Why in the world would a progressive, passionately Christian "mommy blogger" with over 254,000 likes on Facebook, a New York Times bestselling book, and a TEDx talk to her name notice a group of "gorgeous people" from a small church in Mapleton, Minnesota? I have no idea, but it happened on September 4th, 2014 right here. Glennon Doyle Melton is the woman behind the website Momastery.com, where she writes a blog, among many other awesome things. It was on her blog that The United Church of Mapleton got noticed because of our work this year with Church World Service (CWS).  

Today marks the first day of Steve Boorsma's ministry with the Minnesota Conference as our new Associate Conference Minister. Steve and his wife, Carla, recently moved to Minnesota from Illinois, where Steve had been serving as Senior Pastor at St. Peter's UCC in Lake Zurich.

Steve's work with us will include support for our congregations in the southern half of the Conference, Committee on Ministry duties, resourcing the ministries of prophetic witness teams of the Conference and the Vitality Team, and helping us strengthen Conference-wide participation in mission and advocacy.

Please join in offering Steve and Carla our extravagant welcome! 

• United Protestant Church in Silver Bay, the first ecumenical Protestant church in Minnesota, will celebrate its 60th anniversary September 27-28. Saturday, September 27th, the congregation will gather for a catered dinner at 6:00pm. On Sunday, September 28, a celebratory worship service will be held at 10:00am.
   
• Falcon Heights UCC will celebrate its 75th anniversary on Sunday, October 5 at its 10:30am worship service, with a number of former clergy and their spouses present. A "classic" church potluck will follow at noon.
   
• Congratulations to Kathryn Morin who was approved for ordination at an Ecclesiastical Council held at UCC New Brighton on September 23, 2014. Fifteen local churches of the Minnesota Conference were represented! Kathryn is a full-time chaplain for St. Croix Hospice in Minnetonka.

• To churches who have international relationships with overseas churches: A request World Communion Sunday is fast approaching and will take place the first Sunday of October. Global Ministries, a common witness of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) receives many requests from US churches for materials and resources to share in worship throughout the year. But by far, the most requested time is just prior to World Communion Sunday, this year on October 5. Click here to keep reading.
   

• Unexpected Places! The Call to the 30th General Synod of the United Church of Christ has recently been issued, and registration is now open! Make plans to head to Cleveland this June with thousands of your fellow UCCers! Read the call now, and sign up!
   

• Need a Kick-Start on $tewardship? The Center for Progressive Renewal (CPR) is providing an Intensive Online Stewardship Workshop for up to eight Minnesota Conference Churches. Click here to learn more!
   

• Open and Affirming Team Event Planning Meeting: Please join the Open and Affirming Team as we begin to plan 2015 events. We will gather at Mayflower UCC (106 E Diamond Lake Rd, Mpls) Saturday, Oct. 11, 10:00-12:00. Click here for more details.
   
• Clergy Clusters in the coming week:
• Southwest Cluster: Thursday, October 2, 11:00am, United Church of Mapleton