TJ CONNECTION
Thomas Jefferson District
Unitarian Universalist Association
June 24 UUA-sponsored conference on giving: "From the Myth of Scarcity to the Reality of Abundance." Salt Lake City, Utah, For further information, contact Alan Kleinfeld (akleinfeld@uua.org) or Mary Miles (mmiles@uua.org).
June 24-June 29 UUA General Assembly, Salt Lake City, Utah
July 25-31 Leadership School, The Mountain;
¨ SUUSI, Radford University, Radford, VA
October 8-9 Fall Leadership Conference, UU Fellowship of Hendersonville, NC. Keynote speaker, Bill Murry, President, Meadville/ Lombard Theological School.
October 8-10 Fall Carolina Spirit Quest, Shelter Neck, NC, Link to http://www.rtpnet.org/~csquest
Comings and Goings...
For information about the UU Migrant Ministry to farm worker families in the South contact Rev. Robert Murphy, 252-808-3847.
The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center was featured in USA Today, April 2, along with 10 other spiritual retreat centers, in a review of Sanctuaries: A Guide to Lodgings in Monasteries, Abbeys, and Retreats by Jack and Marcia Kelly.
The TJ District Young Adult/Campus Ministry Committee is compiling a list of young adult and campus ministry groups in the District. Contact Christine Gresser at cgresser@cstone.net or (804) 963-0772.
Restoration work has begun on the 1851 Unitarian Chapel in Savannah, GA, funded by the Beehive Foundation. It was purchased two years ago by the UU Church of Savannah.
Martha Shore of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, VA and Wendell Putney, of the UU Church of Greensboro, NC were appointed as Compensation Consultants. They are available to all TJ District congregations for help in structuring ministerial compensation packages.
The Rev. Julie Denny-Hughes will be the new minister at the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC; the Rev. Christine Brownlee will take over the pulpit at the UU Fellowship of the New River in Blacksburg, VA; and the Rev. David Nash-Williams will be the next minister of the Oak Ridge (TN) UU Church. Rev. Barry Whittemore is the new half-time minister to the Holston Valley UU Church in Gray, TN, and Rev. Kirk Ballin will serve the First Unitarian Church of Lynchburg,VA part-time. Several new interim ministers have been identified: Rev. Liz McMaster at the UU Church of Roanoke, VA, Rev. Kathy Rolenz at the UU Community Church of Glen Allen, VA, and Rev. Walter Braman will serve a second year at the UU Fellowship of Fredricksburg, VA. Rev. Rolfe Gerhardt has accepted a call to Rockland, ME and announced his departure from the First UU Church of Richmond, VA. Rev. Don Beaudreault, current interim minister at the Oak Ridge, TN UU Church, has been called to the Sarasota, FL Church.
The UU Fellowship of the Rappahanock in Kilmarnock, VA held its charter service on May 2. The UUs of Transylvania County, NC plan bimonthly services at Brevard College, with the Rev. Gary Heinman preaching once a month. New congregations are forming in Asheville and Charlotte, NC and Beaufort, SC.
The building boom in the TJ District continues, with projects at the UU Church of Asheville, NC, the Eno River UU Fellowship in Durham, NC, the UU Fellowship of the Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk, NC, the UU Fellowship of Statesboro, GA, the UU Fellowship of Fredericksburg, VA, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, the Community Church of Chapel Hill, NC, the UU Church of Augusta, GA, the UU Community Church of Glen Allen, VA, and the First Unitarian Church of Lynchburg, VA. The Piedmont UU Church in Charlotte, NC voted to purchase the property next door to their new building for $165,000.
Sharon Robles has been chosen to represent the TJ District on the SUUSI Board.
Rev. Carl Bretz and Rosemary Burns of the
Oak Ridge (TN) UU Church will take over as the Ministerial Settlement Representatives
of the TJ District.
| Roger Comstock Bids Farewell to
TJ District
To all my friends in the TJ District: This is to say goodbye, and thanks for the wonderful opportunity you have offered me to serve each of your congregations over the past 14 years. Many nice things were said at the goodbye party hosted by the board at the Annual Meeting, but I want you to know that working with all of you has been the highlight of my working life. I could not have asked for a greater challenge, or a greater chance to grow personally. You have been a great and forgiving group of people to work with. I am very proud of what we together have been able to accomplish. Keep up the good work. I will miss you. But, I’m not that far away. I’ll still be available
for personal correspondence on e-mail at rcomstock@aol.com.
Our address and phone in Maine are: 65 West Elm Street, Yarmouth, ME 04096
; 207-846-4846. Give us a call when you head our way. Thanks for being
the great group of people you are.
|
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP PLANNED FOR NEXT YEAR
With the support of SEUUMA and the ministers of seven
of our congregations, the TJ District has arranged a workshop on Conflict
Management to be held in Greenville, SC, March 24-26, 2000. The presenters
will be Helen Bishop and Nancy Bowen, District Executives of Central Midwest
District and Central Massachusetts/Connecticut Valley Districts, respectively.
Our ministers had a chance to preview this workshop at the spring meeting
of SEUUMA and found it very worthwhile. Congregations are expected to send
a team of at least four people, including the minister. Save the dates
and watch the TJ Connection for more details as they develop.
ANTI-RACISM TEAM READY
TO GET TO WORK
After three intensive training sessions totaling 9 full days and evenings, the TJ District Anti-Racism Team is ready to get to work on their effort of assisting congregations in the District on their "journey to wholeness" by sending teams to conduct a ninety-minute introductory workshop.
The members of the Anti-Racism Team first met as a group in January, 1998 in Columbia, SC, where they were introduced to trainers from CrossRoads Ministry and to each other. According to Myrtle Hepler, TJ District Board liaison, "The most memorable activity of the day for me was our introductions to each other because we were coming from such a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Some of us had been active in the 60's Civil Rights Movement (on both sides, incidentally), and some of us were not even born by that decade. Others who were old enough to be aware of the Movement had not been aware."
In subsequent training sessions at the Summit, near Greensboro, NC, they were given the assignment of defining racism, which proved to be a controversial task, and analyzing individual, institutional, and cultural racism. According to Hepler, "We began with a Wall of History to discover what we knew and did not know about the history of racism in the Western Hemisphere. We wrote on a wall covered with newsprint and then walked around and talked and sang and cried about that history. We also had to decide as individuals where each of us felt that our own congregation was on the continuum of becoming an anti-racist, multicultural congregation.
This was later followed by the difficult task of applying the analysis: exploring the racism in structures of the TJ District and its congregations and organizing the Team to begin the work of dismantling racism wherever they recognized it. The Team developed a twenty-year vision and a thirty-year plan.
In order to encompass the large geographical area of the TJ District the 35 members are divided into groups coordinated by the following individuals: East, Linda Brooks, Eno River UU Fellowship, Durham, NC; West, Elandria Williams, Tennessee Valley UU Church, Knoxville, TN; South, Paul Johnson, UU Church of Savannah, GA; North, Linda Berry, UU Church of Norfolk, VA (Chairperson); People of Color Caucus, Leslie Takahashi Morris, Eno River UU Fellowship/All Souls Church, UU, Durham, NC; and TJ Board Liaison, Myrtle Hepler, UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC. They further divided into working groups including the following: Organization, Strategy and Implementation, and Internal Spiritual and Organizational Strength. In addition, the Team replaces the former Racial Justice Committee in the District with responsibility for the Annual Anti-Racism Conference.
They will meet again in October, 1999, when two members of the UUA Faith in Action department will provide them with an overview of the multiple diversity and anti-racism resources available through the UUA.
Each congregation was sent a letter giving an overview
of the A-R Team history and plans, including a request for the name, address,
phone and e-mail numbers of a person in the congregation who will be the
Team's contact. Members of the Team are ready and eager to begin the work
the have trained so long and hard to do. They urge you to invite them to
help your congregation to get started on "the journey toward wholeness."
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