American Lutheran Roots

The first two weeks of August are always blacked out region-wide as far as events including but not limited to volunteer teams on account of a regional conference that annually brings all 129 missionary personnel (called workers, spouses, and children) in LAC together. Instead of gathering at a beach resort this year, we headed to the vacation hotspot known as Concordia Seminary, St. Louis to explore our American Lutheran roots!

This was my view of Werner Auditorium for the on-campus keynotes. 

Missionaries were encouraged to have lunch with our gift exchange partners on Day 1, Tuesday. I gave the Littig family, serving in Mexico, a bottle of local (St. James) wine, and they gave me a handmade nativity set.

A pop-up Ziggi's coffee cart after lunch injected some fun - and caffeine - into the start of a long week.

The conference is always a working trip for me, attending to the volunteers who give of their time to help care for our ~50 missionary kids (MKs). From a former missionary team leader to two MK alumni, this year's baker's dozen made my job easy.

PJ twinning with Angie (PR) when the fire alarm sounded at 1 am!

Day 2 saw us trek about 2 hours south of St. Louis to Altenburg, MO. The staff of both the Lutheran Heritage Center and Trinity Lutheran Church treated us to a history talk, free time to explore the museum and grounds, and a Divine Service using a chalice brought by some of the first German Lutheran settlers, with lunch catered by a local pub. Even seven years later, Gerard (pictured) remembered me from when I presented at Trinity in April 2018.

New friends at a "REMEMBER, REPENT, REJOICE and REFILL!" ladies' cocktail/mocktail party on the hotel patio.

Day 3: "On the road again...I just can't wait to get on the road again..."

Reuniting with former missionary Courtney (far L) at the LCMS International Center!

The entire building was invited to chapel in Spanish.

Rev. Dr. Larry Rast was back in the hot seat during a lunch n' learn. Our caterer was on Latin American time, so in reality we "learned" and then "lunched."

We held our 2nd of three Divine Services at Historic Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis's Soulard neighborhood later that afternoon. Their chalice was even older and glittered with inlaid white sapphires.

SRO for a short presentation before a cocktail party hosted by Concordia Historical Institute Thursday evening, the first event for which we were joined by ~50 LAC missionary alumni.

Missionaries and OIM staff that help send volunteers around the region. We can't wait until Makia joins the ranks!

Current and former LAC missionaries after chapel on the final day of the conference.

From the moment the conference chair assigned me the job of sourcing selected meals/snacks, I was on a mission to represent my city. The crown jewel of my efforts might have been Pretzel Boys for Friday's coffee & fellowship on the plaza.

Friday afternoon featured 30 min. speaker segments representing the past 50 years of missions in LAC, by decade. The Rev. James & Deac. Christel Neuendorf (2010s) asked those in the room who were on the field in 2010 to stand and sing stanza 1 of my favorite Himnario Luterano hymn. My GEO term in El Paso meant that included me! Watching the crowd grow as James & Christel added a year with each passing stanza gave me goosebumps.

The Rev. Benjamín Flores highlighted the impact of volunteers in his "present day" talk.

Various thank yous and recognitions preceded the closing Divine Service and celebratory BBQ dinner. The Floreses and I have each served for 7 years!

And that's a wrap. Phew! Can we take a breather before we start planning to take the entire region to Wittenberg in 2026 to explore our German Lutheran roots?!

Until next time, blessings in Christ!