Mark your calendars and get ready — the SD Synod Youth Conference is coming to Sioux Falls on July 31–August 1!
This two-day youth gathering will bring together students from across the synod for a meaningful, memorable experience packed with worship, breakout sessions, service opportunities, games, music, and much more!
We’re excited to share some preliminary details for this year’s gathering!
- Registration: Open to 2025-2026 school year 6-12 grade youth. Click “REGISTRATION” below to get signed up!
- Cost: $25 per person (financial assistance is available; we want everyone to come!)
- Lodging: Stay overnight at welcoming, local churches in Sioux Falls
- Meals: 3 delicious meals included, along with snacks and water for break times
It’s going to be a meaningful time of connection, conversation, and community. Mark your calendars, spread the word, start planning, and get excited! We can’t wait to gather together! Additional event details will be included below as pieces are finalized!
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 31
4:00-4:30 PM Registration
4:30-5:00 PM Welcome
5:00-5:45 PM Dinner
5:45-6:30 PM Keynote Session #1
6:30-6:45 PM Break & Transition
6:45-7:15 PM Breakout Session #1
7:15-7:30 PM Break & Transition
7:30-8:00 PM Breakout Session #2
8:00-9:00 PM Adult + Youth Split Time
9:00-9:15 PM Reflections & Debrief
9:15 PM Dismissal to housing
Saturday, August 1
7:30-8:30 AM Breakfast
8:30-9:00 AM Morning Gathering
9:00-9:30 AM Breakout Session #3
9:30-9:45 AM Break & Transition
9:45-10:15 AM Breakout Session #4
10:15-10:30 AM Break & Transition
10:30 AM-Noon Service Project #1
12:00-12:45 PM Lunch
12:45-2:15 PM Service Project #2
2:15-2:30 PM Break & Transition
2:30-3:15 PM Keynote Session #2
3:15-4:00 PM Closing Worship (with Communion) & Sending
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
More information coming soon!
LOCATION
Most of the event will be held at Peace Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls. Sleeping accommodations and service projects may be held elsewhere. Information will be shared with your group after registration closes.
SPEAKERS & MUSICIANS
REV. ANNA & ELSE MADSEN
Anna Madsen is a “freelance theologian” living outside Two Harbors, Minnesota.
After graduating from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, she served a small South Dakota parish for three years before earning a doctorate in systematic theology in Regensburg, Germany. Immediately prior to her return to teach religion at a college in the Midwest, an accident killed her husband and severely injured her three year old son Karl. Her daughter Else was eight months old at the time. This event profoundly shaped her theology and her life, not least of all as a springboard to create OMG: Center for Theological Conversation. Here, individuals and groups, laity and clergy, come for questions, conversation, and study.
In 2017, she began The Spent Dandelion Theological Retreat Center, where she offers a studio apartment, her 20 acres of gorgeous woods, her library, her consulting, and Minnesota’s North Shore for people to retreat, refresh, and be restored.
REGISTRATION
Registration is now open! Click the link below to register your whole group. Please note: we request the group leader (pastor, youth director, youth volunteer, etc.) register all of the congregation’s youth together.
If financial assistance is requested, please contact Pam Tetzlaff at Peace Lutheran Church: (605) 361-3683.