As I reflect upon our Indiana District Convention this past week, my overwhelming sense is one of sincere gratitude – to our Lord for His tender mercies and providential care, and to His people for their faithfulness and Christian love. Along with that gratitude, there is also a gentle sense of peace and contentment in the ongoing work that our Lord has given us to do together in faith. It is to the praise and glory of His holy Name that we receive and put to use His many good gifts and benefits, which are sanctified by His Word and prayer within our callings and stations in life.
Special thanks to Pr. Doug Punke for serving as our Convention Chaplain, and to Mr. Michael Hollman for serving as organist; to Rev. Dr. Jamison Hardy for serving as our Parliamentarian; to Rev. Michael Salemink for his excellent essay on the theology of adoption; and to Pr. Peter Brock for his moving presentation on the wonderful work being done in Tanzania. Thanks, also, to Pr. Danny Mackey for his good work as our District Secretary; to the members of the various floor committees; and to St. Paul, Fort Wayne, for hosting the beautiful Closing Divine Service. Thanks to Synod VPs, Rev. Peter Lange and Rev. Ben Ball, for their presence and contributions, and to all the greeters and exhibitors, all the delegates and guests, and all the folks who worked behind the scenes to make sure that everything went smoothly and happened as it should.
For my part, I am truly grateful for the privilege of serving the pastors and congregations, the schools, educators, and other commissioned workers that constitute the Indiana District of the LCMS. It has been such a tremendous joy and blessing over these past three years, and I look forward to the years ahead, focusing on the opportunities our Lord affords to confess His Word, to catechize His people, and to call those yet far off into the faith and life of His Holy Church. To those ends I continue to pray, every day, for the wisdom and fortitude to be faithful in my office.
In considering both the Convention this past week and the work before us in the years ahead, I am also deeply grateful for all those who serve our Indiana District in a variety of ways: For my administrative assistant, Mrs. Lisa Slack; for our finance executive and business manager, Mr. Cody Dodson; for our mission and mercy executive, Rev. Dr. Geoff Robinson; and for our new education executive, Mr. Nathan Wingfield; for our accountant, Mrs. Diane Ottinger; for our new education admin, Mrs. Martha Peters; for our front desk assistant, Mrs. Bethany Neumann; and for our communications coordinator, Mrs. Sara Pierce. I am likewise grateful for Mr. Mark Muehl, our LCMS Foundation rep, and Mr. T.J. Mattick, our LCEF District Vice President.
And while there is simply no way for me to name everyone who contributes to our life and work together as the Indiana District, I would be remiss if I did not express my thanks and appreciation for our regional Vice Presidents, our Circuit Visitors, and our Board of Directors. To those who have completed their service in these various capacities: Thank you! To all those who consented to let their names be considered for these and other offices: Thank you! And to all those who will serve the Indiana District in this new triennium: Thank you! God bless you, one and all, in each and all of your callings and stations in life, in whatever ventures He has in store for your future.
We are truly blessed as an Indiana District with faithful workers and servants at every level, both pastors and parishioners, lay leaders and commissioned workers, elected officers and volunteers, pious and faithful households and families, teachers, musicians, trustees, and “church mice.” All of us together are given a place and a purpose in the Vineyard of the Lord of hosts, wherein we live and abide as branches of the true Vine, Jesus Christ; and by His grace, by His Word and Holy Spirit, He bears good fruits in us after His own kind to the glory of God the Father.
As we rejoice in the goodness of the Lord and rest ourselves in the peace and contentment of His Holy Gospel, let us not become complacent or fall into apathy, but rather persist in laying hold of Christ in His Word and loving one another and our neighbors in His Name and for His sake. As I have reflected on how smooth and harmonious our Convention was this past week, my gratitude also embraces the fact that God’s dear children are motivated and energized, not by contentious controversy or partisan politicking, but by the Word and Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus, by the gifts and benefits of His precious Holy Gospel, and by the sure and certain hope and promise of the Resurrection and the Life everlasting. In the confidence of holy faith we are moved to act in holy love, not to prove ourselves, but to exercise our gratitude for the One who loves us, gives us life, and daily and richly forgives all our sins, all by the grace of His Holy Cross and Resurrection.