Delegates to the June 11-14 convention of the LCMS Montana District re-elected the Rev. Terry R. Forke as president and passed resolutions emphasizing their commitment to protecting human life.
Forke, 56, will serve his third term as district president. He is a resident of Billings, Mont. He was elected on the first ballot.
The district’s 32nd convention was held in Billings and attended by 104 delegates representing 67 congregations with approximately 15,000 members. The convention theme was “Go Into All the World and Proclaim the Gospel to the Whole Creation.”
Delegates also elected the Rev. Christopher J. Tabbert, pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Eureka, Mont., as first vice-president and the Rev. Howard D. Schreibeis, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Miles City, Mont., as second vice-president.
The officers were installed at the convention.
The convention delegates adopted a resolution encouraging congregations to “exercise their rights as American citizens to oppose” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate that religious organizations must include employee health coverage for contraceptives, including abortion-inducing drugs.
Another adopted resolution encourages congregation members to be involved in the legislative process by asking their congressional representatives to “reject any bill that supports and legalizes destruction of human life such as abortions … including gender-based abortions and physician-assisted suicide.”
The convention also asked congregations to “demonstrate God’s mercy to their neighbors in Africa” by supporting the Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI), the effort to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015. LMI involves prevention through education and distribution of mosquito bed nets and treatment by increasing access to affordable medical care. It has a goal of receiving total donations of $45 million for those efforts.
Posted June 20, 2012
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