1 00:00:05,900 --> 00:00:09,800 Hello, and welcome to Mission Works, 2 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:11,600 Thanks to Donors. 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:12,900 I'm Dale Meyer. 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:18,700 Every year of van filled with seminarians makes the long drive from 5 00:00:18,700 --> 00:00:19,100 St. 6 00:00:19,100 --> 00:00:21,900 Louis to Mapleton, Iowa. 7 00:00:22,900 --> 00:00:24,900 Mapleton, Iowa. 8 00:00:26,300 --> 00:00:29,800 Why there? Joining us 9 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:30,500 today' is Mr. 10 00:00:30,500 --> 00:00:32,900 Gary Theis who will share what happens in. 11 00:00:33,700 --> 00:00:39,900 Well doesn't even happen in the town of Mapleton we go beyond Mapleton 12 00:00:39,900 --> 00:00:45,900 to a set of farm buildings in the middle of nowhere as Gary likes to 13 00:00:45,900 --> 00:00:51,000 call it. Gary welcome and what is in the middle of nowhere? 14 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:57,000 Dale I want to share with you you Mission Central is a miracle place. 15 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:05,200 It's a regional Mission Center where people come from all over to hear 16 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,000 the message of the Lord's missionaries that have been called 17 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,000 throughout the world. 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,300 So rather than trying to get to these families that are praying and 19 00:01:14,300 --> 00:01:15,100 supporting missionaries. 20 00:01:15,100 --> 00:01:19,800 This is a regional center where they come to learn of what the Lord is 21 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:21,700 doing in his mission field. 22 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,800 Tell us a little bit more about your personal passion. 23 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:30,200 What is it that that makes Gary get up every day and work seven days 24 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:30,600 a week? 25 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:35,000 Well I want to share with you the reason we can do this. 26 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:40,400 It's the most important thing in the whole world and God calls all of 27 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,100 us with a different gifts that we have. 28 00:01:43,100 --> 00:01:46,200 This is an excellent program to thank our 29 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:50,800 donors because you see donors are members of the body of Christ. 30 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:55,500 We couldn't have pastors trained at Concordia Seminary. 31 00:01:55,500 --> 00:02:00,600 We couldn't have pastors called to go to the missionary were it not 32 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:06,000 for God calling special people at just the right time. An elderly 33 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:07,900 gentleman told me, he said Gary 34 00:02:07,900 --> 00:02:09,100 I got the easy part. 35 00:02:09,100 --> 00:02:13,500 all I got to do is just sign the check. I said, you're just as important 36 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:15,400 as the missionary going to the field. 37 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:19,700 You're helping the young man going to the Seminary. 38 00:02:20,500 --> 00:02:25,100 You're a member of the body of Christ because without our donors, we 39 00:02:25,100 --> 00:02:30,300 could not carry out our ministry, you're just as important as those 40 00:02:30,300 --> 00:02:35,600 people. How many missionaries are you on behalf of the Lutheran 41 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:43,600 Church-Missouri Synod supporting throughout the world? We are supporting about 115 of our missionaries. We are involved in 42 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:47,300 all of the missionaries that are called by the Lutheran 43 00:02:47,300 --> 00:02:48,100 Church-Missouri, Synod. 44 00:02:48,100 --> 00:02:53,200 We kept our focus on missionaries called by our church. 45 00:02:54,300 --> 00:02:59,900 I love our church and what we teach because God is using our church to 46 00:02:59,900 --> 00:03:00,900 call missionaries. 47 00:03:00,900 --> 00:03:03,300 Those are the ones we want to help. 48 00:03:03,300 --> 00:03:05,300 You must have a big staff? 49 00:03:05,300 --> 00:03:09,700 We've got over a hundred volunteers and none of them get paid. 50 00:03:09,700 --> 00:03:12,800 We have pilots to donate their plane. 51 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,000 We have ladies that do the cooking. 52 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:21,300 We have carpenters and electricians and we have all different kinds of 53 00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:26,300 people that God is called to help us and none of them get paid. 54 00:03:26,300 --> 00:03:30,700 That's that's that's amazing and I've been to Mission Central any 55 00:03:30,700 --> 00:03:35,600 number of times you have groups that come to Mission Central thousands 56 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:36,000 a year. 57 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:37,700 Tell us what happens 58 00:03:37,700 --> 00:03:44,400 when are Concordia Seminarians come to these farm buildings east of 59 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:44,900 Mapleton? 60 00:03:45,900 --> 00:03:51,200 Well, what we try to do is to give the seminarians a taste of 61 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:52,600 small-town ministry. 62 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:58,900 The majority of our congregations are very small and many of them are 63 00:03:58,900 --> 00:04:00,400 in rural areas. 64 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:06,200 This gives them an opportunity to see what farmers do. How they operate. 65 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:11,800 Why they make a living and how they make a living and it's a great 66 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:17,100 great opportunity to give them a taste of the culture that made our 67 00:04:17,100 --> 00:04:22,900 country great. every graduate of the Seminary goes into a 68 00:04:22,900 --> 00:04:24,500 cross-cultural setting. 69 00:04:24,500 --> 00:04:30,100 I don't care if you're going to Iowa, Southern Illinois or Chicago,New 70 00:04:30,100 --> 00:04:34,900 York the Big City, every place a graduate goes is cross-cultural. 71 00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:39,500 And so the trip to Mapleton, Iowa Mission Central 72 00:04:41,100 --> 00:04:46,000 is instructive to the students because they understand if they didn't 73 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:47,600 know it or feel it before that 74 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,400 there is one thing that crosses culture and that's Jesus. 75 00:04:52,900 --> 00:04:53,800 Some years ago 76 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:58,600 I was not able to join the Mission Central trip when the students came 77 00:04:58,600 --> 00:04:59,000 back. 78 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,800 They would see me on the campus and say hey, you're not 79 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:03,100 normal. 80 00:05:03,100 --> 00:05:05,700 What are they talking about Gary? 81 00:05:05,700 --> 00:05:08,100 What does that mean not normal? 82 00:05:08,100 --> 00:05:13,400 What we have is going on in this country right now Dale is a dumbing down. 83 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:20,900 A dumbing-down of people that they wanted everyone to be normal and to 84 00:05:20,900 --> 00:05:26,700 be quite truthful Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God has a plan prepared 85 00:05:26,700 --> 00:05:31,100 in advance for your Seminary students and for all of us in our life, 86 00:05:31,100 --> 00:05:36,900 but we have to be people of 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 9 that says in 87 00:05:36,900 --> 00:05:40,700 the King James version where to be a peculiar people people should 88 00:05:40,700 --> 00:05:45,200 look at you as I have all these years Dale and know that you were not 89 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,000 normal, you're different. 90 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:51,700 And that's the way we should be as Christians. People should look at us 91 00:05:51,700 --> 00:05:57,200 and know that Jesus lives in our hearts. Thank you Gary a very quick question. 92 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:58,800 Tell us about the boss? 93 00:05:59,900 --> 00:06:03,500 Our boss his pictures right above my desk. 94 00:06:03,500 --> 00:06:07,100 He reminds me everyday who I work for. 95 00:06:07,100 --> 00:06:10,400 I do not work for the Lutheran Church-Missouri, Synod. 96 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:16,500 I work direct and so do you Dale because it'll come as a shock to some 97 00:06:16,500 --> 00:06:20,500 of you but God doesn't going to ask us if we're Lutheran when he calls 98 00:06:20,500 --> 00:06:23,800 calls us home. There will be no Lutheran's in heaven. 99 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:25,700 There will be no Catholics in heaven. 100 00:06:25,700 --> 00:06:30,100 There will be no Methodist in heaven it'll be people who have Jesus in 101 00:06:30,100 --> 00:06:34,400 their heart and our largest supporter of all of our mission here is 102 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,700 not a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. 103 00:06:36,700 --> 00:06:40,700 This is an amazing story that you tell that it but I need to wrap it 104 00:06:40,700 --> 00:06:40,800 up. 105 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,900 I want to thank everybody was joined us today Mission Central funds 106 00:06:44,900 --> 00:06:47,600 the mission work of our Lutheran-Church, Missouri Synod. 107 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:53,400 And your donations to Concordia Seminary make it possible for our 108 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:58,900 students to catch the vision of mission the passion to tell all people 109 00:06:58,900 --> 00:07:03,000 about Jesus and that's exactly what Gary has shared with us 110 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:08,600 so energetically. Thanks to all of you. Mission Works 111 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:10,500 Thanks to Donors.