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MCC Awarded third Carpenter Grant
to fund Clergy Health and Wholeness Initiative
MCC's Office of Formation and Leadership Development (OFLD) is excited to announce we have been awarded a $75,000 (USD) grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation to fund programming for Clergy Health and Wholeness. This is the third grant the Carpenter Foundation has awarded the OFLD for various leadership development initiatives in the past few years, and we are grateful for their continued generosity.
One of the top identified challenges facing MCC clergy today is burn-out. This is largely a consequence of the isolation many feel who serve as the only MCC pastor (often the only affirming religious or civic leader) in a given area. These same clergy are also most likely to be part-time, holding down another part-time or full-time job. Self care often becomes the casualty of too many competing interests and too little time.
The desired outcomes of a program focused on Clergy Health and Wholeness is to resource and support clergy in order to reduce stress, prevent burnout, instill creativity, deepen spirituality and provide opportunities for clergy to be more mindful and participatory in their own health and wholeness. We know that healthier clergy inspire congregations to be more healthy and functional as well.
Thanks to the generosity of the Carpenter Foundation, we will be able to fund a series of opportunities for active MCC clergy to develop their own personal health and wholeness plan. Details of these opportunities will be forthcoming. Please pray with and for us as we focus attention on finalizing these plans in the coming months.
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If you tweet, mark your calendar for 22 July 2012. Let's trend #HIV and #AIDS during the 2012 AIDS Conference. Click here for more details. #LetsTrendUntilTheEnd
27 June 2012 was National HIV Testing Day in the U.S. MCC encourages all sexually-active people to get tested regularly. Know your status. To find a testing facility near you, here's one website that includes several countries:
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Webinar:
U.S. Pastoral Transitions in MCC
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
3:00pm Pacific / 6:00pm Eastern
FREE and Open to All
Webinar:
The Bible Clearly Says...Or Does It?
Starting Thursday, 6 September 2012
10:00pm UTC/GMT (6:00pm US Eastern)
$50 USD for all five weeks - 5 CEU credits
Twenty-one people in the Australia/New Zealand Network just participated in a L.E.A.D. Retreat!
Registration is now open for the third U.S. L.E.A.D. Retreat, which will follow the next Worship Summit in Kansas City, Missouri (USA) and be held 21-24 October 2012.
The L.E.A.D. Certificate Program provides MCC laity with an opportunity for spiritual growth and the development of leadership skills. Click here to access the L.E.A.D. Manual, which contains the application, due by 1 August 2012.
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A final gathering of the International Task Force (ITF) Steering Committee was held at Dayspring Conference Center, Parrish, Florida (USA), 19-20 June, to finalize the ITF report.
In attendance were Governing Board Liaison Raquel Benitez, ITF Project Manager Linda Brenner-Beckstead, and Steering Committee Chairs Mark Dalgliesh, Jochen Gewecke, and Carol Scherfenberg.
Rev. Dr. Nancy Wilson joined to open and close the meeting. She led an evening communion service, which was a spiritual high point of the two-day encounter.
The group examined the current draft of the document for accurate content, word choice, cultural context, all of which resulted in extensive editing. The draft will next go to MCC staff member Leah Sloan for formatting and editing.
The final version of the document will be provided to the Governing Board to appear as an agenda item for their August face-to-face meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida (USA).
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MCC recently co-hosted the Amplify 2012 Conference, an Asian Gay Christian Conference, in Hong Kong, China, along with The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries and The United Church of Christ. There were over 300 attendees from 11 countries! Speakers included Bishop Yvette Flunder and Bishop Gene Robinson (Episcopal Church), as well as MCC clergy Rev. Elder Ken Martin, Rev. Stedney Phillips, and Rev. N. Boon Lin. Click here for pictures.
MCC clergy Rev. N. Boon Lin called a historic press conference to refute the homophobic remarks of a famous Hong Kong pastor, reading a statement signed by 22 clergy. Click here and here for more details.
MCC Knoxville, Tennessee (USA), interim pastor Rev. Jill Sizemore and "straight secretary" Sandy Franz were all featured in a local news article: How Gay Is Knoxville, Really?
24 June 2012 was the 39th Anniversary of the UpStairs Lounge fire, where New Orleans' MCC met at the time. Click here for a news article with video.
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Rev. Elder Diane Fisher was honored by the Moderator and the Network recently. Click here and here to view some pictures from that Network Gathering. Click here to watch a video tribute put together by Linda Brenner-Beckstead and Jason O'Neill.
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THEN
In 1971, MCC Los Angeles, the "Mother Church," became the first gay/lesbian organization in the USA to own its own property with the purchase and renovation of a church at 22nd St and Union St. in Los Angeles, California.
NOW
MCC Los Angeles recently purchased a former United Church of Christ building and property at 4607 Prospect Avenue. Click here for more details.
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If you missed the Moderator's live webcast on 28 June 2012, click here for the recording or click here for the written version of the script. (The Spanish translation will be available soon.)
Have you heard about the Moderator's Circle? Click here to watch a video from Rev. Wilson.
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As MCC expands around the globe, we recognize the importance of educating our leaders, both clergy and laity. For Latin America, MCC opened the Darlene Garner Institute for Leadership Development on 2 May 2011, to train both clergy and laity to serve the groups, missions, and churches in Iberoamerica. After just one year, 20 students have enrolled and are preparing to become better leaders in their local communities. The students live in Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panamá, and Puerto Rico.
Since its beginning, the Garner Institute has offered MCC Polity, Hebrew Scripture Interpretation, Church Ethics, and Pastoral Counseling. Our newest course offering is the MCC Sexualities course, which we began on 11 June 2012. Soon we will offer a course on "Liberation Theology." Although our classes are currently offered only in Spanish, we are rapidly translating the curriculum into Portuguese to serve our faith communities in Brazil and Portugal.
The Rev. Victor Bracuto (Argentina) serves as the Dean of Students at the Institute. We are thrilled to announce that the Rev. Margarita Sanchez de Leon (Puerto Rico, soon living in Portugal) has recently been appointed to serve as the Dean of Faculty. The Rev. Elder Hector Gutierrez (Mexico) is the Institute's Director.
Please keep the faculty and students of the Garner Institute in your prayers. If you would like to financially support the Institute and the development of leaders for our Iberoamerican faith communities around the world, please contact Tammy Erwin at TammyErwin@MCCchurch.net to make your tax-deductible donation.
If you are interested in taking classes at the Institute, please contact Rev. Victor Bracuto at rev.victorbracuto@yahoo.com.ar.
Please note that all classes are in Spanish.
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17-21 July 2012
Dallas, Texas (USA)
Clergy Retreat
27-30 August 2012
Delray Beach, Florida (USA)
CLM Train the Trainer
17-20 September 2012
Venice, Florida (USA)
(in conjunction with Worship Summit) 21-24 October 2012 Kansas City, Missouri (USA)
Application deadline: 1 August 2012
2-5 November 2012
Ellenton, Florida (USA)
24-25 August 2012
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (USA)
Registration deadline: 3 August 2012
21-22 September 2012 Saint Petersburg, Florida (USA) 19-20 October 2012 Kansas City, Missouri (USA) 9-10 November 2012 Austin, Texas (USA)
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MCC General Conference XXV
1-5 July 2013
Chicago, Illinois (USA)
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