Witness Moment Seeds sprout in Papua New Guinea

Dr. Steve and Julie Lutz, along with their four children, provide medical care to the Penale people during a medical patrol in 1995.

Dr. Steve Lutz speaks at the opening of a medical clinic for the Hewa people.

Generations of Service

The seeds of one missionary family’s work continue to sprout in Papua New Guinea.

Shortly after Dr. Steve and Julie Lutz arrived in Papua New Guinea (PNG) as LCMS missionaries in 1986, they noticed a small, gray-brown bird with a red head flitting among the foliage outside their new home. They soon learned it was the Mountain Red-headed Myzomela — Kalipinjiwan in the native Engan language — which was known for planting seeds that would later feed other birds.

“The Enga say, ‘Don’t be like that bird. Don’t put your effort where you won’t directly receive benefit,’” said Julie. “But that, to us, is Christian service. You’re not doing it for yourself; you’re doing it so that God’s blessing can run through you to others.”

The Lutzes come from a long line of missionaries. Steve’s grandparents went to India in 1912, and his father also served in India for his entire ministry. From the beginning, Steve and Julie knew that they wanted to serve internationally as well — although it took 14 years of preparations before God called them to PNG. In the United States, Steve studied to become a general surgeon specifically because he thought it would be a useful skillset for the mission field. The family spent the early years of their marriage preparing for medical mission service, including taking specialty courses in tropical medicine. They also had four children along the way. Altogether, the family — including grandparents, both sets of parents, siblings and children — has served more than 150 years with the LCMS in PNG, India and Côte d’Ivoire.

In PNG, Steve was often the only doctor available at Immanuel Lutheran District Hospital. Yet, “his heart was always over the next hill. Who are the people who can’t get to medical care?” Julie recalled. “During the ’90s, we conducted medical patrols. We’d fly in to remote villages and then walk to the different villages, five to 10 hours away from each other, to give vaccinations and basic medical care. That was very rewarding and fulfilling work, but occasional patrols are not the permanent solution to provide health care for underserved people groups. The focus changed to building infrastructure.”

In the early 2000s, Steve oversaw the construction of a health center and school at Wanakipa for the Hewa people and an airstrip and community health post at Kaiam for the Penale people. The Kaiam airstrip was later completed by Steve and Julie’s oldest son, Anton, who served with the LCMS from 2004 to 2021.

Although Julie’s official position title was mission service coordinator, she called herself “the hole filler” and did whatever was needed to facilitate the ministry. Over the years, she provided support as a wife, mother, teacher and listener, as well as a host for volunteers, medical students, new missionaries and others. “If you have people visiting, they have to eat, they have to sleep,” she said. “It’s a life calling.”

She also assisted with patrol and construction logistics, communication by radio, and mission team administration. In addition, she had what she called an unofficial “backstoop ministry” listening to local pastors and others who were frustrated or discouraged.

The ministry hasn’t always been easy. The Lutzes have provided education and care to the community through crises like HIV/AIDS, the COVID-19 pandemic and sanguma, a superstition that has arisen in the last decade. According to sanguma beliefs, when a person unexpectedly dies, one or more people — mostly women — are blamed for the death, accused of witchcraft and tortured or killed. In recent years, Anton has rescued those accused of sanguma from their captors or buried the bodies when help arrived too late.

Over the years, the Lutz family came to view the Kalipinjiwan as much more than just an interesting native bird. It symbolized their 36 years of service in the PNG Highlands. Early on, they named their house on the hospital property after the bird. When Steve passed away in 2010, Julie had the bird carved on his headstone.

Now, as Julie retires from missionary service, she trusts that God has used the Lutz family’s service to bless others even when she could not see it, just as He uses the humble Kalipinjiwan to feed His creation. “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,” Julie says, quoting Galations 6:10. “God is the one who’s at work.”

| LEARN MORE | lcms.org/missionarysupport

Steve and Peggy Stark, Lutheran Early Response Team (LERT) volunteers from Immanuel Lutheran Church, Seymour, Ind., clear hurricane debris at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and School, Sarasota, Fla. Piles of hurricane-damaged furniture and household goods line the street in Cape Coral, Fla., on Oct. 18.

LERT volunteer Mark Nielsen helps muck out a home damaged by Hurricane Ian in North Fort Myers, Fla., on Oct. 18.

The Rev. James H. Rockey (center), president of the LCMS FloridaGeorgia District, prays with the Rev. Jim and Lisa Kress and the Rev. Dr. Ross Johnson, director of LCMS Disaster Response, at the Kress family’s damaged home in Port Charlotte, Fla., on Oct. 2.

| WATCH | Hear from a few of those impacted by Hurricane Ian: engage.lcms.org/hurricane-ianwinter-2023

A pile of ruined drywall, insulation and flooring grows as residents and volunteers muck out a home in Cape Coral.

‘There in theName

After Hurricane Ian hit Florida in September, LCMS Disaster Response and its volunteers and partners were quick to provide helping hands and the Gospel to those in need.

of Jesus Christ’

A statue depicting Jesus Christ on the grounds of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and School, Sarasota.

Kaye and Jim Hartzell, members of Zion Lutheran Church, Fort Myers, go through items donated for hurricane relief.

“What really hit us the most [was when] we had to go down to the local Home Depot to get some supplies, and we [took] a back road. On one side was the woods, on the other side was a trailer park. On the woods side, it looked just like snow on the ground, all of the insulation and the fiberglass. It was just white. And then you turned around to look at the homes…” Robert Holmes paused for a moment. “There was just no way to describe the unbelievable damage.”

When Holmes and his wife, Cynthia, members of Lakeside Lutheran Church in Venice, Fla., first ventured out of their house after Hurricane Ian made landfall on Sept. 28, they were met with a scene of utter devastation, unprecedented in the memory of many seasoned Floridians. Hurricane Ian was one of the strongest recorded hurricanes ever to hit the contiguous United States. It was also the second deadliest, trailing only Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with a death toll of 135. The Category 4 storm left millions without power, wrecked thousands of homes and even broke apart the Sanibel Causeway.

“Most people have never seen a storm like this,” Holmes said. Ian’s incredibly destructive storm surge set it apart from previous hurricanes.

“[The flood surge] is what has made most of the difference as far as people actually losing their entire homes, their cars, everything they own completely gone,” said the Rev. Curtis Deterding, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Myers, Fla. “Just within my congregation alone, we’ve had quite a number of people who have lost absolutely everything.”

Piles of debris — tangled brush, sodden furniture, ruined possessions — fenced in house after house on neighborhood streets. An estimated 1.8-million cubic yards of storm debris would need to be cleared away. Cars that weren’t totaled by the sheer force of the flood were ruined by its corrosive saltwater. For

Ed Boerman, Lutheran Church Charities chainsaw trainer and LERT member, clears debris from Hurricane Ian at a North Port, Fla., home.

weeks, out-of-state tow trucks filed in, slowly clearing the piles away. The days of no electricity, no water and no cell service that followed the storm were harrowing for many.

“When you see destruction as widespread as this, it really impacts you mentally and spiritually,” Deterding said.

Seasoned LERT Volunteers Spread the Gospel

“I always keep an eye on the Gulf. When Ian took a turn, I notified my team and told them to make time, make their arrangements, do whatever you can do to get off,” said Steve Harris, the leader of a Lutheran Early Response Team (LERT) based out of Zion Lutheran Church in Pasadena, Texas. Nicknamed Z-LERT, Harris’ team was just one part of the response coordinated by LCMS World Relief and Human Care’s Disaster Response unit, in conjunction with the affected districts, district disaster response coordinators and the Synod’s LERT volunteer network.

Harris’ team formed in the wake of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and has deployed for disaster relief on the Gulf Coast several times since.

“We thought we could do more after Hurricane Harvey,” said Harris. “We said, you know, we ought to organize. … All the years of living on the Gulf Coast told me I needed to be LERT-trained, and even more so chainsaw-trained.”

Many on Harris’ team received their LERT and chainsaw training from the Rev. Ed Brashier, volunteer team leader at Shepherd’s Heart Ministry and district disaster response coordinator for the LCMS Southern District. A former lineman for Alabama Power Company, Brashier brings years of experience with tree removal, plus heavy equipment, to the job. His trusty Bobcat compact skid steer, purchased years ago with a grant from LCMS Disaster Response, has made his work possible through many disasters.

Brashier joined forces with Harris’ group of LERT volunteers at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and School in Sarasota, Fla., where there were over 30 trees down on 16 acres of land.

“If this church and school had to pay for this, I’m guessing they would be paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $60,000 to $70,000 to do this,” said Brashier. “With the Synod’s help and the Florida-Georgia District’s help, we’re able come in here for only a small fraction of that cost to be able to clean this up.”

In the first week alone, over three dozen LERT volunteers from across the United States participated in the response. Two teams, hosted at Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Myers and Lakeside Lutheran Church in Venice, Fla., served nine different LCMS congregations, cleaning up church property, school classrooms and church workers’ homes, logging over 4,600 volunteer hours as of Nov. 1. Volunteers

Damaged furniture piles up outside a home in southwest Florida.

The Rev. Keith Lingsch, senior pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Naples, Fla., surveys his home on Oct. 1. Lingsch’s home was severely damaged during Hurricane Ian. Church members from a nearby LCMS congregation gutted the home shortly after the waters receded to help mitigate the spread of mold.

LERT volunteers Mark Nielsen (center) and the Rev. Ed Grant help muck out a home in North Fort Myers. “We said, you know, we ought to organize. … All the years of living on the Gulf Coast told me I needed to be LERT-trained, and even more so chainsaw-trained.” — STEVE HARRIS

Jim Hartzell, a member of Zion Lutheran Church, Fort Myers, distributes donated items outside of the church on Oct. 18.

| LEARN MORE | lcms.org/disaster

Water damage caused by Hurricane Ian in the sanctuary of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Englewood, Fla.

intend to stay through Christmastime to continue to help other congregation members and those in the greater Fort Myers and Venice areas.

Five volunteers from Forged by Fire, led by the Rev. Paul Ernewein, joined the LERT camp at Zion, with a mobile kitchen and enormous cast iron pots in tow. The team cooked huge batches of jambalaya and shrimp pasta, giving out 6,000 hot meals to people in need in the greater Fort Myers community.

“The thing about LERT is it’s not just about chainsaws or mucking out. We have people who cook, we have people who just listen to people talk, because after your house has been ripped to shreds or flooded to the ceiling, you just have to talk to somebody,” said Harris.

Resilience in the Body of Christ

“We were thoroughly amazed at the degree of help. We’re used to the Lutherans sticking together and helping each other, but when they came in, they took over the place,” said Robert Holmes.

“And they took the fear out of us, and the apprehension,” said Cynthia Holmes, finishing his sentence.

The Holmes family and several others at Lakeside Lutheran Church were served by LERT volunteers in the weeks following the storm. After a disaster such as Hurricane Ian, LERT meets a tremendous need, not just for the skilled know-how of chainsaw work, but also for the comfort of the Gospel.

“The LCMS has been wonderful at helping people … in a time where they just don’t know where to turn, don’t know what to do, don’t know how to act,” said Brashier. “You see it all the time, in every disaster — there is the same type of hopelessness. … Churches make such a bold difference. We come in bringing the Gospel, being the hands and the feet of Jesus Christ, and even the voice of Jesus Christ. I’m never going to leave a home without saying that we are there in the name of Jesus Christ and asking if we could pray with them.”

The Rev. James Rockey, president of the LCMS FloridaGeorgia District, upon visiting the LCMS congregations affected by the storm, said that even in the midst of great loss and devastation, “I saw thankfulness, resilience and joy. … And [the joy] didn’t just come from the fact that [the people affected] and those they love are still alive, but … from a God who indeed is real and alive and ever present with them — no matter what they may face in this life.”

Sarah Reinsel is a staff writer and editor for LCMS Communications.