NIS News
Everyone is encouraged to attend a special
Ordination Service on Sunday, May 1 at 4pm at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Freeport (2700 W. Stephenson St.). Luanne Bettisch has received a call to serve as pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in South Beloit and will be ordained that day. Rostered leaders and interns are invited to vest and process. The color for clergy is red.
The 24th Annual Synod Assembly will be June 17 & 18. Information and online registration is now available at the
Assembly Website. Congregations are encouraged to consider adding a youth or young adult voting member to their delegations to the Assembly this year. The
youth voting member will be in addition to regular number of voting members, not replacing anyone. This comes as a result of a recently passed provision in both the ELCA Churchwide and Northern Illinois Synod Constitutions. The Synod Constitution reads in part: “Each congregation may elect one additional youth ( a voting member who has not reached the age of 18) or one young adult (a voting member between the ages of 18 and 30).
Important Assembly Dates:
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April 18 (Monday) — All Assembly Reports and Nominations Due for inclusion in Bulletin of Reports (This timeline allows NIS office time to process and format reports before sending Bulletin of Reports to printer.)
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April 18 (Monday) — Resolutions Due — to be included in Bulletin of Reports (Constitution states at least 30 days prior to opening of Assembly, Bulletin of Reports, Resolutions, and Agenda should be mailed.) This date is necessary to allow Assembly Resolutions Committee time to process Resolutions and to have Resolutions included in the Bulletin of Reports per constitution.
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April 19 (Tuesday) — Voting Member Registrations Due (Constitution states every congregation shall send in credentials of its voting members to the Synod Office at least 60 days prior to the opening of the regular meeting of the Synod Assembly.)
The
2011 Synod Youth Assembly will be June 16 & 17. Due to the changes with inviting more youth to participate in Synod Assembly the youth assembly will be the night before Synod Assembly. This way the youth participating in Synod Assembly may go directly to assembly and those not participating may return home with their youth groups. Find out all about it
here.
Attention Rostered Leaders! If you have not sent in your
annual report to the Bishop, please make it a priority. He is waiting to hear from you!
Retired Rostered Leaders - please RSVP for Retired Rostered Leaders & Spouses Luncheon with Bishop & Polly April 27 in Moline or April 28 in Belvidere. Contact
Julie at the Synod office asap.
The special offering collected at the Congregational Resourcing Event worship service on March 19 totaled
$3,070.84 for Japan Relief.
Churchwide News & Resources
It's time to get ready for the
2012 ELCA Youth Gathering - to be held in New Orleans. Find out all you need to know at
www.elca.org/gathering. Find out specific information for our synod at
www.nisynod.org/youth/2012/gathering.
Click the image above to hear Bishop Mark Hanson discuss the draft social statement on genetics with Orion Samuelson on This Week in Agribusiness.
The ELCA Youth Ministry Network invites you to check out MartinsList.org, the Network's new resource sharing website. Resource Categories include: Jr. High Ministries, Sr. High Ministries, Children's Ministries, Retreats, Curriculum, Bible Studies, Old Testament, New Testament, Small Group Materials, Games & Mixers, Administrative Tools, Family & Intergenerational, Ministry with Parents, Seasonal & Holiday, Outdoor Ministries, Extravaganza '11, and Workshop Materials.
The Board of Pensions will offer a free Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Webinar for Church Employers April 19. Find out more.
Daily Grace, the much-awaited iPhone app from Women of the ELCA, is now available! Daily Grace is an on-the-go companion for your journey, offering a faith reflection every day. In these brief writings you'll encounter God's extravagant, boundless and often surprising grace. You will be comforted, challenged, inspired, consoled and confronted. In an easy-to-use approach, the daily reflection stirs you to live out your baptismal calling. Take time to reflect, offer a prayer and prepare for the day. Read the daily message of choose Random Grace. Click here for more information and to download this free app.
ELCA Good Gifts for Easter - Easter chicks and fluffy ducklings abound at Easter time -- what better time to bless a family in need with the gift of chicks or ducks that can help fight hunger? A chick, starting at just $1, can provide a family with an abundance of protein-rich eggs to eat and some to sell at the market. At $20, a duck is the best pesticide around -- eating all of the insects that harm a farmer's crops, while fertilizing the fields at the same time. Shop ELCA Good Gifts | Host an ELCA Good Gifts Fair | Start a Buck-a-Chick Sale
Fast Facts: Bread for the World Institute's Hunger 2010 report argues that "Dollar for dollar, spending on infrastructure and safety net programs stimulates a higher return on investment than tax cuts."
ELCA Health Plan Members
Got ELCA-primary health coverage? This year, earn ALL your wellness dollars — $150 for taking the health assessment, $300 for doing follow-up activities like the GO! Challenge. Rev. Steve Dow and Rev. Laura Koppenhoefer have already completed all of their points and have received their $300. What about you? Join the conversation on Facebook HERE.
Just by taking the Health Assessment, you'll earn wellness dollars and help your employer earn a 2% discount on health contributions.
All you need to take the assessment are a few medical numbers or estimates: height, weight, waist measurement, cholesterol (HDL, LDL, total), triglycerides, blood sugar (glucose) and blood pressure. Do it today!
In Northern Illinois (as of the end of February):
# who have taken it - 128
% who have taken it - 50.5%
# needed to reach 65% - 37
Estimated savings - $42,600
(in 2010, 61% took it - we were SO CLOSE!)
News from Congregations
Shepherd of the Valley, Rockford invites you to a Benefit Concert for the Earthquake & Tsunami Victims in Japan, Sunday May 22 at 3pm (Doors open at 2:30 pm). Download a flyer. For more information and tickets, contact For advance ticket orders, jpnrfd@gmail.com
News from Other Organizations
All are invited to take part in the
Metropolitan Chicago Synod's annual spring stewardship conference which will be held Saturday, April 30, at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 1100 E. 55th Street, from 8:45am - 3:15pm This year’s conference, Stewarding Your Financial Future: Insights for Congregations and Individuals, is designed to help individuals and congregations gain insights and explore tools and strategies for becoming financially well and for understanding planned giving as a part of their stewardship ministry. The cost is $25 before April 20, 2011 ($30 after April 20). Lunch is provided.
Online registration and more information.
The May 5-6, 2011
Congregational Leadership Series, hosted by the Center for Renewal at Grand View University, is three two-part seminars for church leaders to cultivate a new imagination for congregational leadership. It will empower congregational leaders to equip their members in putting faith to work in everyday life. Participants will practice thinking and talking about all of life in ways that are explicitly shaped by faith.
Find out more.
Make plans now to attend the Bread for the World National Gathering, June 11-14, 2011 at American University, Washington, D.C.! Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger. The ELCA Washington Office works closely with Bread for the World in a number of advocacy campaigns and they encourage you to attend this important Gathering. Find out more.
Mission Support
Projected mission support is in blue. Actual received is in red.
March 2011 - Projected: $384,744 Actual: $401,503
Connecting to Facebook
Pat Esker and family as they welcome Pat's granddaughter Lilianna Elizabeth May born March 28
