In This Edition
Message from Bishop Gronberg
New Emails for Synod Council Executive Team
2026 Fund for Leaders Scholarships Open December 1st
The Gather Network is Growing
NT-NL Youth Newsletter
2025 LSM Musical Advent Calendar
Lutheran Men in Mission Fall Ambassador-Gram
Stories from the Denton Wesley: Fall 2025
November Mission Support Memo
Via de Cristo Weekends & Annual Gathering at Texas Lutheran University
Just Move Racial Justice Cohorts
Upcoming Installations
Upcoming Events
Prayer Requests
Roster Changes
Message from Bishop Gronberg
Partners in Mission:
I pray you had a blessed Thanksgiving week. A time to give thanks and recognize the abundance God provides for us. One way we recognize that abundance is in our gifts to our congregation. When you give your offering to your congregation a portion of that gift is shared with our work as synod. This is called mission support. The synod uses those financial resources to maintain our staff, support congregations in transition, raise up new leaders, fund new ministries, support our partners in Sierra Leone, and many others.
We also then share 45% of these funds with our churchwide organization for their important work. Please take a look at these attached resources and share them with your community. We are called to do this work together. As you look at your end of year giving please support your congregations generously and encourage your community to share that abundance with the wider church.
If you are interested learning more about Mission Support you can watch this video. Or you can read more about how our synod’s Mission Support is making an impact here www.livinglutheran.org/sofia.
New Emails for Synod Council Executive Team
The Synod Council Executive Team; Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, now have NT-NL emails.
Don Heller – vp@ntnl.org
Janet Kennedy – treasurer@ntnl.org
Anthony Ormsbee-Hale – secretary@ntnl.org
This change will ease the transition between the roles in the future as there will be a record of communications with the role rather then the individual. Please start using these emails to communicate with these roles about official Synod Council matters.
Every year, the Fund for Leaders awards approximately 30 full-tuition scholarships to future ELCA pastors and deacons who are planning to attend an ELCA seminary. In spring 2026, the Fund for Leaders will once again offer scholarships to ministry candidates pursuing seminary study.
The application window for full-tuition scholarships will be open from Dec. 1, 2025, through Feb. 20, 2026.
Here are a few key facts about Fund for Leaders scholarships:
- Scholarships are no longer reserved for full-time students. Candidates who need to study part-time are welcome and encouraged to apply.
- Eligible applicants must be planning to enroll in seminary in fall 2026. Applicants must be in the process of seeking candidacy for rostered ministry in the ELCA. Fund for Leaders must receive a positive entrance decision from the applicant’s candidacy committee no later than Dec. 15, 2026.
- Current ELCA seminary students who have completed no more than one semester of coursework before the start of the 2026-2027 academic year are also welcome to apply. All applicants must be considered first-year students in fall 2026.
- Ministry candidates may begin the Fund for Leaders application process before they have been accepted to seminary. Candidates are encouraged to apply to seminary and a Fund for Leaders scholarship simultaneously. Applicants can then upload their seminary acceptance letter(s) before the application deadline.
- Recipients of Fund for Leaders scholarships may apply their full-tuition scholarship at any ELCA seminary that has offered them admission.
- Scholarships are awarded to students for the duration of their required seminary coursework, provided they remain in good standing with their seminary and in their candidacy process. They do not need to reapply each year.
If you know of promising and gifted people discerning a call to rostered ministry in the ELCA, please send them this information and encourage them to visit ELCA.org/FundForLeaders today to learn more.
The Gather Network is Growing
The Gather Network is an ELCA network of young adult communities around the country that create spaces for young adults to join in fellowship, worship, community, and discussion (learn more at gathernetwork.org). Another way to describe it is the next step after campus ministry, which allows young adults aged 22-35 to be in Lutheran spaces of other young adults across their area and over multiple congregations, since it can often be difficult to get more than one or two young adults involved at a single church.
Gather Austin has been around for almost 3 years now, and built a strong community rooted in their Lutheran faith. Their next step is to try and spread the love, and use their experience to help start new Gather sites in other locations in Texas.
NT-NL Youth Newsletter
Links in this newsletter:
Peer Ministry Registration: https://youthofcalvary.wufoo.com/forms/ntnl-peer-ministry-m1rxpwux16gk5i7/
NT-NL Confirmation and High School Youth Weekend Registration: https://youthofcalvary.wufoo.com/forms/ntnl-youth-weekend-ma2v78s07atcy8/
Holy Curiosity Workshop at Austin Seminary Video: Sharing Faith Workshop: Holy Curiosity with Rev. Jen Kindsvatter — Sharing Faith Initiative
2025 LSM Musical Advent Calendar
Experience the fifth annual Musical Advent Calendar from Lutheran Summer Music, November 30–December 24—daily musical meditations to inspire reflection throughout the Advent season. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube, with all videos archived at LSMacademy.org/acal.
Sign up to receive each day’s video directly to your inbox by completing this form: https://forms.gle/
Lutheran Men in Mission Fall Ambassador-Gram
Click here to read about the happenings of Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM).
Stories from the Denton Wesley: Fall 2025
Click here to read about how Denton Wesley is supporting students and the community in Denton and surrounding areas. If you would like to learn more about Denton Wesley and how to support their ministry you can email Rev. Marianne Brown-Trigg at marianne@thedentonwesley.org.
November Mission Support Memo
The November 2025 Mission Support memo celebrates stewardship in its many forms. Meet Rev. Tauna Roth, Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in the East Central Synod of Wisconsin. She has a passion for connecting with people, collaborating with fellow congregations, learning together, and especially sharing food. She was awarded The Dr. Richard Lee Peterman Stewardship Award for 2025 from the ELCA Congregation and Synod Support Team and Stewardship ministry, an award celebrating our churches abundant and creative forms of stewardship.
In this memo learn how, “Is there going to be food?” can be the start to an important stewardship experience. You also do not want to miss the time to gather on Monday, Dec. 8, 6 p.m. CST, to explore, “Christmas Eve as a Missional Moment”. Join to wonder how we can use our large service times with glorious influxes of people to introduce new worshipers to the mission of our community and share stewardship-of-mission moments. The Congregation and Synod Support Team of the ELCA continues to be grateful for the many ways we connect across our church. Let us give thanks.
Via de Cristo Weekends & Annual Gathering at Texas Lutheran University
Just Move Racial Justice Cohorts
Just Move Ministries is organizing 4 Racial Justice Cohorts (Synod Leaders, Church Councils, Youth Leaders and Pastors) to start meeting in 2026. These Racial Justice Cohorts are precisely for people trying to “work for peace and justice” like their ordination/baptismal vows say, but don’t know how to do that in polarized churches and communities. We use a Lutheran “gracious invitation” approach rather than “Guilt, blame, and shame”. These Racial Justice Learning Cohorts for people seeking connections with real people working on real issues in real time. The cohort goes from the week of January 14 to the week of March 4th.
You can learn more about the different cohorts and how to register here.
Upcoming Installations
The Rev. Jerry Nordsiek will be installed as Pastor at Grace, Carrollton on Saturday, February 13th.
Upcoming Events
With the ever-changing guidelines and recommendations in our world right now, as we maintain physical distance in social solidarity, please keep in mind these events may be moved online, postponed, or cancelled:
- December 13: Public Witness Team Meeting
- December 18: NT-NL Youth Leader Lunch, Rejoice, Coppell
- January 2-4: NT-NL Peer Ministry Leadership Event, Calvary, Richland Hills
- January 10: Public Witness Team Meeting
- January 15: NT-NL Youth Leader Lunch, Rejoice, Coppell
- January 24: Parish Lay Ministry Academy Graduation, Good Shepherd, Irving
- January 27: First Call Pastors Check-In, Zoom
For a complete list of upcoming events, you can access our Calendar of Events online.