From Pastor

August 2026

From the Pastor:  :  “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:20–22

This was the theme for the 69th Regular Convention of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod held July 18-23, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. I was the pastoral delegate from our Circuit 5 here in SE Kansas. The days were spent from 8am-6pm in the convention hall opening each morning with worship, hearing from special guests and ministries in the LCMS, voting for candidates for many offices and voting for resolutions to help govern our church body.

Here are a few of the highlights from the resolutions that were passed:

· Declare Altar/Pulpit Fellowship with Lutheran Church of Bolivia

· To keep the current process of electing the Synod president prior to the convention by all congregations.

· To bring back a Commisssion on Worship that had been taken away in 2010.

· The Public Reading of Scripture in Public Worship was referred to the Synod seminary faculties, the LCMS Council of Presidents and input by the CTCR to give an answer 6 months prior to next convention.

· To give thanks for the ministry to the Armed Forces.

There were a lot more resolutions passed, in fact not 1 was rejected (some were not voted on) from all 10 committees. There was a lot of great debate for/against the proposed resolutions and it showed me that our church body is interested in making itself better and more relevant in our world today.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience and was honored to be chosen to represent SE Kansas. The love that you all have for our church is the same that all LCMS Lutherans have for theirs. Please continue to not only pray for our local church but for the national church body as well. If you’d like to see all the proceedings from the convention you can find it here: www.lcms.org/convention/national.

 BTW, the next one will be in summer 2029… place TBD.In His Service,