Dear Partners in Mission:

Friday and Saturday April 25-26 we gathered together in Lubbock for the 37th assembly of the NT-NL Synod. It was a joy to be back in the Panhandle Conference and the hospitality of our colleagues there and the staff of the MCM Elegante Hotel was exceptional. I was also encouraged and grateful for the over 220 voting members and visitors who joined us in Lubbock. The respect shown to our colleagues by the synod coming to them, when they are so often are expected to travel to synod events, was noticed and appreciated.

The theme chosen by the Panhandle Conference was “Common Ground.” A focus on the unity we have in Christ through baptism that joins us together cross geography, culture, and all the ways the ideologies of our world would try to divide us. A very timely theme and appropriate as we gathered in the Panhandle, a place of intense diversity and long history. And not a place in which Lutherans have a large presence. So we must find that unity in Christ to continue to do our work Juntos en Mision.

Some highlights of the assembly were…

• Worship Saturday morning with inspired preaching by the Rev. Darlene Hopkins (Shepherd King-Lubbock) and installation of Conference Deans
• The presence of the Rev. Phil Hirsch as our ELCA Churchwide representative.
• Conference breakout sessions where we listened to one another. Particularly hearing from our immigrant communities about their real fears of the current realities of their members in the midst of uncertainty, sudden deportations, and assumptions of citizenship. This honest sharing helps us to learn from one another and be challenged in finding common ground.
• A historical presentation on the history of the Panhandle beginning with the first peoples to settle there 12,000 years ago, the first Europeans who arrived in 1540, when Luther was alive, and the many people’s who have made their home here since.
• The passing of a resolution instructing the synod council to work to create a plan to plant 4 new congregations and report back to the assembly in 2026 on that plan. A strong adaptive challenge not dictating how to accomplish the plan but stating the goal.
• Reports by our ELCA Church Council member the Rev. Nick Billardello (Abiding Grace-Southlake) and our Commission for a Renewed Lutheran Church member Mr. Anthony Ormsbee Hale (Messiah-Weatherford).
• The celebration of 4 candidates approved for ordination who will all serve NT-NL congregations.
• Presentations on our trip to visit the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone but our Synod VP Mr. Don Heller (Bethel-Avoca) and by the Rev. Ben Dueholm (Christ-Dallas).
• Our Director for Evangelical Mission’s advisory boards panel discussion on ways congregations can engage the resources of the synod to help them in a variety of ways.

It was a joy to be together in this time. While we are honest about the challenges we face as church today. This time was encouraging to us to recognize the abundance God has placed before us. We have many resources and a multitude of opportunity to serve. And we are united in the gospel and in the waters of baptism.

#JuntosenMision,

Bishop Gronberg