by Mike LaFond

Gary Dietz and his wife, Marjorie, have been good and close friends of our family for many years. 

I first met Gary about 30 years ago when he traveled from New York to Edina, Minnesota, to interview for the position of the first full-time youth minister at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. Gary had to think for a while about making the big move half-way across the country - and St. Stephen's had to dig deep to make and justify the investment in full time youth ministry. But they did make the investment and Gary made the move.

St. Stephen's ROI (return on investment) has been and is a very successful Youth Ministry Program and an effective lay staff member who is relied upon to provide staff leadership for stewardship and church properties and other programs.

Gary's ROI has been a very successful and recognized youth ministry program and introduction through the Church to Marjorie, his wife of almost 25 years and a great contributor to the music and other ministries at St. Stephen's.

I was a Warden at St. Stephen's when Gary was hired. I was one of two "Best Men" at his wedding - a longer story for another time. For about 10 years I was one of the Parish Volunteers working with Gary in the Youth Ministry Programs at St. Stephen's.

Gary is a gregarious guy - and his key gifts in his professional and personal lives are his interest and ability to engage other people - adolescents and adults - and his ability to hold people responsible for their undertakings and position responsibilities. He engages adolescents and adults with "positive insistence" and fun-filled activities.

Gary loves to cook and is a connoisseur of good wine.  His technique for recruiting adult volunteers is to invite selected parishioners to his home for dinner (which is always excellent) and, before his prospects are ready to leave, he makes the pitch that they join him in the Youth Ministry Program. Most often he is successful.

Before coming to St. Stephen's, Gary worked for five years as Director of Youth Ministry for the Mid-Hudson Region of the Diocese of New York, home to 60 small Episcopal churches with no paid staff for youth ministry. Gary's task was to help develop youth ministry at each of those churches - and by the time he moved to Edina, there were active programs at 45 of the 60 parishes!

In the middle of January, Gary will be coming to the Diocese of New Hampshire to lead two events on youth ministry. On Thursday, January 17, he will speak to clergy and youth leaders on the theme "Being too small is not an excuse." Specifically aimed at small churches - but relevant to churches of any size - the goal of this session is to help its participants develop individual, workable plans for youth ministry in their home parishes.

On Saturday, January 19, at St. Paul's School in Concord, Gary will run a workshop for youth and youth leaders from all over the state - including interested St. Paul's students. This event will focus on the opportunities for intergenerational dialog, exploration, and creativity, as Gary encourages participants to work together to create a vision and a plan for the youth of our diocese.

Of course we are blessed with our own gifted youth ministers - both at St. Paul's Church and throughout the diocese. I have no doubt that Gary will take back to Edina plenty of new ideas and perspectives that will enrich his ministry at St. Stephen's, even as the parishes of New Hampshire benefit from the wisdom and encouragement he will share with us.

If you are interested in attending either the Clergy and Youth Leader event on 1/17/2013, or the Youth and Youth Leader event on 1/19/2013, please contact Tammy Trahan at the Diocesan Office. 

My friendship with Gary has been fun and enriching. Yours will be too.                  

by Frank Spinella 

Education and spiritual formation programs have been mainstays here at St. Paul's since the parish's beginnings.  Our very first report to the Diocesan Convention in 1837, reprinted in the June 1870 edition of The Historical Magazine, recounts these goings-on here two years before St. Paul's even had a church building : "This Parish is in an encouraging condition . . . The Sunday School connected with it is interesting and useful, though small.  The Governor of the State and other gentlemen of the first respectability are among the teachers.  There are two liturgy classes in it."   

Three years later St. Paul's had its first church building, and our 1840 report to the Convention recited: "The Sunday School numbers more than fifty scholars and seven teachers."    By 1890 the Parish reported to the Convention that it had 18 "officers and teachers" and 104 scholars.  In 1940, enrollment was up to 242.    

Beginning in 1934, church school pupils from throughout the Diocese gathered here at St. Paul's each spring for a Te Deum Service. Robert Dunn's A History of the Diocese of New Hampshire 1802-1952 reports: "The service has been so well attended (sometimes by over a thousand) that in 1951 it was found necessary to conduct two services simultaneously, at St. Barnabas' Church in Berlin and at St. Paul's Church in Concord."   

In the 1970's and early 1980's, a Clinical Pastoral Education Program was held at St. Paul's under the direction of Rev. David Hamilton. In this program seminarians, nuns and priests spent part of the summer developing their skills in pastoral counseling by doing clinical work, attending lectures/discussions, visiting parishioners, and participating in an evening educational program where parishioners volunteered to critique the sermons preached by the students.  

As St. Paul's has continued to grow, so has the breadth of its educational programs.  Bible studies and adult education programs were added, which today include both locally devised offerings and ECUSA-wide programs such as Via Media and Education for Ministry (EfM).