Brian Flatgard Annual Report: 2022
2022 Assembly Reports:
View reports for our 2022 assembly on our assembly report page and in this collection of blog posts.
I write this in the last few days before our 2022 Synod Assembly, a time where details beget details, like sprouting bacteria filling a petri dish in a beautiful bloom of life. Outside of our yearly cycle of worship events, the assembly is the biggest event for the Office of the Bishop. It’s our synod’s Super Bowl of gathering and decision making.
And like the Super Bowl, everybody wants to share their message during breaks in the game. One of the more difficult things to do this time of year is to let people know that we can’t guarantee we’ll share their video during the assembly or provide microphone time. The reason is pure math: we have around eleven hours of assembly time in which to fit two worship services, allow full plenary sessions to do most of the year’s legislative and planning work, honor our guest speakers, share the state of the synod, celebrate anniversaries, remember the saints that have gone before us, provide workshops, and allow time for breaks and food and fellowship. (Every year the number one request is more time for fellowship.)
On the other side of that equation are our dozens of mission and ministry partners. During this time of year, we dedicate our news system to sharing their stories, and we receive around fifty annual reports and updates each year. I encourage you to visit our assembly pages and view these inspirational reports.
I think many feel our annual assembly is the best time to share their good news. A few feel it’s the only time to share their good news. I’d like to challenge that idea. While the assembly is surely a concentrated gathering of individuals, it’s also a concentrated gathering of information. We pack a lot in, and we all get attention fatigue on those two days.
That’s why we have invested so much effort into our year-round and non-stop news system. It’s not enough to just share something at assembly, nor is it enough to post a PDF on your site and claim the messaging successful. We need to be “both/and,” to share information at the assembly and also in as many ways as we can.
Since we started keeping records in 2019, we’ve created over 3,600 blog posts, which also get amplified on our Facebook page and weekly newsletter and calendars. We try to give equal attention to all the information we share. I feel it’s paid off, as we are trusted more and more to share information with our mission and ministry partners. (Google also sees our site as a news site!)
I’d like you to help by encouraging the people in your network to share their news within our communication systems. It’s an easy way to fulfill our mission to connect people, create possibilities, and communicate Jesus.
In Christ,
—Brian Flatgard, Director of Communications