The March issue of the IDE TODAY Is Arriving Right Now!

Thank you to everyone who submitted and article or picture.

The next issue will be in May. Please send us your news and pictures by May 1st--especially you congregations which were not featured in this past issue. We want to hear from you!

So far, the corrections to be made to the March issue include:

1. Of course, Rev. Scheer has retired from the University Hospitals and should not be contacted any longer concerning hospital visits.

2. The correct web address for College Hill Lutheran Church is www.college-hill.org.

Our apologies for any inconveniences these errors have cost our readers.

Rev. Harold Scheer's Retirement Open House at Our Redeemer in Iowa City on March 4th

District President Gary Arp

Work on the Palanga project progresses slowly now. Earlier this year, Lithuania also experienced a mild winter. However, in an e-mail from the end of January, Pastor Petkunas said that winter had finally arrived with plenty of cold weather and snow. Under these harsh conditions work has slowed but continues. It is expected that the roof will be completed soon. Please continue to keep Pastor Petkunas, his family and the Palanga project in your prayers. A few weeks ago I mailed a DVD on the Palanga Project to each congregation. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, ask your pastor.

Lutherans In Wittenburg

Did you know that there is no Lutheran Church in Wittenberg, the home of the Lutheran Reformation? That will change, however, this month. Rev. Torgerson, a pastor in SELK, a Lutheran Church in Germany with whom we are in fellowship, will be starting a mission in Wittenberg. The mission is a joint effort between LCMS World Relief and LCMS World Missions. The Central Illinois District contributed 25,000 euros to purchase a building. Here is another worthwhile mission we can support.

Fiscal Planning Conference

On February 8-9, Treasurer Lois Mulbrook, Rev. Vic Young, Rev. Dean Rothchild and I attended a Synodical Fiscal Planning Conference. In the coming months you will be hearing some specifics about the financial situation of District and Synod. Some very interesting things came to light in the conference. For example, over the past two decades membership in the LCMS has declined. During the same period offerings from God’s people for all purposes have gone up rather dramatically! However, some of the offerings have been given to specific projects, which means the money is restricted for that purpose. This has affected the amount of unrestricted dollars available to the congregations. In addition, many congregation are giving directly to specific mission projects, which in turn affects the amount that is sent on to the Districts. Here in IDE the amount received from congregations to fund District and Synod have remained about the same since 1980. According to a Web site I located through Google, from 1980 to 2006 the inflation rate was 148%! As a result, we have made several rather dramatic cuts in the District office and we have cut what we send on to Synod. The Synodical Fiscal Planning Conference was called because both Districts and Synod are reaching a crisis point.

A Seminary in Crisis

Concordia Publishing House has recently published a book entitled A Seminary in Crisis, by Dr. Paul A Zimmerman. I highly recommend this book to both pastors and lay people. It would be a great addition to a church library. Dr. Paul Zimmerman and Dr. Karl Barth are the only two surviving members of a task-force appointed by Synodical President J.A.O. Preus to investigate allegations of false doctrine at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in the 1970s. It is a remarkable part of LCMS history and holds some important lessons for us today. It is a great blessing that the LCMS survived that crisis as a confessional Lutheran Church and Concordia Seminary has recovered from that most difficult time.

IDE Early Childhood Conference

Our District Early Childhood Conference was held at Little Lambs Christian Preschool in Hiawatha on January 27. Pastor Daird Korth opened the day with devotions. Peggy Seeber and her staff did an outstanding job of planning and hosting the event. We had 62 directors, teachers and aides registered. God gave us a beautiful winter day. We had the following presenters:

Angela Naeve has been involved in a traveling music ministry for 15 years and writes and records original songs. She shared her ideas for teaching Bible verses through music. We all had a chance to sing the songs and do the actions. She had books and CD’s on display for sale.

The staff of Little Lambs had made several items out of boxes and paper-mache. We were told how to make the items and some things to watch out for. Everyone was amazed by the igloos made from plastic milk containers.

Dr. Kara Heying is a Fellowship trained Developmental Optometrist with the Children’s Eye Center in Cedar Rapids. She discussed the signs and symptoms to look for when suspecting a child may suffer from an undiagnosed vision related learning disorder. She explained various disorders and gave examples of what to look for.

We closed the day with a presentation by Karen McCaa, who is an inspirational speaker, life coach, and counselor. One of her current clients is the Nike Company. She shared stories from her own life and from the lives of various athletes.