22nd Annual Synod Meeting

Story and Photos by Jane Hines

Changes

Two or three decades ago there was a Synod slide show called “It Was All So Different Before Everything Changed.” Since then everything in the Synod has changed again. And then changed some more. Everything has come around and gone around.

And now we see more new changes coming from the Synod meeting January 26-27, 2004 in Oxford, Mississippi.

What’s changing now?

Synod Executive David Snellgrove announced that he plans to retire on October 15, 2004 when his five-year contract with the Synod is completed. An executive search committee was elected. Their first meeting was scheduled for February 5. Kenneth Dick, immediate past moderator of the executive committee, will chair the search committee and members of the 2003 executive committee will constitute the executive search committee.

Sadly, the Synod’s Stated Clerk, Dick Baldwin, died on December 30, 2003. A resolution honoring Dick was adopted at the Synod meeting. Charles Van Devender, who chairs the Synod’s presbytery partnership committee, is currently Acting Stated Clerk.

Another change that will be noticed immediately by everyone who calls the Synod office for information or comes to a meeting is the absence of Doreen Scott, Synod’s administrative assistant, who retired January 30. Doreen was honored for 14 years of service by the Synod executive committee and the twelve presbytery executives with gifts during the Synod meeting. The new administrative assistant is Emily Clarke, who has been trained by Doreen to make sure that everything in the Synod office continues to work smoothly.

Synod per capita will go up 50 cents, but not until 2005. From $3.12 this year (2004), it will then be $3.62. This marks the first Synod per capita increase in the past ten years.

The Synod budget for 2004 is changing to a lower amount, from $1,164,906 in 2003 to $1,123,570 in 2004. Synod funding patterns and Synod sponsorship of youth conferences have been impacted by a dramatic increase in the cost and availability of liability insurance covering persons who work with minors. Synod funding of campus ministry will now be channeled through presbyteries. No Synod-sponsored youth conferences will be held in 2004.

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