2025 Synod Assembly Takeaways

Called, Gathered, Sent  – 2025 Southeastern Synod Assembly Report 

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church Attendees: Pastor Will Starkweather, Council Secretary Madeline Wirtz, Altar Guild Captain Jill Smerick, Director of Christian Education Traci Billman, and 2025-2026 Council President Leah Gradl. 

With great joy, I offer my thanks and gratitude to St. Mark’s for the privilege of attending the 2025 Southeastern Synod Assembly in Columbus, Georgia, alongside several dedicated members of our congregation. The Assembly provided a meaningful opportunity for learning, connection, and spiritual growth, and I’d like to share four key takeaways:

1. 2025 Administrative Accomplishments: The Assembly successfully completed essential business matters, including the re-election of Bishop Kevin Strickland to a second term leading the Synod. Additionally, the annual operating budget was reviewed and approved, ensuring continued support for synod-wide ministries and initiatives. Traci Billman was recognized for her work on the nominating committee. We are proud of her, and we recognize a lot of opportunities for St. Mark’s congregants to get involved in Synod committee and leadership roles.  
2. Stewardship Workshop “Taste & See“:  Stewardship is a growing priority across the synod. Beyond monetary giving, this workshop challenged attendees to think about stewardship as a process to equip, empower, and engage the congregation. First, stewardship is based in discipleship, and generosity is an essential practice of our faith. Our generosity is how we respond to God’s faithfulness; it begins with gratitude and should always start with prayerful reflection. Second, stewardship includes an element of “place.” We need to make connections between generosity and our assets, such as our building and property resources. Asset mapping can be a strategic activity to spur new ideas on serving the community. Third, stewardship is based in community. We need to listen to the community around us and discern their needs. Listening and reflecting can naturally lead to generosity and solidarity in our plans. Jonathan Hemphill, the Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational Life, is offering regional stewardship workshops, and we’ll pursue these resources locally. 
3. Commitment to Missions and Outreach: The synod reaffirmed its focus on mission work and outreach efforts, encouraging congregations to engage more deeply with their communities and share the love of Christ through service and advocacy. Jill Smerick provides a thought-provoking summary of her missions workshop below.  
4. Youth Engagement Through SESLYO and Affirm: Youth involvement remains a vital part of our church’s future. Programs like SESLYO (Southeastern Synod Lutheran Youth Organization) and Affirm continue to provide meaningful faith formation opportunities and leadership development for our young people. Madeline Wirtz summarized her youth workshop for us, and her energy for working with youth is an asset to our congregation. 

It was a joy to represent our congregation at this year’s Assembly and witness the unity and dedication within the Southeastern Synod. The 2026 Assembly will take place in Columbus, Georgia once again, and I encourage all members to learn more about this experience and how to engage in Synod initiatives. 

Growing Together, 

Leah Gradl 

2025 Assembly Experiences – From Your Elected Representatives

Council Secretary, Madeline Wirtz

First, I would like to thank St. Mark’s for allowing me the opportunity to attend the Synod Assembly. I learned a lot about operations synod-wide and had the joy of getting to know the other St. Mark’s attendees a lot more.

The theme for the assembly revolved around water and telling our baptismal stories. To be completely honest, this theme did not really hit home for me. Instead, I was reminded over and over again of how diverse each of our stories are. And despite how different our journeys to Christ have been, we are all united in Christ (the theme for Affirm!).

The biggest takeaway from my experience, that I still think about days after the assembly, is the presence and work of SESLYO. We only had time for one set of workshops and I attended the one led by the youth of SESLYO. And they discussed a message that I wanted to make sure I passed on to our St. Mark’s members: The children are not the future of the church; They ARE the church RIGHT NOW. 

Several youth repeated the same message through their words and actions. They led a highly engaging workshop and spoke with church leaders about ways to improve worship and their church buildings. I couldn’t help but think of how we can change our ministries and fellowship when we recognize that all of us, no matter how young, are united in Christ and can do good and meaningful work in the church RIGHT NOW.

Altar Guild Captain, Jill Smerick

I offer my gratitude and appreciation to St. Mark’s congregation for supporting my attendance at the 2025 Synod Assembly. Beyond the worship and fellowship experiences, the opportunity to learn about the worldwide missions was invaluable. I attended a workshop about MILAGRO, a mission supporting the education and empowerment of women in Guatemala City, Guatemala. 

A startling fact was shared on the opening slide of this workshop: According to the National Registry of Persons of Guatemala,14,696 girls under the age of 15 gave birth between the years 2018-2024. Contributing to this statistic is a culture that minimizes females and their role in daily life. Much of northern Guatemala is very rural and extremely poor. The women and young girls of the family work day after day to grow and harvest crops yet the family income remains very poor. The daughters also help the mother with household tasks and caring for younger siblings. Unfortunately, due to the family structure, education cannot be a priority- especially if female. The current culture has girls within most families finding husbands and having children by the age of 14 or 15.

The Augustinian Lutheran Church of Guatemala (La Iglesia Luterana Agustina de Guatemala or ILAG), located in Guatemala City, opened CASA MILAGRO (Miracle) in 2018. This is an education center for girls from rural areas with the goal to break the cycle of poverty by offering education and vocational training to girls between the ages of 12 and 20. 

In addition to being active members of the Augustinian Lutheran Church, through their education the girls develop leadership skills, experience personal growth, and learn how to provide for themselves to improve their daily lives once they return to their communities. This must be a cultural change- perhaps it will not happen in this generation, but the hope is that the next generation of women will have different information as this current group of women finds their voice and brings change into their communities. The Southeastern Synod primary commitment to MILAGRO is to provide for the tuition and room and board for the young women each year. To accomplish this, the Southeastern Synod Guatemala Team has a fundraising goal of $85,000 for 2025.