Thank you to Bob Holden for his leadership over the past year. I would like to welcome Chris Stovall and Beth Harrison to the board and say goodbye and say thank you to Marina Rose and Lisa Conrad for their service.

We now enter the second year of our transition to a new settled minister. There will be a lot to get done to get us ready for the third year where we will be doing the actual selection of a new minister.

We have accomplished a lot in the last year under the tutelage of Rev. Gretchen and she has much more to help us with this year. We can look forward to learning more about “Right Relationships”, choosing a group of dedicated people to be the search committee for the new minister, think about a new format for the organization of governance for the church, possibly write new By-laws and other fun nitty gritty of running an effective volunteer organization.

We will also have fun things to do like have an auction where a lot of us fill out a big part of our social calendar for the year, ice cream socials, work days, retreat and all of the other things that build our community.

There are so many things that go in within our walls. There is a monthly group that goes hiking, there are C-Groups, a book group, the Learning Journey, Spiritual Autobiography groups, knitting and crocheting circle, Social Action Committee efforts focused on the environment, the choir and many others.

Meanwhile, we also do a lot of things outside our walls to benefit the wider community. There is the monthly food distribution at the Yaseen Foundation, Fool’s Mission’s efforts on immigration, tutoring at Roosevelt Elementary, Upward Scholars helping adults continue to learn and other continuing efforts by our members. This is the work of our church and we need to recognize and be recognized for it.

It will be the things we do outside our walls that will help attract people to come look inside and hopefully decide they like what they see. What do you want to be part of?

Steve Hill