This month, we hear from Sandy Hagman, a member of Luther Memorial in Blacksburg, about the ministry of the Virginia Synod World Hunger Team. For 2023, the World Hunger Team has created a calendar to highlight particular observances during the month related to hunger issues. You can learn more about this new ministry at: https://vasynod.org/resources/world-hunger/

Bishop Bob Humphrey has appointed the Rev. Terrie Sternberg as the Ecumenical Representative for the Virginia Synod. Her term began in November.

Pastor Terrie will represent the bishop at various functions, co-chair the Virginia Lutheran-Episcopal Joint Committee consisting of five judicatories, serve as a member (and at times chair) of the Virginia LARCUM (Lutheran-Anglican-Roman Catholic-United Methodist) Conference, sit on the Coordinating Cabinet of the Virginia Council of Churches, promote inter-faith conversation and cooperation, and lead the Virginia Synod’s Ecumenical Relations Committee. She is not alone in doing this work. Strongly supported by Bishop Humphrey, Pastor Sternberg has an active committee and a host of partners throughout Virginia who serve in ecumenical settings, as well as many congregations that work with other traditions for the sake of their communities.

The 2023 Virginia Synod Bishop Election Committee created the video below to provide details about the election of a new Bishop at the 2023 Virginia Synod Assembly. Additional information about the Assembly can be found at: https://vasynod.org/2023-virginia-synod-assembly/

Pastor Brad Burke from Reformation, New Market had the honor of opening the 2023 Virginia General Assembly with prayer. You can hear Pastor Burke's prayer in the video below.

Winter Celebration 2023 hosted 110 youth and 54 adults this past weekend for our annual faith sharing event for high school youth and their adult advisors. The theme, "Faith at the Fire," invited our large and small groups to explore experiences of testing and inspiration in life and scripture with the hope of God's love guiding us forward, using I Peter 1:3-9 as our guiding passage. The Planning Group (group picture above) included Pastor Colleen Montgomery (All Places Together) as chaplain, Pastor Stephen Bohannon and Nikki Smith as adult advisors, and youth members Emma Burnett (St. Michael, Virginia Beach), Emma Recupero (Trinity, Newport News), Jessica McMillan (St. Michael, Virginia Beach), Bryce Weaver (Our Saviour, Richmond), and Keegan Wise (Trinity, Newport News). Participants were especially excited to be back together for a weekend event after a three-year gap due to our pandemic restrictions. The Saturday evening offering collected $1,006, which will go to "Dollars for Scholars," our shared ministry of support for the education of children of pastors in our Global Companion Synod, the Islands District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Papua New Guinea. 

As Virginia Lutherans prepare to gather for the 2023 Synod Assembly, everyone is invited to join in a five-session bible study to explore the theme, The Way in the Wilderness. God is always with God’s people, including joining us in all the wildernesses of life. Jesus calls us in many and various ways to share God’s expansive love in our unique contexts. We are united in the wilderness, even if our journeys are different. 

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