Annual Great Plains Mission District Convocation Meetings

 Meeting November 18, 2017

The meeting of the Great Plains Mission District was held at Trinity Lutheran Church, Abilene, Kansas on November 18, 2017.

Present:

Meeting September 17, 2016  

The meeting of the Great Plains Mission District was held on September 17, 2016 at St. Matthew’s in Riverside, MO

Dean Dennis Beckman opened the meeting with prayer.

Present were representatives of the following congregations:

Ebenezer Oromo Evangelical Church of Kansas City (Pastor Faisa Atomsa)

Evangelical Lutheran, Mankato, KS (Pr. Dennis Beckmann, John Ross, Karen Ross)

First Lutheran, Rockport, MO (Pr. David Klappenbach)

Missouri Micronesian Church, Riverside, MO (Pr. Phillip Istaro)

St. John’s, Westboro, MO (Pr. Fritz Brandenberg, Dick Reumann)

St. Matthew’s, Riverside (Pr. Bud Elliott + some church members)

Trinity Lutheran, Gothenburg, NE (Pr. Jeff Cottingham)

Also present by Skype was Darian Hybl, Goodland, KS (NALC rostered, serving LCMC church)

Absent were Emmanual Lutheran, Fayetteville, AR; Faith Lutheran, Dannebrog, NE; Freemount Lutheran, Lindsborg, KS; Martin Luther, Johnson, NE; Peace Lutheran, Edmond, OK; Trinity Lutheran, Ava, MO and Paxton New Life, Paxton NE (now withdrawn from NALC)

Representatives from the congregations represented spoke about what they have been doing as to mission, concerns, etc.

John Ross, Dennis Beckmann and Jeff Cottingham spoke about the situation in South Sudan and problems experienced by Matthew Riak there.

Phillip Istaro spoke about his recent trip to his native island of Chuuk, Micronesia. He is still studying with Pastor Fritz. He asked for prayer as he endeavors to finish process to be a full pastor in the NALC.

Faisa Atomsa asked for prayer for Ethiopia as there is a lot of ethnic fighting, power struggle, and many have died.

Jeff Cottingham announced that Trinity Gothenburg is no longer a mission congregation and is fully self-supporting, has a new building, very active.

Dennis Beckmann asked for prayer as he and Kathy are fostering 3 children. Mankato is building a core group of youth. They took a mission trip to Kansas City to City Union Mission to help serve meals and visited Faisa’s church.

Richard Reumann announced that Zion Lutheran, Everest, Kansas is voting in October to go NALC and LCMC.

After the break, chairs were arranged in a circle for better communication.  The business meeting was called to order at 11:40 a.m.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.

There was discussion about money the mission district has available for pastors and others to attend NALC events.

The treasurer’s report was read by Margaret Elliott (Secretary).  Copies of the check ledger and other information was made available to everyone in their packets.

Jeff Cottingham discussed efforts in training of Pastoral Assistants (PA’s). Trinity Gothenburg has 5 PA’s. They can commission people to serve churches in a manner faithful to NALC’s core values. There is a need to streamline training for PA’s and lay leaders and make sure people know what we believe.

Dennis Beckmann said there is a form for P.A. application that has just been made available. There was discussion about P.A. procedures.

Dennis Beckman has added 3 associate deans: Cathi Braasch, Fritz Brandenburg, and Darian Hybl. It was moved, seconded and passed without dissent to keep the associate deans in place.

Dennis Beckman presented the Dean’s Report.  He has attended 2 NALC Dean meetings, Cathi Braasch attended convocation for him in California. He sits on the structure committee of the NALC.  He will be attending a Dean’s meeting in November in Columbus, OH.  He discussed changes being considered by the NALC regarding whether to have multiple bishops. It would take 2-3 years to implement require 2/3 vote of all congregations. Some discussion ensued.

Next year’s Convocation will be in Nashville, TN.

Budget issues were then addressed. It was agreed as follows:

Reserve $4,000 for Dean and Associate Dean travel expenses and do away with the annual stipend.

Increase support for Oromo and Micronesian from $1,000 to $1,500.

Darian suggested a total budget of $15,000.

It was agreed that a final budget would be worked out at a later date.

There was discussion about the GPMD Bylaws that have not been adopted yet. A rough draft was presented. Jeff Cottingham said he would provide a copy of their bylaws to review. The matter was tabled for the time being.

It was unanimously agreed to leave officers in place and to table any changes until we have bylaws.

The next matter was the election of the Dean. Fritz Brandenburg moved to re-elect Dennis Beckmann as Dean, Jeff Cottingham seconded the motion, and all present voted in favor thereof.

Darian Hybl talked about importance of having pastors communicate and get together, and discussed the on-line meetings to be held monthly . Various ways of improving communication were discussed, perhaps by newsletter, on a blog, etc.

Jill Schroeder is no longer serving Paxton. Brent Block, PA is providing pastoral services twice per month.

Pastor Cathi Braasch is serving an interim at Bethel Lutheran, Holdredge, NE.

The meeting adjourned for worship at 1:55 pm.

Margaret Elliott, Secretary

Meeting January 9, 2016:
The postponed annual convocation of the Great Plains Mission District was held on Saturday, January 9, 2016 at St. Matthew's. About 25 people attended, including representatives of 10 of our 15 Mission District churches. One church (Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Fayetteville, AR) and another rostered pastor (Pr. Darian Hybl, Emmanuel Lutheran LCMC, Goodland, KS) participated by Skype.

The congregations shared some of the things they have been doing. Pr. Atomsa updated everyone and asked for prayer regarding the current conflict between the Oromo people and the Ethiopian government. Government forces have killed, injured and/or imprisoned many who protest the Ethiopian government's plan to confiscate their farmland for little or no compensation, leaving the people with no means of livelihood. All of the members of the Ebenezer Oromo church have relatives in Ethiopia.

There was discussion about improving communication among the churches and a number of ideas were presented. It was decided to try a monthly on-line meeting of the pastors, the first on Tuesday, Jan. 12. Pr. Darian Hybl agreed to set up the on-line meeting place.

It was suggested that we have our future annual convocations late summer or early fall to avoid potential problems of winter weather that we have experienced on several occasions. The next meeting was scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016 at St. Matthew's.  In the interim, the Board and officers remain the same. We hope to have new bylaws to vote on at the next meeting.

Dean: Pr. Dennis Beckmann (Evangelical Lutheran, Mankato, KS)
Clergy Board Members:
    Pr. Keith Falk (Peace Lutheran, Edmond, OK)
    Pr. Franz Brandenberg (St. John's Lutheran, Westboro, MO)
    Pr. Faisa Atomsa (Ebenezer Oromo church, Riverside, MO)
Lay Board Members:
    John Ross (Evangelical Lutheran, Mankato, KS)
    Jill Schroeder (Paxton New Life, Paxton, NE)
    Kirke Kickingbird (Peace Lutheran, Edmond, OK)

At lunch, St. Matthew's served pizza, salad and desserts.

Following the business meeting, we celebrated in worship and Holy Communion.