Each year one congregation of the West Conference is invited to serve as the host congregation for the Synod Assembly. Occasionally, two smaller congregations may be asked to work as a team. We alternate between congregations right in Moline or Rock Island and congregations in outlying areas. This year we invited First Lutheran Church in Geneseo to be our host congregation. Pastor Arthur Bergren and the Congregation Council readily accepted the challenge. I learned that it has been ten years since First last served in this capacity.
Synod Assembly participants may notice the name of the host congregation on the front of each year’s agenda but give little thought to what this entails. Here is a look behind the scenes.
First, a volunteer coordinator and/or the pastor meets with Nancy Corey, our synod support staff member who works most closely with Sandy and me on assembly logistics, to discuss the process and expectations of the host congregation.
For several weeks prior to the assembly, the church office receives materials for inclusion in the Synod Assembly packets. About a week before the assembly, volunteers come to the synod office in Rock Island to transport any materials that have been delivered there to the church. Then, volunteers work with Nancy and me to set up and organize materials for the actual packet stuffing.
On the Friday before the assembly, about a dozen volunteers come together and work with Nancy and me to pack the assembly packets and folders. This year the task required handling 36 separate items for each of the 700 folders and packets. We worked from 9:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. with a break for lunch. The folders and packets are stuffed into individual bags and then set aside until they are transported to Augustana College, the site of our assembly, on Thursday, the day before the assembly begins.
Bright and early on Friday morning, the opening day of the assembly, about 10 volunteers from the host congregation help our synod support staff in the registration process. Additional volunteers drive the golf carts, which help our assembly participants get around the campus. Have you ever wondered where the ushers come from, or who counts the offering for our Friday worship? Yes, those are members of our host congregation too.
Please join me in thanking First Lutheran Church at its volunteers at this year’s assembly. Serving as host congregation is a big job, but each year we have great volunteers who give freely of their time for the sake of our assembly.
Do you have any questions about the Synod Assembly? If so, please click on “Comments” below if you are on the blog Web site, or go to http://niselca.blogspot.com/. --JC
Synod Assembly participants may notice the name of the host congregation on the front of each year’s agenda but give little thought to what this entails. Here is a look behind the scenes.
First, a volunteer coordinator and/or the pastor meets with Nancy Corey, our synod support staff member who works most closely with Sandy and me on assembly logistics, to discuss the process and expectations of the host congregation.
For several weeks prior to the assembly, the church office receives materials for inclusion in the Synod Assembly packets. About a week before the assembly, volunteers come to the synod office in Rock Island to transport any materials that have been delivered there to the church. Then, volunteers work with Nancy and me to set up and organize materials for the actual packet stuffing.
On the Friday before the assembly, about a dozen volunteers come together and work with Nancy and me to pack the assembly packets and folders. This year the task required handling 36 separate items for each of the 700 folders and packets. We worked from 9:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. with a break for lunch. The folders and packets are stuffed into individual bags and then set aside until they are transported to Augustana College, the site of our assembly, on Thursday, the day before the assembly begins.
Bright and early on Friday morning, the opening day of the assembly, about 10 volunteers from the host congregation help our synod support staff in the registration process. Additional volunteers drive the golf carts, which help our assembly participants get around the campus. Have you ever wondered where the ushers come from, or who counts the offering for our Friday worship? Yes, those are members of our host congregation too.
Please join me in thanking First Lutheran Church at its volunteers at this year’s assembly. Serving as host congregation is a big job, but each year we have great volunteers who give freely of their time for the sake of our assembly.
Do you have any questions about the Synod Assembly? If so, please click on “Comments” below if you are on the blog Web site, or go to http://niselca.blogspot.com/. --JC
It's our honor at First, Geneseo to be of service to the office of bishop and all in attendance at Synod Assembly this year.
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