A Year of Purpose and Partnership: Reflections from the Synod Vice President

Mark Myers

My first year serving as the Grand Canyon Synod Vice President has been exciting and challenging. I was humbled at the 2025 Grand Canyon Synod assembly when the voting members put their trust in me to be the lay leader of our synod. During this time of transition, I have been blessed with a multitude of support. Our past Synod Vice President, Barbara Carl, has been a tremendous mentor and friend to me. During my first few months in office, while the Bishop was on a well-deserved sabbatical, I was supported and guided by our Synod Secretary Pastor Stephan Springer and our Synod Treasurer Erik Rehms.

One of the primary responsibilities of the Synod Vice President is to chair the Synod Council. At our September Synod Council retreat, we established four goals that guided our work for the coming synod year. I am pleased to report that we have made progress in each of these four areas of ministry.

Our first goal was Congregational Vitality. With congregations dealing with new challenges, the synod council is focusing the synod’s ability to partner with congregations to meet these challenges. We have developed a website with resources to assist congregations as well as providing opportunities such as the Better Together Zoom training and the Future Focused Church study. We continue to develop this initiative with the goal of assisting every congregation in our synod to become what God is calling us to be.

A second goal of the Synod Council has been to lead the synod into a period of discernment about what it is for becoming a Reconciling in Christ synod. This year’s assembly decides whether to move forward with a year of listening and conversation. The Reconciling In Christ (RIC) committee has put in a great deal of time and effort to develop what a year of discernment would look like.

Our third goal has been Telling the story. Every day, God is accomplishing wonderful ministries throughout our synod. These acts of kindness are seldom shared. The members of the Synod Council will be sharing their stories during this year’s assembly and are making videos available to our congregations. In this way, we encourage others to share their stories of God’s work across our synod.

Our fourth goal has been to increase youth and young adult participation in our synod assemblies. We will be conducting a youth lead worship service during the assembly. We will be asking the assembly to provide voice and vote to a campus ministry youth representative as well.

In December we grieved at the news of the tragic deaths of Roger and Kristine Bailey. Roger was a colleague and friend who served faithfully on the synod council as a conference representative, a member of the Congregational Vitality Committee and Executive committee. He also served his congregations as council president among other capacities. Kristine was active with the youth of her congregation through Sunday school and Vacation Bible School. Both were true servants of God. They are deeply missed.

It has been an honor to partner with Bishop Hutterer and share in her ministry as the leader of the Grand Canyon Synod. I look forward to continuing the collaboration with the Bishop and the Synod Council. I am energized with what God has in store for our Synod.

Grand Canyon SynodBrian Flatgard2026 Assembly Stories, Synod CouncilComment