Category: Faith UCC News and Comments (Page 16 of 30)

New Heart of Texas Association Minister

November 1, 2021 / Faith UCC

Greetings! My name is Rev. Nikki Stahl. Starting on November 1st, I’m your new Heart of Texas Association Minister. Before I tell you more about me, let me say what an important pastor, mentor, and friend Rev. Liz Nash has been for me. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been able to hear many of you share how important that she has been to you. Again, many thanks to Rev. Liz Nash! Liz, thank you for your ministry and all the ways in which our lives have been blessed and enhanced by it. Now, go enjoy those grandbabies!!

There is a lot that I can share about me so I will just hit the highlights. I was born and raised in Austin. Grew up Southern Baptist. I have a bachelor degree in Finance from UT of Austin, a masters of Social Work and a masters of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I’ve held several “jobs” prior to seminary including Workers Compensation Underwriter, 3M Plant and Operational Accountant, and Business Analyst.

I served at United Christian Church of Austin from 2011 until earlier this year as Associate, Executive, and then Co-Pastor. I’ve worked with some amazing pastors at United including Rev. Tim Tutt, Rev. Ken White, Rev. John Gage, and Rev. Anna Kreisle. I have learned so much from each of them.

Over the years I have been active in the Association by participating on the Executive Committee, and Scholarship Committee and mentoring members in discernment. I have also served on the Camp Council at Slumber Falls.

The past few years my focus has been at the Conference level where I served on the Board of Directors for five years including the last two as President (term ended June 2021). I’m currently overseeing the newly formed Communities in Practice groups.

I’ve been married to my husband, Ian, for 15 years. We have three daughters: Marian (14), Emmalee (10), and Cora (8). We stay busy with church, school, piano, dance and marching band (Marian plays vibraphone in the pit!). My mother, Lee, and her dog (Blue) live with us along with our three cats (Lola, Henri and Precious). In July we added a new puppy – BB Grace!

That’s just a bit about me. I look forward to learning more about you and your congregations! If there is something going on in your congregation, please let me know! If possible, I would love to be there!*** I want to get to know you!

I can be reached at [email protected] and my cell number is 512-751-3557. I’m also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/togetherwithyouonthejourney.

The Heart of Texas Association is full of amazing churches, doing amazing things in their communities. I am honored to be a part of your work even if it is just in little ways.

With you on the Journey,
Rev. Nikki Stahl
Association Minister (elect)

***Until my youngest two can be fully vaccinated for COVID, I will not be able to attend inside gatherings where people are unmasked. I am available for outside gatherings, zoom calls, email, texts or phone calls.

Support Faith and Philip in 100-mile Run

November 1, 2021 / Faith UCC

New member, Philip Graves, is an ultra-marathoner and has graciously offered to host a pledge-drive for Faith Church during his next long-distance effort—a 100-mile run in February.

As a warm-up, he’ll be doing a 24-hour run in December. We will be selecting one of these events as a fundraiser for Faith Church with folks invited to pledge X amount of dollars per hour (for the December run) or mile (for the February run) with all proceeds going directly to help make up the current budget shortfall of Faith Church.

Be watching your email, worship announcements, and social media for your chance to chip in and help raise this barn, together once the Pledge Drive begins and please thank Philip for his generosity and keep him in your prayers as he prepares and trains.

Phil’s Note-Where the Rubber Meets the Road

November 1, 2021 / Faith UCC

Submitted by Rev. Phil Hodson, SCC Conference Minister

As of today I have traveled 5,173 miles around the Conference in my car. I’ve been preaching and visiting our congregations, meeting with different individuals and groups, and asking the same question: What should a Conference Minister do? I’m asking because I want to learn our goals and dreams and also gain insight into our past experience so that we can live more fully together into the future that God has in store for us. When I started asking the question, I expected two standard answers: conflict resolution and search & call. What’s been both interesting and exciting to me is that neither of those are at the top of the list with anyone I’ve spoken to. Instead, I’ve heard these words: encouragement, guidance, direction, connection raised repeatedly. I find this terribly exciting — because that’s been my hope since I started the car on July 15! It is my deepest desire to be in ministry with you that is missional, relational, and incarnational across every setting of the church.

One of the ways that can happen is through the use of a tool called MissionInsite, which the Conference has purchased and will make available for use in every congregation. As a pastor in the local church, I used this resource to launch a new congregation, identify ministry opportunities, and see the local church relate to its’ community in incredible ways — and I want us to do the same in the South Central Conference! This resource compiles data about the neighborhoods we live in and the neighbors who live beside us — interests, preferences, hopes, and more — using the latest from the Census and the agencies who collect our individual data for private enterprise to understand us, but their goal is to help the church gain deeper understanding so that we can be in ministry with our neighbors in relevant, practical ways that will transform lives. Did I mention this is freely available to any setting that would like to use it? And that I will make time to personally consult with you and your leadership in understanding your mission field and help you identify new opportunities? This will be a multi-step process that will help us understand ourselves and our neighbors more fully, so that we can help the rubber meet the road in our ministries going forward! The first step is to answer this question:

Would your congregation be interested in this resource?

If you answered yes, the next step is to email me and let me know you’d like to begin the journey! Note: when you do, I’ll send you back a spreadsheet. This will come with regular homework. I’m sharing this now because we just signed the contract and I’m really excited about what is possible! I’m also sharing it now because Christmas is right around the corner (I know, right?), and the Advent and Christmas season has traditionally been a wonderful time to connect with new neighbors and showcase the power of community and relationship through the life of the church! Which leads me to another question:

Would or Could your church utilize a list of names in your community for you to reach out to?

If we developed a simple postcard that could name your church and Christmas Eve worship time, then provide you a list of 1,000, 5,000, or 10,000 names in your community to mail it to, would your congregation be interested in underwriting the cards and names prepared for you?

Jesus’ ministry was highly contextual. He knew the people he connected with. Everywhere he went on his ministry journey, Jesus paid careful attention to what was actually around him and related to the folks he met. I believe, as we prepare for what God has in store in our future, we must move forward in the same fashion. These resources, and the questions I’m asking you today, are one way your Conference Minister hopes to encourage, guide, offer direction and foster new connections with you. I pray you will find them helpful and engage in this exciting opportunity together with me. We have many wonderful miles to travel together!

Blessings,

Rev. Phil Hodson
Conference Minister
South Central Conference,
United Church of Christ
3610 River Road
New Braunfels, TX 78132

ONA NEWS: New Webinar Series Can Revive Your Church

November 1, 2021 / Faith UCC

Submitted by Andrew Lang

TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ONA AND NOT-YET ONA CHURCHES

The Coalition’s popular series of webinars resumes on Tuesday, October 26, 2021.
Available Webinars:

ONA 101:

Tuesday, October 26th
Thursday, November 4th

ONA and the Bible:

Tuesday, November 2
Thursday, November 11

1-to-1 Conversations about ONA:

Tuesday, November 9

ONA Next:

Tuesday, November 16

Do you know churches that want to become ONA, but are hesitating because of the fear they might lose members and money?

Let them know about this series: churches that participate in our training programs learn how an ONA process can build consensus and revive energy for mission and ministry!

You can register for an individual webinar or purchase a discounted Season Pass for all sessions.

REGISTER HERE

Austin Musicians Celebrate Sid Hall – Party & Fundraiser – November 7, 2021

November 1, 2021 / Faith UCC

Shared by Trinity Church of Austin

Please join us on Sunday, November 7, 2021 from 3:30-7:30pm to celebrate Sid Hall’s 33 years of ministry with Trinity Church of Austin!

Sid retired as of July 1 of this year, but due to pandemic conditions, we delayed his retirement celebration until it was cool enough for us to gather outdoors. We encourage you to mask up and join us for live music, food, drinks, and fellowship at Ranch Austin with the Trinity community.

We have a stunning lineup of Austin musicians joining us for the evening, including Kelly Willis, Sara Hickman, Albert & Gage, Nancy Scott, Ed Miller, the Therapy Sisters, Doc Grauzer, and our own Trinity musicians. Scroll down for details!

Proceeds from the event will benefit the ongoing ministries of Trinity Church of Austin. Your generous tax-deductible donations allow us to fund sliding scale admissions for those in our community who could not otherwise afford to attend.

From the Pastor

October 2, 2021 / Faith UCC

Faithful Friends,

As we watch carefully the number of COVID cases in our county and consider the right time to reconvene in person for worship in the coming weeks, Faith Church remains busy in worship by Zoom, Christian Education, ministry, and preparation for our return to the sanctuary. Opportunities abound for service!!

Council, and members of the congregation, have been discerning areas for our focus in the coming months. We are working to improve our visibility in the community and move past our position as the Best Kept Secret in New Braunfels.

I am working with Conference Minister, Phil Hodson, to complete a grant application to the UCC that could bring us $10,000 to help us in 3 areas:

1) improve signage on our property, help us install a flag pole to display more of our message of welcome and inclusion, and expand our social media and on-line presence

2) increase our support of the local LGBTQ+ community by co-founding a PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) chapter in New Braunfels that could meet at our church, expand our support of Riverside Pride, and help offer transitional housing to youth and young adults in crisis

3) and improve our ability to support Family Promise and other housing needs in our community, perhaps by making better use of our buildings and property.

New member, Lauren Pearce, is on the ball contacting sign companies to get information and quotes for our signage needs and installation of the flagpole. She and long-time member, Michelle Perry, are exploring steps and like-minded persons in the community to help start the PFLAG chapter. Please be in touch with me or one of these ladies to lend your support.

New member, Lindsey Graham, is helping me coordinate gathering volunteers in the congregation to help collect and post articles and memes that promote social justice issues Faith Church stands for on social media. She is also helping organize me to coordinate a regular schedule of Theology on Tap events outdoors, especially as the weather cools. Be watching for details and let us know how you would like to participate.

I am meeting with a group of people, including builders and designers and representatives from Family Promise, interested in starting a community coalition to begin a tiny home community, perhaps even on our grounds!

New Member, Pam Robinson, has graciously agreed to lend her years of experience teaching children to revitalize our Christian Education Program. We need someone to join her as Co-Coordinator and volunteers to join a roster of rotating teachers of our children and youth once we

return to in-person worship. Former Christian Ed co-coordinators of many years and long-time members, Karen Dietz and Jennifer Marlow, are providing wonderful wisdom and guidance, and we need others to join the effort. Please contact me or Pam [email protected] to let us know how you could help.

I will be leading a Bible Study of the book of Job during October. We have several who have already signed up and we likely will be scheduling this beginning Sunday the 10th at 6:30pm outdoors on the playground at the church and are exploring ways to also allow persons to join us by Zoom. Details are still forming, so be in touch with me and be watching your worship guide for more information.

Organization and Project Management are not my spiritual gifts! We are searching for an Administrative & Communications Assistant to work approximately 20 hours a week to help with daily tasks, preparation of worship, and social media outreach. We are seeking candidates outside the congregation, so if you know of someone, please send them to me to apply. In the mean time, if you have the gifts of organization and project management, please contact me to help herd all of these many things Faith is involved in so we do not lose our momentum of growth and renewal!

As church leadership and all these volunteers work to BE the church in our community, we covet your prayers. We seek God’s wisdom, discernment, guidance, and energy as we want to know where God is moving and leading and how we can be part of God’s work in our community. All the above are the most recent ways we believe God is calling us to grow and serve, and we need your prayers to not fall into overwhelm and to make the best use of our resources of time, finances, and energy to serve the church and our neighbors well.

Please also continue to pray for our Pastoral Search Committee as it puts together our church profile and considers the next evolution of leadership for Faith Church.

We know that the God who calls us will also sustain. Faith Church has a rich history of service, work for justice, and inclusion of all God’s children in New Braunfels and the world. Now, more than ever, as the city grows and so many are facing so many challenges, the community needs the unique Christian voice Faith Church provides, and we want to go out and find them.

As we do, we will continue to grow while also holding true to our heritage as a church that follows a Still-Speaking God. Together, through us, God can and will do even greater things.

Grace and peace to us all,
Pastor Carla

Welcome New Members to Faith Church!

October 2, 2021 / Faith UCC

Please welcome our newest members, who joined Faith Church in August!

They are Izzy Mason, Lauren Pearce, Philip Graves, and (fiances–yay!!) Lindsey Graham and Rachelle Akpanumoh. Read on and get to know the newest members of our Faith Family and then reach out to welcome them!

Hi! I’m Izzy. I’ve lived in the New Braunfels area for around six years and am so excited to have finally found and joined Faith UCC and am excited to get to know everyone and get involved in the church.

I am a portrait artist by trade. My studio is above the New Braunfels Art League (come visit me!) I’m vegan, bi, and passionate about animals and music. I’ve been married to my husband Lark for 10 years now and am a mom of two (6 and 9 years old).

I grew up in Northern California and resided there until my husband Bawb and I decided to move to Texas in 2005. I have 2 grown sons, CJ who lives in Southern California and Bryan who lives in New York with my two Grandcats.

I am now retired from an extremely demanding, exciting and challenging career which took me all over the world. I am beyond grateful for this season of my life. When I retired, I made a commitment to God that I would work for him and that is what I have been focused on since I got to stop working for money. I must tell you that God is the most loving, kind and forgiving boss I ever had!

I am very involved in some recovery groups which occupies a good amount of my time. My husband Bawb and I love to play golf which we try to do twice a week. Bawb is a musician so I become a merch person at his bigger shows to sell his merchandise. I enjoy painting and am trying to learn to play the piano, but have a long way to go.

My most important priority is to be as kind, loving and compassionate to every person God puts in my path. This is what I challenge myself everyday to accomplish, with God’s help. Believe me that takes a lot of work!

Philip Graves is a short nerd who runs too much. He also reads a lot of philosophy, and likes to play his fiddle when he’s not verbally sparring with his twin brother over systematic theology. He’s non-monogamous, but has a life partner named Bonnie who is a casual pagan, and she is both loving and patient with his many quirks. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and he cherishes every moment he spends with her.

He works at a running store, where he outfits runners who need new shoes, but also helps those recovering from injury or suffering from limited mobility by finding footwear solutions that work for their needs. He’s the store manager, which means he does almost anything and everything store-related that needs to get done. He is also planning to return to college in the spring of 2022.

Philip joined Faith UCC because he is progressive, bisexual, and polyamorous, and wanted to find a faith community that wouldn’t condemn him, but would remind him weekly that Jesus loves him. He’s really interested in observing the traditions of the historical Church (He loves traditional services!) but recognizes that it’s important to exercise autonomy over his faith inheritance, rather than blindly follow it. As the composer Gustav Mahler once said, “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”

Lindsey: I am a registered nurse currently working at Christus Santa Rosa New Braunfels in the ICU. I come from a very large family (one of five siblings, 20-something first cousins on my mom’s side) and a very conservative faith tradition (Assemblies of God). I read too much fiction, especially sci-fi and fantasy, and one of my favorite pastimes is making fun of Rachelle for reading 1/2 of all her gazillion books (she really loves physical books). Another hobby of mine is taking care of Rachelle’s 50 some-odd house plants that I swore I wouldn’t be responsible for if she got too busy. I loved working in the homeless ministry of one of my prior churches and am looking forward to getting more involved at Faith UCC.

Rachelle: First-generation American and born to Nigerian parents, I am an outgoing introvert on the best of days and a lover of music and all things outdoors on all days. I’ve wandered from a more or less Pentecostal upbringing (no make-up, no jewelry, no dancing, dresses/skirts only, fire and brimstone, the whole works) and have been searching for a church where I feel like I can be myself the way God made me and shine whatever weird light I have as a reflection of Him. I am glad to have found Faith UCC and other churches along the way on this journey. I am looking forward to dusting off the ol’ trumpet and using it to make a somewhat joyful noise at church.

We began dating in 2009 while both working at the rock climbing gym at the University of Houston. Outdoor adventures still have our affection with our most recent outdoor love being mountain biking. We both grew up in Houston, Texas but have lived in Dallas, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and now Canyon Lake (all for Rachelle’s job).Our wonderful furbaby, Annie, was introduced into the mix in 2018, and we love her to pieces except for the first two weeks when Lindsey cried and wanted to give her away after realizing potty-training on a 3rd floor apartment could get old really quickly. We got engaged in July 2020 and hope to be married sometime soon!

From everyone at Faith UCC, welcome!

Heart of Texas Association News

October 2, 2021 / Faith UCC

Our Heart of Texas Fall Meeting will be held virtually on Saturday, October 23rd at 10 am, hosted by the Austin cluster of churches. We had, of course, hoped finally to have an in-person meeting, but Austin is still in the Stage 5 COVID risk level as I write, and we don’t want to put people at risk by gathering in person. Let’s hope and pray the illness level decreases soon! I am thankful, though, that we are able to meet via Zoom. The meeting information and link will be sent out in early October.

One item on the agenda will be our continuing work to join the South Central Conference Unified Fitness Review Committee. As I have written in the past, fitness reviews are conducted by our Committee on Ministry when a complaint is brought against one of our ministers that raises questions about that minister’s fitness for continued ministry, based on the set of ethical standards set forth in the United Church of Christ Manual on Ministry that all of our ministers are charged to follow. These reviews, which have not occurred often, are challenging and require quite a bit of work. The proposal is to have one committee in the South Central Conference comprised of people from all of the Associations to conduct them, allowing the members to be trained, gain experience, and do the work in a consistent way. Our Committee on Ministry has done research and found that this model has worked well in other Conferences. However, the process of joining the Unified Committee involves our whole Association since we will have to change our bylaws and nominate members. We will continue with that process at our Fall and Spring Association meetings.

Eric Gates, Pastor of Faith UCC in Bryan, is nearing the end of the process of gaining Ordained Ministerial Partner standing in the United Church of Christ. Eric is a Christian Church/Disciples of Christ (DOC) minister. Once this process is completed, Eric will be fully a UCC minister while serving a UCC church, but can go back to serve DOC churches as a full DOC minister later on. Before entering the ministry, Eric served our country for eight years in the Marine Corps and then served the Austin community as an Austin Police officer for nine years. In addition to being Pastor at Faith, Eric is the founder and CEO of Devil Dog Coffee Company in Buda. We welcome Eric as a ministry colleague. I hope many of us will get a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee with him!

Finally, I want to say to each of you in our churches that it has been a great privilege and joy to serve among you as your Association Minister. Since I began this work in 2006, I have met and worked with so many of you that are real servants of Christ. We have had a group of fine and dedicated ministers — I could not have asked for a better group to serve with. Although I will have to step back from being among you as I retire in October, I treasure the friendships and feel enormously blessed by working in ministry among you. I know you welcome my successor as you have always so warmly welcomed me. Thank you for our years together.

Blessings in Christ,
Liz Nash, Association Minister

CWS Participating in National CROP Hunger Walk

October 2, 2021 / Faith UCC

Submitted by Kevin Murphy, Community Engagement Manager, CWS

Join us for the 2021 National CROP Hunger Walk on World Food Day, October 16th and end hunger in the U.S. and around the world!

Walk on your treadmill, in your neighborhood, in a park with friends – you choose the location and the experience. Walk one day – 3.7 miles (the average distance a woman walks for water) or take the Weekend Challenge and walk 11.1 miles (3.7 miles for 3 days).

Every step you take, every dollar you raise makes the walk shorter for neighbors in need by providing clean water, emergency food as well as livelihoods and access to education.

Sign-up and start raising funds TODAY at www.crophungerwalk.org/usa !

Contact [email protected] for more info.

Category: Faith UCC News and Comments (Page 16 of 30)

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