Official Workbook PDF page source text

LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 169

2026 Convention Workbook
134 
OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
planters in place seeking to move them to charter. One other church 
plant is underway in Slinger, but has not yet reached critical mass. 
We continue to have our target list for at least 10 new starts in the 
coming years.
Our Lutheran Neighborhood Schools Initiative  that was 
launched in 2023 has continued to grow. A new partnership with 
WeTeachTruth schools in the Milwaukee area seeks to broaden the 
base of this effort as well as export the microschool model out to 
our district in an attempt to help smaller schools remain viable so 
that they are able to use education in the process of faithful stew-
ardship of the Gospel.
Third, the district has honored our Christ-centered vocations. 
Seeking to confess Christ using our hands and feet, district congre-
gations have stepped up in the number of Lutheran Early Response 
Team (LERT) deployments. This included one deployment in the 
Milwaukee area that was the result of a rainstorm that dumped a 
foot of rain in 11 hours. The response from our congregations and 
members was remarkable. We were able to physically assist 65 
households in cleanup. In addition, with the assistance of LCMS 
Disaster Response, we were able to make grants available to a total 
of $300,000 for congregations and households to assist with dam-
age not covered by insurance.
Fourth, the district has embraced its community. Through our 
urban ministry we have started to “close the circle in mission.” 
Social ministry that feeds, clothes, and houses people but is not 
directly connected to Word and Sacrament ministry is not mission. 
Using strategies to gather contact information as well as strategic 
microgrants from the district have enabled these ministries to en-
gage difficult neighborhoods with the Gospel. This has led to bap-
tisms, new members, and even more opportunities for engagement.
Over the coming triennium the district will be launching an ef-
fort called MissionField Milwaukee. This will be a collaborative ef-
fort between Milwaukee congregations, district Mission and Mer -
cy, and LCEF’s Ministry Solutions to help redefine the ministry 
focus of our congregations from survival to faithful stewardship of 
the Gospel. Congregations will assess their Lutheran identity, fi-
nancial health, and neighborhood connections while seeking to live 
out 2023 Res. 1-02A in establishing partnerships that will embold-
en our stewardship of the Gospel. These partnerships will include 
congregations, recognized service organizations, and individual 
efforts to Confess Christ for the Next Generation.
These efforts and others that the Lord will open to us will only 
come as we faithfully proclaim, “Christ is risen indeed!”
Nathan M. Meador, President
R51
Southeastern District
Greetings from your sisters and brothers in Christ in the South-
eastern District, where we connect people with Jesus so that lives 
are transformed, and God’s kingdom grows. With you, we preach 
Christ crucified and risen from the dead. May His grace and mercy 
be extended to all people so that “at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” 
(Phil. 2:10–11).
E. Hope, Despite the Challenges 
Christ is risen, indeed! Because of His eternal victory over ev-
ery enemy we have, we continue in hope despite the challenges.
Our greatest challenge is the declining population in the ru-
ral areas. Many of our congregations are the last church in town, 
still gathering in worship. As families in these rural areas age 
and move, main street businesses close, leaving the communi -
ties without any services. As our small communities get small -
er, the number of vacancies and retirements stretch our already 
hard-working pastors even thinner.
There are many challenges in the district. The challenges pale 
in comparison with the reality that Christ is risen, indeed! As we 
enter this new triennium, “Let us hold fast the confession of our 
hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 
10:23). That is our eternal, unchanging hope!
Randy R. Sturzenbecher, President
R50
South Wisconsin District
The South Wisconsin District consists of 199 congregations 
in the southern half of the state. These congregations are a mix 
of urban and suburban areas around population centers like Mil-
waukee, Racine, Kenosha, Madison, and Sheboygan and rural 
congregations that serve as the very heart of America’s dairy land. 
Many of these congregations have roots in the very earliest 
days of the Synod. Others were planted in the halcyon days of 
the postwar boom. Others are newly birthed and serve growing 
Hispanic, Hmong, and French-African communities.
This triennium has not been without its challenges. With the 
Lord calling home our long-time District President Rev. John C. 
Wille in June 2024, the service of President Eric Skovgaard, and 
my election, there has been a great deal of turnover. But the effort 
of Confessing Christ for the Next Generation has continued be-
cause the Lord of the Church has been in the lead the whole time!
The confessing of Christ has centered on four mission prior -
ities:
1. 
 Being distinctly Lutheran
2. Planting new congregations and schools
3. Honoring our Christ-centered vocations
4. Embracing our communities
First, the 
district is at its very heart distinctly Lutheran. Our 
congregations have an abiding commitment to proper distinction 
of Law and Gospel as it is lived out in faithful Word and Sacra-
ment ministry rooted in font, altar, and pulpit. This radiates out to 
day school classrooms and outreach efforts that seek to faithfully 
steward the Gospel entrusted to us. Whether the congregation is 
numbered in the hundreds or tens, it is the Gospel that defines 
our distinct Lutheran identity that is desperately needed in our 
communities and our world!
Second, over this past triennium we have been active in plant-
ing new congregations and schools. In conjunction with 2023 
Res. 1-03A, the district has utilized the Office of National Mis-
sion’s Church Planting Simplified to assist in the planting of two 
mission starts in Monroe and Viroqua. These plants have used the 
method and the associated grants so that we now have two church