About Our 2008 Synod Assembly

NEW: CLICK HERE FOR PARKING INFORMATION

DATES: May 16, 17, 18, 2008
             Friday, Saturday and Sunday

PLACE:
Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center
1101 Lincoln Street, Columbia,
In the "Vista" near the Colonial Center

Directions to the Convention Center


Read the pre-assembly memo.

See the proposed agenda.
 

FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE—
HERE ARE THE "S.A.L.T." INFORMATION PAGES FOR YOU TO DOWNLOAD. EACH HAS INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ASSEMBLY:

     December 2007
     January 2008
     February 2008
     March 2008
     April 2008
     May 2008


DOWNLOAD FORMS:

Voting member     Rostered leader     Visitor       Meals      Floor nominations  


++  SERMON FOR MAY 18, BY BISHOP DAVID A. DONGES ++
 

Click here for a sneak peek at the Convention Center!

TIMES:

Registration begins Friday morning

First Plenary early Friday afternoon

Celebration Banquet for Bishop Donges: Saturday night

The Assembly should end Sunday by 1pm.

 

THE REGISTRATION DESK WILL BE OPEN FRIDAY, MAY 16 at 10 am.

The registration desk will close at 5:15 pm and re-open briefly after worship Friday night and on Saturday morning for late arrivals. Voting members must have checked in at the registration desk and obtained a voting member’s name tag in order to cast a legal ballot during plenary sessions. Voting members are required to sit within the “bar of synod.”

Spaces dedicated for prayer during the assembly are located in the following locations:
Upper level: end of hallway near the Ballrooms
Lower level: end of hallway near “Congaree Meeting Room”

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS

Hampton Inn:  Rooms are available at a discounted rate of $110 plus 12% tax at the new Hampton Inn, 822 Gervais Street, in the "Vista" of Columbia, and adjacent to the convention center. Call the Hampton Inn directly at (803)231-2000. Our "group name" is "SC Synod Assembly." Spell "synod" if you have to, because the desk clerks, working in Columbia, may think they heard you say "Senate" and have difficulty handling your registration. Because the first and second evenings of the assembly end after 9 pm, please give serious consideration to renting hotel rooms for your voting members and visitors if they'd be commuting an uncomfortable or unsafe distance late at night.

Hilton Columbia Center:  This is another good option. The brand new hotel is across the street from the convention center, and has offered rooms to us for $115 plus parking. The address is 924 Senate Street. All rooms are non-smoking. To reserve a room there, you register by referencing the dates and the name "SC Synod Assembly"  or  "Evangelical Lutheran Church in America" to get this discount. Call 803-476-1302 to make your reservation. NOTE: This is the sales office. Do not use any other system; this is a special deal that won't even work via the hotel's front desk. (Be sure you're speaking with someone in the sales office when you call. Pastor Mel Amundson, Synod Assembly Manager, is their contact person here at the synod office, in case anyone asks.)

VOTING MEMBERS

Your congregation's constitution describes how assembly voting members are chosen from your
congregation, usually either election by the congregation or being chosen by the congregational council.

Your synod constitution's Continuing Resolution S7.21.A02. provides the following policy about numbers of voting members.

Each congregation is entitled to at least two voting members.

Additional voting members are entitled to congregations based on their baptized membership as follows:
Congregations with 300-649 baptized members entitled to one additional lay voting member.
Congregations with 650-999 baptized members entitled to two additional lay voting members.
Congregations with 1000 or more baptized members entitled to three additional lay voting members.

The 2007 Synod Assembly also entitled each congregation, regardless of baptized membership, to one additional lay voting member under age 30.


WHO CAN VOTE?

Your synod constitution’s Chapter 7 (the blue pages in your Directory and Minutes book) defines the voting membership of the synod assembly. Each congregation is entitled to two voting members, and additional voting members based on congregational size. (See Continuing Resolution S7.21.A07.) Remember that each congregation is entitled to one additional lay voting member who is under the age of 30 at the time of the assembly. Also, each authorized worshiping community and each mission setting formed with the intent of becoming a chartered congregation is entitled to two lay voting members, one male and one female (see Continuing Resolution S.7.26.A06). Lay synod council members also have privilege of voice and vote. Rostered leaders under call, as well as those who are retired, shall be voting members. Rostered leaders on leave from call shall have voice but not vote. (An ordained minister on leave from call but serving as interim pastor under appointment to a congregation, on the roster of this synod, who’s complied with the provisions of S14.05., i.e., having submitted an annual report of his/her ministry to the bishop of this synod 90 days before the assembly, shall be a voting member.) It is good to note that proxy and absentee voting is not permitted.


ELECTION AND CALLING OF A BISHOP

The election of a bishop is both an election and a call process. The Synod Council’s Transition Task Force has provided information, materials and opportunities for thoughtful, prayerful preparation for this significant responsibility in the life of our synod. The assembly agenda itself will also provide opportunity for careful instruction, prayerful preparation and reflection, and a Spirit-led election process. The Agenda and Program Committee is also taking great care to assure adequate time for the casting, counting, and reporting of ballots, as well as for the withdrawal of nominees, the dissemination of biographical information for persons on the third ballot, and a question-and-answer period for nominees on the fourth ballot. The ELCA’s Office of Secretary has notified all synods which will be electing a bishop in 2008 that “because only voting members may cast ballots for the election of officers, voting members must be appropriately registered and identified in advance of the balloting. It is generally not desirable to authorize seating of others with voting members. Careful preparation of registration processes and identification of voting members at the time of balloting will minimize the risk of a challenge to election results or an invalid ballot.”



REGARDING ELECTIONS, PLEASE MAKE NOTE OF THESE ITEMS:

Read the protocol for Background Checks for Officers

Nominations from the floor must include a completed biographical information form. Results of the first ballot for election of Bishop and Vice President will be posted in the registration area as soon as they are available Friday night. Forms for removing one’s own name from the second ballot for Bishop or Vice President will be available from the synod secretary Friday evening and Saturday morning in the registration area. Deadline for removing names from second ballot for Bishop or Vice President is before the second ballot (approximately 9:20 am Saturday). Forms for removing one’s own name from the second ballot are available from the synod secretary and should be submitted to the secretary. Names cannot be removed once the second ballot is cast. Candidates on third ballot for Bishop and Vice President must submit for duplication the form for biographical information and consent for background check by 12:15 pm on Saturday.


TRANSITION TEAM WORK

The Synod Council-appointed Transition Team for the Process of Electing a Bishop will have materials available soon (you may have already received them). Please note that in our traditional rotation of alternating assemblies between Thursday-starts and Friday-starts, this year's assembly will continue into Sunday morning. The transition team strongly encourages pastors to remain at the assembly for Sunday morning's agenda, as it will likely include the fourth and fifth ballots for the election of the bishop and vice president. That is why the transition team is calling for a "fast" from Holy Communion and providing a sermon by Bishop Donges to be read in the congregations. Thus, the synod gathered in assembly at the convention center, and the synod assembled in congregations that morning, will be united in prayer and devotion at this important time in our life together.

ELECTIONS GALORE!

There will be elections for the following:

By ecclesiastical ballot (no nominations):
Synod Bishop

By ecclesiastical ballot (no nominations):
Synod Vice President

By nomination:
Synod Council (lay and clergy)
Committee on Discipline (lay and clergy)
Consultation Committee (lay and clergy)
Mission Endowment Grant Committee (lay)
SC Lutheran Retreat Centers Board (lay and clergy)
Lutheridge+Lutherock (LLMI) Board (clergy)
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary Board
(clergy)
Voting Members 2009 Churchwide Assembly (lay and
clergy)

The assembly will also elect two persons (lay female)
to serve as nominees for election of one at 2009
Churchwide Assembly to ELCA Church Council.