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TJ Connection - Spring 2004

Table of Contents

Annual Meeting 2004

District President’s Column

Qiyamah’s Corner 

Ministerial Matters 

Lifespan REflections

Accepting Allies

Chalice Lighters

Thanks to all of TJD's 2003-2004 Fair Share Congregations

Religious Education News

Paying Our Dues: An Expectation of Membership

Is It Budget Time Again?

Thomas Jefferson District Communications Guide

Your Wild(e) Trustee's Report

UUA General Assembly - June 24-28 - Long Beach, CA

15th Annual Anti-Racism Conference Held

District Calendar

Staff Calendar

Chalice Lighters by Marjorie Gelbin, TJD Chalice Lighter Chair

Another record-breaking call has been completed with a check for $20,263 delivered to the Hillsborough, NC, congregation at the Leadership Conference in Norfolk, Va., October 2003. Steve Mahaly, Hillsborough Congregation President, and Jean-Michel Margot, Vice President, accepted the check on behalf of a grateful congregation and their new minister, The Rev. Robin Renteria.

The call letter for the new minister at the Unitarian Coastal Fellowship, Morehead City, NC, was mailed at the end of October. Please respond to this call with equal enthusiasm. With more than 2,000 Chalice Lighters, we should be able to realize more than $20,000 per call . . . but only if you respond!

The Chalice Lighter Committee met in Greensboro in December and prepared all 65 Chalice Lighter Canvass Packets for mailing in January. All Chalice Lighter Coordinators should have received their packets in order to present a Canvass Sunday and encourage new members to join this vital district program.

In addition to all of the resource material in the packets, we also have included the latest member list for updating. A continual problem for our mailings is the number of letters returned as undeliverable. We still have more than 100 incorrect addresses. Since the Chalice Lighter Coordinators are the only ones who know the changes in their congregations, we are asking them to please update their member lists and return them to the district office along with enrollment forms and evaluations as soon as your Canvass Sunday has been presented.

The Chalice Lighter Committee is continually encouraged by the commitment of so many UUs in the T.J. District to assist congregations financially.
The number of criteria has been increased in order to assist congregations more effectively. Following is a list of the criteria recently adopted by both the Chalice Lighter Committee and the T.J. District Growth & Development Council.

Check it out! Perhaps you, too, are now eligible for Chalice Lighter funds:
1) Calling a first Unitarian Universalist Minister (full- or part-time)
2) Buying; building; leasing long term (10 years or more); land purchase (including architectural
fees); expansion (to include accessibility); renovation of existing church home (including accessibility).
3) Establishment of Campus Ministry
4) Professional Staffing
A) First Director of Religious
Education/Minister of Religious Education
B) First Associate Minister
C) First Professional Administrator

Respectfully submitted,
Marjorie Gelbin, Chalice Lighter Committee Chair
T.J. District Growth & Development Council
PH:336-788-2551 E: maarje@msn.com