Changing Lives with the Gospel through You 2017 Annual Ministry Impact Report Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 2017 has been a time of great excitement throughout the church as we not only celebrated 100 years of mission and ministry through the International Lutheran Laymen’s League/ Lutheran Hour Ministries, but also the historic anniversaries of the Reformation and the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. While these remembrances have allowed us to celebrate past blessings, they’ve also provided a chance to look at new opportunities on the horizon to share Christ’s love with lost and hurting people around the world. For the past 100 years, God has used Lutheran Hour Ministries to bring messages of hope to the downtrodden, the lonely, the lost. Decade by decade, we have risen to challenges to proclaim the Savior. Each milestone required a bold step of faith. Today, with billions of souls in danger of entering eternity apart from Christ, the need to boldly proclaim the love of Christ is greater than ever. Lutheran Hour Ministries will not rest until we proclaim the Gospel to as many of these souls as possible, in ways they can understand. We rejoice that you made the decision in the past year to partner with Lutheran Hour Ministries. Your support allows us to share the Good News with more than 71 million people each week in more than 50 nations around the world through a variety of culturally-relevant outreach programs and resources. Your gifts, prayers, and volunteer involvement allow hurting people to find answers and relief in the Gospel. Please explore this year’s ministry impact report to see some of the ways God is working through you. I hope you are humbled to see how God uses our talents and treasures to make His Gospel known. Thank you so much for your faithful support and for allowing us to support and encourage you in your daily life. May God bless you richly in the coming year!
In His Service,
Kurt Buchholz President & CEO Lutheran Hour Ministries
The Lutheran Layman January - February 2018
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A Year in Review
How Your Gifts Helped LHM Share the Gospel in 2017 Lutheran Hour Ministries witnessed exciting progress in 2017 for each of the four strategic ministry priorities outlined in our comprehensive five-year strategic plan. Following are some of the ways in which LHM was abundantly blessed by God during the last year thanks to your generous support.
Grow God’s Kingdom through Expanded Media Outreach LHM’s flagship ministry, The Lutheran Hour®, reaches more than 1 million listeners each week through traditional radio, a mobile app, and its website. In a year where we celebrate LHM’s 100th anniversary, we are pleased to honor the legacy of The Lutheran Hour program by having Rev. Drs. Ken Klaus and Dale Meyer behind the microphone while we search for our next speaker. LHM is launching a podcast network that will eventually include 10 offerings. Three podcasts are currently in the works: Digging Deeper: a weekly webinar that delves into outreach topics covered through courses on LHM Learn; Action in Ministry: inspirational stories about LCMS congregations doing interesting outreach in their local communities; and Sentido Latino: a broadcast offering guidance for the cultural, moral, and relational challenges facing the Latino community today and connecting listeners to LHM's Gospel-based resources.
As technological advances evolve, LHM wants to engage the next generation in using their God-given gifts in media development for the sake of the Gospel. In order to do this, LHM is creating the Walter A. Maier Award. This award honors exemplary media projects produced by students of the Concordia University System. The annual competition will also allow submitted entries to be used and shared within future LHM offerings to help bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Nine episodes of This is the Life – Classics are available on Pure Flix®, a Christian film and television studio that produces, distributes, and markets Christian-themed entertainment and family-friendly films. While this is the first outlet for online streaming of the beloved classic television show, we continue to seek additional opportunities and formats.
Energize, Equip, and Engage Laity for Outreach Our new LHM Learn website (lhm.org/learn) went live Aug. 1 and provides free outreach resources that help individuals reach out with the love of Jesus Christ in their everyday lives. In just the first few months, more than 1,800 people signed up for an account and more than 1,350 course hours were completed. Courses are developed under five categories: Christian Foundations, Cultural Concepts, Everyday Insights, Outreach Essentials, and Spiritual Reflections. A new partnership with the Barna Group provides LHM with vital information about the beliefs and needs of both our own constituency as well as non-constituents. This research-based model not only positions LHM to provide timely and relevant offerings, but also situates us as an emerging thought-leader within the U.S. Christian church. LHM is developing outreach workshops for identified congregations based on this research. The design and writing of a monograph based on qualitative and quantitative research under the theme of Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age has begun, and the finished product will be offered in 2018 for church leaders around the U.S. 12
The Lutheran Layman January - February 2018
Just in time for this year’s Reformation celebrations, A Man Named Martin – Part 3: The Movement wrapped up LHM’s threepart video Bible study series on the life and impact of Martin Luther. This final installment showed how the Reformation accelerated the transformation of a world already in flux. While armed conflicts, theological disputes, and heated controversies marked segments of society throughout medieval Europe, the march of the Reformation left its imprint on the face of culture and citizens alike.
Bring the Gospel to the Unreached Around the World LHM signed a partnership agreement with SAT-7, the first and largest Middle East and North African Christian TV network, to co-produce and air a weekly variety TV program for youth and young families in the region. This new programming will potentially reach tens of millions of viewers in 20 countries,
spanning from as far west as Morocco to as far east as Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Individuals throughout Latin America who are seeking answers to some of the common issues of today now have a new online resource available, vivenciar.net. Once visitors arrive at the website, they can look deeper into their selected topic and start an online dialogue with trained volunteers from LHM ministry centers in Latin America. Widespread access to radio allows this medium to continue as an important outreach strategy for LHM globally. That’s why recent increased funding designated for additional proclamation programs around the world led us to invest in a new radio program in Kenya following a 15-year hiatus. The
program, called That’s It!, dramatizes common struggles and offers a biblical perspective in resolving conflict. It is unique in the region by using actors to modernize parables in vernacular languages. Around 50,000 students from nearly 500 Lutheran schools participated in the Online Mission Trip to Madagascar during National Lutheran Schools Week 2017. This virtual mission adventure enriched students’ world-view as they watched engaging daily videos to expand their awareness of the world and how God’s church is at work. Beyond the videos, classes interacted with ministry staff by posting questions on Facebook and Twitter.
Engage Communities in the Digital Mission Field In today’s digital age, people increasingly go online to learn, connect, and even build relationships. LHM launched THRED Feb. 1 to share the eternally- relevant message of Jesus in this digital space. Through THRED, we are creating engaging content, like blog posts, graphics, videos, and more, that discuss real issues of life and faith. The message of Jesus is core to the content, but THRED also allows different perspectives to be shared. By fostering open and honest dialogue between people from different backgrounds, LHM believes the Holy Spirit will work in these types of interactions. Over the course of its first nine months, THRED has generated a total reach of nearly 3.5 million
(a weekly average of 79,825), more than 734,000 video views, and more than 108,000 likes, comments, and shares through its platforms of Facebook, YouTube and THRED.org. It’s easy to get excited about the large groups being reached by THRED, but LHM does not lose sight of the fact that these numbers represent real people—people like Jeremy for whom God may be using THRED to show them His love: “Honestly as a nonbeliever, I was blown away by the format of the conversation. Absolutely perfect
idea; I wish I would have discovered this sooner, and perhaps could find a way to be involved in the future.”
Ministry by the Numbers 71 MILLION +
63,104
People Reached with the Gospel Globally Every Week
1,800 +
North American Stations Airing The Lutheran Hour
75,000 Members Today
Annual Referrals to Churches
New Bible Correspondence Course Students Enrolled Annually Around the World
50 +
Countries Ministry Reach
58,283
492,115
21,494
Annual Responses to Outreach Efforts
1 MILLION
Listeners to The Lutheran Hour Each Week
Staff Members Worldwide
People Connected with Christian Communities Last Year
4,500 +
LCMS/LCC Churches Using LHM Resources
119,000
317
Video Plays in the Last Year on LHM’s Vimeo Page
108,701
Engagements (likes, comments, shares, etc.) through THRED Platforms
55,596
People Trained in Evangelism Last Year
734,293
Video Views of THRED Content
The Lutheran Layman January - February 2018
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17% - FUND DEVELOPMENT
7% - ADMINISTRATION
9% - OTHER INCOME
LHM Board of Directors (As of Dec. 2017)
76%
I B U TI O N S
Income
O -C % 66
- M
International Lutheran Laymen's League and Subsidiaries Consolidating Statement of Activities (in thousands) Year ended May 31, 2017, with comparative totals for 2016 INT’L LUTHERAN LAYMEN’S LEAGUE
LHM FOUNDATION
2017 CONSOLIDATED TOTALS
$28,874 940 29,814
$1,611 2,195 3,806
$30,485 3,135 33,620
$29,284 150 29,434
OPERATING EXPENSES Ministries 25,024 Administration and Fundraising 7,619 Operating Expenses 32,643
162 162
25,024 7,781 32,805
24,138 7,398 31,536
3,644
815
(2,102)
OPERATING SUPPORT AND REVENUE Donor support Other income, net Operating income
Operating Income in Excess of Expenses Non-operating income Non-operating expenses Non-operating Net Income Endowment and other fund distributions
(2,829)
Chairman Phillip Johnson
Secretary Janice Wendorf
Maplewood, Minnesota
Grafton, Wisconsin
Vice Chairman Gene Partlow
Treasurer Paul Pettit
Williamsburg, Virginia
N
IN
IS
Expenses
Consolidated Operating
TR
TRY
Consolidated Operating
- ESTATE 25% GI F
TS
2016 CONSOLIDATED TOTALS
Directors Londa Borer-Skov
Michael “Mick” Onnen
Sacramento, California
Davenport, Nebraska
Jack Ficken
Leonard Pranschke
Fairview, Tennessee
St. Louis, Missouri
Richard "Dick" Gast
Andreas Schwabe
Mission Viejo, California
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Gretchen Jameson
Weldon Schwiebert
Muskego, Wisconsin
Westland, Michigan
Kay Meyer
William Snow
St. Louis, Missouri
(As of Dec. 2017)
Officers John “Jack” Kidwell Chairman Bay City, Michigan
Brian Mitchell
Vice Chairman Lee’s Summit, Missouri
Jeffrey Craig-Meyer President St. Louis, Missouri
Loren Podoll
Secretary Riverton, Wyoming
David Lanius
Treasurer St. Louis, Missouri
Lois Engfehr
Assistant Secretary Collinsville, Illinois
Rev. Jay DeBeir Vice President St. Louis, Missouri
1,344 1,026 318 932
341 (341)
1,344 1,367 (23)
(932)
-
1,320 1,268 52 -
(1,579)
2,371
792
(2,050)
Net Assets, Beginning of Year 30,103 Net Assets, End of Year $28,524
15,613 $17,984
45,716 $46,508
47,766 $45,716
Lutheran Hour Ministries is the registered d/b/a name for the International Lutheran Laymen’s League. A copy of the full audit report is available online at lhm.org/report.
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Watertown, South Dakota
The Lutheran Hour Ministries Foundation
Trustees Kurt Buchholz
The Lutheran Layman January - February 2018
Kelly Keithly
LHM President & CEO St. Charles, Missouri
Yuma, Arizona
Phil Daniels
Alexandria, Virginia
Chesterfield, Missouri
Jack Ficken
Change in Net Assets
Lincoln, Nebraska
David Leege
Calvin Neeman Waterloo, Illinois
Int'l LLL Board of Directors Representative Fairview, Tennessee
Lynn Scudieri
Glenn Gerber
Shawn Sny
Katy, Texas
Saginaw, Michigan
Phillip Johnson
Karen Soeken
Int’l LLL Chairman of the Board Maplewood, Minnesota
Naples, Florida
Ellicott City, Maryland