The Board for Home Missions (BHM) has announced that it is moving forward with efforts to establish two new home mission congregations and to expand the outreach efforts in two other locations. One new mission congregation will be established in Castle Rock, Colo. Another, which will concentrate on outreach among the Hmong community, will be established in Kansas City, Kan. In addition, Santo Tomas in Phoenix, Ariz., will receive a second pastor in order to expand its outreach among the Hispanic community. Living Savior in Asheville, N.C., will be provided funding for a second pastor to expand its outreach efforts and to work toward establishing other congregations in the rapidly growing area.

SYNOD SALARIES FROZEN FOR A SECOND YEAR

The BHM's action follows the Synodical Council's (SC) Feb. 27 decision to freeze the salaries of all synodical workers at the current level. (Note: the freeze was not fully reported in the last edition of "Together" to allow time for affected workers to be notified first.) The SC approved the freeze because of the potential shortfall in funding for the next fiscal year, which begins in July. This shortfall may occur because of the anticipated reduction in gifts from the Schwan Foundation and because commitments from congregations are lower than what was anticipated. This is the second consecutive year in which salaries have not been increased.

While the mission expansion and salary freeze may appear inconsistent, keep in mind all of the BHM initiatives are being carried out within the established and approved synod budget and in keeping with previous plans of the Board for Home Missions. With the salary freeze, the SC acted in keeping with a resolution passed by the 2009 convention. That resolution directed the SC to maintain current compensation levels before making any further reduction in the mission and ministry programs of the synod. The convention preferred that this should be done with unpaid furloughs (rather than a salary freeze), but the SC was informed that the logistics of implementing furloughs would be unmanageable and impractical. The SC followed the intent of the convention by reducing compensation costs before reducing ministry programs.

Also, an important aspect of the SC decision was a provision that the salaries could be unfrozen in the future if sufficient financial resources become available. An increase in giving (beyond what is now projected) would make possible the reinstatement of the modest planned salary increase.

CONGREGATION MISSION OFFERINGS

In the meantime, the Conference of Presidents will be asking congregations that have not yet submitted a Congregation Mission Offering (CMO) commitment to do so as soon as possible. As reported in the Mar. 2 edition of "Together," CMO commitments for the 2010 calendar year were 1.8 percent less than what was received from congregations in 2009. Budget planners had anticipated a 3 percent increase.

The Conference of Presidents will continue to monitor the situation and to encourage congregations to meet or exceed their commitments so that reductions to mission and ministry programs will not be necessary.

HE LIVES!

As we follow our Savior with repentant hearts on his path to the cross, we also anticipate with joy the message of the angel on the first Easter Sunday: "He is not here; he has risen!"

May the comfort of Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday be yours, in Christ, our crucified and risen Savior.

Serving in Christ,
Mark Schroeder
President