West Virginia - Western Maryland Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Contact Info & Communications

Page Contents

One-stop shop for your synodical communications needs! You'll find here basic contact information for the synod, links to important web pages, Facebook links, and other communications elements.

NOTICE: While you're here, be sure to subscribe to The Bishop's Roadshow.

Pre-Internet Communication

Phone

304-363-4030 (for both voice and SMS/text)

Mailing & Physical Address

West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod
℅ St. Paul Lutheran Church
309 Baldwin Street
Morgantown, WV 26505

Fax

We dropped our fax line, which seemed to be good for little more than unsolicited solicitations. If you have a document that you would like us to receive, scan it to PDF and email it to us.

Internet Communication

Bishop's Roadshow

The Bishop's Roadshow is an e-newsletter published irregularly—in other words, if there is something that seems important to share, we send out a Roadshow.

The Bishop's Roadshow was moved to a new provider, Mailchimp®. It was not been a smooth transition, but a move had to be made. The Roadshow had employed Yahoo! Groups® for thirteen years, but Yahoo!® discontinued that service on 15 December 2020.

Freddie the MailchimpIn searching for a new platform, these are the things we looked for:

  • subscriptions will not be used by the platform provide for marketing;
  • folks can subscribe and unsubscribe themselves; and
  • ease of use by synod staff.

It is also possible to check out recent back issues (click here).

By the way, his name is Freddie.

Subscribe

To subscribe, click here, and a subscription form will open for you.

Unsubscribe

To unsubscribe, click here, and an unsubscription form will open for you.

Synod Website: WV-WMD.org

The West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod maintains a website with the URL, "WV-WMD.org."

Web Update

Synod Website Updates

We've moved the list of updates to the WV-WMD.org to a page of its own. Click here (or on the pic at right) to find out what has been recently updated.

eMail

eMail Directory

Synod Office
Office@WV-WMD.org
Bishop (The Rt. Rev. Matthew Lynn Riegel, S.T.M.)
Bishop@WV-WMD.org
DEM (The Rev. Sherri Schafer)
Sherri.Schafer@elca.org
Treasurer (James "Jim" Nichols)
Treasurer@WV-WMD.org
Mission Support
MissionSupport@WV-WMD.org
Synod Assembly Registrar
Registrar@WV-WMD.org
Parliamentarian
Parliamentarian@WV-WMD.org
Youth Gathering Lead (The Rev. Courtney Erzkus)
Courtney@LutheranMountaineer.org

Don't Fall for Spoofed eMails

At the beginning of July a spoof email went out under a poorly rendered version of the Bishop's name. Since then, we've received word that others are also being spoofed, including pastors of the synod and staffers of Camp Luther.

Typically, these spoofed emails attempt to solicit money, as you can see in the example provided.

From: Rev. Matthew F. Riegel <personalmail103@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 1, 2020 at 3:02 PM
Subject: ARE YOU AVAILABLE THERE
To: ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒

Hello Rev. ▒▒▒▒▒. Are you available now? I have an important payment to be done today. Email me back i will be busy now.

Regard

Rev. Matthew F. Riegel

Some things to note:

  • +Riegel's middle initial is not "F"
  • The synod sends email via its WV-WMD.org domain
  • The adjective "reverend" requires a direct article when used as an honorific
  • The Bishop is simply not going to solicit this way

Emily Pilat, Communications Director of the Virginia Synod, put it well,

In the past year this has happened with more frequency in synods and congregations across the ELCA.This is not a hack to our email system, but rather a common scam tactic. Often times, scammers like this can make convincing looking emails. The key is to look at the from address carefully to be sure it is from the individual it claims to be. This is especially important to stay vigilant as we are increasingly working remotely and rely on electronic communication.

The Southeastern Iowa Synod has put together a very nice flyer (in PDF) on how to spot email and texting-based scams. We recommend it. You can download it here.

Feel free, should you ever get something like this, to ask a challenge question, preferably one involving the Four Uses of the Law or the genera of the communicatio idiomatum.

Facebook

We have several Facebook pages and groups, some directly under the synod, others managed by affiliates. Click on the image to visit.

Pages

WV-WMD fb page
DEM fb
WV-WMD Prays

Groups

WELCA fb group
Team Wittenberg
Madagascar fb group

SA CommsSynod Assembly

We have a page dedicated to Synod Assembly Communications. Click here to find out how to keep abreast of the work of the highest legislative authority in the synod.
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Last update: 11/27/2023

West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod, ℅ St. Paul Lutheran Church, 309 Baldwin Street, Morgantown, WV 26505
304-363-4030  +  Porter@WV-WMD.org