More than conquerors

In a first-ever for Odessa Lutherans, the annual convention of Augsburg Lutheran Churches is hitting closer to home than ever before.

And the four-day event will be packed with Bible studies, Lutheran fellowship, teaching workshops and resources to re-energize church leaders for another year of ministry.

Lutheran Church of the Risen Lord in Odessa is host of this year's convention, which also includes an Indiana Jones-themed Vacation Bible School for children called "Quest for Truth."

It all starts next week.

The Rev. Michael Mueller, pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Risen Lord, said the church volunteered two years ago to hold the national meeting for Augsburg Lutheran Churches, a fellowship of churches united by their common confession of faith in Christ.

With only 25 churches and chapters, the Augsburg fellowship pales in size comparisons to the two major Lutheran bodies: the conservative Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the larger, more liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

But even though they're "tiny," Mueller said Augsburg Lutheran Churches is part of something much bigger and other Lutheran groups can benefit from the event - themed "More than Conquerors" after Romans 8:37, which says in the New Revised Standard Version: "... In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

"We'll have people who are interested in Augsburg, some who are part of it, and I would be not be surprised if we had some other Lutheran churches here to hear some of the speakers," he said. "The Lutheran church is much bigger than Augsburg - we want the entire church universal to feel like they can come and benefit from this."

Two popular Lutheran figures, the Rev. Roger Sonnenberg and Roy A. Harrisville II, are scheduled as keynote speakers.

Mueller said many people mistakenly take Lutherans for Catholics, but the Protestant denomination traces its roots to Martin Luther - the 16th century Roman Catholic priest whose objections to the Catholic Church began the Reformation.

Augsburg Lutheran churches hold to the Augsburg confessions of the 1500s - written by Philipp Melanchthon, a German professor and theologian who was an associate and friend of Luther.

"It's a statement of what Lutherans believe," Mueller said. "The confessions are a right description of what Scripture says."

Most of the Lutheran Church of the Risen Lord's members didn't grow up in the Lutheran church, Mueller said, but they turned to the church's distinct teaching of grace in opposition to decision theology and a person's willful conversion to Christianity.

"The Bible says just the opposite - Christ chose you, your faith is a gift of God," he said. "Since it's an act of God ... God can give faith to infant children and people who are in a coma."

Donna Brown said she was baptized in a Baptist church, but she eventually found her place at the Lutheran Church of the Risen Lord where her husband was later baptized, and they started attending together. She said the church's message of grace attracts many who hear it.

"They find out that they don't have to earn God's love," she said.

Preparations for the Augsburg Lutheran Churches convention have been churchwide, Brown said, with July 19 planned as a women's day with social fellowship, shopping and tours of different Odessa landmarks like the Presidential Museum, White-Pool House Museum, Ellen Noël Art Museum, the Globe Theatre of the Great Southwest and other landmarks.

The convention will not only renew some long-distance friendships, but it will help re-establish connections between Lutheran ministries and provide a network for resources throughout the year.

"Seeing the church body at work in the world, it's really exciting to me," Brown said. "We tend to see things in such a narrow way and become self-focused."

Mueller said he's also excited about the convention as a chance to re-equip and re-energize the pastors and church members who attend. Workshops throughout the meeting will deal on topics ranging from human sexuality to contemporary Lutheran worship.

"These kind of things inspire your heart - it's special belonging to something bigger," he said. "It's not just your church, there's a group of people that believe like you do."

"We hope some of the larger faith community will come and see what Lutherans are really about - we have many more similarities than differences," he said.