Here are the downloadable binder documents for Binder Tab 1: Welcome
Dear Friend in Christ:
Decolores! On behalf of the National Lutheran Secretariat (NLS) Executive Committee, I am privileged to welcome you to Las Vegas for our 2024 Via de Cristo NLS Annual Gathering and Business Meeting. After a successful Annual Gathering in Indianapolis last year, we look forward to seeing even more people together this year. The Executive Committee and Host Committee have been making plans and preparations for the past several months.
You will be given access to the Virtual Binder prior to the Annual Gathering, which you can review at your leisure. Everything from the Speaker Bios, Nominee Bios and Annual Reports will be available for you to review at your convenience. Recordings of our worship services and the business meeting will be available after the Annual Gathering. Please join us to learn, grow and take back best practices to your Secretariat!
On Thursday, July 25th, we’ll have our keynote delivered by Rev. Mark Wickstrom, about “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” followed by Opening Worship. We’ll have a brief NSL Business Meeting to announce the delegates representing the affiliated Secretariats and formally recognized as present as well as take nominations from the floor for NLS Executive Committee open positions. We’ll end the night with a Q and A Session with all NLS nominees. Our Opening Worship and our Business Meeting will be available on FaceBook Live at https://www.facebook.com/ViadeCristo.
On Friday, July 26th, we’ll start with a morning prayer service, which will be on FaceBook Live at https://www.facebook.com/ViadeCristo. Afterwards our first Forum session on “since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses… And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” will be led by Marty Harpster. We’ll go into breakout sessions to share our insights and debrief together. Our second Forum session on “Spiritual Direction”will be led by a panel of Sara Jones, Ken Larson and Tracy Schmidlin moderated by Rev. G. Karl Gaston. There will be a roundtable session by Secretariat position, regional meeting and you will have a choice of several Exchange of Ideas (EOI) sessions.
On Saturday, July 27th, we will have morning worship and you will have a choice of repeated and new EOI sessions. Our third Forum session with an overview of our theme verse, Hebrews 12:1-2 by Jeff Gordon, RN. We’ll break for lunch and our Annual Business Meeting will reconvene at 2:15pm PDT. The delegates represent the “voice” of the NLS and will vote in-person. Guests are welcome and encouraged to attend. The Annual Gathering is your opportunity to grow, learn and share with brothers and sisters in Christ from across the country. The Annual Business Meeting concludes with a preview of the 2025 Annual Gathering and worship. Our morning worship and Annual Business Meeting will be available on FaceBook Live at https://www.facebook.com/ViadeCristo.
On Sunday, July 28th, we’ll have our Closing Worship with anointing and installation of our new NLS Executive Committee Members, which will be on FaceBook Live at https://www.facebook.com/ViadeCristo.
If I can be of assistance to you with this 2024 National Via de Cristo Annual Gathering, please feel free to contact me. You can text or call me at 972-658-4387. I pray for God’s revival of our Fourth Day community and pray the Lord will continue to watch over us.
God loves you and so do I,
Jane Winge
NLS Vice President of Administration
vpadmin@viadecristo.org
