Easter is Every Day

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

I love to garden and see the beautiful colors of the flowers each time I look outside. I notice that every time a flower dries up, there is another bud opening to replace it. This is such a clear reminder that we die to sin, but God’s redeeming love for us gives new life.

Through the water of Baptism and the Holy Spirit, we are given life, just as the water I give my garden gives life to the plants. A very dear friend gave me two shriveled Easter lilies after Easter. I planted the dry bulbs and through the summer, I noticed the plants beginning to grow and eventually bud. As you can see from the picture above, they are in full bloom. This is also a wonderful reminder that, as redeemed children of God, we celebrate Easter every day! We all need Easter…daily!

As we have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with each other and our students each day, let’s always to look to the cross, but focus on the empty tomb. Although we are all sinners, God has redeemed us and made us His own! There is no greater gift!

May our WITNESS be the example for others to focus on their WELLNESS, as we daily study God’s WORD.

Serving the Master Teacher,

Lois Stewart

Mission Facilitator for Schools

2024-2025 School Theme

Professional Development Credits

Concordia University Chicago is happy to provide your faculty and staff with professional development credit again this year as an ISBE Approved Provider. We will be utilizing the new ISBE Professional Development Tool, PD+.

Requests for Professional Development must be submitted at least two weeks prior to the Professional Development Activity. Information on our approval process can be found on our College of Education website:

Professional Development - College of Education - LibGuides at Concordia University Chicago (cuchicago.edu)



National Lutheran Schools Accreditation Banner

The NID is thankful for all of our schools, from small to large, which teach Jesus each day. I continue to lift them all up in prayer, as plans for the coming school year are started, and they focus on Word, Wellness, and Witness.

If you are an accredited school with NLSA, you may order your new banner by visiting https://www.luthed.org/nlsa-accredited-school-banners/

2024 Educators Conference 

The registration link is open for the Educator Conference on October 18, 2024. Everyone received an email with the link on August 9, 2024. For your convenience, information is also available at the link below.

We look forward to having all schools join us for worship, learning, and fellowship! 

Phil’s Friends

Phil’s Friends is a Recognized Service Organization in the NID. They are interested in getting scheduled to lead chapel or do packing parties of the care boxes that are sent out to cancer patients. For more information, please see the letter attached below.

School Administrators

Watch your email for a reminder to complete the annual Statistical Report for Rosters and Statistics. This is your annual reporting form. The information that you share is very helpful in research for our District and across the LCMS. Last year we had 96% reported. That was great, but I know we can get 100%!!

Early Childhood, Elementary and High School Administrators

The new school year brings so many opportunities to serve, learn, and grow together. We are blessed with conference opportunities where we can come together as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

The first Early Childhood Educator event took place on Saturday, September 21, 2024. We were blessed to have Dian Schlichtmann and Tracie Douglas with the group. They presented on Module 5 of the Spiritual Nurture of the Young Child series. It was such a joy to have so many of our Early Childhood Educators together to learn.

The additional Elementary and High School Leadership Conference dates to get on your calendar are Monday, February 10, 2025 and Monday, April 28, 2025. We will gather at Concordia University Chicago starting at 9:15 a.m. with devotions. Join us earlier for coffee, tea, and fellowship.

The on-line registration link will stay active all school year. You will find that here on the NID website. All registration will be done online. If you haven’t registered yet, or plan to bring a guest, please do that on the website. Topics for the upcoming gatherings will be good for you to consider inviting a guest to join you. If you are using Title funds to cover the cost, please let me know (lois.stewart@nidlcms.org). 

Hearts for Jesus

What a blessing to support a ministry with our Hearts for Jesus donations!

Lutheran Education Association

Lutheran Education Association’s mission is to link, equip, and affirm educators and workers in ministry for the purpose of building up the body of Christ. LEA members receive a steady stream of resources, take part in conversations with educators around the globe, and receive discounts to events and products that help them do their best work.

Our resources are located on two distinctly different sites.

Go to leaconnects.lea.org for:

• Weekly Devotions - created for your personal edification as you prepare for the school week
• LEAnews and Tips of the Week - items curated for your area of ministry
• Words on Wednesday - short videos meant to encourage educators
• Shaping the Future - monthly magazine articles exploring educational topics
• Archived Resources - thousands of webinars, magazines, monographs, and other resources which enhance ministry

Go to lea.org for:

• Information about our 2025 TOGETHER Convocation for all educators - next year's triennial convocation will be in October in St. Louis, Missouri
• Information about the 2025 National Administrators Conference - being held in March of 2025 in Irvine, California
• Lutheran Junior Honor Association - a student honor association for middle schoolers
• LEAven - our weekly blog which addresses rising educational issues
• What Works for Me - our weekly podcast which provides ideas for educators from other educators to utilize in their ministries
• Spiritual Nurture in the Lutheran Early Childhood Classroom video series - provides practical strategies to promote the integration of the Christian faith into classroom environments (Contact the NID office for a code to view these for free.)
• Membership Matters - joining LEA or updating your membership account

To join LEA, go to the LEAhub. If you are an administrator wishing to support your faculty by providing membership for each educator in your school, go to our Faculty/Staff Enrollment Form and receive a membership discount for your teachers.

If you have any questions about LEA or our services, please contact us at lea@lea.org.

Lutheran Junior Honor Association

The Lutheran Junior Honor Association was created to give your students opportunities to serve others.

How can LJHA assist your school’s students and ministry?

• It is designed to nurture the qualities which Lutheran schools value.
• It assists you as you give students opportunities to grow outside of the classroom.
• It allows you to join with Lutheran schools across the nation as you inspire leadership, service, discipleship, and academics.
• It is for schools of all sizes.
• It was designed by Lutheran educators for the uniqueness of Lutheran schools.
• It is easy to implements and has easy-to-access support from the LEA staff.

Join with schools from Wisconsin to Texas, New York to Hawaii and start a chapter today!

Do you want to know more? Go to lea@lea.org or contact Denise Rice at denise.rice@lea.org

Parish Professionals

To God be the glory for the Parish Professionals that serve in the NID (Directors of Christian Education, Deaconesses, Parish Musicians, just to name a few)!

The first meeting for the group took place on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at Trinity in Roselle. Thank you to Kevin Borchers for hosting! We gathered for an opening devotion at 11:00 a.m., followed by a recap of summer programs, Youth Gathering discussion, lunch, and we finished up about 1:30 p.m. If you have any questions, please reach out to me (lois.stewart@nidlcms.org).

If you haven’t already done so, please secure your copy of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer for our book read. We will start the book discussion at our October meeting on Thursday, October 17, 2024, at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 101 S. 6th, St. Charles, Illinois 60174. Our host will be Alex Brice. Watch for more details. 

Parish Nurses



The Parish Nurses serve in a variety of ways in their own congregations and across the NID. If you have a Parish Nurse in your congregation, please encourage them to connect with this group. Have them contact me (lois.stewart@nidlcms.org) for more information.

They will meet next on Tuesday, October 17, 2024, starting at 10:00 a.m. The event will be held at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 4247 183rd St., Country Club Hills, Illinois 60478.

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