TJ Connection - Fall 2003

Table of Contents

Fall Leadership Conference

District President’s Column

Qiyamah’s Corner

Don't Sleep on the Dream

District Calendar

Lifespan Religious Education

Preparations and the new life and energy of the new program year….that's how I think of congregation life each August and September. And though I am no longer immersed in the preparations for the new program year as a part of a congregation staff team, how well I remember the 12 years of such preparations!

This is a good time of year to remember:

1) SENSIBLE PACING-Much energy and time go into careful planning and preparations for the new program year, and we must be intentional about pacing ourselves to sustain the energy through the year. For professional and paid staff, this means to take time out for self care and with family and friends. For lay leaders and volunteers, this means not to try and do so much now that you're feeling burned out by February.

2) ONGOING PLANNING-After the big energy burst needed to begin the new program year, it is easy to think we can put off the planning for the next set of major events. Think proactively and strategically about the important planning needs on an ongoing basis, for as we all know, it doesn't take long for the various urgent, but less important, matters to clutter our thinking and for unanticipated crises and conflicts to crowd our schedules.

3) CELEBRATE BLESSINGS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS-In the flurry of activity at the start of the new program year, we often forget to take stock of what we have accomplished in the year prior, and in the vital qualities, assets and relationships with which our congregations are currently blessed. May we find many opportunities to celebrate, for our communities are strengthened when we are collectively aware and appreciative of our blessings and accomplishments.

Best Wishes to you and your community this glorious time of year,

Laurel

NEW ONLINE COURSES FOR CONGREGATION LEADERS available through the Mountain's Learning Center for Leadership, coming this fall!

~How to Take an Online Course, week-long courses between Sept 8-Dec 15, $50, Helen Bishop, Instr.
~Volunteer Management, Sept 15-Oct 20, $175 pp, Laurel Amabile, Instructor.
~How Church Systems Work, Oct 3- Nov 14 and Nov 17-Dec 22, $175 pp, Helen Bishop, Instructor.
~Media Relations & Publicity 101, Oct 27-Nov 24, $175 pp, Laurel Amabile, Instructor.

For more info and online registration, visit: www.mountaincenters.org/lcl_online.html

Thomas Jefferson District Religious Education Lending Library
Update August 2003

CHECK OUT THESE NEW TITLES IN OUR DISTRICT RE LENDING LIBRARY: To view entire catalog of resources and make requests online, visit: http://tjd.uua.org/re/relibcat02.htm
Michael Angel, RE Lending Librarian.

Adult Religious Education Policies & Procedures by the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond, Virginia, Julie Goldman, Acting Director of Religious Education.
Articulating Your UU Faith: A Five-Session Course by Barbara Wells and Jaco B. ten Hove, (2003).
Can Our Church Live? Redeveloping Congregations in Decline by Alice Mann, (1999).
Congregational Canvass Consultant Program Manual by Fia Scheyer, (1994).
From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller, (1995).
Guide for Facilitators by Robert M. Sarly, (1999).
JLA at Home: Conversations with James Luther Adams directed and edited by George Kimmich Beach, (videotape, 90 minutes, with six 15-minute segments).
The Living Legacy of Ralph Waldo Emerson by the Emerson Bicentennial Committee, Unitarian Universalist Association, (2003).
The Premise & The Promise: The Story of the Unitarian Universalist Association by Warren R. Ross, (2001).
Soulful Sundown: Re-Imagining Unitarian Universalist Worship for Young Adults by Marlin Lavanhar, (1998).
Super Heroes by Gaia Brown, (2002). 2 Copies.
Together Time: A Sourcebook of Ideas for Intergenerational Worship, edited by Abby L. W. Crowley, EdD, (2001).
Toolbox for our Daughters, A, by Annette Geffert and Diane Brown, (2000).
Treasure Hunting--Take Two by Ellen Schneider and Gaia Brown, (2003).
Turnaround Strategies for the Small Church by Ron Crandall, (1995).
What You Will See Inside a Mosque by Alisha Karen Khan, photographs by Aaron Pepis (2003).
Who is in This Picture? Making Visible the Cultural Racism in a Selection of Judeo-Christian Art: An Anti-Racism Project by Rebecca Stevens, Spartanburg UU Church, (2001).