St. James Legacy, Part II
Vision to Action
2021 was an incredible year. Starting with the storming of the US Capitol, the inauguration of the first Black, Indian, and woman Vice President of the United States; power goes out and Texas freezes; the first NFT sells for millions; Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos race to space; NASA’s rover lands on Mars; there’s a deadly condominium collapse in Miami; over 6 million people die world-wide due to COVID19; and the COVID vaccines become widely available at the same time. In hindsight, it was a bittersweet year. As the world recovered from the global pandemic, an old Lutheran congregation’s property was sold in the beautiful town of Coral Gables…St. James Lutheran Church.
In November of 2021, the St. James property sold for $9.5 million dollars. In addition to the sale of the property, the non-profit school that worked with children with Autism, which had been on the property for years, would be getting a brand-new facility for free to continue their vital work. Making sure the school was cared for was an important goal the Synod Council wanted to have happen. But, once the transaction was done, the Council had another big job…what to do with the money.
The first thing they did was send a tithe, 10%, of the money to the national church. Forty-five percent of the tithe was given as unrestricted funds, and the other 45% was given in equal amounts to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Lutheran Disaster Response, Congregational Vitality, and the Lutheran Multi-Cultural endeavors. This 45% was given in memory of Bill Horne. A passionate servant of God, Bill lived out his Lutheran faith both locally and at the national ELCA level by serving others. A story about the generosity of the Florida-Bahamas Synod should appear in the May 2022 edition of Living Lutheran magazine.
Historically it is the responsibility of elected members of the Synod Council to decide how monies are allocated and used, but with the size of the St. James proceeds, the council decided they needed to listen to as many people as possible in deciding how to utilize this unprecedented gift.
At this year’s Synod Assembly, the process of how we get from where we are today (a large financial gift in the bank) to where we want to be (putting that gift to work to accomplish the goals and vision of our synod) will be presented.
In addition, there will be three opportunities for folks to speak into the process and help identify priorities. A “Vision to Action” workshop will be available at each workshop session. These workshops are where ideas will be presented and discussed.
If asked “Why is it important to go Synod Assembly?” One answer is so you can speak into how the legacy of St. James can be used to meet the challenges and the needs of our congregations, communities, and concerns in a post-COVID world.
| 
