Arvin Pirness | The Voice of Zion September 2024 - News & Notes Article --
My summer concluded with the first Pre-confirmation camp at Prairie Shores in Saskatchewan and the return of the Peace Garden Youth Days. This fellowship and time spent in the study and hearing of God’s word reenforced to me one key matter of the joy of believing. The peace of God that surpasses all human understanding is so calming for God’s children whose endeavor to heaven is in this world but not of it. The future of God’s kingdom is bright, not because of any inherent glow on our part, but because the faith of even the youngest, inexperienced, tempted and tried child of God radiates a powerful contrast to the darkness of this world. To the child of God, no greater matter, no greater joy can be known than to experience peace of conscience and hope of heaven.
To you young, who traditionally return to school this time of year, be ready and willing to share of that hope of heaven you experience through faith. May God bless you as you progress along your path of education.
Update on LLC Activities
Education
Volunteers are an integral part of Christian education, whether by teaching at camps or in local congregations. Volunteers also support Education in development and improvement of educational curriculum. As an example, the LLC is managing a project to provide Sunday School teachers with additional teaching aids. Volunteer committees in local congregations continue to work on making these updates.
All camp centers have enjoyed a very active camp season. Of special interest, perhaps, this year is the first year that Youth Camps were hosted at Silver Springs, in Monticello, Minn. A total of 110 youth participated in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade Youth Camps.
Staff and participant camp evaluations are an important part of camp work. The information gathered from these evaluations assist in developing additional programs, addressing needs in food service and lodging and determining what benefits participants and staff realize from their camp experience.
285 Confirmation students attended eight Confirmation Schools this summer. As the numbers of participants grow, we continue to explore additional ways to serve our youth. In 2025 there are plans to hold four Confirmation Schools at Stony Lake, one each in the Pacific Northwest, Prairie Shores and Hasscib and two at Kamp Kipa.
Preconfirmation school curriculum focuses on Luther’s Small Catechism. Staff evaluations from these camps prompt us to find ways to limit the size of these camps to less than 40 students with 30 seeming to be an ideal number.
A camp board workshop is scheduled for October 4–5, 2024. All North American Camp Board members are invited to attend.
Mission Work
After the summer hiatus, mission trips resume in the fall. Trips to Sierra Leone, Ghana and Togo have recently happened, and a confirmation school was held in Kenya.
The introduction “Be Sober, Be Vigilant” which was presented at the Minister and Board Members meeting during 2024 Summer Services was the discussion topic for LLC Ministers Webinar 3 on August 29.
The 2024 LLC Ministers and Wives Camp will be held in Longview, Wash., September 20–22. The theme for the event is “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house” from Psalm 84:4.
Communications
The LLC Opisto Scholarship Committee recently met to select opisto scholarship recipients for the 2025–26 opisto year. These scholarships are awarded to applicants based on selection criteria reviewed and approved by the LLC Board. Those awarded scholarships are asked to confirm whether they will accept the scholarship and commit to a year at opisto. Once all recipients have confirmed their acceptance of these scholarships, the list of recipients will be published.
Each year there are some students who are interested in paying their own way to opisto. The availability of self-pay spots is dependent on the opistos, and this is not determined by LLC. When we hear from the opistos whether they will accept self-pay students, we will inform those applicants who have indicated their interest to us.
We will hold our annual Content Creators Workshop September 13–15 at Stony Lake Camp in Minnesota. We are sometimes asked what a Content Creator is, or who is a content creator? To us in the Communications department, a content creator is anyone who contributes written material, art, digital media or music content. A content creator is anyone who contributes to any of our projects in any way. We need the contributions from many people in order to sustain our current level of product and periodical production. We extend a warm thank-you to all who write, take photographs, create art, edit digital media such as audio or video, and otherwise contribute to anything we produce. We invite you to the workshop to meet other contributors—content creators—and to hear interesting discussions on how this work can support believers in their walk of faith.
At this year’s Content Creator Workshop, we are joined by two guests from SRK. Hanna Aho will discuss aspects of believer fiction, and Katri Isopahkala will discuss planning and producing content for believers’ periodicals.
In March, LLC announced a fiction writing contest. This is open to writers of all ages. We hope to receive manuscripts of novels aimed at teenagers and young adults. We further hope that the manuscripts submitted to the writing contest depict the lives of believing characters and are supportive of faith. The contest is open through the end of November, so you still have time to send in your submission! For more information, see the notice on our website.
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