ELCA Congregation to Host Worship Service for Miners

ELCA CONGREGATION TO HOST WORSHIP SERVICE FOR MINERS
02-179-AW*

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Dennis L. Doebler, Christ Casebeer Lutheran Church, Somerset, Pa., will join as many as 12 other pastors and the congregations they serve for a joint worship service Aug. 4 at 7 p.m. to give thanks for the nine miners who survived being trapped in an underground chamber here at Quecreek Mine for 78 hours. The service will be held at Christ Casebeer.
Doebler, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor, and other Lutheran, Methodist and Catholic leaders were stationed at the Volunteer Fire Hall in Somerset July 24-28, offering comfort and prayers for all involved. Christ Casebeer Church was used as storage for emergency fire equipment, and members of the congregation were on hand to supply rescue workers with food.
"It's been like a roller coaster here," said Doebler. "There was so much unknown, so much wondering and worrying [during the rescue]."
Although none of the trapped miners were members of Christ Casebeer, the parents-in-law of one trapped miner were and received support from Doebler. They were relieved to hear that all nine miners were successfully rescued early Sunday morning, said Doebler.
"They [the miners] never gave up hope. They never gave up their faith," said Doebler. "It truly was a miracle. God's hand was a part of this, guiding the people and the equipment."
Doebler expects attendance at the special worship service to be more than the building can handle. The basement of the church and a nearby grove will be used to seat people, with live video being projected onto a large screen. All nine of the rescued miners and their families have been invited.

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*Amy Wineinger is a junior at Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa. This
summer she is an intern with ELCA News and Media Production.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html

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Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2002 10:32:37 -0500
Reply-To: news@ELCA.ORG
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<ELCANEWS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG> From: News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG> Subject: Heber Rast Elected President of Lutheran Men in Mission Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Title: Heber Rast Elected President of Lutheran Men in Mission
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 1, 2002

HEBER RAST ELECTED PRESIDENT OF LUTHERAN MEN IN MISSION
02-180-FI

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ELCA) -- Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), elected Heber E. Rast Jr., Cameron, S.C., to a three-year term as president. The election was held here July 25-26, during LMM's sixth delegate assembly.
Rast is a project manager for Jacobs Engineering and a member of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Cameron. Since 1999 he has served as LMM vice president.
Over the next three years, Rast said he hopes to "continue to build an effective, life-changing men's ministry. Certainly, we want our organization to grow in numbers, but, more importantly, we want all the men of the church to grow spiritually."
Rast said he came away from the assembly with the message that "men's ministry is basically one man walking with another man, so that they might both become closer to Jesus." He said that message reinforced LMM's ongoing theme -- "Master Builders: Building Men for Christ."
Building men's faith, relationships and ministry begins "man-to- man within our congregations," said Rast. "I would hope that we could build on that."
Rast said he plans to focus on the "excellent short-term projects" that already make up the Master Builders program -- involving young men aged 18 to 35 in church activities, printing and distributing the "Master Builders Bible for Men" and responding to men's concerns around health and wellness. He added he hopes to lead the men's organization in "dreaming" and long-range planning.
On the fourth ballot for president, July 26, Rast was elected with 64 votes to 32 for Allen Anderson, Nordland Lutheran Church, Paynesville, Minn., and four votes for Steven Laine, Advent Lutheran Church, Boca Raton, Fla.
Anderson was elected vice president; Leroy Simonson, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Rolfe, Iowa, was re-elected secretary; and Daniel Joy, New Hope Lutheran Church, Jamaica, N.Y., was elected treasurer.
Rast succeeded Charlie Schwartz, a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, Texas, who was ineligible for re-election. "These past 10 years -- four as your secretary and six as your president -- have been the most inspiring, God-filled events in my life," said Schwartz.
Dr. Jon N. Moline, president of Texas Lutheran University (TLU), Seguin, Texas, presented Schwartz with the TLU Distinguished Church Service Award for "extraordinary service to the church." Schwartz, a 1957 graduate of Texas Lutheran College (now TLU), and his wife Geneva have established a scholarship named for their son, who died in a car accident while a student at TLU.
Doug Haugen, LMM director, presented Schwartz with the LMM Foundation Award for his service to the organization and the ELCA. During the assembly, the LMM Foundation Award was also presented to Darrel Rice, former LMM secretary, Minerva, Ohio, and Ruth Larson, former LMM administrative staff, Chicago.
In his director's report, Haugen said the Master Builders Bible is now in the hands of 11,000 men. He said LMM plans to send six Bibles to 15 congregations in each of the ELCA's 65 synods, totaling almost 6,000 Bibles. Instead of selling the Bibles, he said he hoped LMM could raise enough money to give them away.
Ken Getzin, outgoing LMM treasurer, Rancho Palos Verde, Calif., said donations to cover the printing costs for LMM's Bible program caused the organization's income to grow each of the past three years; however, regular contributions declined. Prudent spending practices kept the budget "relatively balanced" each year, he said.
LMM budgets for the next three years project a steady increase in contributions, bringing total income to $374,220 in 2005, said Getzin. Budgeted spending for that year would be $325,473, he said, allowing the organization to build its reserves. The 2003 budget authorizes $40,000 for research to launch LMM's young men's ministry and $41,000 to settle its financial commitment to the current Bible program.
Steve Sonderman, associate pastor, Elmbrook Church, a nondenominational congregation in Brookfield, Wis., led three leadership modules. He is the author of "How to Build a Life-Changing Men's Ministry" and founder of Top Gun Ministries, Brookfield.
"The way to reach a man today is through another man," Sonderman told the delegates. Most men in church are there because another man invited them and because they can relate easily with other men in the congregation, he said.
A congregation's men's ministries will grow slowly, starting with the commitment of a few laymen and the pastor, Sonderman said. Organizing men into small groups is an effective way of building their faith and relationships, and of training them to share their faith with others.
The 105 voting members passed several resolutions. One asked the ELCA to review and update positions it has taken regarding domestic violence and violence against women. Another pledged to develop LMM's partnership with the men of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Guyana (ELCG).
Joseph Ramnarais brought greetings from the ELCG. He said the men's organization of his church on the northern coast of South America had degenerated into a social club. With the help of materials received from LMM, he said the organization got a "fresh s