LEAD 2025

Saturday, February 22, 2025
9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
The Grove/New Heights Lutheran (314 Anne Street, Mazomanie, WI)

The South-Central Synod of Wisconsin is thrilled to host our annual LEAD event in Mazomanie. LEAD is an annual gathering presented by the synod for all rostered leaders and lay leaders of the church to gather for worship, fellowship, and learning. We are honored to have Pastor Emily Harkins from The Dwelling and Pastor Rob Nelson from New Heights Lutheran Church sharing their community-driven vision for ministry as our keynote presenters.

This year’s theme, Partners in Relationship, emphasizes the value of collaboration, connection, and shared vision in ministry.

All attendees must register online individually using the form below by January 31, 2025. Registration is open to anyone with a heart for Jesus and a passion for learning and congregations are encouraged to share LEAD with their lay leaders and congregation members.

The cost for LEAD is $35.00 per person and includes the entire day of learning, featuring a keynote speaker, workshops, lunch, and time for fellowship and networking.

Payment for registrations can be made online via credit card or ACH (fee req'd) by CLICKING HERE for our Tithe.ly portal and choosing "LEAD 2025" as the fund designation or by mailing a check made out to the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin and noting "LEAD" somewhere on your payment. Congregations may make one payment for all registrations from their ministry but please do not mix your registration payment with other items such as benevolence.

After you submit your registration an email is sent to the email address entered with a confirmation of your registration that may be used as an invoice/receipt for payment. If you do not initially receive this email DO NOT submit a duplicate registration. Please email jills@scsw-elca.org and we can resend your confirmation. The synod has no control over email platforms and how these emails are delivered; please check your spam/junk settings and add scswoffice@scsw-elca.org to your contacts.


Questions?

Please reach out to Jill Sim, Administrative Assistant at jills@scsw-elca.org or (608) 270-0201 should you have any questions about registration.

The full schedule for the day will be available closer to the event, but LEAD typically offers:

  • Worship – We will center ourselves and begin with worship.
  • Workshops – All attendees will be invited to attend workshops that they feel called to. More information on specific offerings will be available in February.
  • Connection – Ample time for connecting with people from other congregations. Year after year, attendees reflect that talking to people from other congregations is one of the best things about LEAD.
  • Partnering – Displayers from Synod and ELCA/Lutheran affiliated ministries organizations will be there to share opportunities for shared ministry.
  • Offering – This year, we will be receiving an in-kind and monetary offering. More information will be shared to help you plan but many congregations consider taking a special offering/collection to bring to LEAD and help support our partners.

Rostered Ministers, lay leaders, congregational staff, and all those who are part of the work of making and maintaining partnerships within and beyond your ministry and community are encouraged to attend!

In the afternoon, we will feature workshops (50 minutes long) to help participants deepen their understanding and skills in fostering meaningful partnerships within their ministries and communities. We are seeking facilitators who are passionate about equipping pastors and lay leaders with practical tools and ideas related to our theme. If you would like to be a facilitator please CLICK HERE to read more about what we are seeking and to express your interest.

All of the spaces we will be utilizing will be accessible to all people including those with limited mobility. A hearing assist system is available in the worship space. As part of registration we will collect dietary information for those with allergies or dietary needs and we will do our best to accommodate those requests, however, you may wish to be prepared in case we are not able to - in which case you will be notified in advance.

If you have a question or a specific need that you would like to make us aware of please do not hesitate to contact the synod office prior to the registration deadline (January 31, 2025) so we can work to make accommodations as we are able.

Coming Soon!

We welcome our ELCA ministry partners and our own synod ministries to be a displayer at LEAD. To reserve a table please register for LEAD as a 'Displayer'. As a displayer your registration will include access to the entire day's events, lunch, and a display table for your ministry. If there is more than one person attending from your ministry, please register only one (1) person as "Displayer" and any others as a regular attendee. For 2025 the cost for being a displayer is the same as an attendee.

Any questions?

  • For programming, logistics, or displayer questions please reach out to Marie Leafblad, Associate to the Bishop for Leadership Support via mariel@scsw-elca.org or (608) 270-0201.
  • For registration questions please contact Jill Sims in the Synod Office at jills@scsw-elca.org or (608) 270-0201.