What's Keeping Me Busy

Here's the official press release for the Summer Collegium. Ginger & I leave on Tuesday. I think I've finally finished my required case study, but I still have the congregational study to finish up. Hopefully by Tuesday.

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Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, is pleased to announce the participants for the first Summer Collegium. Over 120 applications were received from nine denominations in 36 states and Canada. Applications were carefully screened and evaluated by a team of eight readers, and the top 25 were chosen for the 2006 Collegium. These participants serve rural, small town, suburban and urban churches ranging in size from ten to one hundred worshipers on an average Sunday.

The Summer Collegium is a project in support of small congregations funded by the “Making Connections” initiative of the Lilly Endowment Inc. Participants and their spouses/partners will spend nine days at VTS learning and renewing their appreciation for the small church by attending workshops led by small church experts. There will be numerous opportunities for worship and renewal. The project is fully ecumenical, with faculty drawn from a wide variety of denominations. Keynotes for the 2006 Summer Collegium are Carl S. Dudley, a Presbyterian who is nationally known advocate for small churches, and who serves as emeritus faculty at Hartford Seminary, and Sandra LaBlanc, Director of Rural Ministry Resources and Networking for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

An important part of the Summer Collegium is its emphasis on the arts as an exciting way to express faith in churches, large or small. The Collegium will have two artists-in-residence, Horace Clarence Boyer, editor of Lift Every Voice and Sing II – An African American Hymnal, and Susan Sherard, an Episcopal priest who has used her gifts in quilting and other visual arts as rector of small churches. The Summer Collegium will host a one-day Small Church Religious Arts Festival on Saturday, June 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., open to the public, to celebrate the wide variety of arts and crafts in small congregations.

Participants will read assigned texts and work with their congregations in preparation for their time at Virginia Seminary from June 21-29, and will do a follow-up project after they leave Alexandria. Project Manager Marilyn Johns, D.Min., Project Director, the Rev. Roger A. Ferlo, Ph.D., and Associate Project Director, the Rev. J. Barney Hawkins IV, Ph.D., anticipate a visit to each of the congregations in the coming year.

The Summer Collegium will continue each summer through 2010, with a different group of 25 pastors each summer. Further information can be found on our website, www.vts.edu/education/collegium, or by calling 703-461-1752.

Participants in the 2006 Summer Collegium are:
 The Rev. Randy S. Allman and Dana K. Allman, United Christian – Presbyterian Church, Bedford, Iowa
 The Rev. Lisa C. Anderson, Redeemer Lutheran Church (ELCA), Shaftsbury, Vermont
 The Rev. Elizabeth P. Beasley and Kirk Beasley, St. John’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Kaneohe, Hawaii
 The Rev. Jocelyn Bell, Christ Episcopal Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee
 The Rev. Daniel Bradfield and Ginger Bradfield, Fairview Community Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Trowbridge, California
 The Rev. Joanne Carlson Brown, United Church in University Place (United Methodist and United Church of Christ), University Place, Washington
 The Rev. Joseph W. Carpenter and Wanda L. Carpenter, Atwater/Rosendale United Methodist Parish, Atwater, Minnesota
 The Rev. Deborah A. Cenko and Russell J. Cenko, First Presbyterian Church, Wharton, Texas
 Pastor Ellen Cleaves and Malcolm Hare, Limestone United Methodist Church, Limestone, Maine
 The Rev. Beth Wickenberg Ely and the Rev. Duncan Cairnes Ely, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Greenville, South Carolina
 The Rev. James H. Foster and Delores J. Foster, Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
 Pastor Ruth Gangloff, Mobile Ministry (Kabetogama United Methodist Church and Crane Lake Chapel), Orr, Minnesota
 The Rev. Charles K. Hartman and Beverly M. Rathbun, First Baptist Church in Swansea, Swansea, Massachusetts
 The Rev. Debra Huffman and the Rev. Lynn R. Ditto, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Canyon, Texas
 The Rev. Marion Elizabeth Kanour and Barbara Lynn Heyl, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and Trinity Episcopal Church, Lynchburg, Virginia
 The Rev. Fred Krebs and Kathy Krebs, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas
 The Rev. Cora Krommenhoek and Bruce Ervin, Holland Landing United Church (United Church of Canada), Holland Landing, Ontario, Canada
 The Rev. Heidi Mann and Greg Mann, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hendrum, Minnesota
 The Rev. Brian J. Peterson and Jennifer N. Peterson, Ascension Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas
 The Rev. Mark Rader and Susan Rader, Cherry Grove United Methodist Church and Fountain United Methodist Church, Spring Valley, Minnesota
 The Rev. Dennis M. Schultz and Yvonne R. Schultz, First Baptist Church, Mount Gilead, Ohio
 The Rev. Carolyn Stevenson and the Rev. Cynthia Taylor Morse, St. David’s Episcopal Church, Salem, New Hampshire
 The Rev. Jeffrey A. Wargo and the Rev. Stephanie Anne Thompson, St. John United Church of Christ, Riegelsville, Pennsylvania
 The Rev. Caryn M. Yoast and the Rev. John Hull, Charlestown Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Charlestown, Indiana
 The Rev. Kammy Young and the Rev. George D. Young III, St. George Episcopal Church, Ft. George Island, Florida