A Full and Extended Weekend

We had the pleasure of spending the day with Dick Sparrow, Minister and Team Leader for the United Church of Christ's Parish Life and Leadership Team. Dick is a gem, and absolute delight. He came to do a training for our Committee on Church and the Ministry response teams, some of which are pictured here.


The weekend that followed included visits to Faith in Dewey:

to United Fellowship in Nogales:

to Church of the Good Shepherd in Sahaurita:

to First Congregational in Tucson:

to Casas Adobes search committee in Tucson:

And to Oro Valley in Oro Valley:

I'm glad to be back, but thoroughly enjoyed my trip.

A New Partner

The Committee on Church and Ministry held one of its eight regularly scheduled meetings yesterday. Among the business we undertook was the granting of Ministerial Partner Standing to the Rev. Deborah Clugy-Soto. Deb has been serving as the newly called pastor at Desert View United Church of Christ in El Paso. With Partner Standing, Deb now has full standing in the United Church of Christ. We are very pleased to welcome her into our fellowship, and hope and trust that in her time at Desert View both she and the church will blossom.

Justice and Witness

The Justice and Witness Committee met this morning, and did a lot of very good work.
They are finising up the work on their Conference-wide listening visits, and beginning the filter through all of the information that has come to us. Our churches are doing quite a bit, and pulling all of that together is a large task. But, the Committee is getting that done. They are also mapping out both their presentation for delegates at our annual meeting, and the future of Justice ministry in the Southwest Conference.

As you can see, we are making use of techno resources to save money and stay green - two big priorities. So, Ellen and Marcos joined us from El Paso...



And rather than mail them a document, we popped it up on our computer here and let them read it for themselves. Ain't we clever!

CCoV Retreat, Congregacianal Unida

I spent Friday evening helping lead a retreat for the members of Congregational Church of the Valley. Here are pictures of their Interim Minister, Phil Reller and another treasured colleague, Steve Wayles. Steve is the pastor at First Congregational UCC in Phoenix, and was there to talk about his experience revitalizing the ministry at First Church. It was a very good evening.




The following pictures are from my time in Albuquerque, specifically with Congregacional Unida. It was a delightful morning. I appreciated their laughter when, before my sermon, I told them "Mi espanol es no bueno." I enjoyed the richness of their worship, and the joy with which they shared their meal after our worship. And try as they might, they could not get their Pastor, Daniel Erdman, to eat one of the very hot habaneros that were offered - even after telling him it would help him grow hair. He is pictured here with some of his members, including Christopher Montano, who served on the Search Committee that called me here to the Southwest.

An Absolutely Delightful Evening...

Just look at the pictures. I really don't have to say a whole lot more.

I spent an immensely joyful afternoon and evening with the families of our Tempe Marshallese Congregational Church. Worship, dancing, singing, food, fellowship, laughter - all combined for a truly meaningful experience.

I was overwhelmed by their gracious hospitality, and entertained throughout by youth choirs, children's choirs, and dancing of all sorts.

I do also want to thank Keith and Ben and Brendan and Gordon who came with me from First Congregational in Phoenix, and who strengthened our commitment to building relationships between our covenant partners.

Enjoy the pictures.