ServiceI regularly attend regional and national UU gatherings and participate in the democratic processes of our tradition. I value connections with UU colleagues and communities, and have created several collegial support groups.
Here are some of my more notable efforts to serve Unitarian Universalism and my local community. |
After the installation of Rev. Nell Newton at the Amarillo UU Fellowship (2018). I delivered the Charge to the Congregation.
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Contributions to Our Faith
I support people in my local area and beyond, as they discern and pursue callings within the Unitarian Universalist tradition. In the past I served on the Collegiality Task Force of the Prairie Star Chapter of the UU Ministers Association.
At virtual G.A. 2021, co-presenting a workshop on Building A New Way.
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In 2021, it was a pleasure to co-deliver a program at General Assembly. I was joined by Dr. Sharon Welch, an activist, scholar of social ethics, and member of the Unitarian Universalist Peace Network, and by Dr. Michael Nagler, a scholar of Gandhi and the Founder and President of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education, presenting on Building A New Way: Action for Deep Change. The session explores the effectiveness of principled nonviolence in creating social change,
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introduces a roadmap of nonviolence modalities, and considers some examples and opportunities for congregations, particularly in the area of what Gandhi called Constructive Program. The goal: to assist viewers in finding their place in answering the call of love, aware of a range of tools one can use to make a lasting difference.
When I was part of the Southwest Chapter of the UUMA, with a regional staffer I co-planned and was to co-facilitate the spring 2020 retreat. The aim: to bring the practice of small group spiritual direction to our collegial network. (Retreat postponed due to COVID-19.) Previously, I served as site coordinator at the Indiana site for a nine-month program, the Clergy Seminar on Congregation-Based Spiritual Direction, for UUs and other liberal religious clergy.
In January 2019, I delivered the keynote address at the annual luncheon of North Texas UU Congregations, a regional entity connecting about a dozen UU churches. I chose the topic of “The Heartbeat of Liberation." My goal was to inspire the professional and lay leaders present to continue a long-term commitment to dismantling white supremacy culture within Unitarian Universalism. Earlier, while in seminary, I founded Allied Whites Aspiring to Racial Equity (AWARE), a student group at Meadville Lombard Theological School, and chaired its steering committee.
At the first-ever joint retreat of North American and Hungarian Unitarian ministers in a picturesque Transylvanian site.
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Traveling to Transylvania to participate in a UU ministers' pilgrimage was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure in summer 2018. It included the first ever joint North American - Hungarian Unitarian ministers retreat. I was able to help forge ties across cultures, while the trip brought me deeply in touch with the legacy of religious freedom that is part of our inheritance as UUs. During the ministers' retreat, I delivered my award-winning Torda 450 sermon, which put King Sigismund in dialogue with Martin Luther King, Jr. We pilgrims also participated in a series of events at Unitarian headquarters in Kolozsvár to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Edict of Torda, including the dedication of a new House of Religious Freedom, and toured churches and other significant Unitarian sites throughout Transylvania. Back home, I shared the learning and legacy through a series of worship services, and later in the year, by bringing to Texas a Transylvanian colleague I had met on the trip, to share this rich Unitarian heritage more directly.
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We visited the memorial to Francis David at the Deva citadel where he perished.
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I appreciate scholarship. So it was an honor to be invited to contribute a piece to the book series A Documentary History of Unitarian Universalism, edited by Dan McKanan. The two-volume set was published by Skinner House in 2017.
Earlier, I contributed to several regional gatherings while still "in formation" for ministry. I co-planned and led opening worship at the ministers’ retreat that preceded the Mid-America Regional Assembly in Naperville, IL. And I co-planned and led closing worship for all attendees at the Bloomington, IN, site of another Mid-America Regional Assembly.
My initial site of service to the faith was through my home congregation as a lay leader. I helped with a number of ministries over my 20 years there. The most enduring was my work with the What Color Is Community? racial justice task force, which engaged in community projects and collaborations as well as working to build our multicultural awareness and anti-racism skills inside our congregation. I also volunteered in peace and justice work, leading several study groups on Gandhi and nonviolence, and later leading a meditation retreat. One of my last leadership roles in the church as a lay leader was serving a term on the Board of Directors. I made two unique contributions there: pulling together a successful grant to fund a new membership coordination position; and after a board decision to adopt policy governance, facilitating a series of retreats to establish the policy framework. This was for a congregation that was growing from program to corporate size.
Earlier, I contributed to several regional gatherings while still "in formation" for ministry. I co-planned and led opening worship at the ministers’ retreat that preceded the Mid-America Regional Assembly in Naperville, IL. And I co-planned and led closing worship for all attendees at the Bloomington, IN, site of another Mid-America Regional Assembly.
My initial site of service to the faith was through my home congregation as a lay leader. I helped with a number of ministries over my 20 years there. The most enduring was my work with the What Color Is Community? racial justice task force, which engaged in community projects and collaborations as well as working to build our multicultural awareness and anti-racism skills inside our congregation. I also volunteered in peace and justice work, leading several study groups on Gandhi and nonviolence, and later leading a meditation retreat. One of my last leadership roles in the church as a lay leader was serving a term on the Board of Directors. I made two unique contributions there: pulling together a successful grant to fund a new membership coordination position; and after a board decision to adopt policy governance, facilitating a series of retreats to establish the policy framework. This was for a congregation that was growing from program to corporate size.
Leadership in the Community
I have served in volunteer leadership roles for several other organizations. For the innovative community choir I sang in for about a decade, while serving as Vice President I facilitated a strategic planning process; this created clarity of mission and some structure for moving the organization forward. On the board of my local food co-op, I filled the role of Secretary and chaired our educational work. I also served on the governing bodies of several organizations tied into my professional role in philanthropy and non-profits, with a regional estate planning council, and a local Non-Profit Alliance.
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I enjoy building relationships with others in the community, including forging interfaith ties. It was an honor to be invited by Mayor Kruzan to join a delegation from the City of Bloomington, IN that met privately with the 14th Dalai Lama. This was at the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center during a 2007 visit.
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