Concordia Mission Institute

00:00
Louisa Lehenbauer
I have often come back to Concordia specifically for the Concordia Mission Institute summer conference because these are my people. Even if we’re all coming from different areas of the world, the missionary community have a sense of you get this. 

00:25
Rich Rudowske
Welcome to the Essentially Translatable Podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible Translators. Going to talk today to Luisa Landbauer. 

00:31
Emily Wilson
And I’m Emily Wilson. 

00:33
Rich Rudowske
And we are going to talk today to Louisa Lehenbauer. She is the director of the Concordia Mission Institute and I just really love this interview that we had with her. She is so sweet and just. Her passion for the mission and her role in equipping folks for mission really came through. 

00:51
Emily Wilson
Yeah. And seeing how the Concordia Mission Institute has changed over the years and each individual who has contributed to it has had a unique perspective. But for her to be able to come in as a missionary kid all grown and having been in ministry as a Lutheran school teacher and bringing in her cross cultural awareness and also being very much planted in the community of Concordia, Missouri, as the wife of one of our pastors here at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Just a wonderful, unique perspective as she is working with the organizations all involved and communicating about what will happen at the Concordia Mission Institute summer conference. So we hope you enjoy this interview with Louisa Lehenbauer and learn a little bit more about what goes in behind Concordia Mission Institute. 

01:52
Rich Rudowske
All right, we are here in the studio today with Louisa Lehenbauer, who serves as the director for the Concordia Mission Institute. So great to have you in the studio today. 

02:00
Emily Wilson
Welcome to the podcast. 

02:01
Louisa Lehenbauer
I’m happy to be here. 

02:03
Emily Wilson
So we always like to introduce our listeners to our guests and can you share a little bit about your background? How did you actually get involved with the Concordia Mission Institute and then become the director? 

02:18
Louisa Lehenbauer
Great questions. I am a missionary kid, so when I was one year old, my parents moved to Russia and we were there eleven years. And overall they were overseas for 20 years. And I spent seven of those years in high school here at St. Paul Lutheran High School. And then on I went to Concordia University, Nebraska to get my teaching degree. And ultimately I wanted to go back overseas and teaching seemed like a really great way to do that. I spent five years on the west coast teaching at Lutheran schools there and had a great time. But I was dating a seminarian and you never know where they’re going to end up. So ultimately his first call out of the seminary was back here to Concordia, Missouri. And I thought, wow, I’m going home. 

03:15
Louisa Lehenbauer
So back I came, and I have often come back to Concordia specifically for the Concordia Mission Institute summer conference because these are my people. Even if we’re all coming from different areas of the world, the missionary community have a sense of, you get this, that oversees experience or even just the interest in engaging people in the gospel. And that’s something that has always been. As I look at my life, people have always invested in me that way, pointing me to Jesus, and just had a really great time engaging people with the gospel and that joy. And that’s something. Now I’m married to the seminarian who is the associate pastor here in town, and we have a little girl. And as I stepped back from teaching, the initial Concordia Mission Institute director is stepping into teaching. 

04:17
Louisa Lehenbauer
So I stepped into her role for directing the Concordia Mission Institute. 

04:23
Emily Wilson
That’s awesome, being able to. You’re flip flopping in some. 

04:27
Louisa Lehenbauer
Yes. 

04:28
Emily Wilson
Yeah. So Concordia Mission Institute, for those who don’t know what it is. What is it? And what are some of the goals? Great. 

04:36
Louisa Lehenbauer
The Concordia Mission Institute is ultimately a partnership mainly between Mission of Christ Network, Lutheran Bible Translators and St. Paul Lutheran High School to train and equip missionaries in their various contexts throughout the world. And those are usually Lutheran Bible Translators and Mission of Christ work missionaries. And the main event is the summer conference. And that’s how it all started. Mission of Christ Network had eight missionaries that they were training back in 2014. A couple of years later, LBT got on board, wanted to partner up, and that’s when it became officially Concordia Mission Institute. 

05:18
Louisa Lehenbauer
And from there, we have goals to expand and partner with congregations or other groups that would like training for their missionaries, whether that’s short term groups or there’s actually a group that approached Mission of Christ Network asking for help training ethnic groups in the United States to reach the white people who don’t believe in Jesus. So there are big plans. It’s just a matter of deciding. There are many choices, I should say. It’s just a matter of deciding what to do and how to do it really well. 

05:56
Rich Rudowske
Sounds exciting. And looking forward to seeing where the Concordia Mission Institute will plug in and serve the greater church. But coming back to the summer conference where it all started each year, tell us a little bit about what happens during the conference and who attends. 

06:09
Louisa Lehenbauer
So it’s a week long, it’s from Sunday to Saturday, and those who attend are missionaries and staff from Lutheran Bible Translators, Mission of Christ Network, and then we also have some mission explorers, so people who are interested in joining either one of those groups and want to get some more information or figure out what this is all about. And then we also have guests. So whether those guests are plenary speakers or people from other organizations who we’re partnering with, those are mostly who we have, who come okay. 

06:43
Rich Rudowske
And as we gather together around themes about the mission of God, let’s talk a little bit about the four themes. And in general, at every conference there maybe a little bit about what’s going to be happening this year. 

06:56
Louisa Lehenbauer
Particularly the four themes are the pillars of mission that the regional directors of the LCMS World Mission came up with. So back when John Male and Mike Rodewald and Paul Mueller were regional directors, they were asked to come up with these four pillars. So mission of God, vocation, partnership and engagement. So we spend a weekday on each one of those themes. So mission of God is Monday, vocation, Tuesday and then Thursday and Friday, partnership and engagement. And then Wednesday is a day when LBT focuses on things LBT needs to focus on and MCN focuses on those MCN things. 

07:42
Emily Wilson
I love how it’s just evolved over time too. Initially with the conference of okay, we’re meeting just very specific training, needs some skill development and how it has just moved in a direction of let’s look even beyond what we’re currently doing and how we might fine tune and grow in soft skills as well as technical skills. So this year we have unique set of speakers coming in and sharing about each of those themes. And those are the plenary speakers and there are breakout sessions as well. But who do we have sharing this year from the plenary? 

08:22
Louisa Lehenbauer
Speaking for mission of God, we have. Most of these guys are Reverend doctors. So Will Schumacher and he just retired from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and he’s in the history department or was in the history department there and then also did some mission things. And then we also have on Tuesday we have a woman, yay, Heidi Goehmann, who’s a deaconess and also a licensed clinical social worker. Thursday we have Reverend Dr. Samuel Duresssa, who is a professor up at Concordia University in Minnesota, so St. Paul. And he is followed on Friday by Reverend Dr. Justin Hanneman, who’s also a pastor. In addition to being aura has exemptive in addition to being certified in counseling in several different ways, he has his Ph.D. in such a variety it is. 

09:25
Emily Wilson
And Deaconess Heidi Goehmann is such a blessing. And I’m going, no definitely, be really excited for that day of being able to just soak it up, but being really able to contextualize based off of their own background, but then also presenting on these themes and digging in. So these topics that they’re presenting on, how are they crafting it to missionary staff and partners. Like, what is it that they’re tying in with the experience of ministry? 

10:02
Louisa Lehenbauer
That’s a really cool question. The whole setup of the week is designed to help us figure out or to understand more deeply our identities in what is our role in the mission of God. So we start with the mission of God on Monday and from that identity as God’s child and doing his work in his world, and then also moving into vocation. And these are the different facets of my life that I have in work and home and family and all these things. And moving from that more idea based to then application of partnership and, well, vocation for sure. Partnership and engagement. So moving from what’s happening inside me to how does that happen in my words and actions and my life, ultimately. 

11:02
Rich Rudowske
Now, Emily said she’s excited for Heidi Goehmann Day. So is there a particular one that you’re more excited about? 

11:08
Louisa Lehenbauer
I am excited for Tuesday. 

11:10
Rich Rudowske
Yeah. 

11:11
Louisa Lehenbauer
And it’s hard for me to choose because I think every single day and every single plenary speaker is going to have really great things. I think Tuesday excites me because this year is the first year that we are doing a third culture kid workshop. Right? Yeah. So we have one on Tuesday and one on Thursday to follow up. So I’m excited for the people leading that and for the kids and just to. I know how many people invested in me and how much that means for me in my life as I grew in, who I am and my identity and that not being necessarily a place or a people group. 

11:54
Rich Rudowske
Sure. 

11:54
Louisa Lehenbauer
So I think that’s something dear to my heart that I love to see. And I think it’s wonderful it’s on vocation day because that’s what the first one is, because that is such an important part of our vocations, no matter who we are or where we are, to invest in our families. 

12:12
Emily Wilson
And each day really is a building block on the next. So last year I was gone for half of the conference event for the national youth gathering down in Houston. And so I missed the first part of the week. And so people were like, oh, the session at the beginning, like on Monday, was just so rewarding. And it’s just tied in so beautifully with. On Tuesday, I’m like, I missed all of this. It was so disappointing. 

12:41
Louisa Lehenbauer
There’s always something to miss. 

12:42
Emily Wilson
Yeah. 

12:42
Rich Rudowske
Carefully cultivated and crafted. Right, right. We go out to the content fields and. Just kidding. 

12:50
Louisa Lehenbauer
This year, Reverend Dr. Mike Gibson will be our devotional leader throughout the week. And I was talking to him and were talking about. I just want everything to be carefully cultivated and crafted and very purposeful, and I wanted to be the absolute best it can be. And he said, it won’t be unless God’s doing something in it. So I think that was something he and you and various people have helped me remember that I can plan all I want, but ultimately what’s going to happen is what God makes happen. And sometimes those really good things are in the things that don’t go well, and that hurts my pride. But that is definitely something that I’ve been reminded of throughout this planning. 

13:41
Rich Rudowske
I’m excited for Justin Hanneman and his presentation, too, because to be with missionaries and to train for overseas missionary service is really important. And yet where the mission is just everywhere now, and christians really need to be equipped for lots of different situations. So there’s also a shift this year at the institute’s conference to make it. That mission doesn’t necessarily mean exotic. It means that it’s something that really you can grasp and do something with right now. 

14:14
Louisa Lehenbauer
I couldn’t agree more. And our tagline for Concordia Mission Institute has been by missionaries for missionaries. And ultimately we’re all engaged in proclaiming the gospel. So semantics aside, in a sense we’re all missionaries, correct? Whether or not we’re overseas. So to see, to bring in a guest like Justin Hanneman, who maybe hasn’t been overseas, but these are universal things that he is addressing and helping us better at engaging humans, not just based on cross cultural experiences worldwide, but also my husband’s family and my family are as Lutheran church worky as it gets, but we have some very serious cultural differences. So just to know that there are boundaries and barriers that can be taken down no matter where you are. 

15:18
Rich Rudowske
Right. 

15:19
Emily Wilson
That’s awesome. So interwoven throughout the week between the plenary sessions are different breakout sessions and they range from workshops to lectures to kind of discussions. Right. So what are some of the examples from maybe previous years to kind of give people some idea of where we have been versus what do we have lined up this year? 

15:47
Louisa Lehenbauer
I think last year, one that stuck out to me, I was looking back, is virtual fatigue. 

15:54
Rich Rudowske
Right. 

15:55
Louisa Lehenbauer
This year we have incarnational living. I love this get out of the way doom gloom in your prayer life. Seth Hinz is coming in to do Story Brand and I think looking at again, we’re evolving in how we address Lithuanic culture. Kids getting the parents involved because they’re the ones who are ultimately with them so much of the time and having more of a sense of what people need. I think year after year, that’s something I love about this, is that I’m going to make mistakes and I can always improve next year. 

16:37
Rich Rudowske
Yeah, virtual fatigue. Some of the other sessions in the past as well. 

16:41
Emily Wilson
I was going to say emotional intelligence was one that was really helpful. Michael Ursland was very animated with that one. I think that Nader Hannah has led about spiritual warfare and being able to be in relationship and doing ministry with people who have the practice of Islam. 

17:01
Rich Rudowske
And very practical things like for the folks in remote settings where it’s a little more complicated how to worship or how to cope when worship is lacking and just some real practical resources and tools for gathering together and being sent with and even giving yourself permission to approach how you’re going to do that in a different situation. Yeah, lots of great stuff. So in addition to some of these real practical components, the missionary spiritual care is also a key component of the Concordia Mission Institute. So in what ways does CMI offer missionary staff and partners a space and a place for spiritual refreshment while we’re gathered together? 

17:43
Louisa Lehenbauer
First of all, the fellowship of believers. Many of our missionaries are out in a place where they don’t see each other very much. And there are some contingents where they have more day to day face time with people at the same time. Just to come together and realize I’m part of this bigger organization group of people who are on the same trajectory as me. We have these things in common, and no matter where we are in the world, we were ultimately pointing people to Jesus. And we have a similar background and day to day experience. And I think that ultimately is a huge goal of the conference, just bringing people together. In addition to that, we have something. 

18:35
Louisa Lehenbauer
Every weekday we have every morning we start with devotions in the first place, and then at seven most of the nights we have a devotion or evening prayer or hymn sing. We have ascending service on Friday, and then in addition to that we have this year. The prayer working group is providing more intentional time to be able to go and pray with someone or to take time away to pray. And it’s a full week. I am exhausted thinking about it. And if you’re an introvert, it can be difficult to manage. And if you’re an extrovert, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily any easier, especially if you want to go out and see people. 

19:29
Louisa Lehenbauer
But what example did Christ give us but to go off and take time to talk to God and still be in relationship and not taking away from the fact that we are with each other but to have that opportunity, I’m very excited to have the prayer working group making that happen and I love. 

19:51
Emily Wilson
Too that you guys have created in the schedule because the initial years it was like boom boom boom session, session. And people were ready to fall over and as an extrovert I was like, well, what’s the problem? And it’s like no boundaries are good. And like you said that it is biblical to go and seek quietude and be in relationship with the Lord and the reflect and retreat time to be able to have that too as a spiritual care component of we see you. This is an event where the summer-long, the summer conference feels that way. 

20:34
Louisa Lehenbauer
For me, I was going to say. 

20:35
Rich Rudowske
We don’t want all summer long. 

20:38
Emily Wilson
It’s Concordia Mission Institute camp. 

20:43
Rich Rudowske
Concordia, Missouri in July. Who could ask for more? 

20:46
Louisa Lehenbauer
That’s right. It’s actually been really nice. 

20:49
Emily Wilson
It has. But the summer conference allowing for a space of growing in our skills and our understanding and in our just encouragement of one another, but also having that time of- I need to process, I need to really absorb what I’ve just heard and whether it’s, I need to process externally with someone and having that reflection time of being together or if it is solo. And I really do see that as part of the spiritual care component but unfortunately I’m taking that away from you, rich, by scheduling know. 

21:31
Rich Rudowske
Yeah, that’s all right. We got to work. While the sun is shining at Concordia Mission Institute, some of the traditions there, I believe. I heard they’re square dancing this year.

21:41
Louisa Lehenbauer
That’s correct. Also on Tuesday. Another reason to be Tuesday is the big day. 

21:45
Rich Rudowske
Yeah, it’s really coming in strong. That’s really good. Will there be snacks this year? 

21:52
Louisa Lehenbauer
Great question. I’ve already done a snack run. 

21:56
Rich Rudowske
Have you? Okay. 

21:57
Louisa Lehenbauer
That is correct. And we have a great snack team. 

22:01
Rich Rudowske
Right. 

22:02
Louisa Lehenbauer
It is amazing. And I’ve always noticed this in high school you could get anyone to anything if you just. Oh, there’s a service project. We have snacks and all of a sudden all these high schoolers who emerge out of woodwork. It’s amazing. And it’s the same for missionaries, I’ve noticed. So the snack game is strong at CMI and at the summer conference we value fuel. All kinds of fuel. 

22:31
Rich Rudowske
Right? All right. So as you’ve been going this first round here, putting together the conference, planning and directing, it’s a multi organizational event. It’s multigenerational. What’s been the most challenging for you in the process of planning and directing. 

22:46
Louisa Lehenbauer
This, communicating well, it takes time. And sometimes I underestimate the amount of time that I need to do a good job. And usually that means saying less rather than more or saying the same amount over a various amount of time rather than all at once. And I think that challenge has been in the forefront of my mind because I want good relationships and not just me, everybody wants good relationships and I think that’s also the blessing. The most rewarding aspect is, again, people who have come around and been so supportive and that’s something that I have experienced my whole life, I think is that investment. And I want to do that for others. 

23:45
Louisa Lehenbauer
And I think that being in this role with missionaries in a teaching and educational aspect to it is extremely rewarding because these are the things I care most about and having these relationships and being able to break down barriers if there are misunderstandings to come at everything in humility as much as I can and knowing I have so much to learn and so many people to be thankful for. And I’d like to point others to Jesus the way others have pointed me to Jesus. 

24:21
Emily Wilson
That’s awesome and just so true that this is an environment where we can all grow together and in humility and our understanding. There’s always something to learn. Even the most experienced individuals, those plenary speakers, how often they are sharpened by each other, by the people who are participating in the conference. It’s always been a blessing to me to hear about how they have learned so much over the course of the event. Not just an outgoing thing, but coming in too. So where is it that people can go to find out more about Concordia Mission Institute? If they’re looking like, how could I be praying? How is it that I can learn more? 

25:09
Louisa Lehenbauer
We were talking about growing. This is something we need to grow in. At the Concordia Mission Institute there are two places that I would go. The first is concordiamissioninstitute.org. You need to log in to get into all the material, but it has a good overview on the about page. And then if you do a quick Google search for the Concordia Mission Institute, then there’s a page on the Mission of Christ Network website that’s set up and then we also have a CMI summer conference event website that is searchable right now as well. That is something we need to better about. The reason we’re not being that most of the people come are in house. We don’t have space on campus to just invite everybody to come to our training though that would be cool. It’s just not in the capacity for that week yet. 

26:11
Louisa Lehenbauer
So the balance of wanting people to know about it and know that it’s happening and that we’re expanding at the same time the summer conference itself is, right? 

26:25
Rich Rudowske
Yes. The steering committee overseeing the Concordia Mission Institute, in its infinite wisdom has said, get through a summer conference first, then we’ll think about expanding. Right? 

26:37
Louisa Lehenbauer
Correct. 

26:38
Rich Rudowske
And yeah, there’s so many opportunities, as you said earlier, that are possible for the institute and the infrastructure building to that will come. But for now, concordiamissioninstitute.org will give you an oversight. Right. Of what’s happening with the conference. And how can folks that are listening be praying for you and for everyone attending for the Concordia Mission Institute summer conference? 

27:03
Louisa Lehenbauer
I wrote down here, make me good at this. I had a pastor who would lead devotions before all the teachers went out to their classrooms. And that’s what he said one morning. He just said, Lord, make us good at this. And that’s what we want. That’s why we are training. That’s why we bring people back. That’s why we support as much as we can. Because ultimately this mission is God’s and he wants everybody to come to know him and be in his family, and why wouldn’t he want us to be good at this? And he gives us the tools and the capacity and the energy and everything we need. And I think that’s just one of those prayers that you can pray and you know that God will make you good at what you need to be good at. 

28:01
Rich Rudowske
Right? Because as this year’s conference theme is, which we haven’t said yet, but we’re saving the best for last. Right. God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. Right? So tell us a little bit about theme a little more. 

28:17
Louisa Lehenbauer
The immeasurably more theme is perfect timing for me personally because I know that what I am doing here and all the control I want to have over this and the carefully crafted conference I want to happen. God is going to take this broken me and the mistakes and everything that happens in the conference, and he’s going to do something great through it. And maybe I won’t even ever see what that is or how exactly those stories play out. I’m sure I’ll see some of them, but not all of them. And it’s humbling to know that again, that God is using your brokenness to do great things or using you in spite of your brokenness. And I think about a child praying for my stuffed puppy. 

29:19
Louisa Lehenbauer
And you think, wow, you know, that’s not really a prayer God needs to hear, but he says, bring even the smallest things. So good idea. And I think about how God is able to do immeasurably more than what we ask or imagine that I am like that child my whole life. I don’t know what I need. I don’t know the things to pray for. And the Holy Spirit intervenes. He groans for us. And I just am so thankful that’s true because I have a limited imagination. I can’t imagine what God is going to do in any of the things that we plant our seeds. We plant our seeds throughout our lives and Apollo’s water, but God gives the growth. 

30:14
Emily Wilson
I love to hear your heart for this ministry and for what God is doing throughout the Concordia Mission Institute summer conferences and all of the opportunities ahead. And I just want to say thank you for all of your effort, for all of the countless hours that have surely been put in to bring all of the details together. And we know that God is going to be at work and that he is more than capable of doing immeasurably, more than we could ask or imagine. So thank you so much, Louisa, for joining us on the podcast. But moreover, thank you for organizing this conference. 

30:56
Louisa Lehenbauer
Thank you. I like you guys. Thanks. I should have had that in my highlights. 

31:02
Rich Rudowske
There we go. 

31:03
Louisa Lehenbauer
But it was think, you know, one of the joys of doing this conference is working so closely with really great people like yourselves. 

31:14
Rich Rudowske
Thanks. It’s going to be a good time. 

31:20
Louisa Lehenbauer
Yeah. 

31:21
Emily Wilson
It’s been really fun to watch Louisa in this role as director for Concordia Mission Institute and how she’s coordinated with you and Pastor Paul Mehl and Reverend Dr. John Mehl about all of the inner workings and how to get people involved from outside of our organizations and to speak into ministry and best practices for how we might be able to engage in mission. And that she answered it. Best of mission happens everywhere. And so this idea of mission being out there, no, it’s right where you are. And to be able to apply those principles is really neat. 

32:02
Rich Rudowske
Yeah. It was a lot of fun being part of the steering committee for the Concordia Mission Institute in conference and getting together with Louisa every month and just watching her grow in understanding all that’s involved with the conference and new ideas and connections that she would make in terms of. We on the steering committee would say, like, we’ve wrestled with this problem over the last couple of years, and she’d say, oh, I know somebody that could help with that. And just the way we worked together was really great and she was able to build on a great foundation set by Ayantha, the previous director, and Eshinee, who’s helped out a lot from Lutheran Bible Translators as well. So really looking forward to the conference. And again, it was great to spend time with Louisa today. 

32:45
Emily Wilson
If you want to learn more about Concordia Mission Institute, want to encourage you to check out the website concordiamissioninstitute.org. 

33:00
Rich Rudowske
Thank you for listening to the Essentially Translatable Podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible Translators. You can find past episodes of the podcast at lbt.org/podcast or subscribe on Audible, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow Lutheran Bible Translators’ social media channels on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter or go to lbt.org to find out how you can get involved in the Bible translation movement and put God’s Word in their hands. 

The Essentially Translatable Podcast is produced and edited by Andrew Olson. Our executive producer is Emily Wilson. Podcast artwork was designed by Caleb Rodewald and Sarah Rudowske. Music written and performed by Rob Veith. I’m Rich Rudowske. So long for now.