Celebrating DiscipleLife from David Timmons

For me, celebrating DiscipleLife involves refining our Mission Assembly communication and technology capabilities so we can be connected with each another in additional meaningful ways. My celebration is being appreciative of the gifts God has given me and using them to enhance our Mission Assembly experience.

Our 2011 Mission Assembly was a big event. I had the opportunity to break new ground with the introduction of social media into the weekend activities. Our team planned and built and discussed and hoped for the best as we facilitated a new way of connecting with one another previously absent from past Assemblies. What I found most exciting was our live feed of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube event coverage streaming throughout the monitors of the convention center. Church colleagues were able to keep tabs on everything happening that weekend while engaging with one another in our Facebook group.

Our 2012 Mission Assembly will be even bigger. This year as co-chair, I have had the opportunity to suggest additional new ideas engendering what I hope will be a memorable weekend for our clergy and congregations able to be with us. We will still have our social media team, but now we will also have a geocache event, an infrastructure for accepting videos from our churches, and a few other concepts being worked in the background. And this isn't even mentioning the concurrent Glocal Gathering! We are all excited about that idea!

I have celebrated my DiscipleLife these past two years in part by forming new connections between people through technology. As we move into the future, my hope is the ideas now planted will spring into life and beget even more innovative methods of connecting and informing God's people.

David Timmons
(2012 Mission Assembly Co-Chair)

A post from Bishop Kanouse.

I celebrate DiscipleLife every time I gather with the saints at worship, around the Word and the Eucharist.  God comes alive in the community of the faithful who hear the Word read, reflect through the sermon, join in prayers and receive the real forgiveness of sins in bread and wine.  Jesus is alive!  That's reason to celebrate!  When we gather in assembly DiscipleLife comes alive even more powerfully as we know ourselves to be not just individual Christians or congregations unto ourselves; but we are connected for mission.  DiscipleLife is, among other things, the people of God gathered in God's grace!  Relationships of love.

New Post from Tyna Oslie!

Hi! My name is Tyna Oslie and I am the Administrator for the NT-NL Mission Area. I've been asked how I celebrate DiscipleLife and it is difficult to figure out where to start.  I think I will start with a story about a business trip I took on a plane.  I was wearing one of the polos shirts from an assembly with the DiscipleLife logo on it and when I got up to exit the plane a man turned to me and asked me "so what is DiscipleLife?"  I told him I was so happy that he asked me that question.  I said that DiscipleLife may be quite different from one person to the next but for me it is daily doing my best to be the reflection of Christ to those around me.  I was quite stunned when I looked around me and a group of folks had stopped and gathered to hear what I had to say.  I was not in the isle they could have walked on by but some did stop.

I feel that many folks around us do not know Christ in a personal way and when the opportunity arises I do my best to share the love of Christ and share how having a relationship with Him helps me feel that I am being the person God created me to be.  I celebrate that I know a God that loves me enough to die on the cross for me.  I celebrate that he died on that cross for all.  Even if someone does not know him or believe in him I celebrate that they are loved and forgiven anyway.

In my DiscipleLife I celebrate my life; my husband, children, and grandchildren; my friends and Church family; and the denomination called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  While no denomination is perfect I celebrate the legacy that has been gifted to us by those before us.  A legacy that is focused on mission.  Mission that is not just in our homes, but in our churches, community, and around the world.

I hope to see lots of folks at the 2012 Assembly Celebrating their DiscipleLife at the Sheraton Grand DFW Hotel off Esters and Hwy. 114 - April 27-29.  If not for the assembly - come on Saturday for the Glocal Mission Gathering that is put on by the Global leaders of the ELCA.

Welcome to the Mission Assembly Blog!

The old year has passed, and we find ourselves quickly settling into the new year 2012. What does that mean?  It’s time to Get Ready!

The 2012 Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana (NTNL) Mission Assembly at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Irving, TX fast approaches! Mark the weekend dates of April 27 through April 29 on your calendar!

Our theme for this year will be "Celebrating DiscipleLife" and will focus on our outreach through Global & “Glocal” Mission and Ministries, celebrating our unity in diversity as we share the good news of Jesus Christ as Lutheran disciples alive in the Spirit. The planning team is very excited about the events in store for our upcoming gathering, and we promise this assembly will be a unique experience you won’t want to miss!

2012 is also a bishop election year for the NTNL Mission Area. One primary and very important focus of this gathering will be the election proceedings.

Of (nearly) equal importance will be the fun opportunities for worship, learning and fellowship! In fact, an ELCA “Glocal Gathering” will happen concurrently and be integrated as part of our Assembly, a first for the ELCA! More information can be found at http://www.ntnl.org/index.php/assembly/2012-assembly/glocal-festival. This Glocal Gathering will include the “Global University” workshops focused on issues of hunger, health, justice, peace-making, and multi-cultural worship. There will also be a marketplace with exotic free trade goods for sale, and professional musicians who will teach us and lead us in worship as we sing and hear sounds of many cultures.

In addition, we’ll have a geocache event (http://www.ntnl.org/index.php/assembly/2012-assembly/assembly-information). Have you ever participated in one of these? Think of it as a fancy scavenger hunt with clues. It will be a great opportunity to have a laugh with your friends during the quieter moments of the weekend. Youth will be involved, too. Their participation will be a local immersion & service oriented experience off-site, but they are planning to join us for opening and closing worship and some meals book-ending a weekend full of mission work at one of our local congregations.

Truly, the 2012 NTNL Mission Assembly will have something special for everyone. Come for the business! Come for the worship! Come for the fellowship and fun! We prayerfully hope you will join us as we gather in Celebrating DiscipleLife!

To register and for further information, please visit the "2012 Assembly" section of the NTNL website at http://www.ntnl.org/index.php/assembly.

Joyfully Celebrating DiscipleLife!

Pastor Debra Loudin-McCann & David Timmons

Co-Chairs of Mission Assembly Planning Team 2012