Out with the old, in with the new!

This is a day of much rejoicing!

Katrina Glenn, pictured here with Brian Gruhn, is now officially on staff and on site. Our brand new Youth and Young Adult Coordinator has begun her work here - and boy, howdy has she stepped into it. No time to waste as Camp season begins in just a few short weeks. We owe a big, BIG debt of gratitude to Brian, who kept out youth and camping ministries running during the Interim time. He will serve now as Katrina's Assistant for the camping season before he leaves in the Fall for Andover Newton.

Katrina - we welcome you, and with you all our hopes for a new, vibrant Youth and Outdoor Ministry here in the Southwest Conference.

And while we are saying hello to Katrina - the work and mission of the Conference moves forward.

Here we see Ray Gentry and Pete Norum,


and here Tina Squire and Kristy Jewell-Roth,


working hard under the watchful eye of this guy:


These are the members of our Church Growth and Development Committee. After the series of listening visits that happened throughout the Conference over the last two weeks, they met to process all that we heard. Watch for the next edition of In the Loop for their report on those visits.

That's all for now!

A Busy Weekend

On Thursday, Alissa Marquis - our SWC Moderator, travelled with John to Cleveland and spent the day talking about building a future for the Southwest Conference with none other than John Thomas. Also present for the day were Don Hill from the UCC Financial Development Office, Susan Towner-Larsen from the President's office, and Steve Sterner - the Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries.

On Saturday, John and Mimi travelled to Camp Mingus Springs (sorry, no pictures) and spent the day with family campers from Desert Palm UCC. At the end of the day, they drove home through Prescott and had dinner at Coyote Joe's, where Don Cheek and the Cheektones played on the back patio. Don is Pastor Jane Cheek's (First Congregational UCC in Prescott) husband. Jane even sang a couple songs with the band. What fun!


And today, John was in Tucson to spend the morning in worship with Church of the Painted Hills. Pictured here is Pastor Lee Milligan with one of the 'Domettes.' That is to say, three women who live in a geodesic dome. Cool, no?


I'm back home and plan on getting a little breather tomorrow, celebrating Memorial Day with the family.

This was too much fun...

There were peanuts and crackerjack in the fellowship hall...



Everyone wore their favorite jersey. Some, like the handsome guy here in the Cardinal jersey, showed real class. While others...


Like she in the Cubs jersey - well, some people just have no taste.



Anyway, after the choir opened the service with a rousing rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame,' we all spent the morning worshipping, rejoicing, and celebrating the recognition of First Congregational Prescott's newly Licensed pastor, Jane Cheek.

There is an air of enthusiasm and an infectious energy here that is renewing this historic congregation - the oldest in the Conference.

And its not every church that tells me to preach in my favorite jersey. Now THAT was fun!

We're going to Syond! - Well..., soon anyway

On Saturday, we had our final training event for the delegates to General Synod.

Michael Ann, Susan, Caryn, Alissa, Pat and Barbara were all there.

We missed Davin, but he was with us in Spirit and will be joining us when we take off.

We talked about the logistics of our travel and time away; about the process of discernment and actively listening for the Voice of God and the Movement of the Holy Spirit; we talked about resolutions and how they get handled on the floor and in Committee; we walked our way through the various proposals regarding the Principles of Single Governance models for the National Church.

I must say, we have a strong delegation.

Contact us in the Conference Office if you want a pre-Synod or post-Synod visit from one of our delegates.

CoCAM

Seated around the table with me this morning are the members of the Committee on Church and Ministry. They work hard - very hard. The work they do is often unnoticed, but my goodness is it essential.

But look hard - we are not alone around the table. Joining us for lunch and discussion are the pastor and lay leaders of First Christian Church of Las Cruces. We are engaging in conversation around First Christian's desire to Dually Affiliate with the United Church of Christ through the Southwest Conference.

As you can well imagine, these are joy-filled moments. We will take some time for prayerful discernment, and will ask our churches in Silver City and El Paso to partner with them through this time of discernment. We anticipate receiving them in full membership at next year's Annual Meeting.

Ain't this fun!!!

Meet some friends, old and new

On Thursday, I met with the Personnel Committee. This is a group that very little pay any attention to, but who work very hard and undertake some thankless yet indispensable tasks for the Southwest Conference.

Pictured here are the Rev. Barbara Doerrer-Peacock and Brendan Mahoney, our two new members who were with us for the first time,

and here we have our Chair Pat Dunn with our Secretary Donna Hallsten.


And on Saturday, Mimi and I spent a magnificent evening as the guests of Don Hart, the executive president of the United Church Foundations. He introduced us to the Arizona Broadway Theater in Peoria, as well as its owner and operator, Kiel (who used to sing in the choir with Don at Riverside Church in Manhattan). We saw their showing of 'Miss Singapore.' If you haven't found this little jewel here in the Valley, I highly recommend it.

Some time off...

After Annual Meeting, preaching at the National Week of Christian Unity, and teaching two days of Polity Class - I told my staff I was taking a break.

And so I did, um - am.

I won't show you everything, but here are some pix from my little time of respite.

This is Adam and I on the golf course:



And here I am on a long, long bike ride. AHHHHH. Did ok till the front axle fell off my trail bike about two miles into a desert/mountain trail. When I got home, I switched to my road bike and finished the sojourn.


Went home after that and took a long nap before helping my daughter buy her first piano - she was so proud.

Still more Annual Meeting...

Here is the Bailey Family - Jeremy worked as a gopher all weekend, while Glen ran the control room. With Dan Loven (not pictured), all tech stuff that kept us current and relevant throughout the weekend was handled by this crack crew of geeks.

Here I am proving I can keep my cool under pressure, and that I show the consummate respect for all people in authority. That's Richard Mitchell from Church of the Good Shepherd in Albuquerque doing the umpiring (in the New Mexico Hall of Fame for his work as an umpire, I'll have you know). Which begs the question: What in God's name was I thinking?!!!


And finally, what is an event, and what is my blog, without another picture of Melissa Talley - she's everywhere! And this weekend was no exception - so, here it is, another pic of Melissa. This is now an official Southwest Conference event.