THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION
It is with great regret that the synodical board has decided to cancel our 2020 convention due to the pandemic we are facing. It has been rescheduled to September 17-19, 2021 at the Hilton Marietta Hotel and Conference Center in Marietta, Georgia. The theme will still be "Jars of Clay".
We will try to conduct any necessary business of our organization electronically until we meet again in September 2021.
The latest issue of The Southeastern Weaver is attached below. It includes a letter from our president, Patti Austin, and lots of other information about what is happening in our synod.
Watch for more details as they become available.
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Hello ladies of the Southeastern Women of the ELCA!
I pray this finds you well and finding fun things to do as we all stay home due to Covid-19. It has been hard dealing with this new way to live, but I know that God has a plan. We just have to be patient.
I have a few things for each of us to think about concerning the convention. Although it has been cancelled, I would like to ask each of you to remember two of our important programs. This year our Love Offering will go to Churchwide Women of the ELCA and our In-Kind Gifts will go to Must Ministries. Even though we will not be meeting, these organization still need our help.
Please send your checks for the Love Offering to our treasurer Karen Andrews at 950 Eagles Landing Parkway, Suite 617, Stockbridge, GA, 30281. You may send your donations anytime time between now and January 31, 2021.
It is important that we continue to support our churchwide organization so they can provide the many programs for our synod, clusters and congregational units.
We also need to fulfill our promise to Must Ministries. They have asked for socks and underwear, all sizes for men, women and children. If you do not live in the Atlanta area and are unable to get these items to Must Ministries in Marietta, there are some other options. Greg Elder, the Senior Director, suggested we mail WalMart gift cards to P.O. Box 1717 Marietta, GA. 30061 and mention SES WELCA with your gift. Another easy way to donate is on the Must Ministries' Facebook page. Just click on the donate button and enter an amount. It is easy and no stamps needed! Or you can send your checks to Karen Andrews and she can send one check to Must Ministries.
Love to each of you. Please stay safe and remember to wash your hands.
Patti Austin
President
SES WELCA
I pray this finds you well and finding fun things to do as we all stay home due to Covid-19. It has been hard dealing with this new way to live, but I know that God has a plan. We just have to be patient.
I have a few things for each of us to think about concerning the convention. Although it has been cancelled, I would like to ask each of you to remember two of our important programs. This year our Love Offering will go to Churchwide Women of the ELCA and our In-Kind Gifts will go to Must Ministries. Even though we will not be meeting, these organization still need our help.
Please send your checks for the Love Offering to our treasurer Karen Andrews at 950 Eagles Landing Parkway, Suite 617, Stockbridge, GA, 30281. You may send your donations anytime time between now and January 31, 2021.
It is important that we continue to support our churchwide organization so they can provide the many programs for our synod, clusters and congregational units.
We also need to fulfill our promise to Must Ministries. They have asked for socks and underwear, all sizes for men, women and children. If you do not live in the Atlanta area and are unable to get these items to Must Ministries in Marietta, there are some other options. Greg Elder, the Senior Director, suggested we mail WalMart gift cards to P.O. Box 1717 Marietta, GA. 30061 and mention SES WELCA with your gift. Another easy way to donate is on the Must Ministries' Facebook page. Just click on the donate button and enter an amount. It is easy and no stamps needed! Or you can send your checks to Karen Andrews and she can send one check to Must Ministries.
Love to each of you. Please stay safe and remember to wash your hands.
Patti Austin
President
SES WELCA
11th TRIENNIAL CONVENTION AND GATHERING
With no Covid-19 vaccine on the horizon, Women of the ELCA’s executive board met by video on April 25 and voted to postpone the organization’s convention and gathering until August 2021. “We are postponing not canceling,” said Linda Post Bushkofsky, executive director of Women of the ELCA.
The Eleventh Triennial Convention scheduled for July 14-16, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona, is being rescheduled for August 3-5, 2021. And the 2020 “Just Love” Gathering, scheduled for July 16-19, 2020, is being rescheduled for August 5-8, 2021. “We hope that everyone who is currently registered will come next year,” Bushkofsky said.
“And if they aren’t able to come, they could gift their registration to someone else.”
Staff will be working out final arrangements with the Phoenix businesses and communicating directly with all who are voting members-elect for the convention and who have registered for the gathering.
Eleventh Triennial ConventionPostponing the convention means that the current executive board will serve another year until “replacements are elected and installed,” Bushkofsky said. Then, the board elected in 2021 will serve a two-year term. For the 2023 convention, “we would be back to our three-year cycle. That works best with the churchwide assembly, the youth gathering, and the rostered leaders’ event.”
Budgets and finances“In an April 1, 2020, year-end fiscal monitoring memo from our executive director,” Anna Sarver, executive board treasurer, said “we learned revenue underperformed in fiscal year 2019. ”Nine synodical organizations did not send any regular offerings, she said. “While expenses were significantly under budget, expenses exceeded income,” she added.
Total revenue received in fiscal year 2019 was $2,055,194 or 71.3 percent of what was projected. The board-approved budget anticipated a total revenue of $2,881,531. Thus, the budget underperformed by $826,337.
Sarver said the organization cannot yet determine how the coronavirus pandemic will impact giving, but that if women are not meeting in units, clusters, conferences, and at SWO events, it is unlikely that offerings will be collected.
“That means less money will be sent to the churchwide organization,” she said. “So, we’ll need to closely monitor revenue and expenses as we move further into 2020 to determine what mid-course changes to the budget will be needed.”The executive board voted to re-designate four funds into general use and use interest from 13 funds to cover the 2019 balance. Sara Larson, chair of the budget and finance committee, said the committee will present a 2021 budget at the October executive board meeting “because we can’t get our hands on hard figures to make any type of decision for now. “We are very aware that the financial status will continue to be fluid,” she said. “We will continue to stay in touch with the numbers and the revenue coming in and will manage the situation.”
There are two items of good news about the budget, Bushkofsky said. One is that Women of the ELCA is receiving two months of salary and retirement contributions for staff under the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program. The other is that the organization recently learned it is beneficiary of a $206,885 trust. In a development committee report, Audrey Riley, director of stewardship, reported that in the 2017-2020 triennium, “every one of our 21 board members has made at least one gift of record.” The total given by our 21 executive board members and officers during the 2017-2020 triennium is $30,090.00. A majority give through Faithful Friends, a way to give automatically through a credit card or checking account. Learn more about Faithful Friends.
In other actions, the executive board:
- Approved changes to the Southern Ohio Synodical Women’s Organization’s and Upstate New York Synodical Women’s Organization’s constitutions
- Heard reports from the Office of the Presiding Bishop, Lutheran Men in Mission, and staff.
Watch for more information in our newsletter and on the website from our synodical board
and our Triennial Gathering Promoter, Margery Kellar, as it becomes available.
and our Triennial Gathering Promoter, Margery Kellar, as it becomes available.
Let us pray...
O God. We come to you today…Fragile. Chipped. Broken. Worn. But we will not be crushed or driven to despair or destroyed. As fragile or as broken as we are, we hold on to the hope that you have given us through the life and resurrection of your son, Jesus Christ.
Thank you for entrusting this treasure to us, your earthly vessels. You are the potter and we are the clay. Mold us and form us to do your will in our lives. May everything we do, glorify your holy name. Amen
THE 2020 ANNUAL RESOURCE GUIDE
Each year the board of the Southeastern Synod Women of the ELCA publishes a resource guide to help clusters and congregational units plan their programs.
It includes the following information such as
It includes the following information such as
- Planning Calendar
- Love Offering
- In-Kind Gathering
- Treasurer’s Information
- Lutheran World Relief
- Ronald McDonald House Charities
- Samaritan’s Purse
- Church Women United
- Katie’s Fund
- Women of the ELCA Sunday
- Bold Women’s Day
- Rachel’s Day - Justice for Children and Youth
- Scholarships
- Annual Convention
- Cluster Information
- Speaker’s Bureau
- Other Resources
A copy of the 2020 Annual Resource Guide is attached below
THIRTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION
The Thirty-Second Annual Convention of the Southeastern Synod Women of the ELCA was held September 20-22, 2019 at the Music Road Resort in Pigeon Forge, TN. Our theme was "Embrace Grace".
Thank you to all the voting members for representing their congregational units as we conducted the business of our organization. Congratulations to those who were elected to the synodical board - Beth Drane, vice president; Shirley Connelly, secretary; and Bernice Bland, Billie Goepfert, and Gloria Martin, board members. We also elected four voting members who will accompany our president, Patti Austin, to the Triennial Convention in Phoenix next July.
They are Beth Drane, Janice Hawkins, Kathy Hill and Nyahaley Labor.
Special thanks to Bishop Kevin Strickland; our Chaplain, Pastor Jenny Barnes; Keynote Ppeaker, Ken Jenkins; Churchwide Representative, Kandy Pflaster; Convention Chair, Donna Hoglund; AV Administrator, Linda Few; Bible Study leader, Deacon Judy Aebischer; Music Director, Dana Lee Smith; Dick Wellons from Smoky Mountain Area Rescue Mission; and our workshop leaders - Pastor Stacy Parvin, Hilton Austin, Mary Beth Smith, Louise Iconis, Vicar Dawn Bennett, and Melanie Johnson.
Thank you to all the voting members for representing their congregational units as we conducted the business of our organization. Congratulations to those who were elected to the synodical board - Beth Drane, vice president; Shirley Connelly, secretary; and Bernice Bland, Billie Goepfert, and Gloria Martin, board members. We also elected four voting members who will accompany our president, Patti Austin, to the Triennial Convention in Phoenix next July.
They are Beth Drane, Janice Hawkins, Kathy Hill and Nyahaley Labor.
Special thanks to Bishop Kevin Strickland; our Chaplain, Pastor Jenny Barnes; Keynote Ppeaker, Ken Jenkins; Churchwide Representative, Kandy Pflaster; Convention Chair, Donna Hoglund; AV Administrator, Linda Few; Bible Study leader, Deacon Judy Aebischer; Music Director, Dana Lee Smith; Dick Wellons from Smoky Mountain Area Rescue Mission; and our workshop leaders - Pastor Stacy Parvin, Hilton Austin, Mary Beth Smith, Louise Iconis, Vicar Dawn Bennett, and Melanie Johnson.
The plenary sessions were led by Patti Austin, our synodical president.
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The Convention Banner was made by
the ladies of Cluster 6/Agape, |
Kandy Phlaster from Nebraska served
as our Churchwide Representative. |
Smokey Bear was one of the guests at our banquet, seen above with Anne and Tara Spray.
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We were honored to have Bishop Kevin Strickland with us for the first time.
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Ken Jenkins, our keynote speaker, emphasized \our theme with his beautiful photographs.
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The 2018-2019 Synodical Board.
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The beautiful table decorations for our banquet, "An Evening Under the Stars"
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Elaine Fisher and Kandy Pflaster
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See more pictures from the convention on the Photos page under News & Events above
or in the Weaver attached below.
or in the Weaver attached below.
| weaver_oct19.pdf |
| weaverjan20.pdf |
| 2020_arg.pdf |