LHM Honored for its 2.5 Million Ablaze! Confirmed Contacts

Earlier this month, Int’l LLL President Jack Kidwell and I attended the Lutheran Church Extension Fund Conference in Dallas, Texas. While we were there, LCMS World Mission Executive Director Bob Roegner presented Lutheran Hour Ministries with “The LCMS World Mission Ablaze!T Partners Award for 2007”. This award is presented annually to “a national or international partner of LCMS World Mission that demonstrates a heart for reaching the lost with the Gospel by pursuing in an exemplary way the goals of Ablaze! in its daily ministry activities.”

A story shared by LHM volunteer Erwin Kranawetter illustrates how LHM serves as a living example of the Ablaze! movement. Erwin found himself in a position to share Christ with a hurting father and son after his wife found a money clip, looked up the name in the phone book, and called to let the person know. The middle-aged man’s father, Tom, came to pick it up. Erwin asked him about his son, and the man shared that his son’s marriage had failed after the death of their child. He turned to alcohol to cope with his losses, and he soon lost his driver’s license, his job, and his home, and he now lives with and depends on his parents.

Erwin prayed with Tom and offered to speak to his son. He told the son that God must really care about him since He put them together so that Erwin could share the Good News with him. He shared that sometimes we have to hit bottom before God gets our attention. Erwin asked if he was ready to hear what the Bible had to say about his pain. The son said: “I am ready,” so Erwin shared the Gospel with the son and his father. Tom’s son then prayed and asked God to forgive him. Tom’s family was then referred to a local Lutheran pastor.

In the past three years, LHM volunteers have reported nearly 2.5 million confirmed contacts (also known throughout the LCMS as critical events) such as Erwin’s toward the LCMS Ablaze! goal of reaching 100 million unreached and uncommitted people with the Gospel by 2017. (LHM has committed to report 25 million critical events toward the goal by 2017.) You can help us and the LCMS in our Ablaze! efforts by reporting your confirmed contacts on the LHM Web site at www.lhm.org/ablaze/signupcontact.asp. LHM’s numbers are then reported to LCMS on a monthly basis.

Thanks to our staff and volunteers for their support of Ablaze! We ask for your continued commitment to the outreach efforts of Lutheran Hour Ministries as People Of Christ With A Message Of Hope.