Hello August which for most of us it is the beginning of Carbon County Fair Week (a big deal for this part of Wyoming and for the Wasingers in Rawlins). I am coming off a great week of vacation and had a productive week in Ministry Development throughout this region. A quick glance around the County looks like this … St. Thomas (Rawlins) has worked hard through the month of July and is taking a well earned break from the business end of the church for recreation; St. James (Encampment) has been enjoying the summer and is now fully engaged with fair activities; St. Paul (Dixon) working through haying season and is moving toward fair week with enthusiasm; St. Luke (Medicine Bow) is working to support the local museum through the summer months. I hope this letter finds you well.
Before I move into up-dating people about the past week I want people to notice the picture of Alexis. Yup that is a rainbow trout that she caught by herself during our vacation two weeks ago. It is 17 inches long and she is planning on eating it with my folks in a couple of week in Colorado Springs. Alexis is quite a fisherwoman!
Last Monday I returned from vacation and jumped right back into the waters of the church by taking the plunge into the Summer Bible Café reflection at St. Paul’s in Dixon. They have now completed 2 Chronicles (the 14th book in the Bible) and will be reading Ezra for next week. They have been gathering faithfully for the past couple of years every other Monday to share what they have read, ask the community questions about what they read, and share food afterwards. It is a good time to laugh and read the bible one book at a time.
Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Casper for a face to face Ministry Developer meeting. The first day we learned about using WebEx a platform similar to Adobe Connect in which we can conduct meetings on-line. The Diocese of Wyoming has been graciously been extended support from EDS
in allowing us to use their Adobe Connect platform, but is now time for Wyoming to stand on their own technological feet. So, for those who have been using Adobe Connect to meet on-line keep an eye out for changes that will be taking place in the weeks and months to come. Also the Ministry Developers were given “soft phones” as another effective tool for communication throughout the Diocese. More details on how that works will be coming out in the weeks and months to come. We wrapped up Tuesday activities by spending the evening at Kathy Robinson’s wonderful house for dinner.
Wednesday the Ministry Developers worked on scenarios. The purpose of this work was to think ahead for about 10 years and tell stories around different themes. The themes that we talked about were evolution of the Diocese, a revolution within the Diocese, a win/lose situation in the Diocese, and a challenge and response in the Diocese. The exercise generated great insights in regards to our work as Ministry Developers and I think it has clarified the work ahead. It has me thinking about the future in a more proactive way.
On Thursday I spend the morning at Kraft Hall summarizing the scenario work. That afternoon I sat down with Karen Buckingham of St. Thomas (Rawlins) to plan out our work for the coming months. Warren Frelund called me that afternoon and requested that he change his visit to St. Paul’s (Dixon) on Sunday and he was able to work out the details. What that meant for me was that I had to regroup quickly and write a sermon on Saturday. No problems when it comes to working with St. Paul they simply roll with the events.
Sunday I was at St. Paul’s in Dixon and Olivia came along. She requested that she light the candles and then she went into the parish hall to color and make pictures. The church was full of familiar faces which were nice considering that the Valley is in the middle of haying season and working hard to put up the hay for the winter months. When it was time to distribute the bread and wine, Olivia ran up to the doorway between the church and the parish hall took communion and then ran back to her table. What an image to keep in mind … a child running to be fed by God’s blessing with a smile on their face.
Looking forward to upcoming week is starts on Monday with a Gospel Reflection time at St. Thomas (Rawlins) beginning @ 9am. At 10:30 am Andy and I are going to woodshed WebEx for about an hour to learn more about how to make
this technology work for us rather us working for the technology! Tuesday will be my planned day off for the week and I am planning on going fishing again in the Snowies. Wednesday I have the weekly web/phone meeting with the Ministry Developers and that evening @ 6pm I will be on another web/phone meeting with the Evangelism team of Wyoming. Thursday I will be heading to St. John’s (Green River) for a Wade in the Water – Session 5 starting @ 6:30 pm. Friday will be a day to catch up on all the other items that I missed throughout the week. Saturday is the Pre-Convention meeting and for Region 4 we will be meeting in Laramie starting at noon. This up-coming Sunday I will be presiding at St. Thomas (Rawlins) @ 9:30 am.
Be well my friends and enjoy fair week!
Doug
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