More from Annual Meeting

A new day, and new memories from a splendid and spirit-filled weekend.

We start with my good friend, good sport, and fellow Conference Minister, Kent Siladi. Here he is preparing either for his sermon on Friday night or the Softball game Friday afternoon (I'm nost sure which). Other than hitting a palm tree dead center with his drive off the third tee, which ricocheted off the tree almost decapitating the dog that was running by; or other than hitting the front wheel of the golf cart with his drive on the 12th hole, which then expolding off the cart into a lake on the other side of the tee box; or other than leaving the hotel Friday evening 2 miles from the church and calling me a half hour later in Carefree, Kent really did an outstanding job with us all weekend.


This is Gabrielle, daughter of Briget Nicholson (pastor at First, Tucson). She was there throughout the weekend, and provided many of us with needed respite from the many tasks we were charged with undertaking.


And here is Donna Gentry, who with Barbara Nordlund co-chaired the local arrangements crew. She is adorned in a beautiful dress bought by her granddaughter Katrina when she was on a visit in Africa (Katrina is our newly called Youth and Outdoor Ministries Coordinator). Donna and Barbara deserve a LOT of thanks from all of us. They were the glue that held this whole weekend together.

Annual Meeting, Continued

WE got our first glimpse yesterday of this past weekend's Annual Meeting.

Here are a few other glimpses as the week moves forward:

Here is a picture of Janice Talley, youth participant in the softball game and throughout the weekend - she has a spirit of spunk about her that is delightful, and now her sister isn't the only one from the Talley family to make the blog.


Here is a picture of the beloved Dosia Carlson, who accompanied us in Saturday's worship service as we sang her Hymn, "Holy Hospitality." It fit our theme so beautifully. One gentleman, who grew up in the Indiana/Kentucky Conference, talked about going to camp as a young man and singing songs written by Dosia - and now he is a member of the Oro Valley church, and was present as their delegate to sing this Hymn written by her.


And here is a picture of Barbara Doerrer-Peacock and MichaelAnn Verizoglu - two women who have had a deep and lasting impact on the lives of our youth and children. They were asked by the youth members of the Worship Planning team to preside over Communion on Saturday - it was a stirring moment.

What a Week!

You may have noticed it has been a while since I last posted. Well, I've - we've - been busy.

Annual Meeting was held this past weekend, and I am exhausted and exhilirated at the same time. It was Incredible. Each day this week I will post pics and stories - it will take that long to cover it all.

So, here's the first installment. Look for more to come throughout the next week.

We start with a picture of the youth softball team. They gave it good shot, and look so graceful in defeat, don't they?


Here we see Katherine Harts, dancing to the Theme song composed by Sandy Champion. I am not ashamed to say I cried through this whole thing - it was stirring.


And speaking of Sandy Champion, here she is fronting the Studio Jazz Band, who played at our closing worship. They are incredibly gifted musicians, and their renderings of our worship pieces added a real touch of class.


We have only just begun to tell the story of a remarkable weekend. Stay tuned.

Shadow Rock...

The band played




The choir sang,




And before you know it, the pastor was installed.




Congratulations to the Rev. Kenneth Heintzelman and the good people at Shadow Rock United Church of Christ on a glorious day, and on the Installation of their pastor. May it please God to bless them on this journey.

Been a while since I posted, but....

...was it worth it?

You be the judge.





I spent the better part of this week in Northern Idaho with no wifi, on the shores of Lake Couer d'Alene. It was, um, gorgeous.

Now, you ask, what's a guy like me doing in a place like Couer d'Alene, ID?

Well, all the Solo Conference Ministers got together to whine.

No, they didn't. They got together to talk about strategies for improving our mission and ministry. We face a very different, and challenging, set of circumstances by undertaking Conference work without ACMs, and rather than whine about it we thought we would get together and build strategy. Take a close look, that is what I am doing here:


And that is what Mike is doing here:


As you can see, we got a lot of good work done. Well, maybe you can't see it, but we did.

Worship Planning Team

Last night, the Worship Planning Team for the Annual Meeting met at Scottsdale Congregational United Church of Christ.

It's hard to beleive that we are just a few short weeks away. I am getting very excited.

This is a team with a lot of creative energy, and as we sat to creat the services of worship I found myself eager with anticipation.

Around the circle are Alofonso and Luis from TOX ministries, a new church start nested at Church of the Beatitudes; two youth, Ted from Encanto Church and Travis from Shadow Rock church; Barbara Nordlund and Sandy Champion from Scottsdale; and Brian Gruhn, our Interim Youth Director.

See you in a couple weeks!

Financial Development Task Force

I certainly don't mean to suggest that the wheels of church bureaucracy move slowly, but when I arrived back in June there was talk in the minutes of the Board of forming a Financial Task Force.

We helped to clarify the mission and direction of such a Task Force, renamed it the Financial Development Task Force, and began finding just the right people to serve on it.

They met this afternoon for the first time. They are pictured above: Bruce Fisher from Oro Valley, and with him his pastor Jim Briney; Brent Smith, our SWC Treasurer (soon to be our ex-Treasurer - we cry over this, he rejoices); Nancy Splain from Church of the Good Shepherd; Holly Herman, our Office Manager; and Joanne Vredenberg from Desert Heritage.

This is a good group. We focused on our mission, our task: developing strategies for funding the Mission of the Southwest Conference.

And we diverged a bit from the task to, as Nancy put it, build relationship.

I look forward to working closely with these chosen leaders, and to shaping a comprehensive fund development strategy that will ensure that the Mission we feel called to share is not compromised by our inability to fund that mission.

Quite a Weekend!

My weekend began with Polity Class - sorry, no pics this time.

From there I drove to Sierra Vista for the Installation of Rev. Pat Dickson. I heard so many of her members tell me how much good she is doing for that church, and how blessed they are to have her. Here she is celebrating after the service of Installation with her new church family.


From there, an early morning drive saw me catching a sunrise over the mountains on my way to Las Cruces.


Once in Las Cruces, Lee Albertson and I met with leaders from the First Christian church to open up dialogue about Dual Affiliation. We lift them up in prayer as they discern whether or not this is where the Spirit is leading them. Here is a picture of some of their leaders, including their pastor Linda Mervine.

Polity, yeah!!!!

Today I begin teaching the polity class for the Southwest Conference.

There are 15 students arriving in about 1/2 hour to learn about our history, our polity, and our theology.

I know it doesn't sound exciting - and it isn't. (Not like a World Series game, or Tiger making a putt on the 18th hole to win the Tournament, something he hasn't done for a week now.)

But it's important.

Our roots of unity, of ecumenism, of religious tolerance, of extravagant welcome run deep. They didn't just emerge.

Histories root those principles deep in our past.

Theologies root them deep in our faith.

And polity, structure, and our governance both reflect and preserve those defining characteristics.

I am proud to teach these lessons.

I am happy to know that there are those among us who feel the need to learn them.

And I am confident that because of this, small steps will be taken to ensure that the church that has emerged through the Generations will, in whatever new shape it takes in the coming generations, carry forward with the same zeal for mission, for love, and for faith.