Registration is open online and by mail for the Lutheran Education Association (LEA) 2011 convocation March 24-26 at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati.
Expected to draw several thousand participants, the triennial national convocation is open to Lutheran teachers, school administrators, pastors, directors of Christian education, directors of Christian outreach and other educators.
Online registration is at the LEA website, www.lea.org (click on the green “Convocation 2011” tab at left) and registration booklets have been mailed to all LEA members with hard-copy registration forms that may be mailed.
An item in a “2011 Convocation Q&A” section of the website indicates that the convocation is “the only large-scale gathering of its kind to link, affirm, equip and inspire the Lutheran education family as it addresses the challenges of Christian education. In short, [it] is a program of renewal for educators serving Lutheran schools and congregations.”
Convocation program highlights will include a number of pre-convocation workshops and 180 “sectionals” during the convocation; opening and closing “celebration events”; two banquets; plenary presentations by keynoter Dr. Leonard Sweet (a Christian futurist) and “Miss America” 2009 Katie Stam; and entertainment from The Skit Guys, who are Christian humorists.
Those program components are covered for all who register for the three-day event, along with access to an extensive exhibit area.
Various registration fees are available, based on whether those applying are among LEA’s 3,000-plus members or are retired, students, or exhibitors. An additional $50 is added for those registering after Jan. 15.
A number of hotels within walking distance of the Duke Energy Center are offering special convocation rates.
Registrants for the convocation also may sign up to learn more about neighborhood outreach and witness through a servant event conducted by “Building Hope in the City,” a Cleveland-based ministry of Synod-congregation members that conducts cross-cultural and urban church planting and mentors pastors and conregations.
The theme for the 2011 convocation is “Crossing Over,” based on a number of Bible passages that “emphasize Jesus Christ as a bridge between sinners and eternal life with the Triune God in heaven,” according to an LEA news release. It also is evocative of the numerous bridges in the Cincinnati area.
For more information about the convocation or LEA, go to its website at www.lea.org. LEA is an LCMS Recognized Service Organization.
Posted Sept. 15, 2010