ELCA NEWS SERVICE July 24, 2008 Lutheran Men in Mission to Gather in Omaha Aug. 1-3 08-124-LT* CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 2008 Lutheran Men's Gathering of Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will bring together approximately 600 men Aug. 1-3 at the Hilton Hotel and Qwest Center, Omaha. The event theme, "Coming of Age," focuses on LMM's 20th anniversary, its new relationship with the ELCA and its emphasis on the spirituality of men ages 18-34. The gathering will be preceded by the 2008 LMM Assembly July 31-Aug. 1. The organization's business session will elect a president to succeed Heber Rast, Cameron, S.C., and other officers and board members. Rast will complete his second three- year term as president. The assembly will adopt a budget for LMM and celebrate the organization becoming an incorporated ministry of the ELCA with a full-time staff, according to Doug Haugen, LMM director. He said that as a unit LMM will remain housed here in the churchwide office as a self-supporting ministry, relating to the church through ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission. Featured speakers at the gathering Aug. 2 include Tom Osborne, athletic director, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; the Rev. Dick Hardel, senior fellow, Youth and Family Institute, Bloomington, Minn.; and the Rev. Ernie Hinojosa, mission director, ELCA North Carolina Synod. The Rev. Lawrence J. Clark, executive director, Lutheran Theological Center, Atlanta, will preach Aug. 3 with the Rev. Thomas A. Skrenes, bishop, ELCA Northern Great Lakes Synod, Marquette, Mich., presiding. The organization will also host a "Building for the Future" dinner Aug. 1 to announce the status of a financial goal set forth to raise $500,000 in cash and $500,000 in deferred gifts for the LMM Endowment. Douglas and Ann Larson, Menomonie, Wis., made a challenge grant in 2004 to give LMM another $500,000 to meet that goal. The campaign that followed began at the 2005 LMM Assembly in Charleston, S.C. The Rev. Paul G. Hill, executive director, Youth and Family Institute, and the Rev. David W. Anderson, director of home and congregational renewal, Youth and Family Institute, will facilitate an Aug. 2 workshop, "Discipling Young Men," to discuss what LMM is learning about ministry with young men and ways men can relate intergenerationally. This is part of LMM's training program to develop their young men's ministry further. Other highlights of LMM's ministries include the Master Builders Bible for Men, a Bible that includes study questions and resources intended to help congregational leaders build an effective men's ministry, and El Nuevo Testamento, a Spanish- language translation of the New Testament. According to Haugen, more than 40,000 Master Builders Bibles and more than 20,000 copies of El Nuevo Testamento have been distributed. -- -- -- Information about Lutheran Men in Mission is at http://www.ELCA.org/lmm on the Web. An audio report of this story is at http://media.ELCA.org/ramgen/audionews/080722.mp3 on the Web. *Luke Tatge is a senior journalism major at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D. This summer he is an intern with the ELCA News Service. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog