Lisa KrammeLisa Kramme
Director of Faith Formation
Nebraska Synod, ELCA

I love it when someone offers a prayer before meals that includes gratitude for the people who prepared the food. Some folks even expand their prayers to include the farmers who raised the food before it got into the hands of the cooks. Prayers like these help me remember that food doesn’t just miraculously show up on a plate in front of me without at least half a dozen people intervening on behalf of my dining experience.

Most of you reading this article probably know about Operation IDEA, a grassroots effort of the Nebraska Synod ELCA, created for the purpose of raising leaders for Christ’s Church. I talk with people throughout the Synod about Operation IDEA and how the program reaches out to people to ask them if God is calling them to the rostered ministry. But just as a cook in a restaurant needs the farmers who plant the seed and the workers who harvest it, the over-the-road truckers who haul the produce and the wholesale dealers who purchase the food for the cook to fix, ALL of us need to work together to have caring conversations and journey with people who are sensing a call from God.

Is God calling you to reach out to the precocious sixth grader who just started confirmation and is full of questions about the Bible? Is God causing your attention to turn to the high school student who challenged you when in middle school but who is really turning into a positive leader in his peer group? Did God lead a college student new to your area to your congregation, and have you noticed how she worships with your community regularly as a way to be fed spiritually each week? Is God nudging you to notice an adult in your mission center who is just not satisfied in his current job and who has been asking about church-related work lately?

Please seriously consider who God is calling you to reach out to in order to engage that person in conversation about how God is calling him or her. In your conversations, invite that person to one of the following Operation IDEA retreats where people are invited to continue to discern, feel excited about and act on God’s call in their lives.

Bishop’s Initiative Middle School Retreat - Oct. 17, 2009 - St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Grand Island

  • For youth in grades 6-8 (limited to 24 youth and a maximum of two youth per congregation)
  • Retreat facilitators: Bishop Dave deFreese, Cheryl Griess and Joni Bruhn

Associates in Ministry (AiM) Retreat - Jan. 25-26, 2010 - Swanson Retreat Center at Camp Carol Joy Holling, Ashland

  • For rostered Associates in Ministry, candidates and others (college age and beyond) who are interested in becoming an AiM

Bishop’s Initiative College Retreat - Jan. 29-31, 2010 - Swanson Retreat Center at Camp Carol Joy Holling, Ashland

  • Retreat facilitators:  Bishop Dave and Anita deFreese

Bishop’s Initiative College Retreat - Jan. 29-31, 2010 - Swanson Retreat Center at Carol Joy Holling, Ashland

  • For youth in grades 9-12 and their inviters
  • Retreat facilitators:  Bishop Dave deFreese, Pastor Megan Morrow and Lisa Kramme

Coming soon in early 2010: Retreats for adults beyond college age!

There is no cost for the Bishop’s Initiative retreats, and a minimal charge for the AiM retreat. For more information and to easily register for any of these Operation IDEA events, please go to www.operationidea.org and click on IDEA Programs. Feel free to also contact me with any questions or to share information on potential candidates for a retreat. My contact information is:  402-896-5311 (office), 402-669-6309 (cell) and lisakramme@nebraskasynod.org.

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