We are all about connection up here in the North Country.  The connections that we make are varied and interesting and often times we can see the hand of God in them and sometimes his action remains hidden as Luther says, “behind the masks of our neighbors and other creatures”.

Our New CMO – Chief Mission Officer – as we said is from, or at least spent a lot of time in Fergus Falls Minnesota(see 2012/02/07) .  In his opening statements to our Board and others he spoke eloquently of the need to have a Mandarin course in our Concordia University System because we can not ignore that large of a population and we need to learn the language.

I asked Dr. Al Collver to come up to North Dakota and visit with me and some others about the implications of the other connections that we all have with folks all over the world for a coherent and cohesive “life together” as we do our missions and raise money for various projects.  More on all that later, but the bottom line is that we are “scattered” all over the place when it comes to mission and ministry and sometimes the results are confusing and actually hurt the promulgation of the Gospel.  Dr. Collver is the Director of Church Relations and he knows were of he speaks.

I asked Dr. Buchop of Wittenberg Campus ministry if Dr. Collver could come to his Friday night Chinese Bible class and he graciously consented.  You can see Collvers comments on –  http://tinyurl.com/6qcm53o

Would it not be neat to see one of these folks attending Dr. Buchops class, turn around and teach us Mandarin so that we can share more effectively the good news of salvation?  What a connection that would be.