February was one of the most enjoyable meetings of the Board of Directors of the Unitarian Universalist Society for Community Ministries. I got to see how someone else does it!
As part of what our bylaws call the "apprenticeship year" our President-Elect, the Rev. Cat Cox, held the gavel for this meeting. A lot goes on during a Board meeting. You have to be mindful of Parliamentary Procedure and the agenda, keep an eye on the clock (our meetings always end on time) and participate. That's a full slate of duties. For the first time in my six years I was able to relax a bit and participate in the some of the humorous repartee that goes on among the Directors.
Plans for the upcoming General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association took up a chunk of the Board's time at the February meeting. We are working out staffing our booth in the Exhibit Hall, preparing for meetings and such. Out Booth Coordinator this year will be Mr. Bob Miess, who is the Chairperson of our Lay Ministry Committee and an old hand at GA work.
In past years I have had my own staff do the printing for UUSCM as a donation. That is now being transferred to our Administrator, Amanda Aikman, who will be doing it in the future. We have set Amanda up with a computer and printer capable of handling this task and are training her to run the UUSCM print shop.
The other task before us is nominations for next year's UUSCM Board. The Nominations Committee consists of Cat Cox and Bob Miess and they are working. If you would like to be considered as a possible Director for next year's Board, please send me an email and let me know.
On the denominational front there are some interesting things happening. Following on the Financial Summit of 2015 last May, the UUA will host a second Summit this year. The purpose of this is to further refine the ideas that came out of the previous gathering. All the ideas focus on making Unitarian Universalism more sustainable in a changing economic climate for all religious organizations. I was the invited representative for UUSCM last year, but this year we felt we needed someone who could be an ongoing presence in a way I can't be when I pass the gavel in June. I'm delighted that Bob Miess will be able to go and some of the topics at the Summit exactly reflect his areas of interest.
In March I will be back in the chair, and I'm looking forward to another great meeting.
Sincerely,
