Spring 2021 Pastors’ Conference • March 8-9, 2021
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of gathering as one large group, the pastors of the Nebraska District will gather within their circuits for a time of personal, professional, relational, and spiritual growth and renewal. Please check with your Circuit Visitor for location and meal plans. Though we will not gather everyone together in a single location, these are important times to gather as brothers and co-workers in the Kingdom. We do request that you gather with your circuit to continue building community and to help facilitate discussion and long-term accountability.
Included here you will find details regarding the conference content, schedule, registration, and more. Please take time to look through these details. Your cooperation in taking care of your registration by February 26 is appreciated. If you have any questions, please contact Kim Hofer at the District Office (888‑643-2961, ext. 1014, or kimh@ndlcms.org).
Dr. Biermann also suggests reading, Pieper, Josef. Leisure: The Basis of Culture. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1963. Available for $15 on Amazon.
Download President Snow’s memo
Download a printable registration form
Presenter: Rev. Dr. Joel Biermann
As we continue to develop the topic of self-care initiated by Dr. Kleinig, we will be joined by Rev. Dr. Joel Biermann from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, who will present on the topic The Meaning of Life: Integrating Vocation and Rest. His four sessions will develop the themes of:
1. Vita vocationis – Man is created to do the work God has given him to do within the created world (vocation). Vocation is not the result of the Fall, but an integral aspect of our humanity. This understanding of human purpose is not all of life as it is challenged by God’s call to rest.
2. Vita contemplative – In our American experience, the Protestant “work ethic” has reigned supreme. Many continue to idolize a culture of “total work.” In contrast, the ancient Greeks saw work not as the purpose of life but as a necessary burden to enable leisure: not mere amusement or inactivity, but the ability to contemplate the good, the true, and the beautiful.
3. Vita passive – Luther described the Christian life as passive, not inactivity, dispassionate apathy, or a retreat from life’s tasks, but receptivity of life and openness to God’s giving and receiving what he delivers. Receiving from God what God gives opens a way of living that is marked with purpose, wonder, and joy each day.
4. Vita sabbati – Lutherans have typically solved the 3rd Commandment by reducing it to the creaturely need for rest and hearing God’s word. Considering Sabbath within God’s plan for creation and Jesus’ own words and practices will help us see Sabbath as the inbreaking of the eschatological fulfillment into the realities of life lived now and lead us to live our lives in the promise and celebration of God’s gift of Sabbath.
Suggested reading for our conference is Leisure: The Basis of Culture (Pieper, Josef. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1963). Readily available on Amazon for about $15, this book opens ways of thinking that can be transformative for the way we live our lives.
Conference Schedule
| Monday, March 8
9:00 a.m. Check-in and Fellowship in Circuits 10:00 a.m. Session I
12:15 p.m. Lunch on site 1:15 p.m. Session II
3:10 p.m. District President’s Report 3:35 p.m. Divine Service in Circuits |
Tuesday, March 9
9:30 a.m. Session III
11:25 a.m. Lunch on site 12:25 p.m. Session IV
1:50 p.m. What does this mean? Living in the promise and celebration of God’s gift of Sabbath 3:00 p.m. Sending / Depart for Home |
Online Registration for Spring 2021 Pastors’ Conference
The Nebraska District is offering online registration and payment through the electronic payment provider Vanco (eservicespayments.com). To register online, fill in the form below.
- When you click “Submit Registration & Continue to Payment Page” we will receive your registration and you will be taken to the secure online payment page.
- Registration is $80 ($20 for emeritus pastors). Please note that this amount does not include meals.
- Complete your registration by entering your credit card payment information. Only one payment per credit card is allowed each day. If you wish to register more than one person and make only one credit card payment, when you reach the payment site, go back to the registration page and enter the personal information for the other people in your group. Once you have submitted the personal information for each person, then you may make one credit card payment for the total amount.
- If you prefer to pay by check, please fill in the form below, click “Submit Registration & Continue to Payment Page” and then close the payment window.
- No online registration will be valid until payment is received.
- Cancellations and requests for refunds must be made in writing – postmarked or emailed – no later than February 26, 2021. Online registrations will be refunded minus the online processing fee, as applicable. Written requests for refunds received after February 26 and before March 8 will be refunded 50% of the registration fee. Important: Refund requests on or after March 8 will only be considered at the discretion of the District President.Questions about online registration may be directed to Kim Hofer at kimh@ndlcms.org.
- Questions about online registration may be directed to Kim Hofer at kimh@ndlcms.org.
