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	February 9, 2005 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 9

	LCMS leaders focus
	on first-ever
	disaster response plan

	Exactly one month after the horrific tsunami devastated so many
lives in South Asia, leaders of LCMS ministries and entities took what
LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick called a ?first step? to move the
church to a new level of collaboration and cooperation to meet physical
and spiritual needs in hurting countries worldwide.

	?While I am not excited about the terrible devastation that
caused this (summit) to take place, I am excited about how people are
responding and the ministry that is taking place in the name of
Jesus,
Kieschnick said at the LCMS Summit Jan. 26 in St. Louis.

	About 40 LCMS ministry leaders and representatives attended the
summit, hosted by LCMS World Relief/Human Care. The goal was to start a
dialogue among LCMS ministries that can play key roles in
disaster-response leadership, funding, and communication and to begin
building the Synod?s first-ever, comprehensive disaster response plan.

	?Now is the time for our church to reach out in ways we never
before have done,? said Rev. Matthew Harrison, executive director of
LCMS World Relief/Human Care, who reported on his assessment work in Sri
Lanka in early January as part of the Synod?s first wave of disaster
response.

	Soon after the tsunami that swept away more than 290,000 people,
LCMS World Relief/Human Care and LCMS World Mission joined forces to
begin addressing needs in South Asia. Although those ministries have
tackled projects together in the past, this was an unprecedented
response as partners to an international crisis.

	?It is our hope that our quick, cooperative relief efforts in
tsunami-ravaged countries will serve as a model for how all LCMS
ministries can partner, in Jesus? name, to help suffering people the
next time disaster strikes,? Harrison said.

	The Synod is blessed with tremendous resources, Harrison said.
?But we have not used those resources to increase the capacity of our
partner churches,? he said. ?We have not lived up to our potential
to
reach out in times of disaster as the Lord calls us to respond, by Word
and by deed, to body and soul.?

	The summit included reports from Lutheran Hour Ministries,
Orphan Grain Train and Lutheran World Relief on those ministries
relief
work in South Asia. Members of two LCMS assessment teams just back from
Sri Lanka and Indonesia shared accounts that will be used to lay the
groundwork for the Synod?s next phase of disaster response.

	With an eye to continued collaboration, summit participants
broke into small groups to identify each ministry?s unique resources
that could be useful in times of disaster.

	?We have an opportunity to move our church body to a new level
of awareness and a new level of response to a hurting world,? said Dr.
Daniel Mattson, associate director of LCMS World Mission.

	Mattson promised that this first summit would not be the last.
?We hope to expand this group and to include people who could not be
here today,? he said. ?We will gather again to plan our united
response.?

	***************************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

	***************************************

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