Young Adult News A monthly newsletter of the UUA Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries August 2009 - Issue 71
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Events |
Training for OWL Leaders Community Church of New York, NYC, NY August 14-15, 2009
Ohio-Meadville Camping Trip Mohican State Park, Loudonville, OH August 28-30, 2009
Sustain the Spark: PSWD Conference Camp de Benneville Pines, Angelus Oaks, CA September 4-7, 2009
Ohio-Meadville Fall Con Marietta, OH October 16-18, 2009
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UU-UNO Opportunity
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Concerned
about Climate Change? At the Unitarian Universalist United
Nations Office, we are too! Every April, youth and adults from around
the United States and
Canada gather in New York City for our
exciting and educational Intergenerational
Spring Seminar. This year's topic will be Climate Change! It will take
place: April 8-10, 2010.
You should attend the Spring Seminar to gain a deep understanding on topic of global concern, listen to
insightful speakers from around the world, learn, make friends, have fun,
and even sleep, as well as take on important leadership roles in its planning and
execution.
In order to make the Spring Seminar possible, we need all the
help we can get from our community. You can do this by being on a Spring
Seminar Committee! These include: Speaker-seekers, food providers, finance management, publicity, and event planning.
Being
on a committee entails meeting frequently with other members of your committee
and helping us smoothen the planning of the Spring Seminar. People on committees do not have to pay to attend the
Spring Seminar. To join a committee or
find out about other leadership opportunities, contact [email protected].
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Standing on the Side of Love
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The Standing on the Side of Love campaign has taken off with
over 5,000 fans on Facebook, and congregations across the country are ordering
banners, standing on the side of love in worship, in interfaith coalitions, and
community partnerships.
Standing on the Side of Love is a public advocacy campaign,
initiated by the Unitarian Universalist Association, to promote the inherent
worth and dignity of every person and the commitment that no person should be
dehumanized through acts of exclusion, oppression, and violence.
We'd love to hear what you are doing and how the campaign
can support you, your youth or young adult group, and your congregation as you
stand on the side of love.
Connect at
www.standingonthesideoflove.org (Congregational Toolkit coming soon!)
Find us on Facebook
Sign the pledge to Stand on the Side of Love!
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New Staff Announcement
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The Lifespan Faith
Development Staff Group of the UUA is extremely pleased to announce the staffing
of the new Youth and Young Adult Ministries Office, effective July 1,
2009.
After an active
association-wide search, we are proud to announce that Erik B. Kesting will be our
Youth and Young Adult Ministries Director. In addition, we are also pleased and
excited to announce that Nancy DiGiovanni will be our Bridging and Campus
Ministry Associate. Erik and Nancy join the recently hired Jeremie Giacoia who
will serve as Leadership Development Associate of the Youth and Young Adult
Ministries.
Continuing on in their
current positions but now in the new Youth and Young Adult Ministries Office are
Rev. Dr. Monica Cummings, Associate
for Ministry to Youth and Young Adults of Color and Sarah Prager, Youth and
Young Adult Ministries Office Administrator. The position of Technology
Associate will be filled in September, and will complete the staffing of the
Youth and Young Adult Ministries Office.
You can read more about
the staff members of the Youth and Young Adult Ministries Office and the work
they do by visiting the office's " Meet the Staff" webpage. These six staff members are part of and work
collaboratively within the Lifespan Faith Development Staff Group of the UUA. All thirteen members of the
Lifespan Faith Development Staff Group bring a multigenerational lens to our
shared ministry with an awareness of the needs, interest, and gifts of people of
all ages. We are ready to go forward with the challenging vision of
multigenerational, multiculural, radically inclusive Unitarian Universalist
faith communities!
In
faith,
Judith A.
Frediani
Director of Lifespan
Faith Development
Unitarian Universalist
Association
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Greetings from the Director
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Greetings all,
I hope you are all enjoying the summer, finding
fulfillment in your communities, joy in your work, and comfort in your rest. I
have been reflecting recently on newly elected UUA President Peter Morales'
campaign slogan: "We can be the religion for our time." I find it to be a bold
and inspiring statement of faith in our potential-your potential, my potential,
our potential.
President Morales was clear, however, when he added, "We
cannot seize the opportunity before us unless we are willing to make significant
changes. We are not talking about minor adjustments. We need to change our
religious culture. We need to become more welcoming, more relevant in the lives
of our people, and more involved in the great moral issues of our
time."
As most Unitarian Universalist congregations' liturgical
year begins in the fall, I invite you to reflect with me this summer on
President Morales' challenge. Specifically, when momentum starts to increase at
your congregation this fall and everyone seems too busy to change, how will you
and your congregation make our movement more welcoming and more relevant to
youth and young adults? What will be the moral issues of their time and how can
we support them in exploring those issues?
Happy summer, and as always, happy
reading!
In faith,
Erik B. Kesting
UUA Youth and Young Adult Ministries
Director
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Being More Visible: Changing More
Lives A Campus Ministry
Event
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Is
Unitarian Universalism alive and well on your nearby
campus?
SHOULD it be?! Do you
want to make it happen?!
Every day 1,000s
of campus students across the country yearn for a spiritual/faith community that
can meet their needs. Students who were
raised Unitarian Universalist miss the connections they had back home in youth
group and students who don't even know about our faith have few options for
spiritual community on campus. We also know that the college years are a time of massive identity development
and evolution. It is a time when young adults need tremendous emotional and
spiritual support.
Come join ministers,
seminarians, college students (commuter and on-campus), lay leaders and lifespan
faith development professionals for valuable face-time to talk about campus
ministry and how to spread our impact in the lives of individuals and campus
communities. Other denominations are present and thriving in campuses
with political and religious agendas that many young adults do not support or
find nurturing. We need to be more visible. We need to change more lives. We know the need is there so come gather to make plans to
meet it.
Here's a
link to download the paper registration: http://www.uua.org/documents/congservices/yacm/090923_registration.pdf ONLINE Registration Info will be available soon and you
can find it on ConnectUU.
Scholarships are
available for those who need assistance.
We HOPE
to see you in Madison!
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In Memoriam - Katie Tyson
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Katie Tyson,
beloved daughter of Herb and Karen Tyson, was killed Thursday evening, July 2,
in a car crash in Colorado after
attending General Assembly in Salt Lake
City. Katie was an active young adult leader and will be
remembered for her passionate commitment to Unitarian Universalism. Fellow young
adult community member Heather Concannon was driving back to Boston with Katie and was
injured in the accident, but is expected to fully recover.
Katie grew up attending Mount Vernon
UU church in Alexandria, VA and more recently was an active member of
Arlington Street Church
in Boston, MA for which she was a delegate at General
Assembly. To honor Katie's memory and to continue her passionate leadership, her
parents and friends have initiated the Katie Tyson Fund to train and develop
leaders among Unitarian Universalist youth and young adults. Take a moment to learn more about Katie and consider making a donation to the Katie Tyson Fund. The staff of the
Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries send our thoughts and prayers to
Katie's family and friends and to Heather as she
recovers.
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In Memoriam - Kevin Drewery
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On Thursday, August 6, Kevin Drewery lost his valiant
struggle against AIDS. For those of you who
know Kevin, a lasting memory of him will be his love for youth ministry and his
sometimes misunderstood advocacy for children and youth whose challenging
behavior caused other adults to give up on them.
For those of you who did not know Kevin, he began his
involvement with YRUU as an advisor at the Silver Springs, MD congregation. Kevin was also Director of Lifespan Faith
Development at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Las
Vegas, NV and most recently Director of Religious Education at
Mission Peak UU Congregation in Fremont,
CA. Kevin also served as a UUA trainer for the
Our Whole Lives and the Sexuality and Our Faith programs.
Kevin was a Congregational Consultant for the Pacific
Southwest District of the UUA, where he has played a wide variety of roles,
including facilitating new DRE start-ups and Religious Education retreats, PSWD
Leadership Resources Council, and youth camps ministry team. As the Dean of Elementary Camp and Chaplain at
Middle School and Senior High Camps at de Benneville Pines, Kevin's enthusiasm,
organizational skills and focus on spirituality will be missed for years to
come.
Among numerous distinctions, Kevin received the 2007 Pacific
Southwest District's award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of Unitarian
Universalism by a Religious Professional. This is only the second time this
award has been given to a non-ordained religious professional. Before becoming seriously
ill, Kevin was in his second year of study for his Master of Divinity degree at
Starr King School for the Ministry.
Kevin will no doubt be remembered by his constant creative
energy, awe-inspiring worship services, beautiful purple alter cloths, and Lego
chalices that he designed for at least two congregations.
Kevin is no longer with us in body however, his spirit will
live on in the hearts and minds of the UU children, youth and adults who he
ministered to and with during his well lived, yet too short life.
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C*UUYAN News
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Greetings from C*UUYAN, the Continental Unitarian Universalist Young Adult
Network! Three quick things to let you know about this
month:
Virtual meeting a
success! July 18th was a first for C*UUYAN as we held an online
virtual meeting to give updates on the work of the steering committee, elect new
representatives and say thank you to those whose terms were completed. Though
attendance was small, feedback was very good as people were happy to have a
chance to hear what has been going on with the two task forces established at
the pre-GA meeting in 2008, from Karina Leppik - C*UUYAN's outgoing Board of
Trustees Observer, and Erik Kesting, Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries . We also bid goodbye with thanks for their great work to Liz Weber,
Linnea Huston and Andrew Mertz, all of whom completed their terms on the
Steering Committee and welcomed Lindsay Simon as a new At-Large member. We thank
all the participants and look forward to more conversations with young adults in
the coming months.
Open C*UUYAN
positions We currently have openings for two at-large members of the Steering
Committee. The Steering Committee guides the big picture of C*UUYAN's
direction as well as the practical work for our next annual meeting. Since these
will be appointed positions (in the absence of an official ConCurrent election),
the term runs until the summer meeting in 2010, when you can run for re-election
if you so choose.
We also have an opening for the C*UUYAN Observer to the UUA's Board of Trustees.
This position is critical for keeping the C*UUYAN community informed and engaged
with the conversations and issues which impact our movement. The person
appointed would be responsible for attending three Board meetings (as well as
relevant committee meetings) which take place on weekends in Boston, and
providing reports not only to the steering committee but also to the broader
C*UUYAN body.
Interested in either of these positions? For more
information email us at [email protected] or visit
www.uuyan.org
(where you can also apply).
Looking
for more C*UUYAN news? You can find it at www.uuyan.org. We
post all of our minutes, decisions, and other news there. We are currently in
the process of upgrading the site and adding some features that will allow us to
communicate and share resources more effectively. Please feel free to leave
comments or feedback for us on the site. You can also contact us at [email protected] or find us
on Facebook. Hope to hear from you soon!
In faith, C*UUYAN Steering
Committee
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Step Up to Serve on UUA Committees
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The
UUA relies upon energetic, committed, visionary UUs to serve the twenty-plus
committees, panels and task forces that work with staff and the UUA Board to
carry out the mission of the Association. We are eager to draw volunteers from
the rich diversity of our movement: diversity of race, gender, ethnicity,
sexual orientation and identity, age, geography, skills, and vocation.
Every
two years, the Committee on Committees (CoC) reviews and brings recommendations
to the Board for appointment and re-appointment to all Board-appointed
committees. This year, the Board will be
appointing members to the two-year term beginning January 1, 2010, and
re-appointing as appropriate.
Please
complete the online application for Board-appointed committees at this link,
if you wish to be considered for a January appointment that interests you. The deadline is August 24, 2009.
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Contact the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries |
Erik B. Kesting - Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (617) 948-4359 - [email protected]Rev. Dr. Monica L.
Cummings - Program Associate for Youth and Young Adults of
Color
(262) 705-5786
- [email protected]Nancy DiGiovanni - Campus and Bridging Ministries Associate (617) 948-4629 - [email protected]Jeremie Giacoia - Leadership Development Associate (617) 948-4352 - [email protected]Sarah Prager - Youth and Young Adult Ministries Office Administrator (617) 948-4355 - [email protected]
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