Letters to the Churches of Carbon County - Dec 21 2009

December 21, 2009

And then there was four days before Christmas and the Ministry Developer in Region 4 took a deep breath, let it out, and found that he was excited about the possibilities of the coming year. What has taken place this past week? Four web/phone meetings, a Ministry Support Meeting at St. Thomas in Rawlins, and three services throughout Regions four and five. I hope this letter finds you well.

When I last wrote it was in the AM of December 15, 2009 and there is not much to report on what I did on Tuesday other than tie up a couple of loose ends with the up-coming Ethics on-line course, putting together an agenda for the Ministry Support Team meeting at St. Thomas and a web/phone call with the Evangelism Team. The Evangelism Team is building of a basic theological reflection model through story telling and listening which asks two questions: Who are the people God’s family? and How do they show God’s activity? We are now currently looking at hospitality and the reflection questions are: Where is there inclusivity and exclusivity taking place? We also discovered that people of the church are creatures of habit and when we changed the night that we gathered it was mostly overlooked. A perhaps it could be that it is December and our lives get busy with extra activities.

Wednesday was an all day web/phone meeting with the Ministry Developers. In the past the Ministry Developers would meet face to face ten times a year, however, with the cost of travel on the uptick we have discovered and becoming quite competent in using “webinar” technology to meet. We will continue to have face to face meetings, but they will take place about three to four times a year. During our meeting this past Wednesday we shared our up-coming goals for 2010, up-dates on the Apostolic Team meetings, final touches on an on-line Ethics course with EDS, and got a report from Andy on using technology to connect the Diocese more efficiently in the coming year. We also received a report that the Wyoming Wilderness Camp will be open in 2010 as they (Foundation, Counsel, and other organizations in the Diocese) continue to work on the water and sewer issues. That evening we had a Regional Rep and Ministry Developer web/phone meeting that included items about the Bishop search, technology implementation goals, report on Evangelism, and general check in.

Thursday I work in office in the morning and that night I met with the Ministry Support Team of Rawlins. We discussed up-coming goals for 2010 to be shared with the vestry who met after our meeting. I was on my forth web/phone meeting of the week which was the Wyoming Wilderness Camp programming group in which we discussed dates for the “core” programming that primary focus on the Episcopal population and then talked about how to engage other organizations throughout the state and even on the national level.

Friday I was in Laramie working on my personal project and met with Pat. I was able to help Pat trouble shoot a technology issue and learn a bit more on how to be a resource with others in helping them use WebEx. Pat also purchased a head-set for his computer and we tested it to see how it works.

Sunday was a full day that covered two different regions throughout the Southern half of the state. My day started at Fort Bridger in St. David’s. I should have known that I was going to experience an increase in attendance due to the families gathering for Christmas. I was able to spend a couple of minutes after the service and enjoyed “coffee hour.” Then I arrived at St. John’s in Green River for an 11 am service. I was blessed with the beautiful sounds of children singing and the attendance was again doubled due to more families attending. I arrived in Dixon around 4:45 pm for a 5pm service at St. Paul’s. The fellowship was rich and Linda said it was a nice experience with the “dark church being lit up by the wonderful candles”. Yup the light of the world is coming and we all can rejoice!

The upcoming two weeks looks like this … I have two services on Christmas Eve starting at St. Paul’s in Dixon at 4pm. The second service will be in Rawlins at St. Thomas. Jess Smith will be presiding at St. Luke’s in Medicine Bow this year. I am thankful that we can now provide Christmas Eve services to most of our congregations throughout the state! What a gift. I will be on vacation after Christmas Eve and will return to “normal” work on Tuesday of next week. Keep an eye out for the love of Christ! And have a Merry Christmas!