small plane or boat. We were the only VBS team of any faith in Anchor Point this summer. Vacation Bible School is organized by The Alaska Mission for Christ and provided by volunteers from the lower 48 states for children in the sparsely populated areas. VBS in Alaska is known as The Children's Church.

Thirty-eight children attended VBS this summer. The curriculum used was taken from "Jesus for Kids" distributed by Vision Video, and included "The First Christmas, Jesus the Storyteller, Jesus the Miracle-Worker, Jesus the Healer and The First Easter". The AMC encourages us to present Jesus death and resurrection on the same day so the child hear the complete Gospel Message in case of absence the following day. Along with these Bible Stories, many crafts were provided. Four teenagers attended our Teen Night of Fun, Faith, Food and Fellowship. Bibles were provided by the Trinity Lutheran School Children for all the VBS children and teens.

Many parents and friends of the children attended our closing program. It was amazing to hear the children sing out loud and clear the songs they learned during the week, especially "Jesus Loves Me--This I Know-for the Bible Tells Me So". This is the one song the AMC stresses for us to teach to all VBS children. Also the VBS team, children and parents sang "I Love to Tell the Story-of Jesus and His Love". Through tears, as we sang ,we realized the familiar words now had a clearer and more personal meaning and would be forever embedded in our hearts like never before.

We thank the people of Trinity Lutheran Church and School, Thrivent for Lutherans, and everyone else who joined us in this Amazing VBS Mission with their prayers, financial support and labors of love, as we worked together to share the AMAZING GOSPEL MESSAGE of JESUS LOVE FOR ALL PEOPLE with the people of Alaska.

One little VBS girl, running in the hallway, was asked, "Where are you going so fast?" She replied "I am running away from my Mom. I don't want to go home. I want to stay here all day and all night. It is so much fun."

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

May our AMAZING GOD continue to bless us all!

Anchor Point VBS Team Leader
Irene Reinking 378-0589

The Lutheran Churches of the Quad Cities at the Fair

The Challenge: Create An LCMS Presence at The Great Mississippi Valley Fair in Davenport

In August of last year, John T. Moeller, the Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Davenport ambassador for Lutheran Hour Ministries, was presented with a challenge from his Pastor, Rev. David Gerke. The wording was as follows: “John –Do a Lutheran Laymen’s booth, by youth, at the county fairgrounds next summer.”

That was big challenge.

Receiving the blessings of both Keith Schmidt, President of Iowa East district LLL, and the LLL office in St. Louis, last November Keith Schmidt and John Moeller presented a plan to the area pastors, asking them to encourage as many LCMS entities as possible to join in a fair booth effort and promote the LCMS to the people of the Quad Cities.

It wasn't easy. With the help of a circuit counselor, Rev. Gerke, and a very able and energetic Pastoral Adviser, Rev. Bartels, to keep them on track, the planners worried through all of the the details. As with any new effort, the biggest question concerned the volunteers: Would there be enough--especially youth--and would they actually be there when needed? We wanted as many youth involved as possible, but we knew The National Youth Convention was planned for the same time as our fair.

We shouldn't have worried. On behalf of eighteen different Lutheran entities in our community, the 51 volunteers at the fair booth handed out John 3:16 coins and "salvation bracelets." The workers also distributed hundreds of pamphlets and brochures from the Lutheran Hour Ministries, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and several mission services of our Synod including:

Five LCMS Churches and their Preschools,
Grace Lutheran Mission (Hispanic),
Lutheran Church Deaf Mission,
the Davenport Eastside Mission,
Trinity Lutheran School,
and The Davenport Lutheran Home.

As a nice bonus, the committee in charge of the booth made sure that the volunteers received free passes onto the fair.

One of the surprises: More than 50% of the students and their families from Christ Lutheran high School helped work at the booth.

One of the things that helped the most was a fund raising challenge made to the Lutherans in the area called, “PROVE HIS GRACE.” The cost of operating a booth at the fair was expected to be about $2,000. Everyone was asked to give some of their pocket change to support the project and each congregation pitched in. It went very well.

The Fair is now history and the Lutherans of the Quad Cities are already looking ahead to new opportunities to share the Gospel and themselves with the community around them. What started as an idea shared between one Pastor and one Christian man grew into a project involving dozens of Christians proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their community.

Pictures from Camp IO-DIS-E-CA 2007

The IDE Delegtages to the 2007 LCMS Convention