The Lutheran Society for Missiology 2026 Banquet
May 4, 2026
Concordia Seminary St. Louis, Koburg Hall
6:00 p.m.
Banquet Registration Form
Event Details
New Life Through New Leaders
A vision for replanting in a changing culture
Dawit Bokre and Aaron Putnam, present "New Life Through New Leaders: a vision for replanting in a changing culture." As churches navigate rapid cultural change, replanting requires more than survival strategies. Pastors Dawit Bokre and Aaron Putnam (serving in the CNH district, LINC Bay Area, and Good Shepherd Lutheran, Hayward, CA ) explore how empowering emerging local leaders can transform congregations from decline to mission.
About the Speakers
The Rev. Aaron Putnam serves as the San Francisco Bay Area Director of LINC Ministries International, a strategic urban network that empowers local missionary leaders and partners with them for kingdom impact. For more than a decade, he has walked alongside a diverse group of grassroots, Gospel-driven leaders who bring the hope and help of Jesus to every corner of their cities.
Prior to joining LINC, Aaron served for five years as a volunteer missionary in Guatemala, sharing the love of Christ and equipping local leaders for ministry — a calling that continues to shape his work today. In 2007, he was called to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Hayward, California, where he planted a Spanish- speaking congregation and helped cultivate multiple cross-cultural ministries. Over the next ten years, he focused on raising up leaders and opening doors for new ethnic ministries to take root, while also guiding the English-speaking congregation through a replanting process toward becoming a thriving multiethnic church.
Outside of ministry, Aaron enjoys traveling, hiking, golfing, and spending time with his wife, Sofia, and their four sons.
The Rev. Aaron Putnam serves as the San Francisco Bay Area Director of LINC Ministries International, a strategic urban network that empowers local missionary leaders and partners with them for kingdom impact. For more than a decade, he has walked alongside a diverse group of grassroots, Gospel-driven leaders who bring the hope and help of Jesus to every corner of their cities.
Prior to joining LINC, Aaron served for five years as a volunteer missionary in Guatemala, sharing the love of Christ and equipping local leaders for ministry — a calling that continues to shape his work today. In 2007, he was called to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Hayward, California, where he planted a Spanish- speaking congregation and helped cultivate multiple cross-cultural ministries. Over the next ten years, he focused on raising up leaders and opening doors for new ethnic ministries to take root, while also guiding the English-speaking congregation through a replanting process toward becoming a thriving multiethnic church.
Outside of ministry, Aaron enjoys traveling, hiking, golfing, and spending time with his wife, Sofia, and their four sons.
The Rev. Dawit (David) Bokre currently serves as Senior Pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Hayward, CA—a unique multiethnic congregation that worships in both English and Tigrinya (Dawit's native language)—and as Director of Mission for LINC Bay Area. Born and raised in Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea, Dawit and his family were faithful members of the Eritrean Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 2003, at the age of 13, Dawit came to the United States, spending his first five years in America living in Boston and Houston.
In 2008, at the age of 19, Dawit was called by a small group of Eritrean Lutherans in the Bay Area to serve as a bi-vocational church worker, helping to plant an Eritrean Lutheran Church. The church plant began meeting in homes and once a month at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Hayward, CA. As the new congregation grew in fellowship and ministry, it decided to join Good Shepherd Hayward, an LCMS congregation, while continuing to worship in Tigrinya.
During his church planting years, Dawit worked various jobs—from cashier at Jack in the Box to regional operations manager in corporate America. Alongside full-time work and church planting, Dawit pursued theological training at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO, through a distance program known as E.I.I.T. Throughout this season, he was mentored, developed, and coached by Pastor Aaron Putnam of LINC Bay Area.
In 2015, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church asked Dawit to help replant and revitalize the English ministry, leading the congregation to reach the highly diverse Hayward community by developing young leaders who could bridge the gap between church and community. Today, Good Shepherd worships with people from more than 15 countries and ethnicities, witnesses conversions and baptisms regularly, and has raised several young leaders who have joined the staff in various ministry capacities. The congregation currently has a vicar who was raised in the church and is completing theological training through Concordia Seminary's distance program. This replanted congregation has also helped start a charter school and afterschool program on its campus and assisted another LCMS church by taking over its property as it closed its ministry, repurposing it for a new ministry start.
Dawit resides in Hayward, CA, with his wife of 12 years, Saron. Apart from ministry, he enjoys meeting new people, socializing at coffee shops, cooking, reading, and watching soccer and basketball.
