E-Spirit
May 8, 2018
Bold - Passionate - Faithful
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Features:
- Synod Staff Announcement
- Testimony of a Mission Start
- Assembly Workshop Update
Events Coming up:
- FBSynod Group to Travel to Guyana and Suriname
- diakonia Graduation
- Houston, We Have a Gathering
For Your Information:
- Spanish Translation of Draft Social Statement on Women and Justice Now Available
- Synod Assembly Service Project
- ELCA Draft Policy Statement: Inter-Religious Commitment
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Online registration for Synod Assembly has closed. Anyone still wishing to register for Assembly will need to register on site. Registration opens at 8:00 on Friday, June 1. Please make sure to secure your hotel room on your own. While Embassy Suites has no more available rooms, there are hotels in the area with available rooms.
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Click the calendar above for more information about these events
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May 10 -
Caloosa Conference Spring Gathering
May 19 -
Caloosa Conference Golf Outing
May 19 -
Tampa Conference Spring Gathering
May 19 -
Pinelands Conference Spring Gathering
May 27 -
Relay for Life Benefit Music Festival, All Saints, Port Orange
May 30-June 1 -
Caribbean Consultation
June 1-3 - Synod Assembly
June 18-21 -
Interim Ministry Network event (St. Louis, MO)
June 27-July 1 -
ELCA Youth Gathering (Houston)
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Conference Spring Gatherings
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Pinelands Conference
--May 19 (location: St. Matthew, Ocala)
Heart of Florida Conference
--May 5 (People of Faith, Orlando)
Corrected location
Tampa Conference
--May 19 (St. Paul, Tampa)
Caloosa Conference
--May 10
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Pastor El-Yateem and Pastor Carlson will be joining Connie Schmucker and Michele Hilton to form the full slate of Assistants to the Bishop for the Florida-Bahamas Synod.
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Pr. Khader El-Yateem will be the A2B/DEM (South Region)
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Pr. Rob Carlson will be the A2B/DEM (North Region)
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We give thanks to God that we were able to send out an announcement this past week regarding the addition of Pr. Khader El-Yateem and Pr. Rob Carlson to our synod staff. If you did not receive this announcement, it is available
HERE
. This announcement included a bulletin insert that had a mistake in it. A corrected bulletin insert with this announcement is available
HERE
.
Pr. El-Yateem and Pr. Carlson will be relocating to Florida near the end of the month, and will be present at Synod Assembly, where they will be installed during opening worship.
Please continue to keep these pastors and the entire Office of the Bishop in your prayers as we welcome new staff and continue in our planning and visioning for the future.
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Testimony from a Mission Start Community
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A testimony from Izzy Bango-Sanchez, mission developer in Haines City, about a joint event between Lamb of God and its Spanish Mission start community, Mision Hispana Luterana Cordero de Dios
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For the first time, the English Church and its New Spanish Mission embraced and together produced their very first “Bilingual Easter Cantata.” EASTER Sunday 2018 @ 10:30 Service.The cast of almost 35 members, (approximately half from each congregation), Practiced diligently for six weeks consecutively 3 to 4 hours each practice. Extra chairs had to be brought in the sanctuary to be able to seat all.
It was truly a labor of love for Our Lord and demonstration of how love has no boundaries and knows no difference in languages. This experience has just brought both of our congregations together and has been a truly unforgettable experience.
We would like to extend our appreciation to our Florida Bahamas Synod and ELCA CHURCHWIDE for the opportunity, for your support and your guidance of our Spanish Mission since inception.
To God be the Glory.
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Assembly Workshop Updates
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A
reminder that Saturday workshops are open to ALL. You may attend Saturday only (Keynote address from Rev. Dr. David Lose, workshops, networking time, fellowship fun in the evening) for $25.
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As we approach Assembly, a few workshops have changed. Please make sure you are consulting Guidebook for the most up-to-date information once you get to Assembly. You may adjust which workshops you choose to attend.
B.2 Providing Care for LGBTQIA+ Youth
This workshop has been cancelled. Instead, the following workshop will be offered:
B.2 Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT)
Presenter: Rev. Jim Page, Apostles, Brandon
Description: The Congregational Assessment Tool is a survey/assessment tool that gives congregational leadership vital feedback. The feedback can be helpful to councils and congregational leadership teams in discernment, visioning, and ministry planning. Pr. Jim Page has guided congregations through renewal and revitalization using this tool. His congregation, Apostles Lutheran Church, completed the survey in November and received the results in January. The CAT resource tool was developed by Holy Cow! Consulting and has been used in over 3,000 congregations across a spectrum of denominations. Come hear about his experience, learn about this resource, and consider how it might support ministry in your context.
Leadership, Vitality
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FBSynod Group to Travel to Guyana and Suriname
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Pastor Kit Robison, chair of the Guyana-Suriname Mission Team will be leading a small group to Guyana and Suriname from May 5 – 12, 2018. The group – including Chris Klafs, Marcee Wilkes, and PJ May - will be attending the Annual Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana (ELCG) as they observe the 275th Anniversary of the Lutheran Church in Guyana. They will then spend time with the other part of a trilateral Companion Church relationship and travel to Suriname to visit congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Suriname(ELKS).
Please keep this group in your prayers during this trip:
Draw your church together, O God, into one great company of disciples, together following our teacher Jesus Christ into every walk of life, together serving in Christ's mission to the world, and together witnessing to your love wherever you will send us; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
(ELW)
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diakonia Graduation Eucharist
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The Diakonia Steering Committee of the Florida-Bahamas Synod, ELCA, cordially invites you to the Graduation Eucharist for the Graduating Class of 2018. Bishop Pedro M. Suarez will preside.
Saturday, the ninth day of June, two thousand eighteen, at twelve thirty in the afternoon.
Hope Lutheran Church 250 Avenida Los Angelos The Villages, FL, 32162
Reception immediately following.
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Houston, We Have a Gathering!
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Over 475 youth and adults will be traveling to Houston at the end of June for the 2018 Youth Gathering. As we prepare to support these youth and adults, consider lifting up the Youth Gathering and all involved in your prayers over the next month. Consider praying for:
- Planning and logistics, for safety and smooth operations throughout the whole event;
- for youth who are attending, that their eyes and hearts would be open to the Holy Spirit and to each other;
- for adults who are traveling with youth, that they would have patience and energy, and that they would engage in relationship with youth in ways that are transformational
- for volunteers and leaders working the Gathering, that they would be touched and encouraged by the event;
- for all the congregations sending youth, either directly or indirectly (through prayer and financial support), that they would be eager to hear the stories from those who attend, and that local ministry would be strengthened by the witness of the Youth Gathering.
The ELW offers this prayer for young people:
Lord God of our ancestors, we thank you for what you have done and will continue to do with our daughters and sons. Walk with them in life, and keep the evil one from obstructing their path. You see all; you know where the water is deep. Keep them from danger. Order their steps and guide their feet while they run the race of faith. may the good work that you have begun in them be brought to completion at the day of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
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Spanish Translation now Available
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The response period for this document is through September 30, 2018. Please circulate both the English and Spanish documents throughout your community and encourage dialogue and feedback.
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Synod Assembly Service Project
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There is still time to collect items for this year's Assembly Service Project benefiting Harbor House, Central Florida. Learn more about the service project
HERE
.
A truck will be available to collect items between 11:00-2:00 pm on Friday, and from 8:00-10:00 am on Saturday. There will also be an opportunity to donate cash.
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ELCA Draft Policy Statement: Inter-Religious Commitment
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The ELCA is actively inviting response and feedback to this statement through June 30.
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You are invited to participate in responding to the Draft ELCA policy statement, “
A Declaration of Our Inter-Religious Commitment
.” The six-month comment period on the Draft is open from Friday, January 12, 2018 through Saturday, June 30, 2018.
To participate, please download the draft document
here
, and respond to the online survey
here
. You are welcome to participate as individuals or groups.
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May 8-22, 2018
- Tampa Office
- Coral Gables (St. James)
- Orange Park (Advent)
- Austin, TX (LSP of the Southwest Graduation)
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Florida-Bahamas Synod 813-876-7660
info@fbsynod.org
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