Report of the Nominating Committee (Part 1)

WV-WMD Synod Assembly 2024
Report of the Nominating Committee

The Nominations Committee would like to thank everyone who is willing to run for office this year. It is your willingness to serve that witnesses to the gospel. All of these positions are a witness, and all are important parts of the whole Body of Christ.

The Nominations Committee had a very difficult job this year. Open nominations did not yield very many nominees; therefore, the committee was forced to find over half of the nominees this year. Most nominations were not difficult to find, except the youth seat on Synod Council. It took us until the last minute and much begging to find a youth to run for this position. The youth seat is a requirement as per the constitution of the ELCA. Why is it so difficult to find a youth to fill this position? Maybe since our churches are aging congregations, there is a physical lack of youth within our congregations. This lack of youth in congregations was the main point stated when soliciting names. Maybe we do not value our youth enough or think them able to participate in such a weighty position? Maybe we do not think of our youth as leaders in this way? The third thought is that active and eligible youth are too busy with extra-curricular activities. These activities limit ability to participate in the Saturday morning meetings or the youth are unable to travel to the scheduled meetings. These thoughts would ask us to question if the youth seat is viable or worth the trouble of begging clergy and youth for nominations? Often, when elected, the youth does not even come to the Synod Council meetings, and often, the youth does not communicate his/her absence to the appropriate channels.

Per B9.04 of the Synod Bylaws, the Nominating Committee submits the following nominations:

• for Synod Council — Mon Valley Mountain Conference — Clergy, Mary Sanders and Tony Setley
• for Synod Council — Ohio Kanawha Conference — Laity, Vivian Grate and Ernie Miller
• for Synod Council — Potomac Conference — Laity, Patricia Anzalone and Rick Losh
• for Synod Council — Upper Ohio Valley Conference — Laity, Marilyn Jacobs and Alice Tribett
• for Synod Council — At-Large — Laity, Bruce Dalton and Doug Hovatter;
• for Synod Council — Youth, Evan Holbert;
• for Synod Council — Young Adult, Mackenzie Rice
• for Consultation Committee — Clergy, Tom Darr and Sherry Miller;
• for Consultation Committee — Laity, Darla Stemple and Nancy Weeks;
• for Discipline Committee — Clergy, Daniel Collins and Paul Shaffer;
• for Discipline Committee — Laity (female), Sue Hoffman and Cindy Murphy; and
• for Discipline Committee — Laity (male), Richard Niehaus and Richard Strickler.
• for Churchwide Assembly — Clergy, Ruth Bullwinkle and Daniel Collins
• for Churchwide Assembly — Lay Male, A.J. Beckett and Bruce Dalton
• for Churchwide Assembly — Youth/Young Adult, A.J. Beckett and Laurel Muhly-Alexander
• for Churchwide Assembly — Person of Color/Language Other Than English, Amelia Collins
• for Church Council of the ELCA — Clergy Female, Ruth Bullwinkle and Mary Sanders; and
• for Church Council of the ELCA — Clergy Male, Daniel Collins and Rick Egtvedt
  

The candidate information required under B9.05 of the Synod Bylaws follows in the Pre-Assembly Bulletin of Reports as Part 2 of the Report of the Nominating Committee.

The Rev. Ruth Bullwinkle, Chair

!It has come to our attention that the selection of nominees for Church Council of the ELCA by the WV-WMD Synod is restricted by the Church Council of the ELCA to male clergy only in order to ensure a better gender balance on the Church Council of the ELCA.