Navigating the Complexities of Life Advocacy in Today's Society
This podcast episode delves into the multifaceted mission of Lutheran Family Service, particularly highlighting its commitment to life advocacy and mental health support. We engage in a profound discussion with our guest, who elucidates the organization's historical roots and its evolution from an orphanage to a provider of essential social services. As we navigate contemporary challenges, such as the complexities surrounding adoption and the implications of societal views on life and death, we emphasize the necessity of faith-based organizations in addressing these pressing issues. The conversation further explores the wisdom gleaned from personal experiences and mentorship, illustrating the importance of strategic thinking and community engagement. Ultimately, Rev. Max Philips underscores the imperative for individuals and congregations to actively participate in fostering a culture of life and supporting the mission of Lutheran Family Service in their respective communities.
The conversation presented in this episode serves as a profound examination of the mission and activities of Lutheran Family Service, an organization that has evolved significantly since its inception as an orphanage in 1901. The guest, whose career spans corporate leadership and pastoral ministry, provides valuable insights into the intersection of faith and service. Central to the discussion is the organization’s commitment to advocating for life in various contexts, including adoption and mental health. The guest articulates a compelling narrative about the necessity of integrating Christian principles into social service, particularly in today's polarized climate surrounding life and family issues.
Within the discourse, Rev. Max Philips addresses the challenges associated with maintaining the organization’s integrity, particularly regarding its decision to refrain from accepting government funding. This choice reflects a commitment to uphold Christian values and avoid potential compromises to their mission. The episode further explores the role of Lutheran Family Service in supporting expectant mothers through pregnancy counseling, emphasizing the importance of providing resources and encouragement to those facing challenging decisions. The guest's reflections on the historical context of the organization provide a rich backdrop for understanding its current initiatives and community impact.
As the discussion progresses, Max shares their vision for the future of Lutheran Family Service, including an expansion of its mental health services and a renewed focus on adoption. This forward-looking perspective underscores the organization’s adaptability and commitment to meeting the needs of its communities. The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to advocate for life and support the ongoing work of Lutheran Family Service, reinforcing the vital role that faith-based organizations play in addressing societal challenges with compassion and integrity. The overarching message invites listeners to consider their own roles in fostering a culture of life and support within their communities.
Takeaways:
- The importance of strategic thinking and playing the long game in ministry cannot be overstated, as it helps in navigating challenges effectively.
- Lutheran Family Service has a long history, originating in 1901, with a focus on providing support for orphans and crisis pregnancies.
- The organization emphasizes the necessity of surrounding children with godly families, adhering to traditional Christian values in adoption practices.
- Mental health counseling has become a significant part of Lutheran Family Service's mission, addressing the growing mental health crisis in society today.
- Engagement in community service is paramount for faith-based organizations, demonstrating the church's commitment to addressing social issues without compromising its beliefs.
- The conversation surrounding life advocacy has become increasingly complex, necessitating a clear, respectful discourse on sensitive topics such as abortion and end-of-life issues.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Lutheran Family Service
- Trinity Lutheran Church
- Quest Communications
- Perry Lutheran Homes
- Lutherans for Life
Transcript
Well, Max, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker A:How you doing today?
Speaker B:I'm doing well, Keith.
Speaker B:Thanks for having me.
Speaker A:Well, that was an interesting conversation.
Speaker A:Interesting timing with all the news that's going on on social media.
Speaker A:I thought it'd be a good idea to, I hadn't planned it, but to just talk about, you know, what you do and Luton Family Service does because I know there's a lot of some, there's some controversy about what Lutheran Family Service may be doing around the world because that name came up in some news lately.
Speaker A:But we'll get to that eventually as well.
Speaker A:So you can distinguish yourself from those who are in the news.
Speaker B:Sure, that would be good.
Speaker A:So my, my, my favorite question to ask all my guests is, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Speaker B:Well, you know, I, I pondered that a bit.
Speaker B:I guess the best piece of advice I've ever received is to play the long game and, you know, basically not to let whatever is happening at the moment be the thing that stops you or that or colors your vision.
Speaker B:So I try to spend a lot of time thinking strategically down the road, how does this make a difference and then fit the pieces in place.
Speaker B:And that served me pretty well.
Speaker A:That's good.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:I'm also curious.
Speaker A:You and I are been in ministry for a long time, have a lot of experience, but who are some people in your life who either served as a mentor for you or an inspiration for you on your journey?
Speaker B:Well, that's a good question.
Speaker B:I've had lots of pastors and frankly, they've all played a meaningful role for me.
Speaker B:You know, a few in particular.
Speaker B:Pastor Phil Ritter was a good friend of mine and mentor and he and I had a very similar view of ministry.
Speaker B:And that was, he was very supportive, obviously.
Speaker B:I've had good relationships with district presidents around the lcms and they've been supportive.
Speaker B:So, you know, I've had a lot of folks, both in terms of my early formation and even now, that are encouragers, and I think those are the important people that I, I really need in my life.
Speaker B:I try to be an encourager as well.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:So tell us a bit about your background because you didn't start out as a pastor.
Speaker A:Tell us about your journey from where you started out to how you ended up where you are now.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:So I basically began my career at a company called Northwestern Bell, which is one of the Bell companies for some of your older listeners, and began in a very entry level position with the idea that I wouldn't stay there.
Speaker B:I just needed to get a job to help finish off paying for college.
Speaker B:And that went well, better than I expected.
Speaker B:I continued to advance in that.
Speaker B:In addition, I was doing a lot of ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church in Des Moines and really heading up their campus ministry there.
Speaker B:I spent 33 and a half years with the, the various companies that came out of that and ended up as, as the regional state president for Quest Communications.
Speaker B:And 10 years prior to my retirement from that, I was also in the ministry.
Speaker B:I had gone back to seminary.
Speaker B: Christ Lutheran Church about: Speaker B:So that's, that's kind of my journey.
Speaker B:I was for 10 years there or so, or I guess six years, worker that had both a foot in the parish bringing, you know, word and sacrament and foot in the, in the real world or the other world.
Speaker B:And I have to tell you, Keith, some of the best training I ever got was in, in my secular career about how to lead people, how to see further down the road, how to understand how important being with people and, and bringing talents, surrounding myself with talents.
Speaker B:Those are invaluable gifts.
Speaker B:And I really think probably most second career pastors would say they learned a lot and God prepared them for the ministry they have today.
Speaker A:Yeah, that is very true.
Speaker A:I think it gives you so much, so much of a wide range of assets and experiences that you bring to the parish.
Speaker A:And a lot of times I remember as a young pastor, I walked in, they expected, well, you're the pastor, you know everything and you don't.
Speaker A:I tell pastor, don't fall for that.
Speaker A:You have a lot of people in your congregation who are very gifted and it behooves you to make use of the gifts that God has surrounded you with.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:So tell us about the mission of Lutheran Family Service and just kind of how you see it impacting the community.
Speaker A:Because the community that you serve is not just Iowa, but you.
Speaker A:You're expanding well beyond.
Speaker A:So kind of give us the big picture of Lutheran Family Service.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B: Service began its ministry in: Speaker B:It was brought about by the old Iowa district of the LCMS before it split into east and West.
Speaker B:And it was primarily an orphanage.
Speaker B:And it was that whole idea of surrounding orphans in their need as God's word commands us to do.
Speaker B:And so over the years, we've been part of placing children for adoption somewhere around 3,000.
Speaker B:During that time, we continued as primarily an orphanage, actually built two different orphanages and one is still standing in Fort Dodge.
Speaker B:The Building at least, and we use it now as a ministry center.
Speaker B:As we begin to grow in that particular ministry, we also got into the world of pregnancy counseling, which is really important for those that find themselves with a crisis pregnancy.
Speaker B:And that would be especially in this day and age.
Speaker B:There are lots of whispers in your ear and that could be from people close to you or people at work that might suggest to you to end that child in the womb so that they don't, they don't bend your schedule or cause you a problem.
Speaker B:So we begin to work with young moms who are expecting, wrapping them with love and with that message that this is a child of God that you're carrying and that you need to protect that child and especially protected against the notion or the advice of others to end it, to murder it.
Speaker B:And so we've gotten really involved with pregnancy counseling.
Speaker B:We have folks that go anywhere, anytime to meet with people that are wanting to know what they might do as the alternative.
Speaker B:And obviously there's a couple of alternatives.
Speaker B:One is you can carry that child to term and parent it.
Speaker B:And another is you can carry that child to term and place it for adoption.
Speaker B:We're still of the same, I guess, ilk that we always have been.
Speaker B:We only place children with families that are, I guess, godly families, meaning a man and a woman married in a stable relationship.
Speaker B:So they have to be married for three years or more and Christian and active in a congregation.
Speaker B:And that space is getting very narrow these days.
Speaker B:Used to be that everybody had that kind of adoption plan and today Lutheran Family Service stands without very many partners in that regard.
Speaker B:A lot of children are placed via brokers in the foster care system and others.
Speaker B:We're the ones that bring Christ and his purpose and love into it.
Speaker B: In the: Speaker B:And that was at a time right after the farm crisis.
Speaker B:And the districts empowered us to take on that ministry and we did.
Speaker B:And so we continue to grow that ministry.
Speaker B:And we have counselors in, in many areas that serve the mental health needs of people in addition to particular topics and subjects like marriage, wellness and youth decisions and gender identity and, and the impact of screens on people's lives and their brains.
Speaker B:We do all kinds of wide ranging work in lots of places.
Speaker B:And you mentioned the places we serve the Iowa districts, Iowa District west and Iowa District East.
Speaker B:We serve in the Nebraska district.
Speaker B:We have an office in Norfolk.
Speaker B:We serve the South Dakota district.
Speaker B:We have two offices, their main offices.
Speaker B:One is in the western part of the state in the Deadwood area and the other is in Sioux Falls.
Speaker B:I just jumped off a call with the North Dakota district folks.
Speaker B:Now we're beginning our work there in Bismarck and Fargo.
Speaker B:And then we also have folks that are licensed in Missouri and Illinois.
Speaker B:We see clients.
Speaker B:And then we're talking right now to the Mid south district, that's Tennessee, parts of Kentucky and Arkansas.
Speaker B:So there'll be lots of opportunities for us.
Speaker B:And one particular focus we've really leaned on in the past five or six years is church worker wellness, because we, we've noted an increasing amount of challenges in the public ministry, especially with pastors and teachers during these really dynamic, changing times where things change fast.
Speaker B:And think Covid there, you know, how do, how do people deal with that?
Speaker B:How do they deal with the congregational expectations?
Speaker B:And how do we keep our workers healthy?
Speaker B:Because we need more.
Speaker B:It would be foolish to not keep, well, the ones we have.
Speaker B:That's, that's kind of a nutshell.
Speaker B:One other we do is we work in government circles, we speak for life.
Speaker B:And, you know, our advocacy is that the church is ready and able to respond when issues of life come before the General Assembly.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:When I first met you, that's one of the things we.
Speaker A:You were talking about.
Speaker A:You were talking about life and you had great display about how you emphasize, you know, the importance of, of, of life.
Speaker A:How has your work changed following Roe v.
Speaker A:Wade?
Speaker A:Because it seems like it's.
Speaker A:The conversation has gotten more toxic, more divisive.
Speaker A:So how do you now walk in that space when there's so many, there's so clearly defined lines in that space of life advocacy?
Speaker B:Well, I think one thing we do is defend voraciously our focus on life.
Speaker B:We haven't gotten a field of that.
Speaker B:And what I mean by that is we, you know, I'd like to talk to legislators about church taxes, I'd like to talk to them about property rights, but I don't, because I want to make sure that I can talk to a Republican or a Democrat or Independent, and they know that I'm going to talk strictly about life issues and, and whether that is at the beginning of life or what we're starting to see more and more in the states are a focus on end of life and basically an ungodly perspective of saying you're in control of your life, you should control when it's over as well.
Speaker B:We fight against all of those things.
Speaker B:And I have to tell you, Keith, with After Roe v.
Speaker B:Wade and the Dobbs decision, basically it's a state issue now.
Speaker B:So it really is important, I think, for Christians, and certainly Lutherans as a part of that, to, to be ready to engage in their own state around that godly message of life and how it belongs to God, it's formed by God and, and you know, that's, that's important to him.
Speaker B:And it shouldn't just be left to pastors, shouldn't just be left to whoever.
Speaker B:This is a conversation that needs to happen in homes and down at that corner shop, wherever it is, respectfully and done well.
Speaker B:But the states have a lot of control right now.
Speaker B:And so whatever state you're listening to in today, you ought to really pay attention to how life issues are presented in the state and understand what you can do to impact it.
Speaker A:So let's talk about that a little bit more because when I came to Iowa five years ago, Iowa had just a very conservative state.
Speaker A:All of a sudden we had one of the most liberal abortion policies in the country.
Speaker A:How did Iowa get there from being a state that was at that time mostly run by Republicans who value life?
Speaker A:How did.
Speaker A:Because it's not just Iowa.
Speaker A:It seems like Kansas has gotten there.
Speaker A:It seems like Missouri has gone there.
Speaker A:How did those states, and maybe you can kind of give us some insight as to how do they get from something that's totally opposite of what their, their state seem to represent?
Speaker B:Well, the judiciary is a big part of what's happened across the country.
Speaker B:And that began in Iowa many years ago when same sex marriage was legalized.
Speaker B:And, and it wasn't because the legislature passed law and the governor signed it.
Speaker B:It was because the courts read a particular way the constitution and basically said that's the law of the land.
Speaker B:Same thing happened with the abortion rights argument here in Iowa.
Speaker B:Our LCMS legislators, and we have many who are in the General assembly, actually helped craft a bill that determined that life at life should be, or abortion should be illegal at heartbeat.
Speaker B:And that's not exactly where we want to get to, but it was a great place to start from where it had been.
Speaker B:And the law passed and the governor signed it and a court judge struck it down.
Speaker B:And so basically the court judge found that the Iowa constitution somehow guaranteed the right to an abortion, which is contrary to every legal scholar that I deal with.
Speaker B:And, but the bottom line was it had to be overturned.
Speaker B:So we went to the, the Iowa Supreme Court actually had to be overturned.
Speaker B:So what happened, and I what I mean by overturned there, these are elected judges and three of them in the next election were voted out.
Speaker B:So that's again, I guess, the power of.
Speaker B:Of God's people exercising in the kingdom of the left, which is that civil world, that realm we live in and understanding how we can be impactful and helpful and, and bring life and that gift of life into the public sphere in a way that they don't appreciate today.
Speaker A:As you look at the future of where LFL LFS is going, what do you see it looking like in the next five years?
Speaker B:Well, I think, you know, we are encouraging right now the whole Senate to rethink their adoption.
Speaker B:And what I mean by that, Keith, there's 115,000 children that will be adopted this year.
Speaker B:About half of them will go through the foster care system and parts of that are really good and parts of it are not good.
Speaker B:Of the other half, about a quarter then or half of the half will be adopted in family situations.
Speaker B:So it's an aunt taking the child for someone or however that might be family relationship.
Speaker B:The remaining 50% of the 50 or 25% are going to be adopted through lawyers online, however it might work, which is not godly in any sense of the word and with no concern at all for the child's spiritual welfare in the kingdom of Christ.
Speaker B:So we're trying to wake up the church to see we all have a great role in helping encourage those who want to adopt, to inspire those maybe to think about adoption that that are building their families.
Speaker B:And it's not because we want to, you know, build a family.
Speaker B:We want to wrap a family around a child.
Speaker B:And it's got to be someone that's going to bring them into the kingdom and support them in that.
Speaker B:I think that will change, Keith, because I think we'll continue to grow in that ministry as a synod and certainly LFS will be at the forefront of that.
Speaker B:And we're working with partners you mentioned briefly.
Speaker B:They're Lutherans for life.
Speaker B:We had a conference in Houston in April and I last April.
Speaker B:And I think what will come out of that is several districts bringing resolutions to the convention this or next year.
Speaker B:This year and their own district conventions and next year the synodic convention for us to step up in the world of adoption in the area of mental health.
Speaker B:I expect that we'll continue to grow into other districts simply because there's a mental health crisis in the country and there are lots of folks that practice in the mental health world.
Speaker B:Lots of people have really good clinical skills.
Speaker B:An awful lot of them don't have any Christ ability to bring him into their work.
Speaker B:So I think real true Christian Counselors, which is what Lutheran Family Service is, will continue to be a need both in the church and in the community, and certainly in the congregation.
Speaker A:Having worked with you on the board, I realized that one thing that Luton Family Service doesn't do is accept money from the government.
Speaker A:I just saw that that became controversial in a couple other similarly named organizations.
Speaker A:Kind of tell us why you've chosen to take the path you have for funding.
Speaker B:Well, primarily for the reason that it's in the headlines today.
Speaker B:Several years ago, we had the chance to be a contractor to the United States army dealing with marriages of soldiers who were coming back from deployment.
Speaker B:And, you know, the statistics are appalling.
Speaker B:The number of marriages that suffer because the husband or wife soldier is gone for a year or deployed for extensive period of time.
Speaker B:It was a worthy cause.
Speaker B:It was something we could have really brought a lot of skill to.
Speaker B:But two things happen when you accept government funding.
Speaker B:The first is you have to trade in your Jesus witness, and you can't.
Speaker B:You can no longer be an effectual Christian witness.
Speaker B:Second thing is, is you have to.
Speaker B:You become reliant on that government money, which can change overnight and catch you in a place where you may not be able to operate any further.
Speaker B:So our board, again, this was quite a few years ago, decided we would not accept government money, and we don't.
Speaker B:The controversy today deals with some of those agencies that used to be involved with the church who became government contractors over time.
Speaker B:They receive lots of money, and they have, because of that, in most cases, left the church.
Speaker B:The one organization that's confused with us a lot is Lutheran Family Service of Nebraska, who are under a doing business as Lutheran Family Services with an S on the end.
Speaker B:You can see how confusing that is because we're Lutheran Family Service with no S on the end.
Speaker B:And they've been caught up in the whole controversy around a lot of federal money being given to agencies to take unaccompanied children that cross the border illegally or without documentation and then place them somewhere.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And what's happened is it's impossible for them to keep track of all of these children.
Speaker B:And they, you know, some cases those children have fallen in bad situations.
Speaker B:And it's because, you know, they're getting millions and millions of dollars that there is no accountability there.
Speaker B:So just to be clear, we're not them.
Speaker B:And we.
Speaker B:We've had people say to us, gee, look at these bad things you're doing.
Speaker B:And that's not us, that's other agencies.
Speaker B:You know, Keith, every.
Speaker B:Almost every district of Our church had a social service agency who had fidelity to their.
Speaker B:The synod and were biblically based, scripturally focused.
Speaker B:And over time, almost all of them have fallen away.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:A lot of it's because of government funding.
Speaker B:We haven't done that.
Speaker B:We won't do that, which means we're perpetually poor.
Speaker B:But we continue to focus on gaining partners.
Speaker B:And God is good.
Speaker B:He figures it out.
Speaker A:So one of the things that you have been known for as an organization is your adoption.
Speaker A:And I'm sure you have dozens of stories, but is there one adoption story that just still touches your heart?
Speaker B:Yeah, it.
Speaker B:There's several, but one that really does.
Speaker B:Early in my ministry as executive director of lfs, I received a letter.
Speaker B:A person I didn't know, and the letter was kind of a.
Speaker B:It began in a way that said, you know, my brother or my father just passed away and I wanted to write to you.
Speaker B:And I wasn't sure where this letter was going, but she.
Speaker B:She mentioned that she had been adopted through Lutheran Family Service into this loving family of a father and a mother who brought her up in the faith.
Speaker B:And the.
Speaker B:And the last part of the letter was just a thank you to God for us because.
Speaker B:Because of us and our Christian focus and to make sure we were given.
Speaker B:They were given to a Christian family.
Speaker B:She knew that she would see her dad again in heaven.
Speaker B:And I thought to myself, wow, that's.
Speaker B:So the work we do does really mean that relationships change.
Speaker B:It's not just dad anymore.
Speaker B:It's my dad who I'm going to see in heaven.
Speaker B:And so that is particularly something that was moving to me.
Speaker B:This is heaven work.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:This is God's stuff.
Speaker B:So that's what's the important part of adoption.
Speaker B:If we weren't concerned about the church, there are lots of people that can do adoption.
Speaker B:We're concerned about that child knowing and being received into the kingdom through baptism and certainly that Christian surrounding.
Speaker A:Love that.
Speaker A:One of the things I always admired about you is your love for leadership and organizational change.
Speaker A:How do you.
Speaker A:How does your faith influence what you bring to the table in terms of leadership and service?
Speaker B:Well, I have been involved in a lot of change, and I guess I learned early on that you can either embrace change or get run over by it, and you can be an author of it.
Speaker B:So in my various organizations, and I also am the CEO of Perry Lutheran Homes, we spend an awful lot of time trying to be strategic again, thinking through how do we position ourselves for the future.
Speaker B:And part of that is Being open to change institutions by their nature.
Speaker B:And this includes parts of the church resist change and no matter what's happening in the world around them, you know, they miss opportunities.
Speaker B:There are certain things that don't change.
Speaker B:So I always had five rules, Keith.
Speaker B:One, you know, tomorrow is going to be different than today.
Speaker B:The second rule is things are going to change faster tomorrow than today.
Speaker B:The third rule was we're already change experts and there are lots of examples you can look at in any life to say we've been dealing with this.
Speaker B:The fourth is some things need to change and it's up to us to figure those out.
Speaker B:And the fifth one's really important.
Speaker B:Some things don't change.
Speaker B:Word and sacrament ministry doesn't change.
Speaker B:The, you know, our inerrant scriptures don't change.
Speaker B:Christ doesn't change.
Speaker B:But lots of other things need to change.
Speaker A:As you think about that, the social structure of our society is changing.
Speaker A:How do you see faith based organizations playing into that space of social services in our community?
Speaker A:Because we don't always do that well as churches.
Speaker A:So how do you see faith based organizations helping to fill the gap or you help even lead churches to fill the gap in the social service area.
Speaker B:In our church body, I know you've got people that are outside of that, but they may have something similar.
Speaker B:We have recognized service organizations and I really do believe there's one of the greatest ways to grow the influence of the church is to respond to the needs of the community, but to do it in a way that doesn't compromise what we believe or who we are.
Speaker B:Perilutheran homes for example, we, you know, we have a, we have three kitchens at our three campuses.
Speaker B:So every day, along with help from Christ Lutheran Church, we deliver, you know, 75 meals in the community through the Meals on Wheels program.
Speaker B:You know, one of the things that churches are good at is delivering meals generally.
Speaker B:And I mean, what I mean by that is funeral.
Speaker B:They have a meal.
Speaker B:Maybe some other situation, they have a meal.
Speaker B:How can we as the church wrap ourselves around people in need with even how we look at meals today?
Speaker B:If someone was to perish or pass away in a parish, we're good about bringing food over.
Speaker B:I got to tell you, a month later, there isn't much food showing up and there aren't many people showing up.
Speaker B:How can we as a congregation make a difference in a grieving heart?
Speaker B:Doesn't have to be our member.
Speaker B:It could be anybody.
Speaker B:How can we be involved in, you know, the, the local school?
Speaker B:There are ways for us to think differently as a church and not lock our faith inside of the, of the walls.
Speaker B:The worst thing I ever heard, Chris, it was a person I, I love dearly, but who told me, pastor, I like to keep my faith and my, and my life separate.
Speaker B:And I said, what do you mean?
Speaker B:And she said, well, I'm, when I'm in church, I'm, I'm, I practice my faith, but when I'm outside the church, I don't, I don't, you know, talk about it.
Speaker B:I'm going, that's, God has placed us as missionaries wherever we're at.
Speaker B:So if you're at the, if you're the attendant at the Casey store down the street, or if you're a career business person, God's got you there and to think about how you can live your faith there in relationship with the people you're already with and bringing Christ into it.
Speaker B:And, and many times that happens through some life change, change that's happened to them.
Speaker B:A divorce, a death, a marriage, a move.
Speaker B:Those are great opportunities to bring Jesus into, into how important it is for that stability even in times of significant change.
Speaker A:That's, that's awesome.
Speaker A:That's a great reminder for all of us.
Speaker A:I know that you're always thinking, you're always looking ahead.
Speaker A:So what initiatives are you working on at lfs that you are excited about that you can kind of share with us?
Speaker A:That's just on horizon.
Speaker B:Well, one of the ones that we need to be very careful of and I'm excited about it just because I think the church can play a significant role, is the, the slippery slope that our culture is on around death.
Speaker B:And you know, death is one of those issues that people are being taught that you should deal with suffering by ending your life.
Speaker B:And you know, there's always been that issue of suicide, but this is physician assisted suicide.
Speaker B:These are in a medical situation where someone might say, gosh, you're, you're facing some great disease, you're going to suffer down the road, maybe you ought to take your life today.
Speaker B:And that's been happening in our country for a lot of years.
Speaker B:It's now, I think legal in 10 or 11 states, plus the District of Columbia, all of Canada now allows this.
Speaker B:And so you have places becoming death, vacation destinations where you can go and legally end your life.
Speaker B:What we need to teach is that the answer to suffering is not death.
Speaker B:The answer to suffering is faith in Christ and that hope that we have in him, that even in suffering, you know, we are growing in him and Christ suffered and we you know, that's part of the Christian experience, I think.
Speaker B:So we ought to look at suffering differently in a way that's equipping us and giving us an opportunity to, to reach out to others.
Speaker B:I think the other part of this, that for lfs, I think we will continue to be a bigger player in all of the districts around mental health work and adoption placement, so that geographical reach of ours will continue to expand.
Speaker B:That's exciting.
Speaker B:And, you know, that's.
Speaker B:I think those are the two big things that we're working on that will make a difference down the road for everyone.
Speaker A:I love that this is a tough question.
Speaker A:Most of my guests, and probably for most pastors, too, but what do you want your legacy to be?
Speaker B:I don't really care about my legacy, but I do hope that the things that we've been working on and survive and what I mean by that is just that commitment to our, to living our faith wherever we're at, to do it in organizations, to do it in our congregations, and to do it in our families especially.
Speaker B:You know, I think my legacy is, is part of my family as well.
Speaker B:Obviously.
Speaker B:My wife and I are very involved in the church and in our faith.
Speaker B:Our son Aaron is a teacher and he's a band director at St.
Speaker B:Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Dod.
Speaker B:My daughter Kate is a school administrator at Lutheran South Academy in Houston.
Speaker B:My son, or my other daughter, Madison, is a.
Speaker B:Is an accountant, but she's married to the theology and English teacher at Lutheran South Academy.
Speaker B:So all of what a great legacy it is that these folks are all very active in the church and bringing up their little children, my grandchildren in that.
Speaker B:But the legacy that we have as a church, I hope, is that we persevere.
Speaker B:We look at the opportunities are before us and, and find ways to act in 15 minutes as opposed to study them for 15 months.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Where can listeners support the ministry and the work of Lutheran Family Service?
Speaker B:Well, they can certainly go to our, our website and if they just go, if they Google Lutheran Family Service, make sure it's Lutheran Family Service and, and they will see their, you know, our Christian identity.
Speaker B:But there's opportunities there for them to give.
Speaker B:About half of what we need to operate every year is given by churches, congregations, individuals, a few grants from organizations, but it really is congregations that are partnered with us and feel like this is part of their ministry, and they ought to feel that way because it is.
Speaker B:We were formed by the church to be an arm of the church in a way that individual congregations could not do.
Speaker B:And we continue that work today.
Speaker B:So if you invite them to go to Lutheran Family Service and to Google that and to, to figure out exactly what we do, you'll see all kinds of information there and opportunities to support us.
Speaker B:And we hope you consider that this is certainly worthy of, of everyone's support.
Speaker A:Is there anything I haven't asked you that I should have asked you?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:What's that?
Speaker B:I think another thing that might be really important, just to mention, Keith, is how, how much good can be done by people stepping up and participating on boards of their Christian non profits today.
Speaker B:One of the things that I, you know, we find in lots of organizations, especially of the church, nobody wants to serve.
Speaker B:And I have to tell you that the way that organizations that serve the church stay close to the church is when church people step up and are on their board like you are and you know, help make sure that the folks running it are encouraged and supported and admonished to be, you know, faithful to what we, what what's intended and what God wants.
Speaker B:So if, if you're out there and you're looking for something to do, boy, find a local Christian agency and tell them you'd like to help.
Speaker B:I bet they got a place for you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that work is so rewarding to be able to kind of come alongside and support and, and see how God uses so many different people, organizations to carry out his work.
Speaker A:So thank you for what you do for the Kingdom, for life, for mental health.
Speaker A:You're an important agency and partner for us in Iowa District West.
Speaker A:So thank you for what you do.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:And God bless.
