Tag Archive for: South Atlantic District

A little “hope for everyday” goes a long way

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We live by the phrase “hope for everyday” here at Living Hope in Chattanooga, Tenn. The hope our Savior gives us is all encompassing. It’s eternal. And that hope for eternal life filters down to our everyday lives too. There’s hope for everyday life, everyday problems, and everyday people. So, that’s our mission: bring “hope for everyday” to people around us so they come to see the big-picture hope they have with Jesus. We’ve found that just a little “hope for everyday” can go a long way.

Jeanette would agree. Jeanette has been through some very dark and hopeless looking days in her life. As a child she grew up in the foster care system. Later, she got married and had two sons. But Jeanette’s husband became abusive and for 16 years she suffered severe physical and emotional abuse. Child Protective Services even had to step in and take her sons away from a home that had become dangerous.

After that incident, Jeanette left her husband but soon had another scary encounter. She was randomly attacked by a gang outside of a bar and may have been beaten to death if it hadn’t been for a kind stranger who confronted the gang with his shotgun and ran them off.

Jeanette continued to fall on hard times after this due to a back injury that left her disabled. She ended up homeless for more than seven years. She usually stayed on friends’ couches but had nights of sleeping outside in the cold, too. Jeanette’s life seemed broken and full of hardship. Hope seemed like a far-off thing. Definitely not an everyday thing.

Eventually, Jeanette got into affordable housing. Then one day hope showed up at her door. One of the ways Living Hope has tried bringing hope for everyday into people’s lives has been through an effort called grocery canvassing. We pack up bags of essential groceries and knock on doors in nearby neighborhoods that could use some love. The food is just one little way of spreading everyday hope, with the aim that we’ll be able to talk about our eternal hope in Jesus with people too.

When a Living Hope member knocked on Jeanette’s door with a bag of free groceries, she already knew who we were. She’d been saving a Living Hope Christmas flyer on her fridge the last few months. She didn’t know much about the Bible or her relationship with God but she wanted some answers and was willing to learn. Right at the door, Jeanette asked if she could come to church tomorrow. She just needed a ride. Some Living Hope members brought Jeanette to church the next morning and she’s been coming back ever since.

Jeanette took a Bible information class, got baptized, and joined as a member at Living Hope this past June with her sons there to share her big day.

Jeanette says that walking into Living Hope “felt like joining a whole ‘nother family.” A void in her life had been filled by Christ. She’d always wanted to make sure she was doing the right thing and finally, through studying the Bible and being at church, she knows Jesus has made her right. In Jeanette’s words, “It’s a feeling of freedom.”

A free bag of groceries may seem like a small thing. But it’s the little things, the little actions of spreading everyday hope, that can turn someone’s life around when they get connected to their eternal hope in Christ. A little “hope for everyday” can go a long way for lost and hurting souls.

Written by Rev. Eric Melso, serving Living Hope Lutheran Church in Chattanooga, Tenn.

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It’s just sand, you can’t grow anything there

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The story goes that the farmers of Alabama and panhandle Florida weren’t interested in the lands now known as Panama City Beach – an area across the Hathaway Bridge from Panama City, Fla. They referred to it as worthless property because you “can’t grow anything there.” Looking back, I wish I had lived back then and bought up a lot of the worthless sand. With foresight, Gideon Thomas purchased land right on the water in the 1930s. In 1936 he had a formal opening to what is now titled “Panama City Beach” – complete with his beach hotel and 1,000-foot pier. The rest is history for this bustling community.

A lot has changed from those times when it was fondly dubbed “the Redneck Riviera.” The latest growth spurts means more stores, support services, and construction crews that draw in more workers. A main driver behind many of the new planned communities is the St. Joe Company. The development that gets the most attention is Latitude Margaritaville Watersound 55 – an affordable retirement community a bit like “The Villages” of mid-Florida. Presently 3,500 homes have been built and pre-purchased by people from 49 of the 50 states. They anticipate 160,000 new homes in the next 40 years. A new airport was built a few years ago to accommodate growth and now a new hospital and medical facility are in the process of construction. A recent news article wrote, “There’s no sign of Bay County slowing down when it comes to people moving to our area.” They recognize the unchanging asset here – the beautiful beaches. We would like to see a new solid gospel community in the middle of it built on our unchanging asset – the good news of Jesus.

Besides Panama City, the closest other WELS church is two hours away. But Amazing Grace in Panama City has some very active core members living in the middle of the growth areas such as families like Andrew and Tian with their four primary school children. Or Keisha, with her two teenagers and two preschoolers, who drives at least an hour to church (depending on traffic) from Santa Rosa Beach area. These families find it difficult to convince others in the area to make the long drive to “the City” over the Hathaway Bridge. For the last year we have been offering weekly a Bible class that swells to 30 in attendance when the snowbirds arrive. It has attracted new people like Jevone from Jamaica or Susie, a retired school music teacher. To provide even more points of contact, we volunteer as mentors at the West Bay Elementary School and provide occasional lunches or treats for the teachers and staff.

We are thankful the South Atlantic District Mission Board saw something special in our proposal to begin an outreach mission there and included it in the first round of picks for the “100 missions in 10 years.” Now comes the waiting portion as calls go out to pastors to lead the mission endeavor.

In the early 1930’s there was little use for what some referred to as “the ugly white sand.” Today it is often referred to as one of the “World’s Most Beautiful Beaches.” What will the future be like for WELS gospel outreach there? Pray for it (and if you are looking for a warm place to retire and be a part of the outreach, join us). We pray this effort develops a church home for many others to enjoy the world’s most beautiful message.

Written by Rev. David Kehl, serving Amazing Grace Lutheran Church in Panama City, Fla. 

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God works through the big and the small

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Big is good, but…bigger is not necessarily better.

Easter was about a month and a half ago, and maybe you saw advertisements that looked something like this.

“10,000 Easter eggs, packed with candy and fun!”
“40 thousand Easter eggs!”
“100,000 Easter eggs for your kids to pick up!”
“Thousands of eggs dropped out of a helicopter!”
“Easter bunny skydiving into egg hunt!”

Maybe you and your church reached out into your community via a massive Easter event, and you got to talk with people and love people who would never profess to be interested in learning more about Jesus, let alone open the door of your church’s sanctuary on Easter or any other day.

If so, wonderful! Praise God!

Or, maybe, seeing headlines like those put a pit in your stomach and made you and your church feel at least a little inadequate. Maybe like you’re not doing enough, like you’re less than.

First, there is no enough. We can never be enough. Our identity, as souls loved by Jesus, is and always will be enough. Secondly, comparing your church to other churches is not the name of the game, nor is it beneficial to anyone.

And lastly, a big event can be wonderful, but. . . bigger is not necessarily better.

Within a 10-mile radius of our ministry center, there were over a dozen other big Easter egg events advertised. But 16 months ago, a seemingly small thing happened, a family with three young girls attended worship for the first time. It seemed like a small thing, but following worship that day in January 2022, we had planned an open forum to talk through a ministry plan and brainstorm new ideas. It happened that the family, who was there for the first time, decided stay for the open forum, and they decided to speak at the open forum.

And it just so happened that their idea was a special needs Easter egg hunt. Their former church, of a different denomination in a different state, had held one previously. We looked —there wasn’t one anywhere near us!

Long story short, for two Easters now, we’ve hosted an Easter egg hunt for children with special needs—children with Down Syndrome, autism, and other needs. Children who would not be able to be at an event with hundreds or thousands of other people. But a few dozen? That’s just right.

This year 12 kids came, from five families, and it started unexpectedly down pouring five minutes before the event was supposed to start (one can never trust even the best weather apps). Regardless, we still got to have fantastic conversations, show love, and one of the unchurched families attended worship the very next day and became interested in taking our Foundations course to learn more about God’s grace.

100,000 eggs? A helicopter? No, not exactly, but God works through the big and the small. Whether your church is big or small, your events are large or small scale, God promises to work whatever he wills. And whatever he wills is always best.

So be confident and joyful in his promises, whether your ministry seems big or small. God always works in just the right way, and his grace is always good and always working.

Written by Rev. Nathan Loersch, home missionary at Illumine Lutheran Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina. 

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It’s not about the jars

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A pastor who is much smarter than I am once said that planting a mission church comes down to “the man, the mission, and the moment.” How are things looking for our new church in Canton, Ga.? The moment seems right. Our county has grown over 400 percent in the last 30 years and the population of Canton itself is projected to grow by 25 percent over the next 10 years. That’s a ton of people who will be looking for a new church home or who have never even heard the good news about Jesus.

Everything appears to be lining up for the mission, too. By the grace of God, Christ the Rock is blessed with a launch team of 25 people of all different ages from all different kinds of backgrounds, who are willing to share what it means to build on Christ the Rock with our growing community. And when 70 percent of the people in our area are unchurched or left churched, it’s a tremendous blessing to have mission-minded Christians ready to go with that mission in front of them!

It’s when we get to that last one, “the man”, that’s when things get a little sticky. Because who am I? What do I bring to the table? How can I accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished to get a new church off the ground? The moment and the mission might be right, but, man…a lot of times I feel ill-equipped. Like I’m the weak link in the “man, mission, moment” mantra.

Maybe that’s okay, though. What was it Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4? “What we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. . . we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Paul, the greatest missionary ever, his reminder was it’s not about the jars. . . it’s about Jesus. A clay pot is so fragile. It’s temporary, non-descript. It is so not the center of attention! It’s what’s inside the clay jar. . . that’s the real focus. That’s the treasure! If you make mission work all about the jar of clay instead of the treasure of Jesus inside, then you are going to wrestle with feeling fragile and inadequate.

But thanks be to our Savior, who transforms us into clay jars with the greatest treasure the world has ever seen inside of us. The treasures of forgiveness, life, and freedom through faith in what Jesus did for you and me. That good news comforts and strengthens us as we carry out our mission. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Now I am by no means an expert when it comes to pottery, but I do know that words like “pressed on all sides” “persecuted” and “struck down” don’t sound like good things when you’re talking about something fragile. Then you notice Paul says we are “not crushed” or “in despair” or “abandoned” or “ destroyed”. That can only be possible if someone is taking care of the jar. The glory of the gospel we carry is that Jesus loves us enough to fill us up with this good news and he holds us tight in his arms. He is our strength when things get tough.

The moment is right. The mission is clear. The man. . . is just a clay jar. But it was never about the jar. It’s all about Jesus.

Written by Rev. Cale Mead, a home missionary at Christ the Rock Lutheran Church in Canton, Ga.

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Faces of Faith – Fan

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I was born and raised in western China until I was 18. I grew up happily without being bothered to think about where we all come from and if there is ultimate truth. Shortly after I came to college, I met my now husband, Dan, and was introduced to Christianity. It all sounded very interesting, so I thought I would explore it more at the local Presbyterian church. Even though I was impressed by the worship itself, I was confused at the terms and not able to understand the messages in the sermon. I quickly lost interest and moved on to other parts of school life. Over the years, I had more and more questions: why do Americans cherish tradition in a certain way? What is my way of living and how do I find guidance? Fast forward 10 years, and Dan and I learned about Intown Lutheran Church from our good friend Stephen. We stumbled across a Bible basics class led by Pastor Lucas Bitter, and I unleashed the questions I had boxed up in my head. I sought answers, and I found grace. The true gospel I found at Intown prepared me for baptism. I was never this connected with spirituality before. After this many years, it is never too late to begin!

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