Tag Archive for: South Central District

Moments with Missionaries – Ross Chartrand

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Cornerstone Lutheran Church in Bentonville, Ark., hosted its launch service on Sunday, February 22. About 70 people gathered for worship, including nearly 30 new faces from the community. We thank God for this encouraging beginning and ask that he continues to bless this congregation as they share the gospel in the Bentonville community. Learn more about Cornerstone Lutheran Church at cornerstonechurchnwa.com.

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A place to belong in this world and the next

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No matter where Corrina lived, she always felt caught between two worlds. The daughter of a US serviceman and a German mother, she never quite fit inā€”not in Germany, not in America, not in school, not even in her church. The church she grew up in focused more on what people must do rather than on what Christ has already done for us. Corrina knew her sins and because of them, she never felt she truly belonged. She longed for a place she could call home.

Years later, Corrina moved to Dallas, Texas, to care for her aging mother. Because of her own health needs, she moved into an assisted living complex, the same one where a member of our congregation lived.

I first met Corrina on a follow-up visit after she attended our Saturday evening worship, invited by that member. I still remember her words: ā€œPastor, it means so much for you to take the time to visit me. I felt so loved at your church.ā€ At the time, I didnā€™t realize the weight of her words, but after hearing her story I understood what she was really saying: ā€œI finally know where I belong.ā€

What made her say that after a lifetime of feeling out of place? Jesus did. Jesusā€™ full and free forgiveness gave peace to her soul. Where he is, she wants to be.

Corrinaā€™s health often makes it difficult to attend worship, but she refuses to let it stop her. A few months ago, after she fractured a bone in her neck, I told her it was okay to rest and that I would come visit. Her answer was immediate: ā€œIf I let this become an excuse to miss church, then anything can be an excuse.ā€ Sure enough, she was there the next day. She wanted to be where she belongedā€”listening to her Saviorā€™s voice.

Corrina continues to face health challenges, but nothing can rob her of the peace she has in Christ. After a difficult diagnosis, she told me, ā€œI canā€™t wait to see the room Jesus has prepared for me with my name on it.ā€ She knows where she truly belongsā€”at her Saviorā€™s side forever.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, Corrina has learned where she belongs: in the family of God here on earth and eternally with him in heaven. Who in your life is still searching for that place? A simple invitation to worship may be the way God shows that person, ā€œYou belong with me.ā€

Written by Pastor Ben Schone, home missionary at Calvary Lutheran Church in Dallas, Texas.




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More than a launch date: Sowing seeds of faith in Conway, Ark.

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There tends to be so much focus on the ā€œlaunch serviceā€ when youā€™re starting a brand-new church. Over the past 15 months, it felt like I was constantly pointing people forward to September 28, 2025. When planting a church, the outreach and preparation leading up to that big Sunday is a key focus of ministry. So, how do you invite people to a church plantā€™s launch service? What does outreach leading up to launch look like?

We at Living Stone Lutheran Church in Conway, Ark., decided to take a scattershot approach. As we continually learned more about our new community, we sought to find creative and effective ways to form relationships and connections with new faces. Although a new name, brand, logo, and new website are a huge part of marketing for a new congregation, our marketing consultant (Grace Ungemach with Lutheran.marketing) helped us figure out some great ways to carry out these pre-launch outreach efforts. When we met with Grace to figure out our pre-launch strategy, she walked us through a marketing model called the ā€œbuyerā€™s journey.” The conclusion we came to wasnā€™t all that novel. The best way for people to learn about a brand-new church in town is to have genuine conversations with us. The best way for someone to want to come check out Living Stone for worship is to interact with those people long before our launch ever came to be.

So, we came up with a number of outreach strategies. Of course, personal connections and friendships formed in the community have been the best ways to show Christā€™s love. Still, on a corporate level, we came up with a few ideas. First, we held Food Truck Night three nights this summer. The goal of Food Truck Night was to make connections and introduce Living Stone to our community. Food Truck Night was an outdoor gathering with three food trucks, a bounce house, live music, yard games, and lots of fellowship! We were blessed with an average of more than 100 in attendance for each Food Truck Night. We were also able to hold a school supply giveaway to serve families in our community in late July. In August, we put up booths at various community events, such as a popular market that a local coffee shop created and a community outreach event at freshman welcome week at the University of Central Arkansas. In August and September, we were blessed to canvass hundreds of homes. We also held a three-week paper bag food drive that allowed us to connect with our neighbors and show love to those struggling with food insecurity in our county. Finally, we sent more than 9,000 postcards through a mass mailer and ran multiple Instagram and Facebook ads. All these efforts joined together to form our pre-launch outreach. Much of it seemed like throwing paint at a wall. Plenty of times, I found myself asking, ā€œIs this effort worth it? Will this be fruitful?ā€

This past Sunday, September 28, 2025, Living Stone finally held its official launch worship service! The Lord blessed us with 96 souls in attendance. It was wonderful to have so many people there to encourage us, celebrate that big day, and most importantly, hear the gospel of forgiveness of sins through Jesus! As I looked out at the group of people in front of me, I thanked God that the faces I saw came from all sorts of avenues. Some came from our mass mailer. Some came from our food drive. Some we had seen again and again through our Food Truck Nights and personal contacts. Some saw our ads online, and some just came because they were friends and family of our members.

I think thereā€™s a better analogy for our pre-launch outreach efforts besides ā€œthrowing paint at the wall.ā€ We were sowing seed. We scattered and sowed that seed and let the Lord Jesus take care of the rest.

Written by C.J. Fury, home missionary at Living Stone Lutheran Church in Conway, Ark.




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Moments with Missionaries – Jeremy Mattek

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Rev. Jeremy Mattek shares an update from TheMission in Willis, Texas, as they will soon complete their building project. June 21 marked the one year since breaking ground for the new building and now it is near completion and ready to host members and be an outreach tool in the community. Hear more from Missionary Mattek about TheMission and its building project and how it will serve both the members at TheMission and the community.

P.S. – Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to watch even more videos from our missionaries in the upcoming weeks!

Moments with Missionaries – C.J. Fury

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Rev. C.J. Fury gives an update from new mission start, Living Stone Lutheran Church in Conway, Ark. He shares updates just eight months following his commissioning at Taste of Missions. He shares what it has been like to work with a core group, select a church name, find a worship facility, and begin Bible information classes. Hear more from Rev. C.J. Fury about the work being done in Conway, Ark., and save the date for this yearā€™s Taste of Missions on June 14, 2025 at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.

P.S. – Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to watch even more videos from our missionaries in the upcoming weeks!

Moments with Missionaries – Caleb King

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Rev. Caleb King shares an update of the work being done at Divine Savior Church in Celina, Tex.. The church launch public worship in September 2024. Along with continuing weekly worship, they have a kid’s ministry, confirmation, and membership classes. Learn more about the work of Divine Savior Church at divinesaviorchurch.com/dscncc and about WELS Home Missions at wels.net/homemissions. Save the date for our Taste of Missions event on June 14, 2025, in Mequon, Wis.

P.S. – Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to watch even more videos from our missionaries in the upcoming weeks!

Partnerships lead to progress

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ā€œI thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.ā€ (Philippians 1:3-4)

I love this verse from Paulā€™s letter to the Philippians. Paul was known as the great missionary who took the gospel throughout the known world at the time. Yet, in these verses, God reminds us that Paul didnā€™t go alone; he had partnersā€”those who supported him financially, prayed for him, sent him care packages, and shared the gospel themselves. Paulā€™s stories were their stories. Ministry is all about partnerships in the gospel.

I can still hear President Schroeder on assignment day in May 2015: ā€œStephen Apt. New mission start. Liberty Hill, Texas. South Central District.ā€ I was so excited to be going to Texas, starting a mission church and telling people about Jesus. I quickly found out that we had one other family in our core group: Jerry, Laura, and their second-grade son, Christian. That made five of us. We rented space in a commercial storefront property where our nearest neighbors were a gas station, a survivalist store, and a BBQ restaurant. It seemed like a daunting task to start a church with just the five of us, but we had big dreams and an even bigger God.

Fast forward nine years, and our church now worships an average of 153 souls each Sunday. We have 83 adults growing in the Word during the week, whether in Sunday morning Bible study or in our small groups, along with 50 youth and teens in our teen ministries and 56 in our childrenā€™s ministries. In addition to our church, we have a school with an enrollment of 370 students, and weā€™ve completed two building projects. How did all of this happen? Through partnerships.

We have the amazing opportunity to share the gospel with many people from diverse backgroundsā€”some who didnā€™t know Jesus at all and others who have been away from the church for a long time. Weā€™ve had the privilege to share Jesus with people who havenā€™t had a good walk with the Lord in the past, including Terri and her husband, Todd.

If you were to ask Terri and Todd about their walk with God prior to our church, they would say it wasnā€™t very good. But one day, they decided to give our church a try. They attended our Starting Point class and learned all about Jesus and what he has done for them. Four years later, Todd and Terri are now partners in our ministry. Todd serves as our churchā€™s head usher, and Terri is currently taking classes to become synod certified to teach in our school. Terri recently said, ā€œI feel so much closer to God than I ever have in my entire life.ā€

As I type this from my desk in Liberty Hill, Texas, I canā€™t help but feel thankfulā€”not only for all that God has done but also for our partners in the gospel. These stories are not just my story, nor are they solely Divine Saviorā€™s stories; they are your stories as well. The ministry and the gospel work here have only been possible because of the partnership of WELS supporting our mission in Texas. I am grateful for your partnership as you support the spread of the gospel ministry through the Board of Home Missions with your prayers, service, and offerings. Ministry is best accomplished through partnerships. Thank you for your partnership from the first day until now.

Written by Rev. Stephen Apt, home missionary at Divine Savior Church in Liberty Hill, Texas.

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Finding a place to stand

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Thereā€™s a lot going on in the fastest growing city in America. According to the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau, Celina, Texas, is the fastest growing city in America based on percentage change (in cities with a population of at least 20,000). Roads are being expanded and the city is breaking ground to build a Costco. Three years ago our city was just around 23,800 residents, and now it is splitting at the seams, sitting just north of 50,000 residents. But right in the middle of this rapidly changing community a small church named Divine Savior Church ā€“ North Collin County opened its doors in a small storefront unit on Sept. 8, 2024.

It was a special morning for us. A big step in the mission planting process! To finally throw open our doors, set up our signage outside, and invite the friends weā€™ve all made was fantastic. Seventy-one people came through the doors, and what made it fantastic was knowing that those individuals would hear the gospel of Jesus.

That’s what any given Sunday morning is all about. We confess our sins, we receive forgiveness, we hear God’s Word read and preached. We confess a common faith, we sing with joy, we pray, we receive the Lord himself in the Sacrament, and we receive God’s blessing. It’s just as important as it sounds. What an honor it is that God has afforded us this opportunity to participate in this ministry. A launch service presents a pastor with a unique opportunity to plan a service that sets the tone for a ministry. What better way to set the tone for a ministry than to be uniquely Lutheran, to be uniquely Christ-centered? Christ is our peace through his blood shed on the cross. The cross is where sins are forgiven. The cross is where we are at peace with God. The cross is where we find belonging. Beneath that cross is our place to stand.

In a rapidly changing community, identity is at stake. This small town is scared of losing its identity and its roots, and I canā€™t blame them. Iā€™m concerned about it, too. My wife, Sami, and I have fallen in love with the small town we now call home. But we know that the small-town feel is rapidly changing. New people are moving here from all over the country. Where do they find a place to stand? The long-term tenants are mourning the loss of their small town. Where do they find a place to stand? Where does a small mission church find a place to stand in a place like this?

Thanks be to God we have the answer. We never had to find a place to stand in the first place, and neither does anyone else. God provides one, and itā€™s the best place. Itā€™s beneath the cross of Jesus. So, we cling with an iron grip to that blessed cross. We fashion a service that is centered on the cross because it tells the story of Christ.

Truth be told, the fastest growing city in America is the perfect place for a small mission like ours to do what we do best not only on Sunday mornings, but every day. We engage one person at a time with the gospel so that they can know and trust the Savior that changes their life in Spirit-wrought faith. The privilege is ours and the praise is his. I can’t wait to see those who God touches through this ministry before the throne of our God.

Please keep us in your prayers as we move into post-launch mission life!

Written by Rev. Caleb King, home missionary at Divine Savior Church in North Collin County, Texas.Ā 

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Teach all nations!

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Teach all nations! Equip the saints! Those two holy commands come from our ascended Savior to his Church. Victory of the Lamb in Katy, Texas, has partnered with WELS Latin America missionaries to do more of both.

Katy, Texas, is a ā€œsuburbā€ of Houston that has swelled to 400,000 in population and continues to grow. Because of the oil/gas and medical industries, it is an upscale, international community. Although people from every continent make Katy their home, some have given it the nickname ā€œKaty-Zuelaā€ because so many Venezuelans have moved into town. In addition to these Venezuelans, many other Spanish speakers live in Katy as well. Approximately 20 percent of the households within 3 miles of Victory of the Lamb speak Spanish in their homes. Some of them are bilingual, but many are not. Victory of the Lamb has faithfully preached and taught Godā€™s Word for 25 years. . . in English. However, I, the pastor at Victory of the Lamb, do not speak Spanish. Is there anything that can be done?

In May 2023, a dozen Victory of the Lamb members who speak Spanish got together to talk about it. The first step was an encouragement for them to take the online Academia Cristo classes, produced by WELS Latin America missionaries. Then they could invite their Spanish-speaking friends and family to do the same from a background of familiarity. Perhaps some additional inroads could be made into the Spanish-speaking Katy community.

Hector Medellin, a native Mexican and Victory of the Lamb member for 12 years, attended this meeting and decided to give Academia Cristo a try. Very quickly, he was hooked! Godā€™s Word in his native tongue grabbed him, and he deeply enjoyed the experience. Hector progressed through the first level of self-directed classes on the Academia Cristo app. The next step was to begin taking online classes led by a WELS world missionary, with several other Spanish speakers from all across the world as his classmates.

Hector was excited, but also had some mixed feelings. Was this worth the time and effort? Did he want to make such a large commitment of time? In his first online class, one fellow student lived in a place where he had to drive an hour up a mountain, each way, in order to get an internet signal so he could take the class. Another student tried to take the class as best as she could while also working shifts as a nurse, because that was her only way to have an internet connection. Hector thought, ā€œOkay, if they go through that much effort to take this class, and Iā€™m sitting at home with internet and air conditioning, I have no excuses. Iā€™ll do it.ā€ He says it was one of the best decisions heā€™s ever made in his life! As Godā€™s Word grew in his heart, Hectorā€™s love for his Savior also grew, as well as his desire to reach more souls.

Fast forward one year. With the help of his professors and missionaries, Hector is now trained to lead his own Bible class! On June 9, 2024, Victory of the Lamb launched a second adult Bible study on Sunday morning ā€“ one in English and one in Spanish. Hector also plans to lead a four-week class on Bible basics online with some Spanish-speaking friends and family members who donā€™t live in Katy. Victory of the Lamb members can invite their Spanish speaking friends, relatives, and neighbors to these classes. Down the line, it will be easy to encourage more Spanish speakers to try Academia Cristo. Hector is equipped to lead Bible studies either online or in person.

Teach all nations! Equip the saints! Through Victory of the Lambā€™s continued partnership with WELS Latin America missionaries, and connection to Academia Cristo materials, both of those goals are happening more than before. Praise God!

Written by Rev. Nathan Buege, home missionary at Victory of the Lamb Lutheran Church in Katy, Texas.

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