Scripture: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.” Psalm 126:3 (NRSV)

Theme | Tema: Crossing Borders | Cruzando Fronteras

Location: King of Glory Lutheran Church, 6411 LBJ Freeway, Dallas, TX 75240

Times: Tentative plans are to start at 12:15pm on Friday (registration and check-in opens at 10am) and end by 5pm on Saturday. Tentative Agenda for Saturday (updated April 29 at 5pm and SUBJECT TO CHANGE) We appreciate your grace as we all navigate changing realities up to the last minute.

Hotels:

• • Holiday Inn Express & Suites North Dallas, 6055 LBJ Freeway, Dallas, TX 75240

There is currently no more availability in our room block at special rates, and the hotel is nearly sold out for that weekend and is not willing to offer us any more rooms at reduced rates for King and Double rooms. You may still be able to book a room at regular price through their online booking system: https://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/us/en/dallas/dalvv/hoteldetail (note that self-parking is an additional fee)

• • Residence Inn by Marriott Dallas by the Galleria, 5460 James Temple Dr, Dallas, TX 75240 | Studio King = $119/night (including complimentary self-parking, breakfast, and wifi; you will also receive double Marriott Bonvoy reward points for your stay, if you submit your member number prior to check-out)

Online booking: https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1647384316028&key=GRP&app=resvlink

Call-in booking: 469-577-4208 (direct line to Annalise Smith | Room block name: “2022 NT-NL Synod Assembly”)

As of April 6, there are five (5) rooms remaining in our room block at the special rate. It may be possible for us to expand our room block prior to April 15 if these sell out.

We are honored to have Richie Butler, Senior Pastor of the historic St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church (Dallas) and Founder of Project Unity, as our preacher for this year’s Assembly! He is a recipient of the 2021 Martin Luther King Legacy Award, and a past recipient of the SMU Distinguished Alumni Emerging Leader Award, the Minority Business Leader award from the Dallas Business Journal, and Dallas Bar Association Martin Luther King, Jr. Justice Award recipient. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Richie launched Together We Test that providing 5 testing sites in underserved communities in North Texas which tested nearly 7,000. Richie holds degrees from Southern Methodist University and Harvard University, extended studies in Urban Planning at MIT, and was the recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship to study Art History and Political Science in Europe. Richie is married to Neisha Strambler-Butler and they have two children, Emily and Ford.

We are not offering the option of a Hard Copy of Assembly Reference Materials (previously called the Book of Reports) this year. All reports will be available online here: https://www.ntnl.org/2022-assembly-reference-materials/. We will continue to add documents as we receive them.

The vita form can be found here: https://www.ntnl.org/vita-form/.

ELCA Churchwide Representative: Victoria Flood, Senior Director for Mission Support

Assembly offering: half to the Eastern conference for hosting us, and half to the new Stewardship team

You may register for Assembly here: https://tithe.ly/event-registration/#/4840947 (we are leaving online registration open through Wednesday, April 20)

We are limiting Visitors this year due to COVID protocols and space.

Registration Fees (same as 2020 rates):

Voting Member Early Bird (until March 18) = $150

Voting Member Regular (March 19 – April 20) = $185

Voting Member On-Site = $225

Retired Rostered Voting Member Early Bird (until March 18) = $125

Retired Rostered Voting Member Regular (March 19 – April 20) = $150

Retired Rostered Voting Member On-Site = $165

Visitor Early Bird (until March 18) = $50

Visitor Regular (March 19 – April 17) = $75 (due to higher than expected registration numbers, we will not be able to allow for any Visitors this year)

Visitor On-Site = $100 (due to higher than expected registration numbers, we will not be able to allow for any Visitors to register on-site)

Vendor = $150 (we do not have any more room for Vendors this year)

Displayer* = $75 (we do not have any more room for Displayers this year)

Meals provided with registration = 2 (two) – Friday dinner (catered) and Saturday lunch

Important note regarding Voting Members: Congregations shall be allotted additional voting members as follows: up to 500 baptized members, two voting members; 501 – 750 baptized members, 3 voting members; 751 – 1000 baptized members, 4 voting members; 1001 or more baptized members, 5 voting members. Selection of the voting members by the congregation shall be on the basis of the most recently submitted annual parochial report and shall adhere to male – female formula outlined in +S7.21.c. Any congregation allotted an additional youth voting member under S7.21.01 need not consider such additional youth voting member as one of their additional voting members under this resolution. (https://www.ntnl.org/resources/nt-nl-synodical-constitution/)

*Displayer is an ELCA-affiliated ministry or organization.

As of March 15, the plan continues for this assembly to be an in-person only event. We will be taking pandemic precautions and be following the protocols of our host, King of Glory Lutheran Church (Dallas), and Dallas County. We appreciate your grace as we all navigate changing realities up to the last minute.

There will be several elections at the assembly including synod treasurer and synod bishop. Bishop Gronberg has indicated his discernment to stand for this election. Following synod practice, when the current bishop has indicated they will stand for election, there will be no official pre-nomination process. An elections team independent of the bishop’s office has been authorized by the synod council. Nominations are being accepted for synod treasurer. Please refer those to jason@ntnl.org.