With the ELCA Youth Gathering set to launch in New Orleans in a matter of weeks, it’s no surprise that some of the focus during the Synod Gathering this year was on youth. As youth groups gathered in the P.E. Monroe Auditorium on Saturday morning, the energy was young, vibrant, and overwhelmingly joyful.

A six-piece band was made up of youth from several congregations, who remarkably had played together for the first time on Friday night. Members of the North Carolina Synod LYO Board seamlessly led the service and other youth served communion. As these young people moved through the service, it was clear that the future of the North Carolina Synod is in faithful, loving, and capable hands.

Deacon Beka Forst, NC Synod’s Youth Gathering Champion, spoke to the young audience about being authentically the person God made them to be. Being authentic can mean being brave enough to be yourself. That can be disruptive when the world tells us to be ideal—to look and behave in certain ways in order to fit an ideal. But God made us diverse. Jesus was true to who he was, even as he died. He gave us all the freedom to live in God’s kingdom, a kingdom that includes all of us. We were created to be loved by God.

Conference deans were installed during the service. A conference dean is a rostered minister who serves as the administrative officer of their conference and is an extension of the Office of the Bishop. Each conference dean facilitates communication between the congregations in their conference and between the conference and the bishop. They are appointed by the bishop and install new rostered ministers in their conference. They are:

Blue Ridge Mountain: Pastor Josh Tucker
Cabarrus/Stanly: Pastor Emily Lemoine
Catawba: Pastor Christy Lohr Sapp
Coastal Plain: Pastor Dan Burris
Mecklenburg/Union: Pastor Emily Hartner
Northern Piedmont: Pastor Jennifer Shimota
Rowan: Pastor Ed Harper
Smoky Mountain: Pastor Ken Albright
South Coastal: Pastor Jeffrey Ingold
Southwestern: Pastor John Spencer
Triangle: Pastor Marsha Anderson
Yadkin: Pastor Ethan Overcash

Offerings from this service—again, $1200—will help to support Children, Youth, and Family Ministries of the North Carolina Synod.