What an amazing afternoon, with some folks from Columbus, Nebraska. They are the Pastor and his wife, Rev. Jim and Kristen Thelen, and their members Greg and Kate, Dirk and Kris, and Randy and Jane. It was an afternoon we all will remember! A time of touring, praying and seeing what God can do with an old set of farm…
Here we go again…..The Lord sends us some VERY, VERY SPECIAL NOT NORMAL PEOPLE that Old Missionary met over 20 years ago out in Eastern Colorado and spoke in two churches served by the Honorable Missionaries Rev. George and Ruth Ann Hesse! Yes, it was a long, long time ago, but these dear friends NEVER FORGOT OUR FRIENDSHIP AND TIME…
Yes, there are some very, very, very special days that we have been given here by the Lord at HIS Mission Central! On June 24th, 2020 we had the honor and privilege of being with ONE OF THE MOST “NOT NORMAL” PEOPLE THAT OLD MISSIONARY GARY HAS EVER MET. For over 20 years the Honorable Missionary Pilot Harry Barr from…
What do Missionaries look like? You might wonder about that question, but it’s not that hard. A long time friend from our area near Sioux City, Iowa by the name of Missionary Scott Herbold, is a teacher in a public school, and he is a real missionary. Yes, he brings buses from the public school to see Mission Central, so…
What a JOY and blessing to welcome Missionaries Marvin and Shirley Frerking from Robins, Iowa at the world famous The Lord’s Mission Central! These dear friends have been very, very special friends for many years and have been so supportive of the Lord’s work in helping missionaries over the years. These dear friends came with a very, very wonderful gift…
WHO WOULD DRIVE 5 AND A HALF HOURS FROM CAMBRIDGE, NEBRASKA TO MISSION CENTRAL? When we talk about “Only NOT NORMAL people come to the Lord’s Mission Central”…we really mean it!!! Yes, I knew for sometime that the Jim and Nora McGowen family from rural Cambridge, Nebraska were truly NOT NORMAL! They were “OUR KIND OF PEOPLE”….they love and teach…
Many people seem to think that here at Mission Central things have kind of “quieted down”….however, that is NOT THE CASE! Our dear special office staff, Pam Kovarna and Sonya Sexton are working every day with so much to do and so little time to get everything done. Yes, in these days we are so filled with so much to…
Here at the Lord’s Mission Central, it seems like each day brings some new MIRACLES and surprises and so many things happen that we do NOT plan for each day! We have had so many people that stop here at Mission Central and many do not have an “appointment”, but just trust in the Lord that…
As you all know, we have real MIRACLES happen here at the Lord’s Mission Central! ANOTHER ONE HAPPENED TODAY!!! Yes, we had a “flock” of unusual birds arrive today. These birds are called “Ox Peckers”…and they live in Africa, and their number one job is to land on the Cape Buffalo in Africa and they peck out the ticks that…
March 21st, 2020 was a day that we were to have 4 congregations bringing people here to the Lord’s Mission Central! A day for seeing the Rev. Jon and Anita Clausing and their family, our dear missionaries from Tanzania, was planned, however, with their 9 children their family of 11 members, EXCEEDED the 10 person limit, so they had to…
A very, very special group of dear friends came to carry the check from the LWML proceeds of $100,000.00 to be used for help provide a MIRACLE GIFT of $10,000.00 for 10 of our lady Missionaries in Asia. Some of these dear folks had to come all the way from Clarinda, Iowa and Schleswig, Iowa. Perhaps, some of you recognize…
It was truly one of those VERY, VERY, VERY BLESSED AND SPECIAL SUNDAYS! Yes, on March 15th, 2020, Old Missionary Gary traveled to speak at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Sac City, Iowa! What a privilege to work with Missionary Pastor Don Pobanz and his flock of missionaries that God has given to him! After speaking in over 1700…
What an absolute JOY and blessing to welcome a truly NOT NORMAL family from Fremont, Nebraska to the Lord’s Mission Central on Thursday afternoon on March 12th, 2020! It truly was a very, very special day for old Missionary Gary!…WHAT A BLESSING TO HAVE THE ENCOURAGEMENT FROM GOD’S SPECIAL PEOPLE! Clayton and Amy Glause felt that it was important for…
The next time you drive through Carroll, Iowa, you might keep in mind that there are three very, very, very NOT NORMAL people that live in that community! Yes, on Saturday the 29th of February these three NOT NORMAL people came to visit the world famous Mission Central. They are members of St. Paul Lutheran Church there in Carroll, Iowa. …
What a blessing to welcome the members of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Elkhorn, Nebraska, where Missionary Gary had the honor and privilege of speaking this past year, with their 2 wonderful pastors that are NOT NORMAL! This group was headed up by the Honorable Missionaries Allan and Janet Jo Macklem! This group was such a blessing and…
What a blessing to have the privilege of being with Wayne and Ardith Loseke on their farm north of Columbus, Nebraska. It was one of those very, very special days that one will never forget. On February 25th old Missionary Gary had the privilege of being with Wayne and Ardith on their farm, and it made Gary feel like he…
What a blessing to welcome two very special friends, Jay Faber from LeMars, Iowa and Joan Schreier from Sioux Center, Iowa who came for a special visit at Mission Central. Both of these folks are members at Grace Lutheran Church at LeMars, Iowa and they wanted to come for a special visit and tour of this MIRACLE PLACE! It was…
It was truly a special day to have the Honorable Missionary Pastor Phil Ritter, Senior Pastor at the congregation at Redeemer Lutheran Church at Corning, Iowa come to visit Mission Central. Our dear friend, Pastor Ritter, came and brought along Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan Ritter his son and daughter-in-law, who were just married on Saturday the 15th of February. It…
On Wednesday the 5th day of February 2020, the young people and adults came to visit Mission Central and have a tour of the entire facility. These were the young students and adults from Immanuel Lutheran Church at Schleswig, Iowa. It was a very special time for all of these dear missionaries. The group had the full tour, and so…
What a JOY and blessing to welcome two very, very NOT NORMAL people from Jansen, Nebraska! Yes, Daryl and Kathleen Holle drove out to Mission Central from their farm home near Jansen, Nebraska to spend the afternoon at this MIRACLE PLACE. They were able to come and see the offices, the Ministry Center, the Lord’s Creation Theater and the…
The work of the Lord’s Mission Central MUST continue after the founders, Gary and Maxine Thies, are in their real home in heaven! This CAN be accomplished by the establishment of the Gary and Maxine Thies Mission Foundation. This special Foundation will provide the overhead and administrative costs for many years in the future, in order that more and more…
It was one of those very, very special days, when the special group of NOT NORMAL men arrived at Mission Central from the famous St. John Lutheran Church located 10 miles north of Columbus, Nebraska on February 3rd, 2020! This special group arrived at 3:00PM on a Monday afternoon, and spent several hours seeing what the Lord can do…
What a blessing to welcome the Honorable Missionary Pastor Brad Birtell of Columbus, Nebraska to the World Famous Mission Central! Pastor Birtell is the Senior Pastor of St. John Lutheran Church a rural congregation located 10 miles north of Columbus, Nebraska. This congregation is truly NOT NORMAL! This congregation is truly “exploding” for the Lord Jesus. Pastor Birtell came for…
Yes, ONE person in a family can truly make a difference. That is, of course, if you are NOT NORMAL! Some time ago, old Missionary Gary received a call from Missionary Rachel Desy from Denison, Iowa. She stated that she wanted to bring “her family” over to the Lord’s Mission Central for a “family tour”. On Friday evening January 31st,…
What a blessing to welcome two very NOT NORMAL people to Mission Central! These dear friends came all the way from Cumming, Georgia, where Vicar Jay Dass serves the Lord Jesus along with his dear wife Julie. They wanted to visit the World Famous Mission Central. They came on Thursday evening the 30th of January and then stayed until Friday…
Rev. James Krikava, our Eurasia Area Executive Regional Director made a special trip to come and see the world famous Lord’s Mission Central. Yes, for two days we had the privilege and honor to welcome Rev. Krikava all the way from the Czech Republic to stay with us and be part of our training a number of Seminary Students from…
January 10th and 11th of 2020, were special days for us here at the Lord’s Mission Central! Rev. Dr. Dale Meyer brought seminary students and friends AND FAMILY to spend two days of intensive missionary training! This was the ninth straight year that students and instructors from St. Louis came to visit and have two days of training at Mission…
What a JOY and BLESSING to welcome the world famous Rev. John Bombaro Family to Mission Central on January 7th, 2020! What a wonderful way to start the new year of 2020 with the arrival of one of the finest missionary families old Missionary Gary had ever interviewed! This family is indeed NOT NORMAL, and especially the children! Each of…
Who in the world would come from Owatonna, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri, and Madrid Spain on the 30th of December? It was cold and icy, and many normal people would sure not travel to the hills of Western Iowa in these conditions. But, here we go again, and God calls his NOT NORMAL people to HIS Mission Central at “just…
AMAZING WAGONER FAMILY CHRISTMAS! Each year at Christmas Time, a very, very, very NOT NORMAL family gathers in Southern Iowa so that all of the children of the Bruce and Jean Wagoner Family can once again be together! But, what is so NOT NORMAL about this family? Well, first of all each member of the family truly has Jesus living…
Special NOT NORMAL friendships go back for such a long, long way! The first time we met Missionary Bill Revell was about 35 years ago. This friendship has continued over all of these years! December 18th, 2019 was truly a very, very, very special day! For the very first time Bill Revell and his dear wife Alice came for…
On December 10th, 2019, we celebrated the arrival of our new missionary going to the Czech Republic, Missionary Chelsea Irwin from Lincoln, Nebraska. Chelsea brought her special friend Hayden Rensner with her as they traveled from Seward, Nebraska, where Hayden is a student. She has already made application to the LCMS to become a missionary, and Chelsea brought her to…
All people that we deal with at Mission Central fully and completely understand that here at this MIRACLE PLACE we only send out ONE MAILING A YEAR! That mailing goes out about Thanksgiving time, in order to especially thank the dear friends that are NOT NORMAL who have helped with our missionaries support and projects during the past year. So…
A GROUP OF 38 NOT NORMAL PEOPLE SEND THE THANKSGIVING MAILING! All people that we deal with at Mission Central fully and completely understand that here at this MIRACLE PLACE we only send out ONE MAILING A YEAR! That mailing goes out about Thanksgiving time, in order to especially thank the dear friends that are NOT NORMAL who have helped…
AMAZING NOT NORMAL MAN COMES FROM BATTLE CREEK, NE. It was about 11 years ago, when Old Missionary Gary had the honor and privilege of meeting the Honorable Missionary Ron Buckendahl, when he spoke at St. John Lutheran Church at Battle Creek, Nebraska. As soon as Missionary Gary met Ron, he could tell IMMEDIATELY THAT HE WAS "NOT NORMAL". …
Wow, what a special blessing to have the World Famous Sharp Family from Uruguay South America come to visit Mission Central! These are TRULY NOT NORMAL MISSIONARIES! Why? Because who would travel for about 24 hours and then get off the plane in Omaha and then come directly to the World Famous Mission Central? Why wouldn’t they go home…
A number of years ago we had the privilege of meetings some very, very special NOT NORMAL people from Holstein, Iowa. Kevin and Lana Conover have been such an encouragement and blessing to the work at the Lord’s Mission Central. Kevin and Lana are members of Faith Lutheran Church at Holstein, Iowa. They came to visit Mission Central on the…
It was about 11 years ago, when Old Missionary Gary had the honor and privilege of meeting the Honorable Missionary Ron Buckendahl, when he spoke at St. John Lutheran Church at Battle Creek, Nebraska. As soon as Missionary Gary met Ron, he could tell IMMEDIATELY THAT HE WAS “NOT NORMAL”. He was in the world but not of the world. …
What a blessing to welcome TWO of the leading missionaries in the entire Nebraska District to Mission Central on the 18th of November. Paul Pettit, our Executive Financial Director and the Executive Mission Director Rev. Rich Boring of the Nebraska District both came to spend an afternoon here at the World Famous Mission Central!! It was such an encouragement…
Here at Mission Central, we truly believe that God provides at “just the right time”…and that’s in ALL aspects of life. Recently Old Missionary Gary traveled to Owatonna, Minnesota to speak at the church there, and upon looking at his shoes he noticed that they were getting worn from all the travels over the years. The Lord tells us in…
Here we go again! Another story of NOT NORMAL people that the Lord sends to visit HIS Mission Central! Yes, at about Mid-Night on the 14th of November this NOT NORMAL couple drove all the way from St. Louis and arrived about mid-night! Who would do that type of driving? Yes, the Lord sent Phillip and Cheryl Magness to…
When a school comes for a Mission Trip to Mission Central…what really does take place? Well the students from Clarinda Lutheran School came on November 8th, 2019 and each one of the students found out what does take place here at this MIRACLE PLACE! Each student found out that if you don’t believe in Genesis 1:1, “you don’t believe…
What kind of a family would come to the World Famous Mission Central on Veterans Day. It’s a day off..and the children don’t have school, and it would be a day of rest and just “taking it easy”. Who would drive from the Omaha area to bring their family together at a place in the middle of nowhere with an…
When speaking at Springfield, Illinois, Missionary Rev. Brent Smith had no idea that a very, very, very NOT NORMAL lady by the name of Susan Fuchs Holt was listening very intently! The Lord was calling Sue to come and visit HIS MISSION CENTRAL! That’s exactly what happened on November 2nd, 2019!! Sue made a special trip out of her way…
It was one of those days that we will long, long, long remember here at the Lord’s Mission Central! God has special people that HE sends to this MIRACLE PLACE. Monday the 28th of October was NO EXCEPTION! Yes, who but only NOT NORMAL people would drive all the way from Gorham, Illinois to an old set of farm buildings…
On October 23rd, 2019, our special friends, Bruce and Lenora Sletten from Missouri arrived at the World Famous Mission Central. They came to be part of a special tour group to see just what is happening here at Mission Central. What a JOY and blessing to welcome these long, long time friends and co-workers. Now living in Monett, Missouri this…
It was Wednesday the 23rd of October when a large group of visitors came from Calvary Lutheran Church in Sioux City and also First Lutheran Church from Kingsley, Iowa came to with their youth and adults for a special “evening tour”. What a blessing to welcome these missionaries. This group was led by Pastor James Travis and Pastor Jason Letsche….
ST. MATTHEW AT MAPLETON VISITS MISSION CENTRAL! October 20th, 2019 was truly a special Sunday. The congregation at St. Matthew Lutheran Church at Mapleton, Iowa just 2 miles West of Mission Central…came to visit and have their “Mission Festival” here at the Lord’s MISSION CENTRAL! There was a very nice group of NOT NORMAL people that came for this special…
GRACE LUTHERAN OF LEMARS, IOWA ARRIVES! What a blessing to welcome a wonderful, wonderful group of truly NOT NORMAL people from Grace Lutheran Church in LeMars, Iowa on October 20th, 2019 at 2:30PM for a Sunday afternoon tour of the Lord’s Mission Central. One must truly understand that only NOT NORMAL people would come out on a Sunday Afternoon to…
What a blessing to welcome the 7th grade confirmation class from Ida Grove, Iowa at St. Paul Lutheran Church to Mission Central on October 16th, 2019! This group was led by Rev. Neil Wehmas and two other adults. The group was able to spend time in the Creation Theater, the Barn Museum and each one of the group was officially…
