Staff:
Rev. Dr. John Reinke, DIT Deaconess Rebecca Catchpole., DIT Deaconess Dawn Werth, DIT Deaconess Loreena Stennes, DIT Deaconess Patricia Hycnar, Rev. William "Bud" Palmer
Our Story:
World Lutheran Deaf Outreach (WLDO) was founded to train people to share the Gospel with deaf people and their families. Rev. William “Bud” Palmer and Rev. Dr. John Reinke began working in the Southern Wisconsin/Northern Illinois stateline area - but the vision is to train people for Deaf Outreach across the U.S. and around the world. The training materials are specifically designed by and for deaf people to share God’s Word and His love in a visual way.
In 2016 Pastor Reinke and Dacia sold their home and traveled full time on the road for more than 4 years. Then God led them to stop in the St Charles, Mo area. Why, because of COVID! God used the persecution of the early church as a way of spreading the Gospel. Similarly, the COVID-19 restrictions stifled traditional outreach methods of traveling to many places in the U.S. to conduct on-site conferences and training. However, training and outreach in the US and overseas actually expanded during the Covid period using the Internet and other technology advances.
With advice from friends and a lawyer, we also made the step to set up Mark732. Why? This was to formalize and update the Deaf Outreach curriculum and to protect the intellectual property rights. This so was we can make it available at no or low cost – worldwide.
All the WLDO, ABCD, and BLAST curriculum is being updated and adapted for on-line streaming via the internet. This allows the material to be used during group forums (Concordia University, Lutheran Highschool, Immersion events) or by individuals anywhere in the US, Africa or other world-wide locations. These fully online materials were field tested on the recent trip to Ghana, Africa June 2023.
Many things have happened over the last three years! God has opened doors for people to help us establish a new base of operations in the St. Charles areas. One sad thing in the summer of 2022 was the death of our longtime treasurer. The board decided with the help we were receiving, that God was leading us to formally move the mailing address for WLDO from Janesville, WI to St Charles, Mo. Rev. Dr. Reinke serves as a resident Deaf Outreach Missionary, mentoring our students (Nationally and Internationally), working with our with our many teams, and coordinating volunteers. Rev. Palmer, Deaconess Catchpole, and many others work together to support Deaf Outreach.
Our Story:
World Lutheran Deaf Outreach (WLDO) was founded to train people to share the Gospel with deaf people and their families. Rev. William “Bud” Palmer and Rev. Dr. John Reinke began working in the Southern Wisconsin/Northern Illinois stateline area - but the vision is to train people for Deaf Outreach across the U.S. and around the world. The training materials are specifically designed by and for deaf people to share God’s Word and His love in a visual way.
In 2016 Pastor Reinke and Dacia sold their home and traveled full time on the road for more than 4 years. Then God led them to stop in the St Charles, Mo area. Why, because of COVID! God used the persecution of the early church as a way of spreading the Gospel. Similarly, the COVID-19 restrictions stifled traditional outreach methods of traveling to many places in the U.S. to conduct on-site conferences and training. However, training and outreach in the US and overseas actually expanded during the Covid period using the Internet and other technology advances.
With advice from friends and a lawyer, we also made the step to set up Mark732. Why? This was to formalize and update the Deaf Outreach curriculum and to protect the intellectual property rights. This so was we can make it available at no or low cost – worldwide.
All the WLDO, ABCD, and BLAST curriculum is being updated and adapted for on-line streaming via the internet. This allows the material to be used during group forums (Concordia University, Lutheran Highschool, Immersion events) or by individuals anywhere in the US, Africa or other world-wide locations. These fully online materials were field tested on the recent trip to Ghana, Africa June 2023.
Many things have happened over the last three years! God has opened doors for people to help us establish a new base of operations in the St. Charles areas. One sad thing in the summer of 2022 was the death of our longtime treasurer. The board decided with the help we were receiving, that God was leading us to formally move the mailing address for WLDO from Janesville, WI to St Charles, Mo. Rev. Dr. Reinke serves as a resident Deaf Outreach Missionary, mentoring our students (Nationally and Internationally), working with our with our many teams, and coordinating volunteers. Rev. Palmer, Deaconess Catchpole, and many others work together to support Deaf Outreach.