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         FOR THE MOST RECENT INFORMATION.

                     The Summer edition of the LMM Foundations Newsletter is now available.

                                                                                                                      10-14-25                                                                      ______________________________________________________

The 2025 Gathering Good News newsletter is not available at this time. 

                                                                                                                                            10-14-25

                                              ____________________________________________________

                           NORTH CAROLINA

          LUTHERAN MEN

                                 IN MISSION

The mission of the NCLMM is to support men  in their spiritual growth and in their social and intellectual development as they strive to deepen their commitment to Chrit and to their families;  and to provide strength and support as they grow in the life of the church and its evangelical mission.

Our vision is for all men to become bold and daring followers of Jesus Christ.

Gathering  Registration

Updated registration information for the 2027 Gathering will be added at a future date.

The Summer edition of the LMM Ambassador-Gram is now available.  See the announcement page.                                                                         10-14-25

St. Paul's Lutheran Church

               Dallas, North Carolina

NCLMM 103rd Annual Gathering Summary

The 103rd Annual meeting of the North Carolina Lutheran Men in Mission was held March 14 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Dallas, NC.  The men of St. Paul's were excellent hosts.  St. Paul's men did a wonderful job of preparing for the event and had everything we needed to keep things moving.  

The gathering theme was "Be the Body of Christ".  The scripture reference was taken from Romans 10:15.  "And how can they preach unless they are sent?"  As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news".

The formal opening of the gathering was declared by David Whitesides, NCLMM President.  The opening prayer was given by Minister Brad Alexander.  Ethan Lineberger welcomed everyone to St. Paul's.  Afterwards, David Whitesides, introduced Bishop Emily Hartner who brought greetings from the North Carolina Synod.

The keynote speaker was The Reverend John Sundquist, Executive Director, of the national Lutheran Men in Mission.  John's message was timely and gave an overview of where we want to go as Lutheran Men in Mission.  "Our work is far from over, but we take the call of Christ in Matthew 28:19 seriously when he said, "Go and make disciple of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Our program included informational presentations related to our them, "Be the Body of Christ".  The Rev. C.D. Osborne, Jay Perkins, and Glen Deal III, told of the Kairos Prison Ministry and its three programs:  Kairos Inside, Kairos Outside, and Kairos Torch.  They explained how volunteers share the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ with our incarcerated brothers and sisters, the women on the outside impacted by incarceration of a loved one and encouraging incarcerated young men and women to participate in a mentoring process of better life choices.  

Ethan Lineberger gave an overview of the many ways St. Paul's men are the hand and feet of Jesus.  Their expertise is in "cooking", bar-b-cuing Boston Butts and chickens.  They distribute food at community events and volunteer to help others.  

Pastor Robert Sain and wife Susan live on the family farm in Vale, NC.  For the past five years Robert has grown organic vegetables on a 1/8 acre plot for the Daniels Lutheran Church-Lincolnton Food Pantry.  Susan grows dahlias and other flowers to provide floral arrangements for local congregations, friends and family.  The past year the garden produced over three tons of fresh vegetables and cut flowers.  

Each of these presentations told how we can "Be the Body of Christ" and meet the needs of those less fortunate around us.  Each presenter shared their slides or videos with attendees.  

Our synod ministry partners brought greeting and told of activities within their organizations.  Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a delicious bar-b-cue lunch and then returned to the church sanctuary for a group photo.

The afternoon session began with worship and communion.  The Rev. John Spencer, pastor of St. Paul's, led the worship service with the assistance of Minister Brad Alexander of St. Mark's-Cherryville.  Worship was followed by the annual business meeting.  Annual reports were given along with the approval of the 2026 budget.  

The following officers were elected:  David Whitesides, St. John's-Cherryville, President;  David Beaver, St. Paul's-Dallas, Vice President;  Minister Brad Alexander, St. Mark's-Cherryville, Secretary, and Don Schwartz, Grace-Hendersonville, Treasurer.

David Whitesides shared information about NCLMM's purchase and placement of a storage building on the Lutheridge campus.  NCLMM normally reimburses the host church for expenses occurred in hosting the gathering.  Instead of accepting these funds, the men of St. Paul voted to donate the funds to Lutheran Disaster Response-Carolinas.  These funds will be used to purchase shelving, tools, and supplies for the storage building.  

Following the installation of officers, David Whitesides, thanked everyone for all they did to make the 103rd Gathering of NCLMM a success.  The annual meeting concluded with the Formal Closing Liturgy, Prayer and Adjournment.

The following officers were elected  pictured left to right:

Brad Alexander, Secretary;  David Whitesides, President;  David Beaver, Vice President;  Don Schwartz, Treasurer

Pictured to the left, attendees of the 103rd Gathering.

Disaster Recovery Ministry Update

The Disaster Recovery truck and trailers have begun their third year of ministry in New Bern, NC.  Our ministry partner is the Coastal Carolina Disaster Resiliency Agency.  Kristi Kulberg, Executive Director, reports that volunteers are using all the equipment.  

Hurricane Helene recovery:  David Whitesides, NCLMM President, and David Beaver NCLMM Vice President helped organize fundraisers to support recovery efforts.  Congregational groups and individuals helped rebuild, clean up, and collect essential items for families  Volunteers work with the building Bridges Campaign of he Mennonite Disaster Service and Lutheran Disaster Response.  (LDR)

Working with LDR, NCLMM purchased a 20 foot (container) storage building to replace at Lutheridge.  Coordinating with Lutheran Disaster Response the storage unit will be filled with shelving for building supplies, tools, hardware.