He’s a pastor, he’s a missionary, he’s a family man. Say hi to Mike Hartman, who currently lives in Torreon, Mexico (with me, of course!).

Today I’m going to talk about Mike’s role. He currently serves as WELS field coordinator to Mexico. What does this mean? A number of things. Let’s look at them one at a time.

Overseeing the mission field
The Mexican Lutheran Church is run by a board of directors. Mike helps these men, together with the five Mexican pastors here, direct the church body in Mexico. He attends the annual conventions that are held, he goes to pastors’ conferences, and regularly meets with the leaders on an individual basis.

He also visits the congregations all over the country (see the map). He provides counseling for the pastors. He participates in activities like pastor installations, church dedications, and seminary training.

Evangelism
Over the years, Mike has been involved in a number of outreach efforts in Mexico. He recently helped start up a new congregation, Cordero de Dios(Lamb of God) here in Torreon. He’s now involved in starting up a congregation in Zaragoza Sur, an area near Torreon.

Tying it All Together
Mike helps coordinate efforts between WELS and the Mexican Lutheran church. He directs the communication between the two synods and organizes activities that involve both groups. He writes reports for WELS to help its leaders know what’s going on in Mexico.

Living with Mike has helped me gain perspective on mission work. He is great at focusing on the big picture. He’s also good at making plans, and then getting up each day and working hard to carry them out.

So thanks, Mike, for all the missionary lessons you have taught me (and for marrying me, I like that part too). To see a video of Mike in action, go here.

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Despite not seeing a ton of new faces this month, God is strengthening me and helping me grow in necessary areas of my early ministry. Good things are happening here, like meeting three new families at Christmas for Kids, and I am confident that God will continue to bless us.

An interesting thing recently happened to me. I was driving and suddenly thought, “This place is home.” This is significant because for the last I-don’t-know-how-many years, I have always had something different to look forward to. When I was in high school, I looked forward Read more ›

These photos show humanitarian aid work going on in Pakistan. These are recent pictures of medical care being provided at the free clinic. The gifts that are given to the Humanitarian Aid Fund go a long way to relieve the needs of many who are sick and suffering. In addition, and even more importantly, care like this that is provided in Pakistan and Nepal and other places around the world is opening doors for the gospel to be shared with many people.

To support the gospel outreach through the work of Humanitarian Aid go to https://archive.wels.net/donate and click on Humanitarian Aid under World Missions.[slideshow=99]

We have many people who worship with us that are not members of our congregation. These are people who just like to visit, people who are just learning about the Savior or people who have challenges in life that seem to get in the way of actively participating in congregational life. We are thankful that they still come to hear the word but sometimes we can get frustrated with them and their lack of commitment.

A few weeks ago one of these “regular visitors” was in worship with us. I have known her for over 5 years and have known that she has been taking care of her husband who was suffering from cancer. That Sunday after church I happened to catch up with her at the coffee pot (which is where a great deal of my ministry is done) and I asked her about her husband. I had never met him, but from her past descriptions I had the impression that he was a hard man. Read more ›