“The mission of West Lutheran High School is to use the Word of God to train youth as disciples of Christ, spiritu-ally, intellectually, and socially, for dedicated service to their Savior.” West Lutheran has continued its mission by the Grace of God. Much is dependent on the sup-port of those that love this vital ministry to the youth of our congregations and the community at large. That support may come in the form of prayers, sending your children to the school, spreading the news of this minis-try to others so that they may utilize it, volunteering your time and talents at ball games, garage sales, concerts, plays, and auctions, - serving on boards and commit-tees, assisting teachers and administration, working at the Wise Penny, and funding the school building and operating budget of the school. Thank you for continu-ing to support the ministry in all those ways.

Over the next 2-3 years West Lutheran will be involved in a major fund drive to re-duce the debt of our high school. It is also our hope to heighten the awareness of the need for additional support among the members of our association congrega-tions and the individual supporters of the high school that value its mission. The campaign will be known as the “Debt of Love” capital campaign, based on a pas-sage from Romans. It follows a section where Paul speaks about being submissive to all those in authority, the reason why we pay taxes, and the idea of paying every-one what we owe them. Paul states in Romans 13: 8 to “Let no debt remain out-standing, except the continuing debt to love one another.” The ministry of West Lutheran High School is really a “debt of love”. It has a history that contains many crossroads.

The Board of Regents, along with the administration and faculty, recognizes that we face another one of those crossroads. Declining enrollment for the past six years has caused us to increase our recruitment efforts both inside the association and in the community at large. The financial support from our association congregations as well as individual gifts to the high school is down over that same period of time. There is a need to make a concerted effort to reduce the debt, increase funding for the operating budget, and provide tuition assistance to families in need. This can help the school advance its mission and help control tuition costs and the operating budget.

Principal Meitner will also be serving as the Director of Mission Advancement. Over the next two school years, he will be visiting with individual donors and association congregations asking them to consider special gifts for this effort. Special deferred giving to the high school through the WELS Foundation is yet another option to help in the long-term sustainability of the school. More information concerning Charita-ble Remainder Trusts, Donor Advised Funds, and Charitable Gift Annuities with be forthcoming in future NFW articles, or you may contact Mr. Meitner (mmeitner@wlhs.net), or the WELS Christian Giving Counselor for estate planning, Rev. Michael Hatzung (Michael.hatzung@wels.net) for details on deferred giving.