Report of Conferences

Transcription

1 Central Conference Pastors and other leaders within the central conference continue to actively engage with one another through regularly scheduled events. Likewise, special events are well attended by spouses, friends, and members of our congregations. About each month, we gather at a different church within the conference on the second Wednesday. We worship together, then have a meeting, and share a meal. Our meetings often consist of touching base with each other on both personal matters, as well as the lives of our congregations. Occasionally a speaker or representative joins us to inform us about the work they are doing in our area. We continue to have a lively text study each Tuesday at Immanuel in Dixon. Preachers from a few other denominations join us as well. Together, we create a safe environment in which various perspectives can be shared in a respectful way. In February, the Central Conference hosted our first event for the 500th anniversary of the reformation. A friendly trivia competition was held at Immanuel, Dixon, and all the proceeds were designated for LSSI. We have another event scheduled October 15 at St. Paul in Sterling. Dr. Deifelt of Luther College is scheduled to speak, and Bishop Clements to lead worship. There were a few changes in call. Rev. Joseph O Donnell has been called to St. Paul, Dixon; Rev. Jeff Chubb to St. John s, Sterling (interim); Rev. Dan Stalker (interim) to Trinity, Manlius; Rev. David Schweppe (interim) to Immanuel, Dixon. We give thanks to God for enlivening this conference and our whole Synod. It really has been yet another joyous year together. Rev. Andrew Kayes, Central Conference Dean East Conference The congregations of the East Conference partner together in ministry. Our congregations are in a variety of settings: city, urban, suburban, small-town, and rural, and our rostered ministers and deacons serve in a variety of roles and congregations. We give thanks for our shared partnership and the support we receive from each other. This partnership happens through monthly gatherings for rostered ministers and deacons, Synod events, and shared ministry projects, such as working together to feed the hungry or making quilts for Lutheran World Relief. We commit to praying for each other and the whole church and to nurturing the connections between leaders and congregations for the sake of God s mission and for making church ministry that much more enjoyable. Rev. Benjamin Ingelson, Dean of the East Conference 76

2 North Conference Report of Conferences This past year has been a busy one. Last September the Conference was pleased to host the installation of Jeffrey Clements as Bishop of the Northern Illinois Synod. We appreciate his leadership skills in so many ways, especially with the Synod s Visioning Process. The Bishop and his wife Paulette are a blessing to all of us. We continue to work closely with RALM (Rockford Area Lutheran Ministries) and their efforts with collaborative ministry. Events/Programs have included Park Players, Laugh-In Trivia Night, Golf Tournament, and new this Spring, a children s reading program called Books on the Bus. The Conference offers our special thanks to the Bishop, Synod Council, Assistants to the Bishop, and administrative staff support for their constant support and wise counsel. Reformation events are planned throughout the year. A special thanks to Pastor Scott Benolkin, Shepherd of the Valley, Rockford for chairing the 500 th Reformation Anniversary Committee. Blessings, Rev. Nord Swanstrom, North Conference Dean Northeast Conference The rostered ministers of the Northeast Conference, from campus ministry and congregations in DeKalb & McHenry counties, gather for fellowship, worship, and conversation on the third Tuesday of the month. During the past year, we have shared in conversation and welcomed guest presenters to our meetings around the following topics: news from Churchwide Assembly, a panel discussion on embracing diversity, clergy taxes, best practices in preaching, the Tanzania Nursing Project, and the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants. In May, we gathered for a spring conference assembly at Living Waters, Crystal Lake where we shared dinner and conversation as a part of the synod-wide discernment and vision process. We are glad to welcome leaders and celebrate new calls in our conference, Pastor Elizabeth Martin called to Trinity, Harvard; Intern Preston Fields, serving at First, DeKalb; and Pastor Tom Rogers called to Shepherd of the Hills, McHenry. We give thanks for the faithful service of the newly retired, Pastor John Cunningham and Pastor Bob Hansen. We pray for those serving in interim ministries: Pastor Joe Chu and Marianne Barstow at St. Barnabas, Cary; Pastor Rebecca Gordon serving in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod; Pastor Debbie Kelly at Redeemer, Woodstock; and Pastor Len Hoffman at Salem, Sycamore. Thanks be to God for the gift of colleagues and communities of faith as we are called forward together in Christ. Pastor Amanda Bergstrom, Dean, Northeast Conference 77

3 Northwest Conference This past year, the Northwest Conference was pleased to welcome a number of new faces into our midst. Serving as the intern at St. Paul s Lutheran Church in Warren, is Bryan Odeen, who has brought his gift of music and an emphasis on the Small Catechism to his congregation. John Emery has begun his pursuit of ordination in the ELCA as he serves at First Lutheran Church in Mount Carroll. We have also been blessed as several of our pastoral vacancies have been filled by able and Spirit-led pastors. Pastor Mark Oehlert was installed at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church on June 25, Not at all an unfamiliar presence in our conference, Pastor Bruce Burbank was ordained and was installed to serve side by side with his spouse Pastor Lisa Burbank (installed in 2015) at the Scenic Hills Lutheran Parish on July 9, Recent seminary graduate Pastor Miho Yasukawa was ordained and was installed at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Lena. And finally, we look forward to welcoming Pastor Wendy Popp as she will be installed at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lanark. This has been a joyous year as we have gathered to celebrate the installation of our new synodical bishop, Bishop Jeffrey Clements. The blessing of his leadership, love and friendship fully enveloped our pastors when we met at the bishop s office in February. Our conference s presence has been felt synod-wide in many ways, including Pastor Mark Luepke s diligent work as Secretary of the Synod Council and Pastor Pat Esker s continued expertise as our synod s Parliamentarian. During the course of our year, we met for our annual Discipleship Gathering on November 15 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Freeport to ponder the question, And who is my neighbor? Good Shepherd in Lena hosted a Safeguarding God s Children event on March 18, And Pastor Miho is leading an effort to give focus on Lutherans around the world as this fall we will be recognizing the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. As we embark on a new year proclaiming Christ here and to the ends of the earth, we give great thanksgiving for our Lord s enduring presence in many and various awesome and astounding ways! In Christ, Pastor Tom Ekstrand, Dean, Northwest Conference, NIS South Conference The South Conference stretches from Seneca in the East, Streator in the South to Princeton and Ohio in the West and Mendota in the North. Pastors meet monthly during the school year for fellowship and support. In observance of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, the conference sponsored a Reformation Fair at St. John s in Mendota on April 30. One project we are looking at doing is to generate a list of supply organists in the area. This year, retired pastor Gordon Carls died. Many gathered to celebrate his life and ministry in February at Trinity Lutheran in Ottawa. Gordon was a valued colleague 78

4 and will be missed greatly. We added two new full time pastors to our conference; Zach Baer joined us as he accepted a call to Bethany Lutheran in Leland and Nathan Feig joined us as he accepted a call to Trinity Lutheran in Ottawa. Four congregations are now being served by part time or interim pastors; Bob Kinas serves at First Lutheran in Granville and Emmaus in McNabb; Greg Olson serves at Immanuel, Peru and St. Paul in Tonica. Respectfully Submitted, Rev. Kris Ann Zierke, South Conference Dean Southwest Conference Southwest Conference Synod Assembly Report 2017 We said goodbye to Associate in Ministry Ruth Anderson, who took a call in Akron, Ohio. Pastor David Schweppe left Zion, Kewanee, to serve as the interim at Immanuel, Dixon. Pastor Gwen-Sefrhans-Murphy left Messiah, Aledo, to serve at the part-time interim at Peace, Port Byron. We welcomed Pastor Frank Langholf to Trinity, Galesburg, with a celebratory installation on October 9th, Pastor Kurt Nordby began serving faithfully as our Assistant to the Bishop for our Conference. Pastor Jeff Linman and Pastor Vince Marolla began serving together, each part-time, at First, Monmouth. They were both installed on February 10th, Pastor Robert Franek began serving as dean following the move of Pastor Gwen Sefrhans-Murphy. We kicked off our calendar year with a meeting at Zion, Kewanee in September. We gathered at Frist, Galesburg in October to hear about Pr. Pam Marolla s research on church demographics for her M.Div program at Luther Seminary. We joined with the West Conference to consider who our neighbors are and discuss racism in the church for the Fall Discipleship Gathering on October 11th at Augustana, Andover. A small group of us gathered at Messiah, Aledo, in November, to discuss books we ve been reading and to hear from Erin Clark Benedict of LSSI about a Mentoring program, the needs and programs of LSSI, and the plans for re-locating the Galesburg office. In December, Deaconess Cheryl Erdmann, Deacon, Assistant to the Bishop, shared information about the Reformation 500 resources with us at Messiah, Galva. For our January meeting, Vicar Mack Patrick from St. James, Rock Island, spoke about ministry to transgender people at Trinity, Galesburg. We shifted our February meeting to join with our colleagues in a guided discussion about ministry needs, joys and struggles at Augustana, Andover on February 15th, as part of the guided discussion Bishop Clements is having with rostered and lay leaders about our synod, our needs and our goals for ministry. In March, we continued this guided discussion as a conference visioning together for the future directions of the Northern Illinois Synod and our Conference congregations at our annual Spring Assembly hosted by Calvary, New Windsor. Discussion largely centered around the support needed to work better together in congregation partnerships and new models of ministry. 79

5 At our April meeting at Grace, Knoxville, Russ Senti, Director of Lutheran Outdoor Ministry Center, met with us to share information from Vibrant Faith regarding the camp high and the lasting impacts of summer camp. As part of this year s observation of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we hosted a Hymn Sing and Presentation by Katie Luther (Judy Engebretson) at Trinity, Galesburg. With song and story, we commemorated this 500th anniversary as a conference and collected and offering to support Lutheran Social Services of Illinois and The Arusha Tanzania Medical School Project. Our May meeting was held at First in Monmouth where Pastor Jeff Linman gave us an overview of the DreamLeaders Initiative. The Rev. Gwen Sefrhans-Murphy and The Rev. Robert Franek, SW Conference Dean West Conference The West Conference Rostered Leaders met regularly for worship, mutual support and ministry over the past year. We prayed together, shared ideas together, and sought to support each other in ministry. The conference continued to support the Advent and Lenten men's breakfasts and the Summer Vespers services at Jenny Lind Chapel. This past year Rev. Amy Fallon of Grace Place at Northern Illinois University and David Novak from LSSI made presentations to our group. In October, the West and Southwest Conferences joined together and attended a Discipleship Gathering that was held at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover. This past year ILLOWA closed. It was decided at the ILLOWA annual meeting in 2016 to bring this ministry to an end. We are grateful for all the wonderful worship and learning opportunities that were shared over the years through ILLOWA. We are especially grateful for the partnership of congregations and rostered leaders of the Northern Illinois Synod and the Southeastern Iowa Synod that was created and enjoyed over the years through ILLOWA. In 2016, we bid farewell to Pastor Brad Haugen who had served Peace in Port Byron for three and one-half years. Brad received and accepted a call to Followers of Christ Lutheran Church in Plainfield, Illinois. We also bid farewell to Steve Pressly who had served as a lay minister at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover. We welcomed Mack Patrick, a student from Wartburg Theological Seminary, who is serving as an intern under the direction of Pastor Stacie Fidlar of St. John s Lutheran Church. We welcomed Pastors Matt and Laura Kamprath who received and accepted a call to serve as co-pastors at First Lutheran Church in Geneseo. We also welcomed Pastor Gwen Sefrhans-Murphy who is serving as interim at Peace Lutheran Church in Port Byron. In this conference, we continue to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ, while also seeking ways to share that good news in action as well as in words. Respectfully submitted, Michael Lawyer, West Conference Dean 80