President’s Message May-June 2013

Dear members and friends of our ELS:
Parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and interested individuals and couples plan at times what they will leave behind and how this should be done. Generational transference of wealth has been the subject of more than a few seminars.
What kind of legacy do you want to leave to future generations? Is it in dollars? Real estate? Cultural traditions? How about this—to have the praiseworthy deeds of our great God so well-known and taught that “the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children” (Psalm 78:6)?
In my travels and visits around the synod, one thing never ceases to amaze me. We have so many dedicated Christian parents in our land who seemingly spare little or no cost or effort to ensure that their children have access to a good Christian education. The sacrifices can be remarkable. Doing without a brand-new this-or-that in order to foot the bill at a Christian grade school. Could it be trimming vacation goals or foregoing that long-sought lake property just so Gabby or Jason can be enrolled at a Lutheran high school? There are parents—many in our parsonages—who homeschool, giving their children a fundamental Christian worldview, weaving God’s Word daily into a full-ranging curriculum. Then, too, there are many families using the public system, and we find moms and dads working in the home to instill biblical truths, countering as needed anticipated influences that detract from the Christian way of life. And we dare not forget the Sunday School!
Readers of our Lutheran Sentinel may think of wonderful examples of providing such an educational legacy lasting beyond any earthly lifetime. Here are just a few I wish to share that show collectively a dedicated spirit among our fellow Christians: 1) Evergreen Lutheran High School has taken a commendable step, purchasing a nearly brand-new high school complex in Tacoma, Washington, which will serve as the school’s relocated campus; 2) Christ Lutheran Church and School of Port St. Lucie, Florida, is expanding a well-run pre-K into full elementary; it now has called a full-time Assistant Pastor/Academic Dean for this venture; 3) Gloria Dei in Cold Spring, Minnesota, is battling publicly for its tax-exempt status on its Dei Spring school property despite accumulating back taxes levied against the church and school by the county. These and many other committed efforts for leaving such a lasting legacy deserve our praise and our prayers.
Children are a heritage from the Lord. What legacy will we be leaving?
Rev. John A. Moldstad, ELS President