Dear Fellow Workers:
I have just returned from a trip to South Korea and I bring you greetings from Pastor Kim and the members of East Seoul Canaan Lutheran Church. What a joy it is to see fellow Christians in our missions working together to further Christ’s kingdom among many who have come from non-Christian backgrounds - in the case of South Korea, many of Buddhist background. May we continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in our mission fields.

News from Korea
Over 140 were in attendance at the Palm Sunday service at East Seoul Canaan Lutheran Church. Your president preached the sermon for the Communion service. Our Missions Counselor, Rev. Steven Petersen, conducted a Bible class that day on the teachings of Law and Gospel; he also showed pictures of our mission activities around the world. During the service, Mr. Dennis Morrison and his wife, Delores, were installed as teachers for the English school. All of the students in the congregation are preparing to attend area Lutheran high schools of our fellowship in the USA.

Installation of the Morrisons in Korea on Palm Sunday: Pictured above (left to right) are: Rev. Young Ha Kim, Delores Morrison, Pres. Moldstad, Dennis Morrison, Rev. S. Petersen.
 
Students from East Seoul Canaan routinely enjoy soccer during their breaks. (Needless to say, your president served as goalie for the losing side!)

Convention Registration
Please remember that convention registrations were due April 1. The forms are available on the synod website: http://www.evangelicallutheransynod.org/President/news/general/convention07.

Lutheran Schools of America (LSA)
Thrivent now matches contributions to Lutheran Schools of America! All current members of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans can complete and submit a "GivingPlus Matching Gift Form" along with charitable gifts up to $600. All gifts will be matched in accordance with "GivingPlus" matching guidelines. Checks should be made out to "Lutheran Schools of America" and submitted with the matching gift form. The gift and form may be sent to "LSA--6 Browns Court--Mankato, MN 56001."

Some of the plans for the 2007 Convention
Dates: June 17-21
Theme: "Declare His Praises!"
Essayist: Rev. Erwin Ekhoff
Sectional discussions: organized by our Board for Evangelism; Rev. Matt Crick, chm.
Chaplain: Rev. Timothy Hartwig
Synod Sunday Service: Rev. Robert Harting, preacher; Karl Anderson, liturgist
Wednesday Communion Service: Steve Petersen, preacher; David J. Webber, liturgist
Anniversary Service Speaker: Ted Gullixson
Devotions: Chris Dale, Bernt Tweit, Aaron Hamilton, Matthew Brooks, Mark Rogers
Convention painting: Rev. Don Moldstad
Convention offering designations:
    Synod Sunday Service - offering for the Evangelical Lutheran Synod
    Seminary Graduation Service - offering for our Bethany Lutheran Seminary
    Wednesday Communion Service - offering for the Board for Evangelism
Tuesday evening: Paul Gerhardt Hymn Festival (7:30 p.m.)
Monday evening: Cross-stitch annual meeting (7:00 p.m.)

Anniversaries of Ordination
The Anniversary Service will be held Tuesday, June 19. The following anniversaries of ordination will be observed:
The Rev. Paul Madson, 55 years
The Rev. Emil Stubenvoll, Sr., 55 years
The Rev. Robert Carter, 50 years
The Rev. Herbert Larson, 50 years
The Rev. Gregory Haugen, 25 years
The Rev. Bradley Homan, 25 years
The Rev. Gregory Sahlstrom, 25 years
The Rev. David Thompson, 25 years

Rev. Thomas Zeller successfully completed his colloquy for membership in the ELS on March 20, 2007. Pastor Zeller serves congregations two congregations in northern MN (Immanuel at Radium and Our Savior at Roseau). Members who served with the president on the Colloquy Committee were: Rev. John Petersen, Prof. Juul Madson, Vice Pres. Glenn Obenberger, Mr. Paul Tweit, Mr. David Ewert and Pres. Gaylin Schmeling.

Ukrainian Pastor Mentor
The Rev. Richard Warnke has accepted a call from Thoughts of Faith to become the new pastor mentor in Ukraine. Pastor Warnke and his wife Sally will arrive in Kyiv early this summer. His background, training and experience should be a valuable asset to the work of the Lord carried out in Ukraine through the Ukrainian Lutheran Church.

River Heights Lutheran Church in East Grand Forks, MN, is served by Pastor Nile Merseth who is pictured here on the right with his wife, Lynn. On Sunday, March 11, your president had the opportunity to preach and conduct a presentation on the work of our synod. About seventy-five people were in attendance at the service.

 

Members of our synod’s Doctrine Committee: (left to right) Prof. Juul Madson, Pres. Gaylin Schmeling (chm.), Rev. David J. Webber, Rev. Thomas Rank, Mr. Paul Tweit, Prof. Allen Quist, and Rev. Paul Zager (sec., who was unavailable for the picture). Prof. Juul Madson is going off the committee this year after having served faithfully in this capacity for 38 years (including the years during the time of his presidency of the synod).

 

Address Changes
Harry Bartels: hkbartels(at)mac.com

Prayer Requests
Vangeleen Wiederhoeft, the mother of our synod treasurer, Keith Wiederhoeft, had a tumor found at her last doctor visit. It tested positive for cancer. May our Lord’s providential hand of mercy and healing rest upon her.

We continue to pray for Christy and Declan Asher Johnson (daughter and grandson of Pastor William Mack). Declan was born on March 11 with various complications (low blood sugar, a tumorous growth and low body temperature, etc.). We ask for your continued prayers for him; our new brother in Christ. We also praise God for Declan and for granting continued life to Christy.

Rev. Wayne Schultz, a WELS mission counselor who has been a presenter in the past at our Home Missions Seminar, is recovering after a major surgery called a pneumonectomy.

President’s Activities
March 27-April 5 - trip to our mission in South Korea
April 12-13 - Thoughts of Faith, Madison, WI
April 22 - Preach at Saude and Jerico, Lawler, IA
April 23 - Iowa Pastoral Conference
April 24-25 - Board for Evangelism
April 24-25 - Great Lakes Conference
April 25 - Board for Foreign Missions
May 2-3 - West Coast Conference
May 4 - Doctrine Committee
May 8 - Board of Trustees
May 10 - Seminary Call Service
May 11 - Bethany Lutheran College Graduation
May 14-15 - Board of Regents
May 23-24 - Circuit 9 Conference

God’s blessings to all of you in the joyous resurrection of His Son,

John A. Moldstad