TJ CONNECTION
Thomas Jefferson District
Unitarian Universalist Association
Dates to Remember
Feb. 5-7 10th Anti-Racism Conference, Greenville, SC
Keynote speaker: outgoing TJ District UUA Trustee, Dr. Leon Spencer
¨ 1999 Senior High Con, Charlotte, NC
Feb. 18-21 Winter Institute, Madison, WI
Contact: Ellen Dodge Severson, 773-753-3178; severson@meadville.uchicago.edu or Kenneth Olliff at kolliff@meadville.uchicago.edu
Feb. 25-28 Revival! Creating an Inclusive Christianity for the Next Century, First UU Church of New Orleans. Information at www.uua.org/uucf or write to UUCF, P.O. Box 629, Lancaster, MA 01523
Feb. 26-28 Junior High Con, The Mountain
Feb. 27 Church Management Seminar, Clemson
March 6 Church Management Seminar, Chapel Hill
April 5-8 SEUUMA, The Mountain
April 9-10 TJ District Annual Meeting, Williamsburg, VA, Keynote speaker, Roger Comstock
April 17 10th Biennial Liberal Religious Roundtable, "Fairness Under The Law". UU Fellowship of Hendersonville, NC. Contact: Fred Harris, 828-697-7966, harris@ioa.com
April 30 - May 2 1999 Conclave, co-sponsored by Congregational, District and Extension Services and the RE depts. in Boston at the renovated Pickett / Eliot houses. Contact: Rev. Jeannellen Ryan 617-742-2100 x376; jryan@uua.org
May 14-16 Workshop on Growth for Small Congregations, Greensboro, NC
May 24-26 RE Retreat
May 27-31 ACESS Retreat, The Mountain
June 24-June 29 UUA General Assembly, Salt Lake City, Utah
July 25-31 Leadership School, The Mountain;
¨ SUUSI, Radford University, Blacksburg, VA
Comings and Goings...
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Hillsborough held its first Sunday service on January 10 in their new building. The Greater Nashville UU Congregation also moved into a new facility the same day. Expansion is underway at Greensboro, Eno River, Lynchburg and Outer Banks. Hendersonville and Statesboro purchased property. Plans for expansion are on the agenda at Glen Allen, Wilmington, Fredricksburg, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Piedmont, Asheville and Augusta. The TJ District will likely continue to be the fastest growing in UUA.
The Unitarian Church in Charleston ordained Rev. Edmund Heyward Robinson on January 10.
Myrtle Hepler of the UU Fellowship of Raleigh was appointed by the TJ District Board to be their liaison to the Anti-Racism Coordinating Council.
Regina Burton died of lung cancer at 7:30 AM, Tuesday, January
5. She served the TJ District Board as Secretary, edited the UCONCI newsletter
Tarheel; was very active in the Red Hill Church (Clinton, NC); and
was active in the operation of Shelter Neck. A memorial service was held
for her on January 8. A contribution in her name may be sent to the Red
Hill Universalist Church, 7301 Taylors Bridge Hwy, Clinton, NC 28328, or
to a charity of your choice. Please inform her father George Burton (PO
Box 287, Clinton, NC 28329-0287) of your memorial gift. Former TJD President
Mason Moseley remembered Regina Burton as "one of those people
who single-handedly can move mountains."
TENTH TJ DISTRICT ANTI-RACISM CONFERENCE OFFERED IN GREENVILLE, SC
The theme of the Tenth Annual TJ District Anti-Racism Conference to be held at the Greenville UU Fellowship, Greenville SC, February 5-7 will be "Towards Transformation: the Journey Continues". Dr. Leon Spencer, out-going TJ District UUA Trustee and Professor of Counseling at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia, will be the keynote speaker. He was recently awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Meadville Lombard Divinity School. He will be joined by a panel of persons of color who will discuss their "Soulful Journeys".
Three blocks of workshops have been planned, with one for all attendees, and four choices for the other two time slots. They including "Managing Diversity for Organizational Performance" by Fred Hobby, the Director of Diversity Programs for the Greenville Hospital Systems, "How to be a White Ally" by Rev. Chester McCall and David Takahashi Morris, and "What It Means to be White" by Tracey Robinson-Harris of the Faith in Action Department of the UUA. One of the workshop choices will be to see a film, The Way Home, showing 64 women representing a cross-section of cultures in America who came together to share their experiences of oppression through the lens of race. This will be followed by a discussion led by Bob Gross and Linda Berry, members of the TJ District Anti-Racism Team. Contact Myrtle Hepler at 919-781-3479 or myhep@mindspring.com or Brenda Rutledge at 864-244-6047.
CHURCH MANAGEMENT SEMINARS RETURN
Two of the popular Church Management Seminars will be held February 27 in Clemson, SC and on March 6 in Chapel Hill, NC. Each seminar will consist of four workshops, held concurrently. Workshops on leadership, religious education, finance and fund raising, and worship will be offered at each seminar.
Sessions start promptly at 10 AM (with registration open at 9AM) and will end by 4:30 PM. This allows participants to drive to and from the event in one day. Our hope is that you will load up one or two cars with enough people from your congregation to cover all the workshops. The fee, which includes lunch, is $25 for the first two participants from a congregation, $10 for all others. Registration materials and directions will be mailed to each congregation in January. Pre-registration is required in order to provide for child care and to have an accurate meal count.
WORKSHOP PLANNED FOR SMALL CONGREGATIONS
A workshop on growth for small congregations will be offered in Greensboro, NC by the UUA Extension Department, May 14-16, facilitated by Kathy Wimett of Glen Allen, VA and Jeri Moulder, from California. This popular workshop for teams of church leaders will focus on dynamics and characteristics of small congregations, four types of growth that are possible in every church and strategies for growth. Learn how to assess your congregation's readiness, current strengths and challenges. For more information, contact the office.
The Best Newsletter Award will be presented at the 1999 Annual Meeting in Williamsburg, VA, April 9-10. To compete, send one copy of your church newsletter to the TJ District Communications Chair, Paula Robbins, 43 Vermont Ct., A-3, Asheville NC 28806.
Notes from the District President
Linda Lane-Hamilton, TJD President
There's homework coming your way to prepare your delegates for the 1999 TJ District Annual Meeting, Williamsburg, VA, April 9-10. Presidents, secretaries and ministers will receive packets that represent major work of the TJD Board and you in the District who have given us help and feedback over the past several years.
For Annual Meeting 1999, the TJD Board suggests:
1. A budget for next year that does not increase dues but that maintains our commitment to the District's religious education professional and to the Anti-Racism program.
2. A long-range plan that continues these commitments and others, and a 5-year projected budget which maintains the current level of district dues for two years and raises dues only once during that five-year period.
3. A revision of the bylaws, which have not been substantially changed since 1988, except for elimination of two obsolete sections at the 1998 Annual Meeting.. We have done stage 1 of bylaws revision to correct inaccuracies and eliminate material that would be better in a future Policies and Procedures manual. We anticipate a stage 2 revision for content and philosophy in the near future (with input from you).
4. Information about the RE Consultant position. Members of our district RE committee have been serving as RE Consultant for the past two years. We propose moving to a halftime consultant in two years, a position under active discussion jointly with the UUA and The Mountain.
5. Information about the Anti-Racism Task Force. We now have over 30 people in our district trained to help your local congregations with antiracism awareness and work. In fact, your training team is close to you--with four clusters of trainers grouped geographically.
Other District news is available by e-mail at listproc@uua.org.with message:
Thomas Jefferson District Office:
9704 Mallard Creek Road, Charlotte NC 28262
Phone: 704-549-0750; fax: 704-549-0751
District Executive: Roger Comstock,
Rcomstock@uua.org
District Administrator: Krissa Palmer, KrissaTJD@aol.com
President: Linda Lane-Hamilton, llaneham@widomaker.com