Delegates to the 59th convention of the LCMS South Dakota District elected President Rev. Dr. Dale L. Sattgast on the first ballot to his third three-year t
erm.
The convention met April 18-21 in Sioux Falls, S.D., under the theme “Called into Partnership for Witness (Martyria),” from Acts 1:8.
Also elected were:
- the Rev. Nabil S. Nour, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Armour, S.D., first vice-president. Nour had served since 2006 as second vice-president.
- the Rev. Scott C. Sailer, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls, second vice-president. Sailer had served since 2006 as district secretary.
In his president’s report, Sattgast highlighted the fact that 32 percent of offerings received by the district are forwarded to the national Synod for mission and ministry. He also emphasized that every one of the district’s 112 congregations — along with mission sites, preaching stations, schools and child care centers — are “mission outposts” that are charged with witnessing the Gospel to others.
Among resolutions adopted, delegates voted to:
- give the “district reconfiguration task force” — called for by Resolution 8-07 adopted at the 2010 LCMS convention — two convention cycles (six years) instead of one three-year cycle to study the viability of LCMS districts and make recommendations. The South Dakota District resolution also asks that each district be given four years to study the task force’s “principles of viability” in order to “address this matter and attempt to make appropriate adjustments,” and encourages the task force to “give due consideration to the input from each district of Synod prior to making any recommendation to Synod for district reconfiguration.”
- encourage the district’s congregations, schools, ministries and members to support the Lutheran Malaria Initiative with their gifts and prayers.
- encourage the district’s congregations, schools, ministries and members to be “more intentional” in witnessing the Gospel, and ask the district to “provide encouragement and resources” to help equip them for that task.
- encourage the LCMS president to request the Synod’s two seminaries to provide “intentional training in evangelism outreach” to students “in order that pastors may become more proficient both in doing the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 5:4) and in training others as evangelists and witnesses.” The resolution also asks the Synod to establish an Office of Church and State Affairs “to provide resources for congregations and individuals in living out their lives as Christians in Two Kingdoms and to keep current with church-and-state issues, including informing members of Congress of the church’s concerns over those matters which may impact First Amendment rights.”
- “stand in full support” of LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison regarding his Feb. 16 testimony before Congress opposing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate that requires nearly all private health plans to provide contraceptives in their benefit plans, including those contraceptives that cause abortion. The resolution also asks the district’s members to express their opposition to the HHS mandate to their government representatives and to continue to pray for President Barack Obama, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard and all government officials.
Posted April 23, 2012
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