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.
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.
