August Meeting

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Click here to RSVP for Luncheon
or send E-mail to luncheon@LutheranLayFellowship.org

Saint Luke Lutheran Church
9100 Colesville Road at Dale Drive
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Dr. Michael Kurtz
Assistant Archivist of the United States (retired)

"The Rev. Robert B. Lantz
A Transformative Life"

Dr. Michael Kurtz's recent book, published in 2012, tells the story of a most uncommon man, Robert Bryan Lantz. He was a complex, driven man who overcame economic hardships and parental neglect to transform his life into one of service in the field of pastoral counseling. Countless individuals were assisted through the programs he established in clinical pastoral education (CPE) and in his private counseling in Annapolis. Many other lives were transformed through the efforts of the men who had Robert Lantz as their CPE supervisor. In many ways, the trainees themselves were most affected by their quiet but demanding mentor.

Robert Lantz used his outstanding financial skills, unique for a clergyman, to provide long-term growth and stability for those Lutheran institutions and professional organizations to which he was most committed. Intensely loyal, rigorously principled, and determined to chart his own course, Robert Lantz often went against accepted "norms." Though reserved and personally gracious, he fought tenaciously for what he believed his vocation and profession demanded.

An avid boater all his life, Robert B. Lantz had as his banner freedom, personal responsibility, and service to God's people. He said it all when he wrote at the top of an early resume-"No Miracle-Just Hard Work."

Our speaker, Dr. Michael J. Kurtz, serves as associate pastor at Magothy-Chelsea Community Lutheran Church in Pasadena, Maryland. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland's College of Information Studies where he directs the archival specialization track in the MLS program. Prior to this he worked for 37 years as professional archivist, manager, and senior executive at the National Archives and Records Administration. For several years, he also served as president of the Lutheran Historical Society at Gettysburg.

Dr. Kurtz has published extensively in the areas of American history and archival management, including John Gottlieb Morris: Man of God, Man of Science (1997), America and the Return of Nazi Contraband (2006, paperback 2009), and Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories (2004). He lives outside Annapolis, Maryland.

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We invite all Lutherans and their friends to join us for this luncheon meeting of Lutheran Lay Fellowship, scheduled for the first Thursday of each month from 12:00 noon till 2:00 p.m. at Saint Luke Lutheran Church, 9100 Colesville Road at Dale Drive in Silver Spring, one mile south of the Capitol Beltway at Exit 30. Ample off-street parking is available. Interested persons can make reservations for a delicious lunch by sending their RSVP to luncheon@lutheranlayfellowship.org by contacting Vicki Porter at 301-229-9884 or no later than 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 31. The cost of the meal is $9.00, payable at the door.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

September 6: Mrs. Jana Broughton, Executive Director, Fellowship Square Foundation
October 4: Mr. Greg Roemer, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

July's meeting was cancelled so there are no minutes

What is the Lutheran Lay Fellowship?

LLF is an organization for women and men, both lay and clergy, active in the Nation's Capital area. “As early as 1936, feeling there was a definite need for closer cooperation between Lutheran laity and clergy, a group of laymen in the Washington, DC. Metropolitan area, organized to hold meetings that would bring pastors and laity closer together. Due to jurisdictional differences as well as ministerial difficulties, very little success was achieved until the fall of 1941. Then the group met and decided to hold a luncheon once a month, invite their friends and bring visitors. The first luncheon was a success, and within three months every Lutheran judicatory was represented…” [From a Lutheran Directory of Metropolitan Washington, DC, published in 1999.]

Today, more than 70 years later, the Lutheran Lay Fellowship of Metropolitan Washington takes pride in knowing that every night, 365 nights each year, more than 700 low income seniors and disabled persons live in safety and friendship in four high rises owned and managed by Fellowship Square Foundation, Inc. By means of annual scholarships and grants, LLF also supports various college and seminary students; it also provides ushering services for major inter-Lutheran events. But most of all, LLF is known far and wide as a place to hear stimulating speakers on timely topics and to make friends from other Lutheran congregations—friendships that last for decades!

Won’t you join us?

Received this notice in error?

Effective August 2011, the previous month's Meeting Minutes will be posted in the ARCHIVE section of our website, www.LutheranLayFellowship.org and the only hardcopy available will be at the next month's meeting. Meeting Announcements will continue to be mailed to dues-paying members who do not have an E-mail address.

If you are not interested in receiving notices from the LLF, please reply to this note with a subject line of REMOVE and if applicable, specify who in your congregation should receive notices.