Thursday, October 29, 2009

back after a week away...

On Saturday last, I was in Albuquerque for the retired clergy luncheon. Pictured here are Ernie Dunn:

and Olive Hinnant and Francis Rath. We are grateful to First Congregational UCC in Albuquerque for hosting us and providing the feast.


From there I went to Ghost Ranch in Abiquii, New Mexico for the clergy retreat. First, a few pix from my hikes around the spectacular grounds that are Ghost Ranch. Wow!




And now, a few pix of the clergy while on retreat:




What an amazing time this was - the spirit was alive. I am grateful for the place and the people that made this retreat a special one.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Cameron comes to town...


When I picked her up at the airport on Monday, I knew we were in for a great time.

Cameron is simply to best when it comes to establishing the necessary steps for church growth.

On Tuesday, she spent the entire day with our Church Growth and Development Committee, which has been anxious to stop talking and start doing. Because of her guidance, we are not only ready to do, we know what to do and we are excited about it.

On Wednesday, we did a consult in the morning with a couple key members of the Growth Committee - on the golf course. (You didn't think I would fly her all the way out here, use her for four days, and not let her have some fun here in the Valley of the Sun, now, did you?)

Later that afternoon, we drove up North to Prescott and spent some time with key leaders in their church about strategies for growing their membership.

And finally, a group of congregational leaders met on Thursday morning at Encanto UCC to talk about how they can grow their membership.

I'll say this - Cameron doesn't waste our time. I wrote a small book just taking notes from her presentations, and can't wait to put into effect what I learned.

We thank her, and look forward to her next trip.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Another Full Weekend

Ok, I took a lot of pictures this weekend, and I won't be able to share all of them with you in the space I have here. But I'll give you a taste of what was a full and fun weekend.

It started with the leadership workshops in Tucson.

Here are our youth singing a new meal prayer for us that they had just written, sung to the tune of the theme from Spiderman:



Here are Lee Milligan and Peggy Ice. Lee was the host pastor, and ran himself crazy trying to meet all our needs - some of which just cropped up in the moment and needed immediate responses. He was great.


Sunday morning, I went to Black Mountain Community Church. Sorry, no pix. Forgot the camera. But had a great time - good worship, good food, and good conversation.

Then yesterday afternoon, I presided at the Ordination of Kristen Barner, pictured here with Liana Rowe - a couple of rebels, to be sure.


After the ordination, held at Shepherd of the Hills United Church of Christ, the whole church left for Kristen's house where the real fun broke out. Here are Steve and Denny singing the Shehpherd Church Blues:



Start to finish, this was a good weekend. I sure love what I do!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Interfaith Power and Light

At a banquet last night calling the religious community to take the lead in the struggle to maintain a healthy planet earth, I took the following pictures of some of the Phoenix area religious leaders:






I was invited to share a few sentences about the Christian tradition's commitment to care for the environment. Here is what I said:
"One of the fundaments, if not the fundament, of Western Law is the right to own or to possess. When the law is built to support such a principle, remarkably it justifies the genocide of a people seen as an impediment to the desire to own a land to which the people belong. The Christian tradition offers some words as a corrective to that. The first are these from Jesus: "the whole law can be summed up in this, that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength - and your neighbor as yourself:" reminding us that if the law is to support God's vision of Shalom, then it will be based not on our right to possess but our capacity to love. The second is this rubric from the Psalms: "The Earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof."

Monday, October 12, 2009

Silver City, Shadow Rock, and Beatitudes

After returning home from New York (Pension Board meeting, and my first Broadway Play), I spent the remainder of the weekend:

presiding at the Ordination of Rev. Tyler Connelly at the Valley Community UCC in Silver City, New Mexico (in addition to Tyler's picture, our respective partners are also pictured - you know, the pastor's spouses):



Preaching two services at Shadow Rock United Church of Christ in Phoenix. The theme was from the landmark book, God the Economist by my old Systematics Professor, Doug Meeks:



and participating in the service of closure, ending the ministry of Rev. David Weaver at the Beatitudes Church and Campus:



What a full and absolutely delightful weekend! I think you can see from the smiles how much joy was experienced in the journey.

I love what I do, and thank you for the honor of sharing this fulfilling ministry with me.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Weekend Retreat in Sedona



I spent the weekend leading a retreat for the members of the Church of the Red Rocks, in Sedona. This is their pastor, George Ault. Ignore that hat he's wearing (Penn St.), and look instead at the jersey I'm wearing in the picture below (Mizzou).

I tell you, the bike ride from my hotel room to the State Park where the retreat was held was one of the toughest I have ever made - until I took the ride back from the State Park to the Hotel. Oy!

Anyway, as Church of the Red Rocks begins its 50th anniversary celebration, we gathered to think and pray about the coming years, and what that might mean. The weather was perfect, and the day was well spent.

Ever wonder what they feed this vegetarian when I go on these trips to our churches? Well, take a look...



In addition to the retreat, my son and I got some rock climbing in - after all, this is Sedona!



All in all, a pretty good weekend.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Oro Valley


I spent one morning this week with the Sabbatical Committee from Oro Valley.

Here Jim Briney, the pastor, goes over some fine points with one of the committee members.

They are doing this well in advance of the sabbatical leave, and are involving many members and leaders from the church in the planning process. It was an honor to share this time with them, and to see how seriously they are taking their preparations for this very important time.