On February 3, 2005, at 7:00 PM, a large group of missionary senders from 3 states were gathered together at the fellowship hall at Mission Central. The purpose was to learn of the work of special people that have been "called" by our Heavenly Father to go and make more missionaries. 

Yes, Dr. Allan and Sandy Schmidt from Seward, Nebraska, will be leaving in March for Hong Kong where they will be working with 81 Lutheran Schools in Asia, where there are 75,000 children that are waiting to be trained as missionaries and to share their faith in the Lord Jesus. 

They will be starting new schools and recruiting volunteers and teachers for these schools. Dr. Schmidt and Sandy started the first Lutheran School in mainland China in Shanghai, and are now called by LCMS World Mission to train thousands of students to be missionaries for the Lord Jesus. 

In Acts 13:3 we hear of how the early church sent some of the first missionaries, where they "put their hands on them and sent them off." That's what took place on February 3 at Mission Central. Here we see 7 pastors from Iowa and Nebraska placing their hands on these new missionaries and sending them off. In this next picture some of the laypeople place their hands on them and send them off.