Training People to Reach Their Own People

Quarterly Publication ____ _______ May 2013

From the Desk of Our President:

Being around for 72 years and serving as a pastor for 45 years allows me to reflect on a “first” in ministry experience! You see,

we at Jesus Is Lord Mission just completed month nine in our fiscal year. In most organizations to which I have belonged, it

would be time for a pep talk. It would be the normal time to give a vision on what could be accomplished if everyone would

dig a bit deeper, making it possible to reach our budgeted goal.

If you recall, our goal for 2012-13 was to provide $191,194 with the hope for a tenth year blessing to add another $10,000 for a

project to be named later. If we were trying to beat a budget, you and I could relax. For at this point in our fiscal year, the

initial goal of $191,194 has been funded 100%. The $10,000 thank offering prayerfully developed into a $62,370 commitment

to the Macau ministry – and you funded this vital ministry 100%! We can sing the doxology that, in addition, we have an

excess of $80,000 to put toward next year’s goals, for which we ask your prayerful support.

So if our Ten Year Thanksgiving goal was to beat a budget, we would have

smashed it to smithereens. BUT, BEATING BUDGETS IS NOT OUR GOAL!

Our goal is “that every knee may bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ

is Lord to the glory of God the Father,” so we are literally working to beat hell!

We have a wonderful opportunity to reach around the world with the great Easter

message of the Risen Christ. Thank you indeed for your partnership in the Gospel.

I am excited to see what the Lord will do in these next three months.

Paul F. Howe 30701 Berry Creek Drive

Chaplain (COL) US ARMY (Retired) Georgetown, Texas 78628

paulfhowe@aol.com (512) 864-2281 or cell (512) 517-6078

____________________________________________________

Lutheran Center for Theological Studies (CLET) in Togo

For several years JILM has supported the CLET as it educates pastors for several

Lutheran church bodies in French-speaking Africa. Some of our members have asked

for more information about the faculty at the school and the history of the Center. Rev.

Tim Heiney and Rev. Fred Reinhardt are missionaries who serve as area facilitators

assisting with CLET. Rev. Heiney has provided us with an example of the importance

of the CLET.

“The first country north of Togo, where the CLET is located, is a French-speaking

country called Burkina Faso. We have never had an LCMS missionary assigned to that

country. During the civil war in Liberia there was a Lutheran Liberian refugee living

in Ghana whose name was Rufus Korma. Rufus was a nurse and got a job with

Doctors Without Borders. They sent him to work in the north of Burkina. Later Rufus

decided that he wanted to plant the Lutheran Church in Burkina.

(Continued on page 3)

A Mission Society ~ Supporting the World Mission of the

Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

…“that every knee may bow and every

tongue confess that JESUS CHRIST IS

LORD….”

Left, Rev. Michael Amegah, President of the

CAC, (Council for the Administration of the CLET), and (right) the Director of the CLET, Rev. Kombondjar Souk.

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Steering Committee Proposed Projects for Jesus Is Lord Mission from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Office of International Mission

Stipends for Probationers-as-Church Planters in Sri Lanka $11,000 New seminary graduates, called “probationers,” are sent on three-year assignments to unchurched areas as

church planters. Most of their work is done on the distant tea plantations. They commute from their homes

daily for three to six hours by bus and on foot. Often, they must stay overnight, since the workers are only

able to meet with them in the late afternoon and evening when the buses no longer run. Each probationer

works on two or three tea plantations. Each has had many baptisms, which are performed by one of the five

ordained Lanka Lutheran Church (LLC) pastors who come once a month to administer Holy Communion.

They provide regular reports on their work to their supervising pastors. There are currently eight

probationers. Funding provides them with a monthly stipend to cover their travel expenses.

Ingria Church Outreach and Support in Russia $44,000 After the fall of communism in Russia, the Lutheran church emerged with the vigor and the strength of new

life. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia (ELCIR), the Lutheran church with which the

LCMS is in fellowship, has reached 15,000 members and 74 congregations, stretching from St. Petersburg

in the west to Krasnoyarsk in central Siberia and areas further east. This project supports the evangelism

activities of leaders from 15 to 20 partner congregations in approximately 40 locations (schools,

orphanages, youth clubs, cultural societies, and local administrative offices). Leaders use lectures, camps,

films, handouts, Bibles, and other Christian resources to take the Gospel to the people in a powerful and

appropriate way. Every event will use a specific method to connect the people with the nearest local

assembly of believers, or gather into small groups for study at the nearest mission education center.

Mission Work in Georgia $33,000 In 2012, the Georgian mission was blessed to register its church with the Georgian government. The church

is officially titled “The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession.” Our two evangelists,

Zviadi Charkviani and Zaza Kiknavelidze, supported by Jesus is Lord Mission Society (JILM), pastor two

congregations. The congregations are located in Kutaisi (approximately 50 parishioners, located in central

Georgia) and Tsvermagala (15 parishioners located on the Black Sea coast). There are also two Bible study

groups located in Batumi (10 kilometers from the Turkish border) and Poti (on the Black Sea coast).

Deaconess Tea Charkviani, Zviadi’s wife, keeps the accounts for the mission. She assists Zviadi by playing

the organ in church and also works with women and children. Tea does all of this without pay, sharing in

her husband’s ministry. In the summer, Zviadi and Tea went to Slovakia in order to learn more about

Sunday school work. Children are beginning to attend the church in Kutaisi, but there is a need to establish

a Sunday school program. Tamazi Tsulukiani also assists in the mission. Tamazi studied for a few years at

the Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia. Zviadi and Tea are

graduates of this theological institute, where Missionary Rev. Matthew Heise often teaches. Tamazi is paid

through the 10 percent tithes of Zviadi and Zaza.

Plans for 2013 include:

Translations – Making Disciples: Baptizing . . . and The Christian Faith by Robert Kolb and The Book

of Concord

Media – seek ways to use the Internet to make Georgians aware of our ministry

Classes – teach the Bethel Bible Course so that it can be duplicated in mission sites

Self-support – explore options as to how we can begin the process of having the mission support itself

(Continued on page 7)

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(Continued from page 1)

Members of the "CLET's Wives School," a "deaconess"

type of training. The teachers are also shown.

The building containing the CLET

faculty offices and meeting rooms.

He registered the church with the government and they

assigned him to the east of the country. This is unusual,

but this is the way the government works in Burkina.

When you register a church with them, they assign to

you where you will begin. Rufus settled in Burkina and

married a Burkinabe wife, and the Lutheran Church was

planted. But Rufus was a nurse, not a pastor.

Around 2008 with the help of an LCMS missionary

learning French in the capitol city of Ouagadougou,

three young men were sent to the CLET. The next year

two more were sent. One of the young men was named

Espoir, which is French for "hope.” He was so on fire

for the Lord that he planted three churches near where

the CLET was located. He finally was reprimanded and

told that he needed to stop planting churches and stick to

his studies, because after he left they would not have

enough pastors to cover all the churches he was starting.

In the winter of 2010 Rufus Korma died of a heart

problem. But later that same year the first three

graduates of the CLET arrived back in Burkina. Without

the training these men had received at the CLET, the

church may well have fallen into confusion. What a

blessing that trained men were ready to take up the task!

The next year two more graduates arrived in the country,

making five vicars in all.

The course at the CLET consists of one novitiate year to

determine if the candidate is truly pastoral material and

if he has the understanding of French and the scholastic

acumen to tackle the true pastoral courses. If he is

invited back, he then has two years of pastoral classes

and a very demanding vicarage. It is impossible to

complete that vicarage in one year. It sometimes takes

up to four. So all five of the men are working on their

vicarages now. But with God's help, soon there will be

three Lutheran pastors, and then five, in a country that

has never had a Lutheran missionary. And there is

another student at the CLET right now. Without the

CLET one can only wonder what state the Lutheran

Church in Burkina would be in, if indeed it continued to

exist there at all.”

CLET photos provided by Rev. Fred Reinhardt.

Rev. Albert

Koutia, his wife,

and their son.

Rev. Koutia is a

theology

professor at the

CLET, and his

wife is a leader

in the “Wives

School.”

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GIFTS TO JILM, Jan. – March., 2013

Individual Donors Erhart and Anita Bauer

William Beckman

Robert and Elaine Besalski

Mike and Joyce Best

Paul and Martha Bickel

Charles and Frieda Birner

Henry Boehm, Jr.

Ralph Bohlmann

David and Dolly Brammer

John and Mary Ann Brown

Murray and Katherine Brown

Betty Buss

Charles and Ruth Collier

Victor and Dorothy Constien

Rubin and Evelyn Covington

Joyce Dickey

Louise Drosche

Arthur and Betty Dueker

Duane and Monica Ehrhardt

John and Elva Ellermann

Ronald and Mildred Fink

Duane and Mary Lee

Florschuetz Robert Foelber

Leland and Jeanette Frese

Elvin and Anna Harms

Walt and Ellen Harms

Harold and Della Heckmann

John and Debra Heckmann

Joyce Heckmann

Harry and Elenora Hobratsch

Raymond and Viola Hobratsch

Alice Hobus

Paul and Lois Howe

Robert and Diane Hrabovsky

Marvin A. Huggins

Richard and Eileen Izzard

Raymond James*

Bill and Emily Johnson

Bonnie Kahle

John and Elaine Kieschnick

Vic and Emilie Kilian

Harry and Gigi Klepper

Glenn and Wanda Kollmeyer

Burnell and Shirley Kraft

Otto and Arlene Kretzmann

Carol Kreyling

Joyce Kuhl

Robert and Eloise Kuhlmann

John and Karen Leicht

Edwin and Marilyn Londenberg

Alfred J. Luehmann

Harry and Gladys Marburger*

Geraldine Mass

Alvin and Dorothy Meissner

Weldon and Jean Mersiovsky

Erwin and Eunice Metz

David and Vivian Meyer

Delbert and Anna Meyer

Janet Meyer

Wilburn and Betty Michalk

Curtis and Marilyn Mickan

Elmo and Frances Miertschin

Don and Monie Muchow

Ray and Joyce Moldenhauer

Orville and Clara Mueller

Paul and Andrea Muench

Roger and Monie Neeb

Mary Neubacher

Larry and Bonnie Noack

Glenn and Sandra OShoney

Orval Oswald

Robert and Joan Petersen

Richard and Cynthia Pieplow

Gilbert and Linda Pingel

Bernie Raabe

Thomas Raabe

Benjamin and Lois Rathgeber

Robert and Barbara Rauh

Eugene and Meriam Reddel

Otto and Rosalie Reinbacher

Frances Riffel

Karl and Shirley Schmidt

Alfred Scholz

Albert and Janet Schudde

Carl and Karol Selle

Al and Ruth Senske

Gene and Florence Snow

Thomas and Carolyn Soltis

Ross Stroh

Carl and Thea Streufert

Bernie and Doris Symm

Leo and Rose Merle Symmank

Hubert and June Temme

Tim and Faye Tognetty

Frederick and Chris Tschulin

John Wackler

Richard and Madge Wagner

Alber and Adeline Walther

Melvin Witt

Sharon K. Zieschang

*Indicates new member

__________________________________________________________________________

In Memory Of

James Barr

Ellford Bigon

Bill Brinlee

George Cage

Eric Domel

Jay Finley

Doris Rader

Ernie Greenwald

Clare Herlein

Don Imboden

Clark Jaeger

Ellen Kissman

David Kuhlmann

Marilyn Kurpius

Donald Leicht

Emma Merz

Evelyn Mueller

Myrna Mumme

Joseph Neubacher

Jim Nicholson

Ron Pettit

Adeline Rizzo

Gretchen Schiefer

Arvilee Schneider

Lois Scholz

Mary Jo Cash Schrieber

Hilda Schroder

Nina Syner

Loretta Wilson

Lucille Wolff

Gilbert Zieschang

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Thrivent Choice Donors

Kerry Baxter

Joyce Best

David Brammer

John Brown

Elsie Cloeter

Bobby and Fay Davis

Sally Gerharter

Edward and Arlene Greenthaner

Walter Harms

John Heckmann

Jimmie and Nancy Horton

Tom and Rebecca Menke

Jean Mersiovsky

Dalton Noack

Glenn OShoney

Neal Rabe

Billy Schaefer

Matthew Sell

Wilbert Sohns

Ruth Zeile

Sharon Zieschang

Congregation and Organization Donors

Austin, TX, Hope Lutheran Church

Austin, TX, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church

Cedar Park, TX, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church--Omega People

Gatesville, TX, St. Paul Lutheran Church

Houston, TX, LWML of Pilgrim Lutheran Church

Killeen, TX, Grace Lutheran Church

Lago Vista, TX, Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church

Uvalde, TX, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

Walburg, TX, Zion Lutheran Church

In Honor Of Bettie Horn Bendewald (honoring her mission work)

Concordia, Austin (60th Anniversary of Class of 1953)

Bruce Collier (birthday)

Mr. and Mrs. Rudie Mitschke (50th Wedding Anniversary)

Milton Arldt (80th birthday)

Deanne Noack (75th birthday)

Curtis and Kathy Hehman (40th Wedding Anniversary)

JILM Newsletter Editorial Staff

Joyce Best Barbara Bielss John Brown Roger Neeb Dalton Noack Glenn O’Shoney

Steering Committee

Paul Howe, Pres. (Pastor) Wilbern Michalk, VP/Sec. (Pastor) Alber Walther, Treas. (Layperson) Curtis Mickan (Layperson) Mary Schumann (Layperson) Joyce Best (Newsletter Editor) Alvin Meissner (Pastor) Mark Dankis (Pastor) Bettie Horn Bendewald (Layperson)

JILM Volunteer Coordinator

Dalton Noack

JILM Website Manager

Larry Noack

JILM Website P.R. Material Manager

Betty Liese

Membership

672 Families and Organizations

Contact JILM

PO Box 11 Walburg, TX 78673 Paulfhowe@aol.com

JILM website: www.jilmission.org

May God continue to bless you as you share your gifts with the Jesus Is Lord Mission

to spread the message of the Risen Christ!

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All members are invited to attend the JILM annual meeting at 9 a.m. on Thursday, June 6, at Zion Lutheran Church in Walburg. It will be a

business meeting only, with no lunch served.

The Steering Committee is working to schedule an event for all members in the fall, probably October, to meet Rev. Michael Wu, LCMS missionary in Macau. Rev. Wu will be visiting in Texas to inform

congregations and mission-minded individuals about his work in Macau. The Steering Committee hopes to have a definite date and

time to announce by the time the August JILM Newsletter is published.

Volunteer Coordinator Report – Dalton Noack

Thank you for taking the time to vote and send your signed ballot in the JILM envelope by

June 1, 2013. JILM is blessed to save on postage by including the ballot information with this

newsletter.

JILM is blessed through Terry Biesboer, our relationship holder with LCMS Office of

International Mission. He and his team are very helpful in efforts to serve you, the JILM members, with accurate

information relating to the projects JILM members adopt each year.

Thanks to everyone who shares items that need coordinating. Suggestion or questions that help strengthen our JILM

ministry are always welcome. Two points of contact are email at dndnoack@gmail.com or through calls to 512-

569-0631.

Thanks to Thrivent and JILM members who have committed to place their

Thrivent Choice Dollars toward God’s mission supportive of the JILM

adopted projects.

JILM Financial Report, January-March, 2013 Balance for LCMS Ministry, 12/31/2012 67,290.25* Gifts and interest received 1/1/2013-3/31/2013 26,672.87 Project Support, 1/1/2013-3/31/2013

CLET (100% funded of $100,579 commitment) India Probationer Stipends (100% funded of $42,000 commitment) Eurasia (100% funded of $10,400 commitment) Philippine Theological (100% funded of $7,875 commitment) New Guinea Bible School (100% funded of $8,400 commitment) New Guinea Theological (100% funded of $10,500 commitment) Sri Lanka Probationer (100% funded of $11,340 commitment) Macau-China Ev. Luth. Church Taiwan (100% funded of $62,370 commitment)

Expenses, 1/1/2013-3/31/2013 -3,208.17 Ending funds for LCMS Ministry, 3/31/2013 90,754.95* *Includes $6,000 in Thank Offering gifts re-designated for the Macau project, disbursed 4/1/2013. Contributed to date (since 2002): $1,962,582.11.

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(Continued from page 2)

CELC Missionary in Greater China $67,220 In partnership with the China Evangelical Lutheran Church (Taiwan), this project supports the overall

effort for Lutheran training and materials in China by sending Rev. Michael Wu to work with the LCMS

Greater China team based in Hong Kong. Rev. Wu trains lay leaders, teachers, and pastors in rural and

provincial Bible training centers. He also supports the development of Lutheran theological training

materials in the Chinese language and equips local Chinese-speakers to write them.

Recently, Rev. Wu taught at a Bible Training Center. He taught students at the center, but also focused on

equipping the teachers at the center to better understand Law and Gospel and see Christ as the central

message. This center is preparing to send workers to a nearby city of 8.5 million to start congregations at

the universities and in the central neighborhoods. Funding for this project will provide Rev. Wu’s support

package as well as his travel to the Bible Training Centers.

Lutheran Center for Theological Studies (CLET) in Togo $61,908 The Lutheran Center for Theological Studies (CLET) in Togo serves to educate pastors for Lutheran church

bodies all through French-speaking Africa, including Togo, Benin, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso,

Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Seminary students need to be supported for

visits back to their sending church body for practical experience and meeting the spiritual needs of their

emerging church body. In addition, there are book supply and health care costs. Seminary support will be

handled differently this year. Students who apply for and receive scholarships to the seminary have, in their

scholarship packet, money that covers not only their seminary expenses, but also the expenses of the CLET.

This alleviates a separate project for the CLET since all operating expenses are included in the seminarian’s

scholarship.

Coordinating Center for Theological Studies (CCTS) in Sierra Leone $12,495 The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sierra Leone (ELCSL) was planted by LCMS missionaries in the

1980s and has struggled through civil war and adversity. The ELCSL currently has 8,882 members in 135

congregations. The ELCSL also reaches out through 32 outstations and 18 schools and a number of

students at their pastoral formation training center in Jembe. This project supports 12 students enrolled in

pastoral studies at the CCTS which prepares pastors for service in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Funds are used

for student transportation, meals, materials and books, and center security.

New Mission in Greater China $14,960 Through a partnership with the Lutheran Church—Hong Kong Synod (LCHKS), the LCMS, and Concordia

English Center (CEC) in Macau, there is renewed vigor for the church planting efforts in Macau. Vicar Dan

Ho has been sent by the LCHKS to lead the Concordia Preaching Station as the outreach efforts of LCMS

missionaries and local Lutherans work toward starting a new congregation. Vicar Ho is sent to deepen the

connection to the church with those who are reached through the efforts of CEC, the missionaries, the local

deaf fellowship, and others. He leads Bible study, catechism classes, and worship in Cantonese (with

translation to Mandarin, English, and Macau sign language when necessary). The project will support a

portion of Vicar Ho’s salary and benefits and travel for his work with the church plant. In the fall of 2013,

an LCMS ordained missionary will also arrive in Macau to work alongside Vicar Ho and support the efforts

of the LCHKS to start this new congregation.

Local Church Initiatives in Cambodia $16,500 As the LCMS continues God’s mission in Cambodia, one of the greatest tasks is to train and equip local

pastors and other church leaders. The goal of the Pastor and Lay Training project is to help leaders of the

Cambodian church grow in their knowledge of the Scriptures and their ability to discern the Word of God.

Along with the Bible, Lutheran doctrine will also be taught, using the small catechism. Training will not

only take place in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, but also in Ratanakiri province near the

Vietnamese border. Through this training, the LCMS will reach the Khmer majority in Cambodia, along

with the Jerai, Nhoun, Tpoun and Karen minority groups.

TOTAL AMOUNT NEEDED TO FUND ALL PROJECTS: $261,083

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.

RETURN SERVICES REQUESTED

10 YEARS OF SHARING CHRIST IN 27 NATIONS

Afghanistan (1 year) Argentina (1 year) Chile (2 years) China (1 year) Cambodia (2 years) Dominican Republic (2 years) East Africa (select nations, 1 year) Georgia (3 years) Ghana (3 years) Guinea (4 years) Honduras (1 year) Hong Kong (1 year) India (8 years) Kazakhstan (1 year) Kyrgyzstan (2 years) Nigeria (4 years) Pakistan (1 year) Papua New Guinea (3 years) Peru (1 year) Philippines (4 years) Russia (2 years) Sri Lanka (7 years) Sudan (1 year) Togo, West Africa (2 years) Turkey (1 year) USA (4 years) Vietnam (1 year)

Rev. Michael Wu leads worship. Rev. Wu works with the LCMS team based in Hong Kong. Rev. Wu trains lay leaders, teachers, and pastors in rural and provincial Bible training centers.