Official Workbook PDF page source text

2026 Convention Workbook 104

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

o Partnership with ADF, First Liberty, and Liberty Counsel in various efforts to offer both our two-kingdom voice/training coupled with their legal support to the issues that beset our churches and schools today.

 Challenge: While the LCRL presence has been established, the next phase of development needs to further establish our unique voice in the cultural/ political issues of the day. Expanding our role on committees, expanding our radio voice, and becoming a go-to resource for two-kingdom answers to the issues surrounding liberty, life, marriage, and education are the challenges of the next step in advocacy.

• LCRL established and has grown the main LCRL website, lcrlfreedom.org, the two-kingdom web resource for LCMS churches and schools.

o Presently the site is populated with timely and easy-toread resources to inform and instruct our people how “to put their temporal liberties to work for the sake of the eternal liberties of Christ.” These include the weekly Word from the Center, Mom and Pop Two-Kingdom Paper, Liberty Action Alert podcasts, Prayer Partner Thursdays, and the Champions Advocate Weekly.

 Challenge: The resources, which are many and growing, need to be more known, accessible, and more easily investigated for use and application by our people. We are working to index these.

 Challenge: Social media use is a necessity. We are presently working to put our information on multiple platforms for the sake of our churches and ministries.

• LCRL established a growing Champions for Liberty Network of churches, which are trained not only in two-kingdom engagement of various issues in our culture, but are also trained and equipped to engage this issue in service to the mission of the Church, not as political ideologues. Under the leadership of the Rev. Mark Frith, we have digitally uploaded our information and our lectures and have created a “Champion’s Training Process” that empowers pastors and laity to learn to put one’s “temporal liberties to work in ser - vice to the eternal liberties of the Gospel,” without politicizing our mission and witness.

o Rev.

Frith is growing the Champions Network, making it the support organization for our D.C. presence as well as equipping our laity to serve in their home communities.

o He has digitalized our Champions for Liberty educational process, both lecture and application, to prepare and equip Christians for differentiating God’s preserving and saving work, thus being more effective in the left-hand kingdom work in service to the mission of the Church—without politicizing the Gospel, as many advocacy groups are tempted to do.

o From 2019 to present, LCRL conducted over 100 Champions for Liberty Weekends with churches and schools to frame and empower pastoral and lay leaders to engage the seminal issues of liberty, life, marriage, and educational freedom with a two-kingdom mindregard include the webpage LCRLFreedom.org, the Liberty Action Alert (podcast), the Word from the Center, Prayer Partner Thursdays, the Champions Advocate Weekly , and Mom and Pop Papers.

Alignment with LCMS goals 1. Mission planting: This office exists to protect the public voice, the religious liberty of our churches, missions, schools, and universities for the sake of mission.

2. Theological education:

The LCRL is building a network of churches who are trained and deployed with a “2KG [two-kingdom] Civics” mindset to deal with the issues in culture and politics for the sake of the mission of the Church.

This training program, network of influence, and leadership may continue to grow into an academic program, training the next generation of leadership for our church as well.

3.

Collaborate to enhance mission effectiveness: The LCRL effort will, in all its teachings and literature, emphasize why and how “two-kingdom cultural engagement” is vital to effective missional outreach.

Great Opportunities Seized in 2023–26 • LCRL established a growing LCMS two-kingdom citizen - ship voice in Washington, D.C., including the following activities.

o Regular member participation with various advocacy groups, such as the Values Action Team of the House and Senate, the National Right to Life, the March for Life, the Southern Baptist ERLC group, the Religious Liberty Network (RLN), the Religious Freedom Institute (RFI), the Heritage Foundation, and the Weyrich Luncheon, all seeking to undergird religious liberty, the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and educational freedom.

o Advocacy visits on the Hill, including visits and inter - views with representatives and thought leaders on the Hill.

o Creating and leading 2KG Roundtable Meetings on the Hill bringing together political leaders, LCMS leaders, and various supporters to enhance our witness on the Hill.

o Our growing D.C. radio program and LCRL podcast, The Liberty Action Alert with Greg Seltz (292 programs and counting), which both advocates for our positions with leaders in the country and informs our congregations about issues, advocacy, and action in interviews with thought leaders on the Hill. Guests include Sen.

Cynthia Lummis (LCMS), Sen. Steve Daines, Rep.

Robert Aderholt, Sen. James Lankford, Os Guinness (culture), Eric Metaxas (culture), Dr. Victor Davis Hanson, (culture, politics), John Stonestreet (culture), Father Frank Pavone (life), Jeanne Mancini (life), Carrie Campbell Severino (judiciary), Mike Berry (judiciary), Kelly Shackelford (judiciary), Mat Staver (courts, culture), Katharine Gorka (culture), George Barna (culture), Lt. Col. (Ret.) Allen West, Larry Elder, Tim Goeglein (culture), George Tryfiates (education), Jamison Coppola (education), and Dr. Ben Carson (politics, culture, education).