News and Events

2023 Northeastern Iowa Synod Assembly Recap

The Northeastern Iowa Synod will host Informational meetings for interested adult leaders to prepare for registration for the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering and to learn more about the event.

Registration for the Youth Gathering in New Orleans opens in September.

Sunday, June 25, 6:30 p.m. at St. John, Charles City

Wednesday, June 28, at 12 Noon Zoom Meeting.

Register to attend the Zoom meeting live. This session

will be recorded for viewing later.

People can register for the meetings at https://forms.gle/NZeLEHKvjnWKgXDq7.

Questions can be emailed to Alison Pettit, Gathering Synod Coordinator, or call the Synod office at 319-231-1414.

Congratulations to Sondra Nelson from Salem Lutheran in Lake Mills, who was elected President of the Northeastern Iowa Women of theELCA president.

Study of ELCA Social Message

on Earth's Climate Crisis

Via Zoom

A study of the ELCA social message “Earth’s Climate Crisis” will be offered online Tuesday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. Carla Janssen, a member of Redeemer Lutheran in Waverly and the Northeastern Iowa Synod Care for Creation Network, will lead the discussion.

The social message can be accessed at www.elca.org/climatecare.

Contact Pastor Liz Bell to receive the Zoom link.

EmployerLink Security Enhancements Coming Soon

Portico’s EmployerLink sign-in process will be changing as part of our ongoing commitment to data security and privacy protection. If you’re a registered EmployerLink user, later this summer we’ll walk you through setting up a new way to access your account that includes two-step phone verification every time you sign in. Remember: it’s important for each EmployerLink user to create their own sign-in credentials to protect your organization from people signing in who should no longer have access — for example, when someone completes their term as treasurer or leaves the organization.

Understanding and Supporting Gender-Expansive Christians

In the latest episode of Portico’s Being Here Podcast – Gender Identity and the Church – host Pastor Melissa Pohlman and guest Austen Hartke discuss ways we can seek to honor the image of God found in all of us and help our church embody a spirit of welcome and acceptance. Hartke brings his perspective as a Biblical scholar and founder of the Transmission Ministry Collective to offer practical resources and a theological framework for starting these important conversations.

Growing Closer to God in Grief

Grief touches everyone at different times and in different ways — through the loss of a loved one, the end of a job, or even at the close of a certain chapter of life, such as a move or becoming an empty-nester. In another new episode of the Being Here podcast, "Growing Closer to God in Grief," Pastor Collette Broady Grund joins host Pastor Melissa Pohlman for an exploration of the human experience of grief. Tune in to hear their tips for managing losses both big and small. This episode also explores the unique needs of faith leaders when caring for themselves and their congregations while grieving, based on Pastor Broady Grund's personal experience engaging with grief as a divorcee, a widow, and a faith leader.

Bishop's Elections

• Pedro Suárez reelected bishop of the ELCA Florida-Bahamas Synod 6/14/23
• Phyllis Blair Milton elected bishop of the ELCA Virginia Synod 6/13/23
• Greg Busboom elected bishop of the ELCA Central/Southern Illinois Synod 6/5/23
• Katherine Finegan reelected bishop of the ELCA Northern Great Lakes Synod 5/19/23
• Donald Kreiss reelected bishop of the ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod 5/19/23
• Rebecca Middeke-Conlin elected bishop of the ELCA Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod 5/11/23
• Meggan Manlove elected bishop of the ELCA Northwest Intermountain Synod



Update from CDC

End of the Federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) Declaration

What You Need to Know

• The federal COVID-19 PHE declaration will end on May 11, 2023.
• Most tools, like vaccines, treatments, and testing, will remain available.
• CDC’s ability to collect and share certain data will change.
• CDC is updating its guidance to align with data changes.

Read more...

Updated Boosters Are Recommended

The updated boosters are called “updated” because they protect against both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the Omicron variant BA.4 and BA.5. Two COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer and Moderna, have developed updated COVID-19 boosters.

Updated COVID-19 boosters became available on:

• September 2, 2022, for people aged 12 years and older
• October 12, 2022, for people aged 5–11 years
• December 9, 2022, for children aged 6 months–4 years who completed the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine primary series
• March 17, 2023, for children aged 6 months–4 years who completed their 3-dose primary series with the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

CDC recommends 1 updated COVID-19 vaccine dose for everyone aged 6 months and older.

Worship Resources

Prayers of Intercession

Time after Pentecost

Care-filled Worship and Sacramental Life in a Lingering Pandemic

Follow Bishop Eaton on Social Media

Twitter: @ELCABishopEaton

Facebook: ELCABishopEaton

Emanuel Nine Remembrance

Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton & Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie

In remembrance of the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton and National Council of Churches President and General Secretary, Bishop Vashti McKenzie, urge us to study, pray and act so that we can make a real difference in our communities and country to end the scourge of racial, economic, and social injustice and violence. For more information, go to: https://ELCA.org/Emanuel9 and https://nationalcouncilofchurches.us

By the Grace of God and the Call of the Church

Rebecca Vesti Baird

Will be ordained to the Ministry of Word & Sacrament

in Christ’s one, holy

catholic, & apostolic Church

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Wartburg College Chapel

Waverly, Iowa

The Rev. Kevin T. Jones

Bishop of Northeastern Iowa Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Presiding.

Your prayers and presence are requested. All Rostered Ministers are invited to vest and process. The color of the day is red.

Rebecca has been called to serve at St. James Lutheran Church, Allison, Iowa.

Welcome to Pastor David Severtson who was installed at First Lutheran in Decorah on Saturday!

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Romans 6:5

Please join us in praying for the following leaders and ministries of the Northeastern Iowa Synod:



Deacon Lisa Kammerer, Cresco; St. Paul, Garnavillo; Lutheran World Relief; Michelle Van Riper, Waterloo; Evangelical Lutheran Church of Peace, Garnavillo; Rev. Joel R. Dahlen, Mason City; Rev. David A. Anderson, Lakeville.

• Meeting with Rostered Ministers
• Region 5 Bishops Zoom
• LSI Empower Event
• Almost Home Fund Raiser, Dubuque
• Rebecca Baird Ordination, Wartburg College
• Hub Church Meeting

• Meeting with Rostered Ministers
• Candidacy Hearings, via Zoom
• Installation of Pastor Lee Gable Installation, Fredsville, Cedar Falls
• Worship, St. Paul's, Waverly
• Youth Gathering info Meeting, St. John, Charles City
• Hub Church Meeting
• Coach Training

• 6/25   Youth Gathering Informational Meeting, St. John, Charles City
• 6/28   Youth Gathering Informational Meeting, via Zoom
• 7/17-20 Rostered Ministers Gathering, Phoenix, Ariz.
• 7/18 Study of ELCA Social Message on Earth's Climate Crisis, via Zoom
• 7/22-29 Bishops' Ride Against Hunger

See the Northeastern Iowa Synod Website for more Events

Fall Theological Conference

October 15-17, 2023

Holiday Inn, Cedar Falls

One Year to Live Men's Retreat

November 3-5, 2023

Ewalu Camp & Retreat Center, Strawberry Point

ELCA Youth Gathering

July 16-20, 2024

New Orleans, Louisiana

2025 Churchwide Assembly

Phoenix, Arizona

• June 2023 STAR
• June Faith@Home
• June Women of the ELCA Good News
• Lutheran Men in Mission

Editor

Rev. Joelle Colville-Hanson