Assembly
Registration for Voting Members of the
2021 ELCA South Carolina Synod Assembly is now closed.
visitors are welcome to join us on our youtube channel or facebook page.
Assembly Offering
Documents
Media and News Page
Guests and Speakers
Schedule
to boldly go…to proclaim
“Lord,…grant to your servants to speak your WORD with all BOLDNESS” – Acts 4:29
About Our Assembly
Saturday, JuNE 26, 2021
2021 is the Thirty-Fourth Assembly of the South Carolina Synod and the 196th meeting of the Lutheran Church in South Carolina.
This year’s Synod Assembly will be Saturday, June 26th. We anticipate our gathering lasting from 9am until 4pm and there will be an orientation on Friday, June 25th for all participants to attend. While we’re using the same system as last year, Lumi, there have been some changes in the system that will make the orientation important for all to attend.
Along with the general business of the synod, we will also get to hear from our keynote speaker Ryan Panzer, author of Grace and Gigabytes, as he dives into being the church in a tech-shaped culture while focusing on worship, faith formation, and stewardship. We will also be worshiping together, participating in Bible Study together, and hearing from ministries from across the synod.
Early Bird pricing ($30) will last until April 19th when regular registration will open ($50). We are eager to gather together, to share, listen, and learn from and with one another. And To Boldly Go…To Proclaim as the SC Synod!
Do you remember exactly where you were when the reality of COVID-19 impacting every aspect of your life sunk in? The day you were sent to work from home, the day you were laid off, the day you made the decision that worship needed to be online? I think we can all remember these distinct moments when this pandemic impacted our lives and turned our every day and the fairly predictable into the utterly inconceivable.
One aspect of all of our lives that has changed, whether briefly or even to this day, is worship and how we gather as community safely, distanced, and yet still lovingly centered in Christ. For so many of our congregations and church leaders we have had to add line items to the budget for zoom accounts, watch YouTube videos on how to create a YouTube channel, and figure out what it means to creatively lead worship while looking into a camera lens rather than the eyes of our church family.
These challenges have also brought with them gifts and have gracefully, and sometimes not so gracefully, forced faith communities into the uncharted territories of the virtual world. These gifts will not go away once we are back to a new normal. These gifts, if we are smart, will continue to evolve and influence how we continue to do ministry and minister to those in our flock and even outside our church walls.
This summer, due to the realities of this season, we will be having our Synod Assembly online. We will gather together online on Saturday, June 26th. We know that for so many, this may seem like one more meeting sitting in front of a screen, but we are excited to create space and opportunities for us to be connected as a Synod all the while staying safely distanced.
Synod Assembly will be Saturday, June 26th. We anticipate our gathering lasting from 9am until 4pm and there will be an orientation on Friday, June 25th for all participants to attend. While we’re using the same system as last year, Lumi, there have been some changes in the system that will make the orientation important for all to attend. If you would like to watch the Assembly proceedings as a guest, there will be a webcast on our South Carolina Synod website.
Along with the general business of the synod, we will also get to hear from our keynote speaker Ryan Panzer, author of Grace and Gigabytes, as he dives into being the church in a tech-shaped culture while focusing on worship, faith formation, and stewardship. We will also be worshiping together, engaging in Bible reflection, and hearing from ministries from across the synod.
FULL assembly stream
about this year’s assembly offering
The offering received at worship at the 2021 South Carolina Synod Assembly is designated to the Lifeline Fund. The Lifeline Fund helps address the economic challenges facing our rostered ministers from student loans taken out to pay for their seminary education. This Fund also provides stewardship education grants to congregations of the South Carolina Synod. 80% of donations received goes toward debt reductions and 20% goes toward stewardship grants for our congregations. Your gift to the Lifeline Fund will make a significant difference providing for healthy rostered ministers, vital congregations and flourishing communities.
Lumi Platform Instructional Video
Tech Specs and Instructions for Voting Members
Tech Specs and Instructions for Voting Members of the South Carolina Synod Assembly
Guests, Leaders, & Speakers
We give thanks to these wonderful guests, leaders, and speakers. More will be listed soon.
Ryan Panzer
Keynote Speaker
Ryan Panzer is...
Ryan Panzer is the author of “Grace and Gigabytes: Being Church in a Tech-Shaped Culture” (Fortress Press, December 2020). Ryan has spent his career in the worlds of church leadership and technology. He received his M.A. from Luther Seminary while simultaneously working for Google. Ryan continues to serve as a learning and leadership development professional in the technology industry, as a researcher on digital technology in the church, and as a lay leader at Good Shepherd Lutheran in Madison. A student of digital media and its influence on our lives, he is focused on coaching Christian leaders to imagine the church’s hybrid a future, which will seamlessly blend offline and online experiences of worship, service, and spiritual practice. He lives in Madison, WI with his wife, Annie, and 1-year-old daughter, Alice. When Ryan isn’t researching, writing, or playing with his toddler, he enjoys attending every Wisconsin Badger football game. Ryan has made the drive from Wisconsin to Hilton Head Island on numerous occasions, where he holds the record for the worst round of golf ever played at Harbor Town Golf Links. He continues to cope with the pandemic by imagining future family outings to the Salty Dog Cafe. For more writings and resources, visit ryanpanzer.com.
Lori Fedyk
ELCA Representative
Lori Fedyk serves as...
Prior to joining the ELCA, Fedyk was employed by Lutheran Life Communities in Arlington Heights, IL where she served as executive vice president of corporate finance and chief financial officer. Lutheran Life Communities, a social ministry organization of the ELCA, owns and operates continuing care retirement communities in Illinois, Indiana, and Florida. Lori’s 30+ year career spans both for profit and non-profit organizations, primarily in accounting and financial roles. The early part of her career included over eight years in the Chicago audit practice of Arthur Andersen serving large, multinational clients. She also helped develop the firm’s outsourced internal audit service practice. She was employed by Ulta Beauty for another eight years, first as the corporate controller and then as the vice president of marketing. She earned a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Illinois State University and became a certified public accountant in 1987.
A lifelong Lutheran, Lori is currently a member of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Libertyville, IL. She has served the ELCA in a variety of ways including six years on the Board of Directors of Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service in Baltimore, MD where she was the secretary, treasurer, chair of the finance and investment committee and a liaison to the audit committee and also as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mission Investment Fund, prior to being elected as treasurer of the ELCA. She has also served on church council and as financial secretary and treasurer of her local congregation. In December 2020 Lori was also elected to the Board of Directors of Lutheran Life Communities where she also serves on the audit committee.
Lori and her husband Mark live in Green Oaks, IL and have four children.
The Rev. Carl D. Taylor
Bible Reflection
The Rev. Jesse Canniff-Kuhn
Bible Reflection
Christina Galardi Hendricks
Bible Reflection
The Rev. Jason Lee
Worship team
The Rev. Rachel Hoffman
Necrologist and Conduct of Elections co-chair
The Rev. Erin Morris
Conduct of Elections Co-Chair
The Rev. Joanna Gragg
reference and counsel chair
The Rev. Martin Martin López-Vega
Worship team and translations
Tex Davis, Jr.
Nominating Chair
orientation slides
What to Expect This Year
This past year has presented many challenges, but we are grateful for the use of technology that can keep us connected and the mission of God moving forward! Traveling through the past year of online gatherings, we have learned a few things that we plan to incorporate in our Assembly including:
- Scheduled Breaks – Zoom fatigue is a real thing and we will be sure to allow time so you can stretch, refill your glass and step away from your device.
- Practice Makes Almost Perfect – We know technology does not always cooperate, please plan to attend the pre-assembly orientation where you can practice voting, using the Lumi platform, and logging in on your devices. We also will have a help desk of volunteers available throughout the assembly for anyone having technology issues.
- Business as Usual – Our last Assembly included a Bishop’s election, but this year the agenda will be more typical, including reports from our synodically supported ministries, approval of a synod budget and compensation guidelines, elections to Synod Council and various committees.
- Beaming In – Our Keynote Speaker, Ryan Panzer, author of Grace and Gigabytes, will address how we move toward boldly proclaiming God’s Word through technology and beaming us into a new era where faith is nourished in physical and cyberspace alike.
- Always centered in Christ – A spirit-filled worship service as well as three Bible reflections will be part of our time together.
The deadline for memorials and resolutions is June 10, 2021 at Noon.
Saturday, June 26, 2021
9:00 a.m.
Session One
(As a courtesy, please be sure to mute your microphones unless called on.)
This session's schedule is...
Order for Opening of Assembly and Worship
Organization of Assembly
Report of Reference & Counsel
Report of Synod Council (Part 1)
Report of the Nominating Committee
Introduction of New Leaders to the South Carolina Synod
Report of our Churchwide Expression
Report of Reference & Counsel
10:30 a.m.
Break
10:40 a.m.
Session Two
(As a courtesy, please be sure to mute your microphones unless called on.)
This session's schedule is...
Prayer for Elections
General Elections First Ballot
Report of Synod Council part two
Keynote part one
Reflection
Report of Synod Council part three
Report of Registration
Prayer for Elections
General Elections Second Ballot
12:00 p.m.
Lunch
12:30 p.m.
Session Three
(As a courtesy, please be sure to mute your microphones unless called on.)
This session's schedule is...
Bishop’s Report
Keynote part two
Report of Reference and Counsel
Ministry Spotlight
1:45 p.m.
Break
1:55 p.m.
Session Four
(As a courtesy, please be sure to mute your microphones unless called on.)
This session's schedule is...
Reflection
Report of Registration
Prayer for Elections
General Elections third ballot
Report of Synod Council part four
2:45 p.m.
Break
2:55 p.m.
Session Five
(As a courtesy, please be sure to mute your microphones unless called on.)
This session's schedule is...
Unfinished Business
Report of Reference and Counsel
Installation of Newly Elected Members of the Synod Council
Closing Worship
Mission Partners
Get In Touch
This is Christ’s Church. There is a place for you here.
We are the church that shares a living, daring confidence in God’s grace. Liberated by our faith, we embrace you as a whole person–questions, complexities and all. Join us as we do God’s work in Christ’s name for the life of the world.
Contact Information
ELCA South Carolina Synod
1003 Richland Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Telephone 803-765-0590
Fax 803-252-5558
Looking for Something?
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James R. Crumley, Jr., Archives (ELCA Archives)
Lutheran Homes of South Carolina
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
NovusWay (Lutheridge+Lutherock+Luther Springs+Lutheranch)
South Carolina Lutheran Church Youth
South Carolina Lutheran Men in Mission