necessary, Synod activities, and the Executive
Committee also serves as the personnel
committee.
Southeastern Minnesota Synod Council
Meeting Minutes
Saturday, August 1st, 2015.
The Southeastern Minnesota Synod Council met
on Saturday, August 1st, at 9am, at The Inn at
Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, MN.
Members present: Rev. Regina Hassanally,
Rev. Jay Dahlvang, Lilah Aas, Rev. John
Petersen, John Odegard, Chad Campbell, John
Petersburg, Rev. Paige Whitney, Cheryl Kyllo,
Rev. Mark Johnson, Rev. Ashley Osborn, Ann
Peterson, Jodie Archer and Bishop Steve
Delzer.
Staff: Karen Gieseke.
Absent: Marcia Blackburn, Evin Lantz, Rev.
Jason Bryan-Wegner, and Danielle Koster.
CALL TO ORDER
Vice President Ann Peterson called the meeting
to order at 9:10am.
Vice President Ann Peterson welcomed
everyone to the summer gathering of the Synod
Council.
The new members to the Synod Council are all
on the Global Mission/Companion Synod Table
and they are Rev. Mark Johnson, Cheryl Kyllo
and Rev. Ashley Osborn.
Ann conducted the brief business meeting
portion of the gathering.
NEW BUSINESS
The first item was the election of the at-large
members to the Executive Committee. The
Executive Committee consists of the Bishop,
Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary along
with two at-large members from the Synod
Council. Traditionally, the at-large members
consist of one lay and one rostered member.
The Executive Committee typically meets 6
times a year. The responsibilities include but
are not limited to planning the Synod Council
meeting, creating the budget proposal, Synod
Assembly place and time, appointment of a
consultation committee should one be
Southeastern Minnesota ELCA Synod Council Minutes
Both Lilah Aas and Rev. Regina Hassanally are
eligible to serve a second one-year term. The
group voted by ballot and Lilah was elected to a
second term as the lay representative. Voting
for the clergy representative resulted in a tie
between Rev. Regina and Rev. Jason BryanWegner. Ann Peterson will contact Jason
regarding his availability to serve. Regina is
willing to step aside to give Jason the
opportunity.
The second business item included a request of
the Synod Endowment Committee to elect Rev.
Kris Ferkin to the Endowment Committee. He
will serve a three-year term on the Committee.
He will be eligible for re-election in August 2018.
SC15.08.01
Motion to elect Rev. Kris
Ferkin to the Synod
Endowment Committee for a
3-year term with eligibility for
re-election in August 2018.
Motion passed.
Third, Emily Carson will be working with the
Synod Council to find more effective ways to
share the work of the council with pastors and
congregations throughout the synod. This will
include regular updates (meeting highlights,
pictures) and video clips from willing council
members. Emily will be invited to attend our fall
council retreat in September.
BISHOP’S REPORT
The Bishop attended the ELCA Youth Gathering
in Detroit (July 15-19) and was really impressed
with the work done by students in the Detroit
neighborhoods.
He attended the ELCA Worship Jubilee (July 2023) and appreciated some of the information and
experience leading up to the 500th Anniversary
of the Reformation.
He spoke at the Rethinking Confirmation event
at Luther Seminary (July 29-31). It was the first
time he was the keynote speaker for something.
He and Donita will be at the Region 3 bishops
and spouses' retreat at Camp Metigoshe in
North Dakota (August 2-4).
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He shared with the group that he has visited
about 50 of our SEMN Synod congregations in
the first two years of his term and it is still one of
his favorite things to do!
Pastor Wal Reat will be commissioned on
Sunday, August 9 as an ELCA missionary to the
South Sudanese people living in refugee camps.
It was at this time that the business portion of
the gathering came to a close to allow Karen
Gieseke to lead the group in a journey of
realizing each of our strengths using the
Strengthfinders 2.0 material.
SC15.08.02
Motion to adjourn the
business portion of the Synod
Council meeting.
Motion passed.
Meeting adjourned at 9:35am.
Next meeting will be the Synod Council annual
retreat at Trinity Lutheran in Owatonna on
Friday, September 11th and Saturday,
September 12th, 2015.
Respectfully submitted,
Jodie Archer
Synod Council Secretary
Southeastern Minnesota Synod Council minutes
March 8th, 2014
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