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"The mark of a great person is one who knows when to set aside
the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones."
                                                                                                     - Brandon Sanderson           

WESLEY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE
Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church
  August -  2015

FEATURED EVENTS:
LectionaryPalooza: Advent 
August 13   Gray UMC   0.4 CEUs

LectionaryPalooza is a seasonal ecumenical gathering based on the preaching cycle ofthe new revised lectionary. It is designed for preachers who use the lectionary or wish to create a sermon series reflecting the season. This upcoming season is Advent.

This year we will be introducing a Narrative Lectionary approach to Advent alongside the regular Revised Standard Lectionary gospel text.

By the time you leave, you will know what the Narrative Lectionary is and howto employ it. The aim of this teaching is to provide preachers with outlines, resources and themes that enables Sunday morning sermons to build one upon the other. (See brochure for registration details.)

August 28   Marion, VA   0.4 CEUs

Sponsored by Holston's Outreach Advocacy Ministry, the Poverty Summit will feature Keynote Speaker Bishop Sandra Steiner Bell from the West Virginia Conference. Clergy and Lay people are invited to attend an event that includes doing and learning. Strengthen your current ministries and help create new ministries within your own community. A variety of mission opportunities in Marion and workshops related to the service projects will be offered.
Note: Registration deadline is August 17th!  
Scroll down to see additional coming events that qualify for continuing ed credit. You can also go to the Holston web calendar to see the full list of upcoming events. 
 
CLERGY NOTES:

Just a quick note here regarding MissionInsite registration ... 
If you have more than one church in your charge, please only register for one of them and then contact me to add the additional churches. When you log in to the system, you will be able to select which of your churches you would like to plot or run reports for. If you are unsure if all your churches are listed under your name, just log on and you will see them listed.
Why I Don't Engage Unhappy Church Members by Email
            by Molly Phinney Baskette

One thing I do not do anymore is engage unhappy parishioners by email or respond to them if they write to me. You know what I'm talking about. The email subject line says "A concern." And you have to scroll down five times to read the entire length of the email. You get mad, then you get sad, then you spend two hours crafting your carefully written response. Then they
send their carefully written response. And it keeps going around.

Most of these folks have a lot of time to craft carefully written responses. You don't. That time you spend on this activity will not - I repeat NOT - get you or your adversary the end you desire. Nobody ever read an adversary's carefully crafted email and had a Eureka moment, falling all over themselves in an effort to make amends for their bad or misguided behavior.

The only tried and true way to resolve conflict is to sit down face to face.
I tell folks that I will meet with them in person and that I will meet on their turf if that helps them feel stronger.If they say they are more articulate in writing, I say great, write out your concern and read it to me while we sit together. If it would help to have a third person present, so you feel supported, I say, bring them along. Christianity is an incarnational religion, and we should meet in the flesh. It is only in this way we can communicate nuance, body language, and have a real dialogue to resolve differences.

Molly Phinney Baskette is lead pastor of First Church Somerville UCC in Somerville, Massachusetts. This article is an excerpt from her book Real Good Church: How Our Church Came Back from the Dead, and Yours Can, Too, � 2014, used by permission from The Pilgrim Press. It is available from Cokesbury and Amazon.
  

UPCOMING EVENTS:

 

Be sure to visit the Holston online calendar for a complete list of upcoming events throughout the Conference and beyond.  

August:
 
 August 13 - 16   Indianapolis, IN   1.5 CEUs

August 13   Gray, TN   0.4 CEUs

August 15  Frakes, KY   0.5 CEUs

Lead Kids
August 15 - 16   Bristol, VA   0.7 CEUs

Poverty Summit 2015

August 28 - 29   Marion, VA   0.4 CEUs

September:

September 16 - 18   Franklin, TN   1.5 CEUs

September 17 - 19   1.4 CEUs

September 21 - 24   Kingston, TN   1.9 CEUs

September 23   Atlanta, GA   0.8 CEUs
.THIS MONTH'S FEATURED BOOK/VIDEO
(Remember, each book related to ministry qualifies for 0.3 CEUs, and
3 books = 1 full CEU. Submit name, author, publisher and date, and a brief review for continuing ed credit.
)


 See, Know, Serve The People Within Your Reach 
             - by Dr. Thomas G. Bandy  

In See, Know and Serve, Tom Bandy demonstrates how our communities and congregations are changing, and how our reliance on 'best ministry practices' no longer makes sense. What works in one congregation won't work the same way in another, because our congregations are so different from one another, and our communities are so diverse. Bandy presents startlingly new ways to view congregations and communities, enabling leaders to understand the people within their reach on a granular level. The author demonstrates with real-world examples how organizations can translate this information into practical strategies and tactics. The book includes helpful charts and diagrams, making the material surprisingly easy to digest and share. This important, groundbreaking and convicting book lays out with depth and clarity a pioneering new way forward for every church and every mission-focused organization. Tom Bandy shows how we can see the people in our communities with unparalleled clarity, so that we can serve them-fulfilling our mission-effectively.
Grace and Peace,



Rev. Daniel Taylor, Director
Sue Weber, Editor & Admin. Asst.

Wesley Leadership Institute
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