Almost $70,000 has been contributed by Synod congregations and donors toward a $250,000 goal for the ELCA Malaria Campaign. Sunday, April 28, is World Malaria Day.

            Bishop Jim Mauney has urged donors to buy at least one mosquito net for $10. He suggested donors buy a net for each of their children or grandchildren "in thanksgiving for the safety and health we enjoy in the United States." Contributions may be made online on the Synod's website, www.vasynod.org.

            More than $1,000 was contributed by late March to a Nets4Nets basketball pool for the Malaria Campaign, led by Pastor David Derrick, St. Philip, Roanoke. In this program, donations for the campaign were tied to predictions of winners in the Final 4 basketball tournament. A total of over $3,000, including Nets4Nets, was donated online.

Lutherans in the news

 

            Joan Donahoe received a service award from Stafford County for 20 years as a volunteer worker on the Family Assessment Planning Team. Members of the team help children who have problems in schools and family life. She has retired. Her husband is Pastor Fred Donahoe, retired pastor of St. Peter, Stafford.
            In outreach ministry, St. Luke, Richmond, is host for the Open University of the Shepherd's Center of Richmond, designed to stimulate senior citizens intellectually and to provide a means of social interaction. Classes are offered in such varied topics as medieval Gothic cathedrals, writing memoirs and family history, English sonnets and the music of Verdi.
            At Holy Trinity, Lynchburg, Café Dennis (named for Pastor Dennis Roberts), an annual event to be held Friday, April 26, will be a benefit for Rivermont Area Emergency Food Pantry, Habitat for Humanity and the ELCA Malaria Campaign. The event features a gourmet dinner prepared by Roberts, music and an auction of goods and services. The seed money from this event launched the Synod Fund for Leaders in Mission.
            At Gloria Dei, Hampton, Dr. Paul Jersild of First, Norfolk, and a retired Southern Seminary professor, spoke to a Sunday School group on "ways to approach the divides of our faith and that of the Muslim." The class continued discussion of this topic and planned a visit to a mosque in Hampton. The congregation also reported a savings of $100 a week by placing recycling bins in the church and school. New American flags have been placed at the church, in honor of three young people, LCDR Stephanie Griese, Capt. Nicholas Griese and 1st Lt. Richard Williams.
            Caroline Furnace Lutheran Camp & Retreat Center is planning a work day of spring cleaning on April 6 and a work weekend on May 3-5 for cleaning, sweping, washing and hosing down, in preparation for the start of camp season in June 16.
           James L. Felder, a South Carolina civil rights activist, is scheduled to speak Thursday, April 4, at 1 p.m. at a special lecture honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., at Southern Seminary.
            At St. Mark, Charlottesville, the congregation has joined an effort calling on the University of Virginia and Martha Jefferson Hospitals to sponsor job training to help more than 3,000 unemployed young adults, 14 percent of the out-of-school population between the ages of 16 and 30 in the Charlottesville area.. This would "get young adults on the 'first rung' of the career ladder that would provide a gateway to family supporting job opportunities," according to the congregation's newsletter. Also, Anne Carter has joined St. Mark's staff as youth and family ministry leader.A member of the congregation and its choir, she has completed work for a master's degree in reading education at University of Virginia.
            St. Paul, Hampton, plans to plant 600 blue pinwheels, one for every 10 children who were victims of reported abuse and neglect in the state last year and one for every 10 children who are in the autism spectrum. During Child Abuse Prevention and Autism Awareness month, the congregation plants pinwheels to convey the fact that prevention and support work.
            Two Lutherans announced a $25 million Centennial Campaign at Ferrum College, a United Methodist school in Franklin County. President Jennifer Braaten and Sam Lionberger, Christ, Roanoke, trustees chairman, said the college wants to increased endowed scholarships and professorships and expand student academic opportunities.
            St. Mark, Yorktown, has a zip ministry to provide bottles of juice, snacks and toiletries which members keep in their cars to share with homeless and hungry people they encounter on their daily travels. 

            A memorial graveside service for the Rev. Paul "Chip" Gunsten was held March 23 in the Memorial Gardens of Grace, Winchester. Gunsten, who died in December, was a pastor at Grace from 1985 to 1990. He moved to St. Philip, Roanoke, from 1990 to 1999 and served as assistant to the bishop from 1999 to 2012.

            Anna Gunsten, his daughter, raised more than $5,100 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in memory of her father for the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach on March 17. Now serving on a dietitian internship in Richmond, she was a speaker for the marathon. She could not run in the marathon as planned, because of a stress fracture.

            Gifts for the Paul Gerhard Gunsten Virginia Synod Mission and Ministry Fund are still coming in to the Synod office in Salem.

            Roanoke College Chaplain Paul Henrickson (right) will give the commencement address of the college on Saturday, May 4 at 10 a.m. on the front quadrangle as his last act before retirement after 30 years. He previously has been the baccalaureate preacher at the college for the last 15 years.

            Henrickson, who started his career as an aerospace engineer for NASA in Houston, Tex., turned to the ministry after graduating from Hamma Divinity School. He served at Bethel, Manassas, for five years before moving to the college campus in 1983.

            He is highly popular among students for his informal relationships, counseling and talking about their faith.

            Serving as spiritual adviser to the campus community, he offers pastoral care to students, faculty and staff of the college. For most of his years at Roanoke, Henrickson has led students on trips to Habitat projects in Columbia, S.C. and to Hurricane Kagtrina cleanup in New Orleans. He has led freshmen in working on R Houses for Habitat in the last seven years. Henrickson also served on Synod Council and as coordinator of Winter Celebration.

            At the commencement, Steven C. White of Floyd County and Regine N. Archer of Salem will receive honorary degrees. White, principal guest conductor and artistic adviser for Opera Roanoke, has conducted the Metropolitan Opera. Archer is former president and chairwoman of Blue Ridge Beverage Co. in Salem.

            The baccalaureate ceremony will be held on May 3 at 4:30 p.m. in the Bast Center.  

            Dr. Hampton Hylton, a retired pediatrician, and his wife, Judy Hylton, manager of the gift shop at Winchester Medical Center, were the first residents to move into the Village at Orchard Ridge, a new Winchester unit of National Lutheran Retirement Community, on Feb. 4.  From two to three people are moving in on any day, said John Midolo, executive director of Orchard Ridge.

            The first phase of construction is to be completed with the chapel opening in May. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for June 17. About 64 percent of the residents are from Winchester, Frederick, Clarke, Warren and Shenandoah counties and 71 percent are from Virginia.

            The new community will have independent living cottages, homes and apartments with home-based assisted services, memory care assisted living, nursing care options and short-term rehabilitation.

Lena Mae Ayers and her son, Bob

            The Rev. Robert Ayers, retired Episcopal priest, graduate of Roanoke College and the Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, recently memorialized his mother with a gift to the Bishop's Discretionary Fund of  Synod. Here are Ayers' words about his mother, who is remembered by many Virginia Lutherans. He lives in New York State.

             Lena Mae Anderson Ayers [1903-1999] was the daughter of Southwest Virginia Lutherans, related to the Killingers, Scherers, Copenhavers, Hashes and Andersons. Her mother, Laura Ann Hash, met her father, John Robert Anderson, at the Rural Retreat Male and Female Academy, presided over by Lutheran Pastor J.B. Greever.

            Lena Mae grew up in Bluefield, across the street from the Highland Avenue Lutheran Church, at which her family were prominent members. As a girl she attended Elizabeth College, and when it burned she finished the year out at Roanoke College. When the family moved to Roanoke in 1922, her father, N & W official John R. Anderson, was one of the founders of the Virginia Heights Lutheran Church.

            Her oldest brother, Robert Homer Anderson, was a prominent Lutheran minister who served churches in Burkes Garden, Strasburg and Lynchburg and for 30 years was the beloved Superintendent of the old Virginia Synod. Lena Mae was very active in Lutheran Church Women's work, at the local and state level, serving as synodical president in the 1960's.

            Bishop Jim Mauney called on Southern Conference leaders to look around their neighborhoods when they consider mission. Speaking at a Leadership Workshop at Brandon Oaks Retirement Community, he said, "We never know our neighborhoods. Try to be faithful where we are. Have you thought about asking people around the church (to worship)?"

            The bishop cited a draft document, Vision for Mission, prepared by the late Pastor Chip Gunsten which said,"Mission is what we do across the dinner table, the desk, the street and the fences that separate..Lutherans of late have understood mission as something the wider church did in planting new congregational starts as competitors in our parish garden, yet mission is what congregations, institutions, ecumenical partners and community organizations do in collaboration to network in our communities/neighborhoods."

            In mission, Mauney said, "we are called to share our faith, hands-on faith as a witness to others..We are all called to be spiritual leaders."

            The leaders heard reports of the work of Mindy Reynolds, synodical minister for healthy leadership and wellness; Dr. Phyllis Milton, synodical minister for Christian formation, and Ellen Hinlicky, director of Lutheran Partners in Mission. 

            When Mary Doe (right), 101, a native of Liberia and a member of Trinity, Roanoke, became a U.S. citizen in a Roanoke courtroom on March 8, Federal Judge James Turk said she was the oldest person he had inducted into citizenship. She received a standing ovation as 44 people from 29 countries became citizens.

            Mary Doe and her daughter and son-in-law, Zeor and Tailey Dolue, and their children fled from encroaching violence as it spread into their village during a civil war in the late 1980s. They ran by night and hid in the bush by day as they crossed into Ivory Coast. They stayed in a refugee camp for 14 years until they were able to immigrate to the U.S. in 2004. The Refugee and Resettlement Service of Commonwealth Catholic Charities helped them resettle in Roanoke.The family joined Good Shepherd, a Missouri Synod Lutheran congregation, but later moved to Trinity. Both congregations helped the family.

             Life in the states is quite different from her years in Africa, Mary Doe said. Zeor Dolue, her daughter, said she has lived so long because she eats healthy food and takes care of herself.  Mary Doe had four children, three living in Africa. The Dolues have five children in Roanoke and four in Africa.

            Mary Doe and Pastor Ken Lane of Trinity were featured on a Roanoke television station after the ceremony. 

            Rich Duncan (left), a North Carolina development worker for more than 11 years, has been named director for mission funding for the ELCA.  He is the son of retired Pastor C. Richard Duncan, who served at St. Peter, Stafford, and Redeemer, Pearisburg, and in the U.S. Naval Chaplain Corps, and Mrs. Charlotte Duncan..

            In Chicago, Duncan will be responsible for working with a Mission Funding Team in raising support for ELCA World Hunger, ELCA Malaria Campaign, Lutheran Disaster Response, Global Church Sponsorship, ELCA New Congregations and ELCA Fund for Leaders. He will begin churchwide service April 15.

            He leaves the post of executive director of development for Lenoir-Rhyne University and he previously served as director of sales for Owens-BriGam Medical Co.

            He is a 1988 graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne and he holds a master's of business administration from Jacksonville, Fla. University. He received a Creativity Award from the Association of Lutheran Development Executives and a Community Service Award from Lenoir-Rhyne. He's a district Boy Scout commissioner and assistant scoutmaster.

            Christine Duncan, his wife, is a regional gift planner for the ELCA Foundation. They have two sons, Jake and Will. 

            Drs. Michal Valco and Katarina Valcova (right), Slovak professors, are winding up a year on the Roanoke College faculty before they return to teaching in a different land in Eastern Europe. They come from a small country where there is no line between church and state and the government pays pastors.

            Slovakia, a socialist democracy emerging from 40 years of communism, has 14 percent unemployment, an average salary of $800 a month and socialized medicine providing "an inefficient, low-quality, corrupt system," according to Michal Valco. Basic treatment is all right, he said, but people may wait a year for surgery and hospitals use old technology. He predicts that the new U.S. universal healthcare system will not work eventually.

            Both hold doctorates and they are ordained Lutheran pastors who teach future teachers at the University of Zilina, a school of 12,000 students in Slovakia. This is their second round of teaching in Roanoke's religion and philosophy department. They are widely traveled in the states, after terms at Roanoke in 2010 and previous work in Washington State, Florida and Baltimore.

They returned to Roanoke as faculty substitutes for a year. Michal said they like Roanoke as a small school, they enjoy teaching students and they like their department colleagues. "We love the food services here, as well as the library."

            Slovak Lutherans are only 6 percent of a largely Catholic country but they have a long heritage going back over four centuries to Reformation days. Michal teaches church history and systematic theology while Katarina teaches practical theology, covering such areas as Christian liturgy, pastoral care and social ministry. People who practice social ministry should do it because "because they are sent by Christ, not a warm heart," she said.

           They also teach in a Bible school on weekends for people who want to understand scripture. They want to send selected students to serve as interns in U.S. churches.

           The professors come from a conservative country where the church has few social statements. The people take for granted opposition to such issues as homosexuality and lesbian-gay matters. Because there is no barrier between church and state, "We can speak more openly about our Christian faith," Michal said.

            Roanoke students are more serious about their studies because their families have to pay for their education, the couple said. There is no tuition in the Slovak state-supported system. Pastors do it all in their churches and there is little lay participation. People have a different mindset in Slovakia. "If I don't do it, the state will" but in the U.S., "people are more active, the state does not provide and they do not rely on the state," Katarina said. "Our people are less motivated to give to the church or volunteer," she added.

            The couple studied under Prof. Paul Henlicky of the Roanoke faculty when he taught in Slovakia years ago and this connection brought them to Salem.

            They are part of a team who started a Lutheran elementary and pre-school and they plan to add a high school next fall. They are looking for English teachers from the states to serve in this new venture.The website for this school is www.cce.sk.

Seminarians studying outside historic Beam Hall.  The seminary is preparing "theologically sound and practically capable leaders" for the church.

            In February I had the chance to visit Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary as the guest of Ron Walrath, executive director of development. With considerable pride he showed me the many enhancements to the campus since the seminary merged into Lenoir-Rhyne University, including access improvements in the library and rejuvenation of the main classroom building.

            After morning chapel, we had the opportunity to talk about the Seminary's current enrollment and plans for ecumenical outreach. Here are some statistics for the 2012-13 school year.

            The seminary offers courses of study leading to degrees in Masters of Divinity, Master of Arts in Religion, and Master of Sacred Theology. In 2012-13, enrollment stands at 108, of which 88 are studying for the M.Div. degree.

            Seven denominations are represented. The majority of students are Lutheran, with United Methodist and Baptist students the second and third largest groups. Eighteen ELCA Synods sent students to Southern this year. Sixty of the current year's students are men; 48 are women. Eighty eight are Caucasian, 18 are of African descent; one student is Hispanic and one is Asian.

            It is no secret that the high cost of education prevents some candidates from being able to complete their academic courses. At Southern, an emphasis is placed on teaching students to be fiscally responsible in their own lives as a precursor to practicing sound stewardship in the parish. Students have the opportunity to attend classes of Financial Peace University, a program offered at no cost to students. Some students have found the classes so helpful that they have been able to reduce or even eliminate student loans in funding their seminary education!

            Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary is a Mission Partner of the Virginia Synod, and participates in the United Lutheran Appeal. Learn more about them at www.lr.ltss.edu and about the United Lutheran Appeal at www.vasynod.org/ula.

            A new report on Synod staffing circulated by Bishop Jim Mauney lists new people and new duties using "a team approach in a mission-minded focus, asking people to join a broader team" and building upon "excellent gifts" of Synod members. Highlights of the report:

• Bishop Mauney will be the Synod's director for evangelical mission, gleaning proven ways for mission congregations to engage in activities. He will seek mission information from others in the ELCA and leaders of other denominations.
• Pastor Dave Delaney (upper right), longtime director of youth and young adult ministries, will become an assistant to the bishop, helping in celebrations and when misfortunes occur, in addition to continuing the primary responsibility of leading youth ministry, "one of the hallmarks of our Synod's witness."
• Pastor Chris Price (lower right) of Epiphany, Richmond, will become the staff person for the Candidacy Committee.
• The role of conference deans will be expanded---they will be first responders to questions and needs of pastors and other rostered and lay leaders.
• A team of pastors will be coaches for each congregation in the call process. They will be connected with the call process team, working with one or two congregations at a time.

            The bishop said he hopes that in this "more conference/network-focused model" there will be more local accountability to walk together. As congregations get more connected to each other, this "enhances their connection to the wider church." More work will be done at the conference level.

            Speaking for interdependence, "a word used lot in the ELCA," he said, "The more we become 'synod,' the more we fully become the church and the more fully we know God in Christ!"

            Mauney also referred to new programs, previously announced, led by Mindy Reynolds, diaconal minister for Healthy Congregations; Dr. Phyllis Milton, overseeing the ACTS program and Roots & Wings for parents and grandparents, and Ellen Hinlicky, head of Lutheran Partners in Mission, combining functions of United Lutheran Appeal and the former Office for Planned Giving.

            Understanding, respect and a broader perspective are the most beautiful things travelers can bring home from a foreign trip, said Rick Steves (left), an international travel expert, at the annual Bishop James R. Crumley lecture at Roanoke College on March 12.            

            The series honors Crumley, a Roanoke graduate who served as bishop of the former Lutheran Church in America.

            Steves, a Lutheran whose books, television and radio programs and tour business are based in Edmonds, WA, was on a road trip of a dozen cities in "celebration of European travel." He spoke to two packed audiences at Olin Theater, saying "I want travel to bring us together. (It is) getting to know the family."

            In contrast to the cruise business he calls "hedonism," Steves said he wants travelers to be engaged with people in other lands. He's excited about "empathy with the other 96 percent of the people who live outside our borders." As Dr. James Peterson of the college faculty said in his introduction of the speaker, "How can you love your neighbor if you don't know him?"

            One-half of all humanity live on $2 a day yet people in the U.S. worry about growth of only 2 percent last year, Steves said. "We are 4 percent of the planet but we spend as much on weaponry as the rest of the world."

            Steves, author of "Travel as a Political Act," pointed out that the equipment of  a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan costs $1 million, an amount which would pay for 100 wells to provide needed water in another country.

Pastors Jim and CeCee Mills will present two series of information workshops for congregations in the synod in April on "Ventures for Growing Stewards." 

            On Sunday, April 21, a meeting will be held at Emanuel, Woodstock, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The address is 127 E. High Street, Woodstock 22664.  On Sunday, April 28, the meeting will be held at St. Michael, Blacksburg, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The address is 2308 Merrimac Road, Blacksburg 24060. 

            We encourage congregation groups to include stewardship leaders plus the pastor and the congregation president and the church treasurer.  Costs for the series of four workshops will be discussed at the meetings.  Scholarships are available upon request.  For planning purposes, we ask that you contact Jim Kniseley to let him know how many in your congregation will be in attendance.  Jim's e-mail address is txbe2godx2@comcast.net and his cell phone is 540-845-2427.

            Pastor Jim Kniseley is the Virginia Synod stewardship coordinator.  He and Pastor CeCee Mills were trained as facilitators for the Ventures in Growing Stewardships Workshops.  Pastor Kniseley is co-pastor at Resurrection in Fredericksburg.  Pastor Mills is the assistant pastor at St. Timothy in Norfolk.