1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,570 2 00:00:05,570 --> 00:00:06,820 Susan Lawrence: Hi, everybody. 3 00:00:06,820 --> 00:00:08,260 I'm Susan Lawrence. 4 00:00:08,260 --> 00:00:10,760 I'm the managing editor with the Faith Development Office 5 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:13,060 at the UUA, and I'd like to welcome you 6 00:00:13,060 --> 00:00:16,379 to General Assembly, where we are all in our respective hotel 7 00:00:16,379 --> 00:00:20,080 rooms ready to report to you about GA 8 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:21,880 for Religious Educators. 9 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:26,440 And let me run through a little bit about our housekeeping 10 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,880 about the webinar, and then I will turn you over 11 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:33,710 to Jessica York, our Faith Development Director, who 12 00:00:33,710 --> 00:00:38,700 is joined by Gail Forsyth-Vail and Pat Kahn of our office, 13 00:00:38,700 --> 00:00:42,380 and they will be telling you what's going on here. 14 00:00:42,380 --> 00:00:44,950 So please mute your mike. 15 00:00:44,950 --> 00:00:46,820 If you haven't figured out how, there's 16 00:00:46,820 --> 00:00:50,396 a little microphone icon next to your name 17 00:00:50,396 --> 00:00:51,770 in the list of attendees, and you 18 00:00:51,770 --> 00:00:54,045 can mouse over that and see a place 19 00:00:54,045 --> 00:00:56,840 to mute yourself, or unmute yourself, or whatever. 20 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,147 So if you see a red slash through your mike, 21 00:00:59,147 --> 00:01:00,730 that is the right way to be right now, 22 00:01:00,730 --> 00:01:04,364 so we can get the presentation going. 23 00:01:04,364 --> 00:01:05,780 No one's doing this at the moment, 24 00:01:05,780 --> 00:01:08,900 but you might accidentally see your little face up there next 25 00:01:08,900 --> 00:01:09,780 to our little faces. 26 00:01:09,780 --> 00:01:12,190 And you want to stop your camera if that 27 00:01:12,190 --> 00:01:17,324 happens so we're not all trying to be seen at this time. 28 00:01:17,324 --> 00:01:18,990 If something goes wrong with your audio, 29 00:01:18,990 --> 00:01:21,610 you should log out of the call so the rest of us 30 00:01:21,610 --> 00:01:24,172 can hear, and call in with the phone number instead. 31 00:01:24,172 --> 00:01:26,380 That way you'll be able to hear the whole conference, 32 00:01:26,380 --> 00:01:30,220 and you will be able to see the webinar afterward, 33 00:01:30,220 --> 00:01:31,210 because we post them. 34 00:01:31,210 --> 00:01:34,070 And there's the web link for you. 35 00:01:34,070 --> 00:01:36,190 When I'm done talking, I'll post that in the chat 36 00:01:36,190 --> 00:01:41,380 box next to the big screen there in case anybody needs it. 37 00:01:41,380 --> 00:01:43,010 So yeah, keep yourself muted. 38 00:01:43,010 --> 00:01:45,240 This tells you how to do it in Fuse, 39 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,030 or using star six on your phone. 40 00:01:48,030 --> 00:01:49,730 And there's also a red flag. 41 00:01:49,730 --> 00:01:51,810 It's on top of the meeting chat box. 42 00:01:51,810 --> 00:01:54,957 So if we are getting into some discussion 43 00:01:54,957 --> 00:01:56,790 and you'd like to basically raise your hand, 44 00:01:56,790 --> 00:01:59,820 you can click on your flag so whoever is facilitating 45 00:01:59,820 --> 00:02:03,630 can know to call on you. 46 00:02:03,630 --> 00:02:07,410 You can also type comments in the meeting chat box. 47 00:02:07,410 --> 00:02:10,300 And we're a pretty small group so I don't foresee any chaos 48 00:02:10,300 --> 00:02:11,190 with communicating. 49 00:02:11,190 --> 00:02:13,398 But if you want to make any little notes on the side, 50 00:02:13,398 --> 00:02:17,010 feel free to do that, and we'll all see them. 51 00:02:17,010 --> 00:02:19,180 And if there are any links to put up, 52 00:02:19,180 --> 00:02:22,180 I will type them in there for everybody. 53 00:02:22,180 --> 00:02:22,680 OK. 54 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:28,720 I'm going to send you to Jessica. 55 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:35,150 Jessica York: Hello, and welcome to the FDO Webinar and 2014 56 00:02:35,150 --> 00:02:37,920 Providence General Assembly. 57 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:40,680 So I'm wondering, before we get started, 58 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:42,560 how many people who are on this call 59 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,460 have attended a General Assembly before? 60 00:02:45,460 --> 00:02:49,950 If you could click your red flag if you have 61 00:02:49,950 --> 00:02:57,750 attended a General Assembly before. 62 00:02:57,750 --> 00:02:58,395 OK. 63 00:02:58,395 --> 00:03:01,240 Well, it looks like we have some folks who maybe have never 64 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,200 had the opportunity to attend General Assembly, 65 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,230 and that's pretty cool, then. 66 00:03:06,230 --> 00:03:08,680 So hopefully we can give you some information 67 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,900 and answer some questions that you may have. 68 00:03:12,900 --> 00:03:16,390 Susan mentioned the chat box, and the chat box 69 00:03:16,390 --> 00:03:19,950 is a great place for you to type in any questions you may 70 00:03:19,950 --> 00:03:22,640 have as we're on this webinar. 71 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:24,750 And because the webinar this month 72 00:03:24,750 --> 00:03:28,657 has a fairly short list of attendees, 73 00:03:28,657 --> 00:03:30,990 I think if you have any specific questions about General 74 00:03:30,990 --> 00:03:33,239 Assembly, we can make sure that all your questions get 75 00:03:33,239 --> 00:03:33,815 answered. 76 00:03:33,815 --> 00:03:36,190 So if you do have some questions and you've got them now, 77 00:03:36,190 --> 00:03:38,640 feel free to go ahead and type them into the chat box. 78 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,180 Or, as we continue to talk, if you come up with questions, 79 00:03:41,180 --> 00:03:43,330 go ahead and type them in, and we'll 80 00:03:43,330 --> 00:03:46,100 make your questions get addressed either 81 00:03:46,100 --> 00:03:48,570 while we're giving our presentation, or at the end 82 00:03:48,570 --> 00:03:51,850 when we have a question and answer period. 83 00:03:51,850 --> 00:03:53,860 So I want to start off a little by telling you 84 00:03:53,860 --> 00:03:56,850 what General Assembly is. 85 00:03:56,850 --> 00:03:59,830 If you've been on our website and looked under General 86 00:03:59,830 --> 00:04:01,460 Assembly, you'll know that it says 87 00:04:01,460 --> 00:04:05,500 that General Assembly, which we commonly call GA, 88 00:04:05,500 --> 00:04:08,780 is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist 89 00:04:08,780 --> 00:04:10,710 Association. 90 00:04:10,710 --> 00:04:15,990 Attendees worship, witness, learn, connect, and make 91 00:04:15,990 --> 00:04:20,440 policy for the association through democratic process. 92 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,700 Anyone may attend General Assembly. 93 00:04:23,700 --> 00:04:25,730 You just have to register for it. 94 00:04:25,730 --> 00:04:28,150 But if you want to be a voting delegate 95 00:04:28,150 --> 00:04:30,940 to help decide some of the business of the association, 96 00:04:30,940 --> 00:04:33,790 such as bylaw changes and such, then you 97 00:04:33,790 --> 00:04:37,460 have to come from a certified congregation 98 00:04:37,460 --> 00:04:39,300 and you have to be certified as a delegate 99 00:04:39,300 --> 00:04:42,260 for that congregation. 100 00:04:42,260 --> 00:04:47,080 So that's a little bit about what General Assembly is. 101 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,790 Another question that folks may have is, 102 00:04:49,790 --> 00:04:53,000 who is there at General Assembly? 103 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,450 So there's certainly a number of religious professionals 104 00:04:57,450 --> 00:05:01,420 here at General Assembly, religious educators like those 105 00:05:01,420 --> 00:05:03,350 of us who are on the call. 106 00:05:03,350 --> 00:05:07,840 Ministers are here, musicians are here, 107 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:10,280 administrators are here. 108 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:12,900 Members of those professional groups are certainly present, 109 00:05:12,900 --> 00:05:14,566 and those professional groups frequently 110 00:05:14,566 --> 00:05:17,170 meet either before or after GA. 111 00:05:17,170 --> 00:05:20,760 But we've also got folks from all walks of life here at GA. 112 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,990 We've got a children's program for children. 113 00:05:23,990 --> 00:05:27,950 We've got babies here at General Assembly. 114 00:05:27,950 --> 00:05:30,470 We've got folks who've been coming to GA 115 00:05:30,470 --> 00:05:34,560 for 30 or more years, maybe. 116 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,990 We've got people who are here for the very first time. 117 00:05:37,990 --> 00:05:40,530 We'll have a lot of local registrants. 118 00:05:40,530 --> 00:05:44,000 People from the Providence area, particularly on the weekend, 119 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:44,770 will come in. 120 00:05:44,770 --> 00:05:46,560 And so that's one of the reasons why 121 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,060 GA moves around the country from year to year. 122 00:05:50,060 --> 00:05:52,590 We try to make sure that we are in different parts 123 00:05:52,590 --> 00:05:56,430 of the country so that it not a hardship for certain people 124 00:05:56,430 --> 00:05:57,770 to come and attend. 125 00:05:57,770 --> 00:05:59,550 So we're in Providence this year. 126 00:05:59,550 --> 00:06:02,091 Next year we're going to be all the way across the other side 127 00:06:02,091 --> 00:06:05,024 of the country in Portland, Oregon, 128 00:06:05,024 --> 00:06:06,440 and that should be an exciting GA. 129 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:08,480 And if you couldn't join us this year, 130 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,540 maybe you'll be able to join us next year in Portland. 131 00:06:11,540 --> 00:06:13,860 I'm sure that will be a great GA, too. 132 00:06:13,860 --> 00:06:19,210 They're all a little bit of a different experience. 133 00:06:19,210 --> 00:06:23,500 My first GA was in Nashville, Tennessee, 134 00:06:23,500 --> 00:06:26,960 because I make Birmingham, Alabama my home, 135 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,270 and Nashville was nice and close. 136 00:06:29,270 --> 00:06:31,080 So it was my first time to go to GA. 137 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:36,460 I went as a delegate, and I also was a volunteer. 138 00:06:36,460 --> 00:06:39,150 I volunteered for several years at GA 139 00:06:39,150 --> 00:06:42,430 before I became UUA staff working with the registration 140 00:06:42,430 --> 00:06:45,010 office at GA. 141 00:06:45,010 --> 00:06:48,240 And I guess I became sold on GA when 142 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:53,150 I walked into what was then called plenary, which is now 143 00:06:53,150 --> 00:06:55,530 called a general session. 144 00:06:55,530 --> 00:06:59,320 And I was in this big hall surrounded by thousands 145 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:01,610 of Unitarian Universalists. 146 00:07:01,610 --> 00:07:03,420 And what were we doing? 147 00:07:03,420 --> 00:07:05,330 We were singing. 148 00:07:05,330 --> 00:07:08,420 We were singing, we laugh, we cry, 149 00:07:08,420 --> 00:07:12,800 we live, we die, we dance, we sing our song. 150 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:14,780 We need to feel there's something 151 00:07:14,780 --> 00:07:17,715 here to which we can belong. 152 00:07:17,715 --> 00:07:20,290 You know, there couldn't have been a more perfect moment 153 00:07:20,290 --> 00:07:22,350 to walk into General Assembly, right? 154 00:07:22,350 --> 00:07:24,740 I mean, it sounds like it comes from a movie. 155 00:07:24,740 --> 00:07:29,380 But I felt so connected and so inspired, 156 00:07:29,380 --> 00:07:32,660 and I really did feel like I was a part of something much larger 157 00:07:32,660 --> 00:07:37,570 than myself, and that I had found a place where I belonged. 158 00:07:37,570 --> 00:07:39,760 So you never know when you're going 159 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:42,120 to have those kind of moments at General Assembly. 160 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:45,630 You know, it's worth coming to not just because 161 00:07:45,630 --> 00:07:48,380 of the information you may receive 162 00:07:48,380 --> 00:07:50,740 at some of the workshops, but you're 163 00:07:50,740 --> 00:07:53,322 going to see some of the best worship 164 00:07:53,322 --> 00:07:54,822 that we have in our association when 165 00:07:54,822 --> 00:07:56,490 you come to General Assembly. 166 00:07:56,490 --> 00:07:59,340 You're going to meet people from so many different walks of life 167 00:07:59,340 --> 00:08:00,700 in General Assembly. 168 00:08:00,700 --> 00:08:03,440 As well as educators, you're going to meet colleagues 169 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,225 from all over the country, and it's another opportunity, 170 00:08:06,225 --> 00:08:08,100 like Fall Conference, for you to get together 171 00:08:08,100 --> 00:08:10,060 with your colleagues. 172 00:08:10,060 --> 00:08:12,740 Today, for example, was Professional Day 173 00:08:12,740 --> 00:08:16,630 for LREDA, the Liberal Religious Educators Association. 174 00:08:16,630 --> 00:08:18,860 Ministers have been meeting here for a couple 175 00:08:18,860 --> 00:08:21,260 of days with Ministry Days. 176 00:08:21,260 --> 00:08:23,994 The congregational live staff team at the UUA 177 00:08:23,994 --> 00:08:24,910 has been meeting here. 178 00:08:24,910 --> 00:08:27,610 And a number of committees take this opportunity 179 00:08:27,610 --> 00:08:31,390 of General Assembly to meet before after or during, 180 00:08:31,390 --> 00:08:33,640 because it is the largest gathering 181 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:36,400 of Unitarian Universalists that we will have all year. 182 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:41,030 So there's lots of opportunities there because of that. 183 00:08:41,030 --> 00:08:44,217 So the official start of GA is today, 184 00:08:44,217 --> 00:08:46,300 which is why we're bringing you the webinar today. 185 00:08:46,300 --> 00:08:48,190 After we finish our webinar, we'll 186 00:08:48,190 --> 00:08:53,900 be gathering in what I've seen is a really big arena 187 00:08:53,900 --> 00:08:55,400 here in Providence. 188 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,410 And we will have our opening session, General Session 1, 189 00:08:59,410 --> 00:09:01,530 and welcoming celebration. 190 00:09:01,530 --> 00:09:03,020 And one of the highlights of that 191 00:09:03,020 --> 00:09:06,180 is going to be the banner parade, which 192 00:09:06,180 --> 00:09:10,030 is where many congregations-- I think probably most 193 00:09:10,030 --> 00:09:13,900 of our congregations-- will have a banner that 194 00:09:13,900 --> 00:09:16,970 will be made specifically for their congregation. 195 00:09:16,970 --> 00:09:19,960 It's designed specifically for them, made by them, 196 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:24,940 and they'll march into the arena carrying their banner, 197 00:09:24,940 --> 00:09:26,590 and we'll all cheer. 198 00:09:26,590 --> 00:09:30,214 And I've been on both ends of that before. 199 00:09:30,214 --> 00:09:31,880 I've been the person out there cheering, 200 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:32,890 like I will be tonight. 201 00:09:32,890 --> 00:09:35,140 I've been the person who, along with others, 202 00:09:35,140 --> 00:09:36,770 have been holding the banner. 203 00:09:36,770 --> 00:09:39,980 And it feels really good to bring your banner in, 204 00:09:39,980 --> 00:09:43,900 and to have people that you've never met before cheer you on 205 00:09:43,900 --> 00:09:48,519 and say, yeah, go Birmingham congregation. 206 00:09:48,519 --> 00:09:50,060 Again, it's another way that you feel 207 00:09:50,060 --> 00:09:53,176 like you're part of something really larger than yourself. 208 00:09:53,176 --> 00:09:55,300 So there's definitely a real feeling of celebration 209 00:09:55,300 --> 00:09:57,590 as you come in on the banner parade. 210 00:09:57,590 --> 00:10:02,080 We will end General Assembly Sunday late afternoon 211 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:04,280 with the closing ceremony. 212 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,300 And in between, we're going to have worship, some of which 213 00:10:08,300 --> 00:10:10,880 will be open to the general public, such as our Sunday 214 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:14,620 Morning Worship and our Service of the Living Tradition. 215 00:10:14,620 --> 00:10:17,990 There'll be other smaller worships that will happen. 216 00:10:17,990 --> 00:10:20,740 In the evenings, frequently there's a youth worship 217 00:10:20,740 --> 00:10:23,610 that everyone is invited to, but the youth will coordinate 218 00:10:23,610 --> 00:10:25,840 and will put on themselves. 219 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,130 There'll be work done by delegates, some 220 00:10:28,130 --> 00:10:30,320 of the work of our association. 221 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,510 Social justice work will be happening here. 222 00:10:32,510 --> 00:10:35,600 We'll be issuing actions of immediate witness. 223 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,610 There'll be workshops on various topics. 224 00:10:38,610 --> 00:10:41,800 Our Faith Development Office, in and of itself, 225 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:45,610 is doing six workshops here this year. 226 00:10:45,610 --> 00:10:49,305 There'll be all kind of receptions. 227 00:10:49,305 --> 00:10:51,180 And hopefully, people will also have a chance 228 00:10:51,180 --> 00:10:54,120 to get out and see a little bit about Providence. 229 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:55,830 So it's also a good chance to learn 230 00:10:55,830 --> 00:10:58,100 a little about another American city, and sometimes 231 00:10:58,100 --> 00:11:02,740 even how Unitarian Universalism works in that particular city. 232 00:11:02,740 --> 00:11:06,750 So you are participating as part of this webinar. 233 00:11:06,750 --> 00:11:11,060 But you also have an opportunity to participate 234 00:11:11,060 --> 00:11:13,370 in General Assembly in another way because 235 00:11:13,370 --> 00:11:16,980 of modern technology, which is through a live streaming. 236 00:11:16,980 --> 00:11:20,710 So a good portion of General Assembly is live streamed. 237 00:11:20,710 --> 00:11:25,070 The general sessions will be, the worship will be, 238 00:11:25,070 --> 00:11:29,220 and there may be other pieces that might be live streamed. 239 00:11:29,220 --> 00:11:33,100 If you go to the website of uua.org, 240 00:11:33,100 --> 00:11:36,300 you can find out how to do a little live streaming. 241 00:11:36,300 --> 00:11:42,000 Susan has kindly posted the URL there for us in the chat box. 242 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,720 And so you can actually watch some of GA. 243 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,760 You can sit with a group of folks, for instance, 244 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:50,520 and listen to the Ware Lecture, and even 245 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:52,320 have a discussion afterwards about what 246 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,220 that means to you in your life. 247 00:11:55,220 --> 00:12:01,040 You can view the presentation of the MacLean Award 248 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:03,370 for Excellence in Religious Education, which 249 00:12:03,370 --> 00:12:07,050 this year is going to be given to Reverend Doctor Nita 250 00:12:07,050 --> 00:12:08,470 Penfold. 251 00:12:08,470 --> 00:12:10,090 That's happening Saturday afternoon 252 00:12:10,090 --> 00:12:13,860 In General Session 6 At 3:50. 253 00:12:13,860 --> 00:12:17,780 So you could actually watch that live, and cheer her on as one 254 00:12:17,780 --> 00:12:21,100 of her religious educator colleagues. 255 00:12:21,100 --> 00:12:24,350 You can participate in some of the wonderful worship that 256 00:12:24,350 --> 00:12:26,260 happens, either you individually, 257 00:12:26,260 --> 00:12:29,190 or you could sit down with a group and do this. 258 00:12:29,190 --> 00:12:32,100 Some congregations, as a matter of fact, 259 00:12:32,100 --> 00:12:34,150 will watch parts of General Assembly 260 00:12:34,150 --> 00:12:36,590 all together as a congregation. 261 00:12:36,590 --> 00:12:39,570 And one of the newer aspects of General Assembly that's 262 00:12:39,570 --> 00:12:42,390 just been a reality in the last couple of years 263 00:12:42,390 --> 00:12:45,620 is virtual voting by delegates. 264 00:12:45,620 --> 00:12:47,260 So I don't know, some of you actually 265 00:12:47,260 --> 00:12:49,990 might be delegates in your congregation, 266 00:12:49,990 --> 00:12:53,840 might be watching the general sessions virtually, 267 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,250 and might be participating in that voting process 268 00:12:57,250 --> 00:12:59,340 from wherever your home is. 269 00:12:59,340 --> 00:13:01,530 And that's a wonderful way for us 270 00:13:01,530 --> 00:13:03,290 to bring more people into the process. 271 00:13:03,290 --> 00:13:07,905 I'm very happy that we have that kind of technology these days. 272 00:13:07,905 --> 00:13:09,280 So one of the other things that's 273 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,200 going to happen during GA is that there's 274 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:13,980 going to be a witness event. 275 00:13:13,980 --> 00:13:16,660 And that's something that many people really look forward 276 00:13:16,660 --> 00:13:18,820 to as part of General Assembly. 277 00:13:18,820 --> 00:13:23,660 After all, we know that what is a big part of our faith, 278 00:13:23,660 --> 00:13:27,540 for many of us, is doing good out in the world, 279 00:13:27,540 --> 00:13:29,490 and our social action. 280 00:13:29,490 --> 00:13:32,940 t this year our witness event is going to be pretty special, 281 00:13:32,940 --> 00:13:34,570 I think. 282 00:13:34,570 --> 00:13:37,780 It's called WaterFire, and WaterFire 283 00:13:37,780 --> 00:13:42,580 is sort of a street festival that happens traditionally 284 00:13:42,580 --> 00:13:45,200 in Providence several times a year. 285 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:49,460 And this year, we were able to hook into the WaterFire process 286 00:13:49,460 --> 00:13:54,540 so that on Saturday evening, we will experience WaterFire 287 00:13:54,540 --> 00:13:59,130 the way that it normally is in Providence, with a lighting 288 00:13:59,130 --> 00:14:03,400 of large vats of wood that are going to be on boats 289 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:06,490 and that will float down the river. 290 00:14:06,490 --> 00:14:10,080 And there'll be music, inspirational music piped in, 291 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:11,890 and there'll be food trucks. 292 00:14:11,890 --> 00:14:14,290 And there'll be all kinds of activities 293 00:14:14,290 --> 00:14:16,480 happening during WaterFire. 294 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:19,200 And there'll be the opportunity for us 295 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:23,430 to witness for Unitarian Universalism. 296 00:14:23,430 --> 00:14:27,050 So this year, our witness event is about our own Unitarian 297 00:14:27,050 --> 00:14:29,580 Universalist faith. 298 00:14:29,580 --> 00:14:32,100 You should look for some photos online, certainly, 299 00:14:32,100 --> 00:14:34,655 after Saturday of the WaterFire event. 300 00:14:34,655 --> 00:14:37,030 And if you want to know a little bit more about WaterFire 301 00:14:37,030 --> 00:14:40,200 before that, you can check that out either by going directly 302 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:42,640 to their web page, or by going to the General Assembly 303 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:45,440 pages on uua.org, where there's a link 304 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:48,450 to some WaterFire information and videos. 305 00:14:48,450 --> 00:14:51,310 And I'm going to talk a little bit more 306 00:14:51,310 --> 00:14:57,170 later on about WaterFire, and what WaterFire means, 307 00:14:57,170 --> 00:14:59,456 and what it's going to look like this year. 308 00:14:59,456 --> 00:15:00,830 Now I should mention that there's 309 00:15:00,830 --> 00:15:04,710 a theme to GA this year. 310 00:15:04,710 --> 00:15:06,340 There's always a theme. 311 00:15:06,340 --> 00:15:10,290 And our theme this year is, love reaches out. 312 00:15:10,290 --> 00:15:12,454 So you're going to be hearing a lot about love. 313 00:15:12,454 --> 00:15:14,870 If you've looked at any of the workshops that are offered, 314 00:15:14,870 --> 00:15:19,540 you see that there's a lot of love floating around. 315 00:15:19,540 --> 00:15:25,660 I have this button that was presented to me today. 316 00:15:25,660 --> 00:15:27,950 Jessica, can you get this button in there? 317 00:15:27,950 --> 00:15:29,670 Because I'm not very good at this. 318 00:15:29,670 --> 00:15:32,590 It says, you are loved. 319 00:15:32,590 --> 00:15:36,390 And it's part of a project that a religious educator, 320 00:15:36,390 --> 00:15:44,150 Tim Atkins, is participating in, www.lovedforwhoyouare.org. 321 00:15:44,150 --> 00:15:48,410 So he's bringing his love to the virtual world. 322 00:15:48,410 --> 00:15:50,320 He told me a little bit about the project. 323 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,080 I think you'll be hearing a little bit more about that. 324 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:57,860 But he also brought his love buttons to General Assembly. 325 00:15:57,860 --> 00:16:02,295 So to hear a little bit more about General Assembly and some 326 00:16:02,295 --> 00:16:03,670 of the things that are happening, 327 00:16:03,670 --> 00:16:07,420 and I think, in particular, to talk about Professional Day, 328 00:16:07,420 --> 00:16:10,374 I'm going to turn things over to Gail. 329 00:16:10,374 --> 00:16:11,290 Gail Forsyth-vail: Hi. 330 00:16:11,290 --> 00:16:12,730 Thank you, Jessica. 331 00:16:12,730 --> 00:16:14,910 Can you all hear me? 332 00:16:14,910 --> 00:16:17,400 OK. 333 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:21,430 Well, I just want to say first off that it's 334 00:16:21,430 --> 00:16:22,840 fun to be in Providence. 335 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,350 Providence is pretty close to home for me, 336 00:16:26,350 --> 00:16:27,900 because I live in Massachusetts. 337 00:16:27,900 --> 00:16:31,640 And I'm enjoying the fact. 338 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:35,000 We're a large gathering in Providence this year, 339 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:38,510 and have pretty much filled up the downtown hotels 340 00:16:38,510 --> 00:16:40,810 as well as the dormitories for both Rhode Island 341 00:16:40,810 --> 00:16:42,960 School of Design and Brown University, 342 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:46,270 as well as some local hotels that are a bit further away 343 00:16:46,270 --> 00:16:48,540 and have to be accessed by bus and 344 00:16:48,540 --> 00:16:50,300 other public transportation. 345 00:16:50,300 --> 00:16:54,120 And we're meeting in a-- there's a Rhode Island Convention 346 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,800 Center, and next door to it is what they call The Dunk, which 347 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,540 is the Dunkin' Donuts Center and is basically a sports arena. 348 00:17:01,540 --> 00:17:03,760 But it's the only place big enough 349 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:06,780 for our general sessions, and so our general sessions 350 00:17:06,780 --> 00:17:11,631 will be in The Dunk, and a lot of the other activities 351 00:17:11,631 --> 00:17:13,089 in the exhibit hall and whatnot are 352 00:17:13,089 --> 00:17:17,300 happening in the, actually, the Rhode Island Convention Center. 353 00:17:17,300 --> 00:17:21,390 This morning the religious educators 354 00:17:21,390 --> 00:17:24,599 convened in one of the hotels across the street 355 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:26,069 from the convention center. 356 00:17:26,069 --> 00:17:28,640 And we were so large they had to move 357 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:30,170 our room at the last minute. 358 00:17:30,170 --> 00:17:32,250 We were 98 strong. 359 00:17:32,250 --> 00:17:32,960 There's The Dunk. 360 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:40,110 We were 98 strong this morning at the LREDA Professional Day. 361 00:17:40,110 --> 00:17:42,010 And this is a couple of shots that we have 362 00:17:42,010 --> 00:17:44,060 of LREDA Professional Days. 363 00:17:44,060 --> 00:17:47,310 And this year our keynote presenter 364 00:17:47,310 --> 00:17:50,020 was Mark Morrison-Reed, who has just 365 00:17:50,020 --> 00:17:55,750 published a book about Selma and the experience of Selma. 366 00:17:55,750 --> 00:17:58,450 But that's not what he did his presentation about. 367 00:17:58,450 --> 00:18:03,980 His presentation was called-- it was a really intriguing title-- 368 00:18:03,980 --> 00:18:07,580 it was called "The Ignored, the Naive, And The Innocent: 369 00:18:07,580 --> 00:18:10,450 Supporting Our Children as They Navigate a Multicultural 370 00:18:10,450 --> 00:18:11,520 World." 371 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,710 And several people commented as how 372 00:18:14,710 --> 00:18:19,570 that was a title that was both provocative and scary. 373 00:18:19,570 --> 00:18:22,480 And we had our presentation this morning. 374 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:24,490 And I guess-- do we have a shot of Mark? 375 00:18:24,490 --> 00:18:27,990 Here's Mark. 376 00:18:27,990 --> 00:18:31,030 It's not a great picture, but there's Mark Morrison-Reed. 377 00:18:31,030 --> 00:18:37,080 And he asked us to have a series of conversations 378 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:37,990 with one another. 379 00:18:37,990 --> 00:18:40,740 And I don't know why I ended up back in the--there. 380 00:18:40,740 --> 00:18:44,300 He asked us to have a series of conversations with one another 381 00:18:44,300 --> 00:18:46,650 that got deeper and deeper. 382 00:18:46,650 --> 00:18:48,480 And they were really about, how do 383 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:52,730 we support parents and youth of color, 384 00:18:52,730 --> 00:18:56,770 particularly noting that the danger, 385 00:18:56,770 --> 00:18:59,870 the danger that particularly young men of color 386 00:18:59,870 --> 00:19:01,100 face every day. 387 00:19:01,100 --> 00:19:05,220 And how do we help the parents of those young men of color 388 00:19:05,220 --> 00:19:09,570 actually come to terms with the danger, the very real danger 389 00:19:09,570 --> 00:19:11,320 that they face in our society? 390 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:15,320 How do we not be naive about that danger? 391 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:21,450 How do we not just say, oh, we believe in justice and equity 392 00:19:21,450 --> 00:19:23,140 in kind of a general and abstract way, 393 00:19:23,140 --> 00:19:26,260 and not deal with the practical realities that 394 00:19:26,260 --> 00:19:29,230 exist, particularly for children and youth of color 395 00:19:29,230 --> 00:19:30,850 and for their parents. 396 00:19:30,850 --> 00:19:34,060 So we were really engaged in some deep conversations, 397 00:19:34,060 --> 00:19:40,810 and Mark challenged us to do some work for ourselves 398 00:19:40,810 --> 00:19:45,700 about our feelings, and to begin to, 399 00:19:45,700 --> 00:19:50,250 or to continue, to do some work about supporting our families, 400 00:19:50,250 --> 00:19:54,870 and realizing and naming that our religious education 401 00:19:54,870 --> 00:19:57,540 programs are often the most racially 402 00:19:57,540 --> 00:20:00,290 ethnically diverse parts of our congregations. 403 00:20:00,290 --> 00:20:02,070 And how are we supporting families? 404 00:20:02,070 --> 00:20:04,300 And how are we raising these issues, also, 405 00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:06,592 with white children and youth? 406 00:20:06,592 --> 00:20:08,050 What kind of teaching are we doing? 407 00:20:08,050 --> 00:20:15,640 How is that part of our mission as religious educators? 408 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:21,520 So it was a really wonderful morning, good conversations. 409 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:25,330 We stayed with the same partner for multiple iterations 410 00:20:25,330 --> 00:20:27,640 of conversation, and that actually 411 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,350 allowed us to go much deeper than if we 412 00:20:30,350 --> 00:20:32,750 had been shifting partners. 413 00:20:32,750 --> 00:20:36,000 So that was the morning program. 414 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,330 We also had a visit from President Peter Morales-- that 415 00:20:40,330 --> 00:20:43,710 happened as we were munching lunch, 416 00:20:43,710 --> 00:20:46,880 Peter was there to greet us-- and also from Linda Olson 417 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:52,350 Peebles, who is the president of the UU Ministers Association 418 00:20:52,350 --> 00:20:53,830 and also a religious educator. 419 00:20:53,830 --> 00:20:56,010 She's a Minister of Religious Education 420 00:20:56,010 --> 00:21:00,410 and a lovely bridge between the two organizations, LREDA 421 00:21:00,410 --> 00:21:03,570 and the UU Ministers Association. 422 00:21:03,570 --> 00:21:07,080 Our morning had begun with a worship service presented 423 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,830 by the LREDA Endowment Committee. 424 00:21:10,830 --> 00:21:16,040 We moved on after lunch to the LREDA annual meeting 425 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:18,280 and to electing new board members, 426 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:22,510 who are Karen LoBracco and Meagan Henry, new LREDA board 427 00:21:22,510 --> 00:21:23,010 members. 428 00:21:23,010 --> 00:21:26,660 And finished the afternoon with some presentations 429 00:21:26,660 --> 00:21:29,830 from the Religious Education Credentialing Committee, 430 00:21:29,830 --> 00:21:33,230 and also from the Fahs Center. 431 00:21:33,230 --> 00:21:39,040 So those are the real big keynote parts 432 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,020 of LREDA Professional Days. 433 00:21:41,020 --> 00:21:43,770 But I actually wanted to also show you 434 00:21:43,770 --> 00:21:47,640 that one of the important-- this is Kim Paquette and Cindy Beal. 435 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:49,580 One of the really-- where is it? 436 00:21:49,580 --> 00:21:51,140 One of the really important things 437 00:21:51,140 --> 00:21:53,850 to remember when you come to General Assembly 438 00:21:53,850 --> 00:21:56,270 is that you really need sensible shoes. 439 00:21:56,270 --> 00:21:58,840 You spend a lot of time walking from one hotel 440 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,660 to the other hotel to all of these events and programs 441 00:22:01,660 --> 00:22:04,420 and workshops and whatnot. 442 00:22:04,420 --> 00:22:07,610 You also get used to-- there'll be 443 00:22:07,610 --> 00:22:10,410 a significant number of people who use scooters 444 00:22:10,410 --> 00:22:12,040 for accessibility reasons. 445 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:13,910 And so we actually all have to learn 446 00:22:13,910 --> 00:22:17,120 how to not get in each other's way, 447 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:22,040 how to really pay attention to people in scooters, 448 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:27,740 and how to-- and sensible shoes, if you are walking, 449 00:22:27,740 --> 00:22:32,620 are an important General Assembly accessory. 450 00:22:32,620 --> 00:22:36,040 So I just wanted to lift that up. 451 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:41,840 And I'm going to pass this over, now, to Pat. 452 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:42,930 Pat Kahn: Thank you, Gail. 453 00:22:42,930 --> 00:22:46,200 And I'm going to continue just talking a little bit more 454 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,300 about the LREDA presence at General Assembly, 455 00:22:49,300 --> 00:22:52,270 since one of the things we want to encourage you 456 00:22:52,270 --> 00:22:55,770 in this webinar is that there's a lot of things going on 457 00:22:55,770 --> 00:22:58,500 for religious educators at General Assembly. 458 00:22:58,500 --> 00:23:02,900 So-- and this is also true of the Faith Development Office, 459 00:23:02,900 --> 00:23:06,350 but LREDA has a booth in the exhibit hall. 460 00:23:06,350 --> 00:23:08,570 Faith Development Office also has a booth 461 00:23:08,570 --> 00:23:11,650 in what they call the UUA Expressway, which 462 00:23:11,650 --> 00:23:15,910 has all the UUA departments down the side. 463 00:23:15,910 --> 00:23:19,200 And the LREDA Integrity Team is doing a workshop 464 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,770 on Friday called "Knowing Ourselves Helps Us Reach Out 465 00:23:23,770 --> 00:23:24,755 in Love." 466 00:23:24,755 --> 00:23:27,890 As Jessica said, you'll hear this "reaching out with love" 467 00:23:27,890 --> 00:23:29,530 in a lot of themes. 468 00:23:29,530 --> 00:23:32,630 And one thing I'm really excited about 469 00:23:32,630 --> 00:23:37,410 is that, in addition to hearing Mark Morrison-Reed give 470 00:23:37,410 --> 00:23:41,340 that wonderful keynote address this morning to Professional 471 00:23:41,340 --> 00:23:47,820 Day, he is also giving the Fahs Lecture tomorrow, tomorrow 472 00:23:47,820 --> 00:23:50,340 morning, on a related topic. 473 00:23:50,340 --> 00:23:54,190 And it's a wonderful opportunity to really highlight 474 00:23:54,190 --> 00:24:00,900 the importance of issues within and around religious education, 475 00:24:00,900 --> 00:24:03,990 because it's open to the entire General Assembly. 476 00:24:03,990 --> 00:24:07,230 So hopefully we'll have a wonderful crowd there. 477 00:24:07,230 --> 00:24:13,130 And I tried to check to see if it was being live streamed, 478 00:24:13,130 --> 00:24:16,150 and I couldn't tell from the schedule. 479 00:24:16,150 --> 00:24:17,850 But I know that it's being recorded, 480 00:24:17,850 --> 00:24:20,340 so even if you can't live stream it tomorrow, 481 00:24:20,340 --> 00:24:23,645 you'll be able to see it once they put some of the recordings 482 00:24:23,645 --> 00:24:26,230 up. 483 00:24:26,230 --> 00:24:29,550 Another exciting thing that's happening here-- 484 00:24:29,550 --> 00:24:33,620 and I'm going to try-- there is the picture. 485 00:24:33,620 --> 00:24:36,100 I was going to hold up my copies of the books here, 486 00:24:36,100 --> 00:24:38,810 but I realize we have this wonderful picture. 487 00:24:38,810 --> 00:24:42,600 We've just released two new toolkit books. 488 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:48,850 So Susan Lawrence is the author Of Creating Justice Together: 489 00:24:48,850 --> 00:24:52,620 Service Projects for Families and Multi-generational Groups. 490 00:24:52,620 --> 00:24:54,840 So we're very excited about that. 491 00:24:54,840 --> 00:25:00,000 And Gail Forsyth-Vail, along with Polly Peterson-- 492 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,900 thank you-- has just published-- this 493 00:25:03,900 --> 00:25:05,560 is the second book of stories. 494 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,770 This one's called Missionaries, Builders And Pathfinders: 495 00:25:08,770 --> 00:25:11,060 Unitarian and Universalist Stories 496 00:25:11,060 --> 00:25:16,020 from the Midwest, the West, and the South from 1830 to 1930. 497 00:25:16,020 --> 00:25:18,700 So those are two new toolkit books 498 00:25:18,700 --> 00:25:23,370 that you can order from the UUA bookstore. 499 00:25:23,370 --> 00:25:26,200 And Jessica mentioned earlier that our Faith Development 500 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:33,025 Office is working on at least six different workshops. 501 00:25:33,025 --> 00:25:34,400 I'm not going to list all of them 502 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,320 because we will talk about some of the other ones. 503 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:42,130 But one of the ones I'm excited about is tomorrow afternoon. 504 00:25:42,130 --> 00:25:46,850 It's called "Deepening Our Faith Through Theme-Based Ministry." 505 00:25:46,850 --> 00:25:50,550 it will feature two religious educators and two ministers 506 00:25:50,550 --> 00:25:54,140 talking about how they have woven 507 00:25:54,140 --> 00:25:58,800 worship and religious education together using 508 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:01,100 theme-based ministry. 509 00:26:01,100 --> 00:26:03,050 It is being recorded, and it will 510 00:26:03,050 --> 00:26:08,200 be posted on the UUA website. 511 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,790 I think it's going to be-- Susan can correct me 512 00:26:10,790 --> 00:26:16,220 if I'm wrong-- on one of the Faith Development Office pages. 513 00:26:16,220 --> 00:26:18,380 So that will be a great tool, I think, 514 00:26:18,380 --> 00:26:21,560 that people will be able to use going forward. 515 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:26,660 One of the other workshops is "Spreading Love Through Music." 516 00:26:26,660 --> 00:26:28,300 It was great fun. 517 00:26:28,300 --> 00:26:29,970 Susan did a lot of the work on that, 518 00:26:29,970 --> 00:26:35,420 pulling together musicians and music directors, 519 00:26:35,420 --> 00:26:39,520 and talking about multi-generational-- the way 520 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,310 that music ties us all together and takes it out 521 00:26:42,310 --> 00:26:43,880 into the world. 522 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:48,020 And our Faith Development colleague, Melanie Davis, 523 00:26:48,020 --> 00:26:50,410 who is the OWL Program Associate, 524 00:26:50,410 --> 00:26:56,410 is doing a workshop on sexuality and aging, which I've already 525 00:26:56,410 --> 00:27:00,070 heard-- I chatted with several people at our booth 526 00:27:00,070 --> 00:27:02,450 this afternoon who said, oh, I think 527 00:27:02,450 --> 00:27:03,780 I'm going to go to that one. 528 00:27:03,780 --> 00:27:10,410 So lots of great things happening there. 529 00:27:10,410 --> 00:27:14,360 And now Jessica, were you going to talk a little bit 530 00:27:14,360 --> 00:27:17,500 about youth presence? 531 00:27:17,500 --> 00:27:18,250 Jessica York: Yes. 532 00:27:18,250 --> 00:27:23,160 So as I mentioned earlier, there are all sorts of folks 533 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:25,812 here at General Assembly, and one 534 00:27:25,812 --> 00:27:28,460 of the larger groups or demographics 535 00:27:28,460 --> 00:27:31,250 present is the Youth Caucus. 536 00:27:31,250 --> 00:27:33,960 I'm wondering if anybody who's on the call 537 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:36,480 has any youth from their congregation 538 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,824 that they know are here at General Assembly? 539 00:27:38,824 --> 00:27:40,980 If you do, you can raise your flag, 540 00:27:40,980 --> 00:27:45,070 click on the little red flag that's above the chat box. 541 00:27:45,070 --> 00:27:48,020 Or if anybody here, perhaps, has ever 542 00:27:48,020 --> 00:27:51,547 been to General Assembly themselves as a youth. 543 00:27:51,547 --> 00:27:53,130 I think some people may have joined us 544 00:27:53,130 --> 00:27:56,280 since we started the call. 545 00:27:56,280 --> 00:28:00,400 But Youth Caucus is a wonderful opportunity for UU youth 546 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,850 to get together. 547 00:28:02,850 --> 00:28:05,370 You may have had the experience of being involved 548 00:28:05,370 --> 00:28:07,680 in a congregation where there were only 549 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:11,470 a handful of youth, or maybe even, 550 00:28:11,470 --> 00:28:14,110 in a particular year, one or two youth that 551 00:28:14,110 --> 00:28:16,355 might be in your individual congregation. 552 00:28:16,355 --> 00:28:19,380 Well, here's an opportunity here at General Assembly for youth 553 00:28:19,380 --> 00:28:23,480 to be together with hundreds of other youth, 554 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,840 and to talk about their shared experiences, what 555 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,160 it means for them to be a Unitarian Universalist youth. 556 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,750 And Youth Caucus has its own various work 557 00:28:33,750 --> 00:28:36,940 that it does as it explores Unitarian Universalist Youth 558 00:28:36,940 --> 00:28:38,010 Ministry. 559 00:28:38,010 --> 00:28:41,170 The Youth and Young Adult Ministries Office 560 00:28:41,170 --> 00:28:44,330 coordinates a great deal of Youth Caucus, 561 00:28:44,330 --> 00:28:48,750 but a lot of the programming for it is also planned by deans. 562 00:28:48,750 --> 00:28:53,570 There are [AUDIO OUT] and they do 563 00:28:53,570 --> 00:28:56,630 a lot of the planning of what's going to happen 564 00:28:56,630 --> 00:28:59,730 there within the caucus itself. 565 00:28:59,730 --> 00:29:04,870 So a lot of it is very youth-led with some adult supervision 566 00:29:04,870 --> 00:29:06,650 and guidance. 567 00:29:06,650 --> 00:29:09,710 There's also a Young Adult Caucus 568 00:29:09,710 --> 00:29:12,660 here at General Assembly. 569 00:29:12,660 --> 00:29:15,990 Within those various caucuses, there 570 00:29:15,990 --> 00:29:20,020 are youth and young adults of color here, too. 571 00:29:20,020 --> 00:29:23,870 And there's a time for them to meet and greet and get 572 00:29:23,870 --> 00:29:25,480 to know each other. 573 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:29,040 There's also gatherings here from DRUM, Diverse 574 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,710 and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural 575 00:29:31,710 --> 00:29:33,440 Ministries. 576 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,045 So one of the functions that GA serves 577 00:29:36,045 --> 00:29:41,820 is that it also provides a forum and an opportunity for groups 578 00:29:41,820 --> 00:29:46,080 of marginalized-- people with marginalized identities who 579 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:51,530 may not have a real solid number within any individual 580 00:29:51,530 --> 00:29:54,830 congregation, even within a city, or even 581 00:29:54,830 --> 00:29:57,850 within a district, maybe, to spend 582 00:29:57,850 --> 00:30:02,280 some time caucusing, networking, sharing, and getting 583 00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:05,020 to know other Unitarian Universalists who 584 00:30:05,020 --> 00:30:06,990 hold similar identities. 585 00:30:06,990 --> 00:30:09,400 And people can build some great relationships this way, 586 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:13,210 relationships that really can sustain them in this faith 587 00:30:13,210 --> 00:30:15,850 throughout any trials and tribulations they 588 00:30:15,850 --> 00:30:20,190 may be experiencing as marginalized people 589 00:30:20,190 --> 00:30:23,710 within the congregation or within the world. 590 00:30:23,710 --> 00:30:25,210 So that's a great opportunity. 591 00:30:25,210 --> 00:30:28,370 If you don't have any youth who are here 592 00:30:28,370 --> 00:30:30,520 at General Assembly this year, but you 593 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:32,040 think you have some youth who might 594 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:35,350 be interested in attending later, 595 00:30:35,350 --> 00:30:38,000 then I certainly would urge you to get some information 596 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,360 on Youth Caucus. 597 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:41,820 I do want to let you know that there are scholarships 598 00:30:41,820 --> 00:30:45,570 available for youth to go to Youth Caucus. 599 00:30:45,570 --> 00:30:48,810 And it's a wonderful opportunity to really nurture 600 00:30:48,810 --> 00:30:52,760 some leadership skills among some of our young people. 601 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:58,750 And having your individual talents recognized and utilized 602 00:30:58,750 --> 00:31:02,240 within the faith is one of the things that actually 603 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,870 does keep our Unitarian Universalist 604 00:31:04,870 --> 00:31:06,960 youth active in the faith. 605 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:08,675 So I think it's very important. 606 00:31:08,675 --> 00:31:11,540 And so Youth Caucus is a great opportunity for something 607 00:31:11,540 --> 00:31:12,450 like that to happen. 608 00:31:12,450 --> 00:31:15,610 If you need more information on how to get some of your youth 609 00:31:15,610 --> 00:31:17,480 to Youth Caucus in future years, certainly 610 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,590 contact the Youth and Young Adult Ministry Office, 611 00:31:19,590 --> 00:31:25,709 and they'll be happy to help you with some of that. 612 00:31:25,709 --> 00:31:28,250 And now I think Gail is going to talk to us a little bit more 613 00:31:28,250 --> 00:31:32,470 about some of the individual workshops that we are offering. 614 00:31:32,470 --> 00:31:34,330 Pat talked about some of those. 615 00:31:34,330 --> 00:31:37,650 And Gail, what are some of the other workshops that the Faith 616 00:31:37,650 --> 00:31:40,490 Development Office is involved in? 617 00:31:40,490 --> 00:31:43,780 Gail Forsyth-vail: Well, first I need 618 00:31:43,780 --> 00:31:46,840 to say that within the last couple of days, 619 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:48,200 we've been busy. 620 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:49,770 And within the last couple of days 621 00:31:49,770 --> 00:31:54,030 we published the Military Ministry Toolkit, 622 00:31:54,030 --> 00:32:01,040 which is a set of workshops and a video for congregations 623 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:06,340 to use if they are figuring out how to better serve 624 00:32:06,340 --> 00:32:09,090 military, active duty military personnel, veterans, 625 00:32:09,090 --> 00:32:12,900 and their families with some real conversation 626 00:32:12,900 --> 00:32:15,290 about why this is an important piece of our ministry 627 00:32:15,290 --> 00:32:19,110 and an often neglected group of people. 628 00:32:19,110 --> 00:32:20,990 So one of the workshops that we have 629 00:32:20,990 --> 00:32:23,570 is actually about military ministry. 630 00:32:23,570 --> 00:32:29,440 And we have-- I'm working with the two co-authors 631 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,500 of the curriculum, who are Lieutenant and Reverend-- 632 00:32:33,500 --> 00:32:36,710 depending on whichever context he's working 633 00:32:36,710 --> 00:32:40,500 in-- Seanan Holland, who is a military chaplain, 634 00:32:40,500 --> 00:32:42,290 and with the Reverend Doctor Monica 635 00:32:42,290 --> 00:32:46,130 Cummings, who is a vet herself. 636 00:32:46,130 --> 00:32:48,700 And so we'll be talking a little bit about the curriculum, 637 00:32:48,700 --> 00:32:52,770 and actually inviting people to consider 638 00:32:52,770 --> 00:32:57,110 why it's an important thing for us, especially now, 639 00:32:57,110 --> 00:33:02,470 as we have so many veterans coming home 640 00:33:02,470 --> 00:33:08,300 and whose lives have been disrupted by US wars. 641 00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:12,060 And how are we welcoming those folks in our congregation, 642 00:33:12,060 --> 00:33:14,470 giving them a safe place to talk about some of the things 643 00:33:14,470 --> 00:33:17,400 they've experienced, and so on. 644 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:23,070 So that workshop is Friday morning. 645 00:33:23,070 --> 00:33:27,310 And then Friday afternoon, I am actually 646 00:33:27,310 --> 00:33:31,330 moderating a panel talking about The Wisdom Path: 647 00:33:31,330 --> 00:33:34,770 Money, Spirit, and Life, which is a Tapestry of Faith 648 00:33:34,770 --> 00:33:38,180 curriculum that has to do with how 649 00:33:38,180 --> 00:33:42,380 we get in spiritually healthy relationship with our money. 650 00:33:42,380 --> 00:33:44,700 And so there will be an opportunity for people 651 00:33:44,700 --> 00:33:46,740 to experience some of the curriculum, 652 00:33:46,740 --> 00:33:49,700 and to get some questions answered, 653 00:33:49,700 --> 00:33:52,360 and to hear a little bit about how it came to be developed, 654 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:54,460 and so on. 655 00:33:54,460 --> 00:33:56,930 Both of those curricula-- although there's two workshops, 656 00:33:56,930 --> 00:34:01,400 and I do believe the Wisdom Path one is being videotaped 657 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:05,230 and will probably be on the website of the Central East 658 00:34:05,230 --> 00:34:09,980 Region, CERG, the UUA SERG region, because one 659 00:34:09,980 --> 00:34:13,159 of the authors is Pat Infante, who 660 00:34:13,159 --> 00:34:16,330 is field staff and works in the Central East region. 661 00:34:16,330 --> 00:34:20,510 So that one you'll be able to see later on. 662 00:34:20,510 --> 00:34:23,940 And you can also look at both of those curricula, 663 00:34:23,940 --> 00:34:26,949 both the Military Ministry Toolkit and Wisdom Path. 664 00:34:26,949 --> 00:34:29,659 And you can do it by going to uua.org and typing 665 00:34:29,659 --> 00:34:32,510 those things in the search box, and you'll get right to them. 666 00:34:32,510 --> 00:34:35,260 So I urge you to take a look at those. 667 00:34:35,260 --> 00:34:39,550 And then I want to talk also about a workshop 668 00:34:39,550 --> 00:34:42,530 that we're doing on Saturday afternoon, which is really 669 00:34:42,530 --> 00:34:48,070 a preparatory workshop for the WaterFire event. 670 00:34:48,070 --> 00:34:54,190 There are four of us, including Jessica and myself, 671 00:34:54,190 --> 00:34:59,630 and Kristin Maier, who is the author of a book on how 672 00:34:59,630 --> 00:35:00,990 to tell a good story. 673 00:35:00,990 --> 00:35:02,131 It's called A Good Telling. 674 00:35:02,131 --> 00:35:04,630 It's a Skinner House book, and it's one that you can look up 675 00:35:04,630 --> 00:35:07,930 and probably should have in your professional library. 676 00:35:07,930 --> 00:35:09,570 But we're actually inviting people 677 00:35:09,570 --> 00:35:15,450 to find those powerful stories about when they really 678 00:35:15,450 --> 00:35:19,990 felt the power of their Unitarian Universalist faith, 679 00:35:19,990 --> 00:35:22,130 and to actually practice with one another 680 00:35:22,130 --> 00:35:23,770 how to tell those powerful stories, 681 00:35:23,770 --> 00:35:26,260 and talking a little bit about what makes a powerful story, 682 00:35:26,260 --> 00:35:33,110 and why it's important to share your love through shared story. 683 00:35:33,110 --> 00:35:36,440 So we are going to help to get people warmed up. 684 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,450 We're going out to WaterFire, and we'll 685 00:35:39,450 --> 00:35:43,510 be giving them buttons that say "Ask me my story" 686 00:35:43,510 --> 00:35:45,920 or-- I can't remember the exact wording, 687 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:47,740 but something like that. 688 00:35:47,740 --> 00:35:50,870 And hopefully, people will be out at WaterFire 689 00:35:50,870 --> 00:35:55,570 sharing those powerful stories from their own faith journey. 690 00:35:55,570 --> 00:35:59,200 So we are very much looking forward to that. 691 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,160 And I think I'm going to pass it over 692 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:05,320 to Jessica for more about the WaterFire event. 693 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,120 Jessica York: Thanks, Gail. 694 00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:11,310 So we know that for some Unitarian Universalists, 695 00:36:11,310 --> 00:36:14,330 it's not always easy to talk about our faith. 696 00:36:14,330 --> 00:36:16,600 Many people are sometimes afraid that they're 697 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:22,660 going to be seen as proselytizers, when, you know, 698 00:36:22,660 --> 00:36:29,920 the actuality of it is that so many UUs came to this faith 699 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:31,280 as adults. 700 00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:33,210 And how often have you heard somebody 701 00:36:33,210 --> 00:36:36,810 say, I wish I'd known about Unitarian Universalism earlier 702 00:36:36,810 --> 00:36:38,910 in my life? 703 00:36:38,910 --> 00:36:40,460 Well, one of the ways that people 704 00:36:40,460 --> 00:36:42,050 can know about it earlier in life 705 00:36:42,050 --> 00:36:45,460 is if we are actually talking to each other about our faith. 706 00:36:45,460 --> 00:36:50,260 So witnessing about our faith during WaterFire 707 00:36:50,260 --> 00:36:53,960 is about that so that people know a little bit more 708 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:55,790 about what Unitarian Universalism is about. 709 00:36:55,790 --> 00:36:58,720 But the purpose of it isn't so much to get more people 710 00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:01,770 to come the congregations and to sign the book 711 00:37:01,770 --> 00:37:03,930 and become pledge units. 712 00:37:03,930 --> 00:37:07,380 It really about this theme of love reaches out. 713 00:37:07,380 --> 00:37:12,690 We think we have some values, as Unitarian Universalists, that 714 00:37:12,690 --> 00:37:17,850 are appealing values, and values that 715 00:37:17,850 --> 00:37:20,279 can really help save the world. 716 00:37:20,279 --> 00:37:22,570 So we're going to be talking about some of those things 717 00:37:22,570 --> 00:37:24,556 during the WaterFire event. 718 00:37:24,556 --> 00:37:26,930 And we're trying to make it easier for people, because we 719 00:37:26,930 --> 00:37:29,290 know it's not always easy. 720 00:37:29,290 --> 00:37:33,640 I'll tell you a short little story about that. 721 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:36,860 Down in Birmingham, I worked as a religious educator 722 00:37:36,860 --> 00:37:39,140 before I became UUA staff. 723 00:37:39,140 --> 00:37:43,110 And I'm a non-driver, so frequently I 724 00:37:43,110 --> 00:37:46,050 take cabs places, including taking cabs 725 00:37:46,050 --> 00:37:49,130 to the congregation in Birmingham. 726 00:37:49,130 --> 00:37:53,940 And so many cabdrivers would drop me off and say, 727 00:37:53,940 --> 00:37:55,820 Unitarian Universalist, what's that? 728 00:37:55,820 --> 00:37:57,390 I've never heard that before. 729 00:37:57,390 --> 00:38:00,510 Now if my daughter, as a youth or young adult, 730 00:38:00,510 --> 00:38:02,000 was riding in the cab with me, this 731 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,512 is the point where she would begin to roll her eyes, 732 00:38:04,512 --> 00:38:06,970 and sit back like, we're never going to get out of this cab 733 00:38:06,970 --> 00:38:10,578 now, as her mom goes, I'm so glad you asked that question. 734 00:38:10,578 --> 00:38:14,107 Let me tell you about Unitarian Universalism. 735 00:38:14,107 --> 00:38:15,690 So we're giving people the opportunity 736 00:38:15,690 --> 00:38:16,820 to practice some of that. 737 00:38:16,820 --> 00:38:19,250 Gail mentioned how we're doing it within the workshop. 738 00:38:19,250 --> 00:38:22,470 And WaterFire is kind of the impetus for doing that, 739 00:38:22,470 --> 00:38:25,361 but we hope that it's going to spread beyond that, 740 00:38:25,361 --> 00:38:27,110 and that people will find that it's easier 741 00:38:27,110 --> 00:38:30,530 to talk about their faith in many other circumstances. 742 00:38:30,530 --> 00:38:31,960 So we've got other ways that we're 743 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,430 trying to help people hold those conversations 744 00:38:34,430 --> 00:38:37,040 about their faith, too, one of which 745 00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:42,020 is tomorrow, on Thursday, we'll have a period called 746 00:38:42,020 --> 00:38:43,420 Let's Talk. 747 00:38:43,420 --> 00:38:47,110 And Let's Talk is an opportunity for any 748 00:38:47,110 --> 00:38:49,950 of the participants of General Assembly to come together. 749 00:38:49,950 --> 00:38:53,527 And they'll be sitting at a table with other UUs, hopefully 750 00:38:53,527 --> 00:38:54,860 some folks that they don't know. 751 00:38:54,860 --> 00:38:58,550 So it's an opportunity to meet some new people 752 00:38:58,550 --> 00:39:00,250 and maybe make some new friends. 753 00:39:00,250 --> 00:39:03,390 But they're also going to be using some prompts provided 754 00:39:03,390 --> 00:39:06,130 by the Faith Development Office to help 755 00:39:06,130 --> 00:39:08,030 them talk a little bit about their faith, 756 00:39:08,030 --> 00:39:10,590 about the times in their life when their faith felt 757 00:39:10,590 --> 00:39:14,170 transformative, or when their faith really helped them 758 00:39:14,170 --> 00:39:15,960 when they needed to be helped. 759 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:18,890 And we hope this is another way that we can help prepare people 760 00:39:18,890 --> 00:39:20,610 for having some of the conversations 761 00:39:20,610 --> 00:39:24,780 that we hope they're going to have during WaterFire. 762 00:39:24,780 --> 00:39:27,717 We also hope they're going to have some fun during WaterFire. 763 00:39:27,717 --> 00:39:30,050 One of the things the Faith Development Office worked on 764 00:39:30,050 --> 00:39:33,910 was to create a WaterFire Bingo. 765 00:39:33,910 --> 00:39:36,120 And so there's a little game board that 766 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:40,140 asks people do things such as go to one of the meditation 767 00:39:40,140 --> 00:39:43,940 stations and spend some time reflecting on how love has 768 00:39:43,940 --> 00:39:47,830 played out in their life, or to use the chalk-- because there's 769 00:39:47,830 --> 00:39:49,600 going to be chalk about on the sidewalk-- 770 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:53,690 and do some artwork for love on the sidewalk, 771 00:39:53,690 --> 00:39:56,310 or to get a chalice tattoo, because yeah, 772 00:39:56,310 --> 00:39:58,480 there's going to be chalice tattoos here. 773 00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:02,040 To listen to some of the music on the Steeple Street stage, 774 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,270 because we're going to have some musicians, including 775 00:40:04,270 --> 00:40:08,560 Emma's Revolution, providing some music there on that stage. 776 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:11,610 So you know, there's lots of different ways 777 00:40:11,610 --> 00:40:13,290 that we're trying to approach this. 778 00:40:13,290 --> 00:40:15,310 We're also going to have some individuals 779 00:40:15,310 --> 00:40:17,710 during the general sessions come up 780 00:40:17,710 --> 00:40:19,850 on the stage of general sessions and speak 781 00:40:19,850 --> 00:40:22,600 to what the faith has meant to them, 782 00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:25,810 and how they talk about their UU faith. 783 00:40:25,810 --> 00:40:29,180 So it's a theme that you're going to see explored. 784 00:40:29,180 --> 00:40:32,000 If you attend some of the live streaming that's 785 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,990 happening-- even if you can't be at WaterFire, 786 00:40:34,990 --> 00:40:37,450 you know, through some of the live streaming-- 787 00:40:37,450 --> 00:40:41,025 and if you later watch the Good News workshop 788 00:40:41,025 --> 00:40:44,632 that we participated in, you can take some of those tools, too. 789 00:40:44,632 --> 00:40:46,590 And you can use them for yourselves personally, 790 00:40:46,590 --> 00:40:48,506 but you can also share them with other members 791 00:40:48,506 --> 00:40:51,000 in your congregation and ask them, how 792 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:52,660 do you talk about our faith? 793 00:40:52,660 --> 00:40:54,360 Is it comfortable for you? 794 00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:56,570 And if not, here are some tools that might really 795 00:40:56,570 --> 00:41:00,890 be helpful for you. 796 00:41:00,890 --> 00:41:10,120 And I think I have come to the end of what I wanted to share 797 00:41:10,120 --> 00:41:12,280 about General Assembly. 798 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:14,960 But other folks might have things 799 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,650 that they would like to chime in on. 800 00:41:17,650 --> 00:41:26,270 Pat or Gail or Susan, what else would you like to add? 801 00:41:26,270 --> 00:41:28,020 Susan Lawrence: Well, I want to throw in, 802 00:41:28,020 --> 00:41:30,780 I've spent a lot of time in the exhibit hall, which we always 803 00:41:30,780 --> 00:41:34,770 do, because part of my job is to sit at our booth 804 00:41:34,770 --> 00:41:37,330 and tell people about the Faith Development Office activities 805 00:41:37,330 --> 00:41:38,750 and publications. 806 00:41:38,750 --> 00:41:41,000 So there were a couple slides early 807 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,890 on that just gave a flavor-- there 808 00:41:43,890 --> 00:41:46,620 they are-- there is, like, every kind of art related 809 00:41:46,620 --> 00:41:48,940 to every kind of chalice or any kind of UU thing 810 00:41:48,940 --> 00:41:51,260 you could ever want to own. 811 00:41:51,260 --> 00:41:54,900 There is amazing craft work, and all sorts of clever shirts, 812 00:41:54,900 --> 00:41:57,540 and really neat things to look at. 813 00:41:57,540 --> 00:42:00,160 And some of them are a little pricey, but it's kind of worth 814 00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:01,576 it, because there's no other place 815 00:42:01,576 --> 00:42:04,750 you can go shopping and find all this UU stuff in one room. 816 00:42:04,750 --> 00:42:06,260 This year in particular, this hall 817 00:42:06,260 --> 00:42:08,125 is a little smaller than last year's hall, 818 00:42:08,125 --> 00:42:09,833 so it feels kind of intimate, like you're 819 00:42:09,833 --> 00:42:12,830 at this boutique mall or something for just UU stuff. 820 00:42:12,830 --> 00:42:15,310 So I've enjoyed that. 821 00:42:15,310 --> 00:42:18,230 That's pretty neat. 822 00:42:18,230 --> 00:42:19,730 Gail Forsyth-vail: One of the things 823 00:42:19,730 --> 00:42:23,650 that I really like about General Assembly is the efforts 824 00:42:23,650 --> 00:42:27,660 that our General Assembly staff make in conversation 825 00:42:27,660 --> 00:42:32,250 with the convention centers where we're going to be green. 826 00:42:32,250 --> 00:42:35,340 And it's very often the UUA that pushes people 827 00:42:35,340 --> 00:42:40,370 into-- different convention centers in different cities-- 828 00:42:40,370 --> 00:42:45,380 into much more green practices. 829 00:42:45,380 --> 00:42:48,370 So you'll find, apparently, something having 830 00:42:48,370 --> 00:42:51,430 to do with the contract with the labor at the Rhode Island 831 00:42:51,430 --> 00:42:57,660 Convention Center means that they can't set up 832 00:42:57,660 --> 00:43:02,770 a station that has composting and recycling 833 00:43:02,770 --> 00:43:05,510 and whatever so people can separate trash, 834 00:43:05,510 --> 00:43:07,260 so they've got volunteers doing that. 835 00:43:07,260 --> 00:43:09,090 So they've got General Assembly volunteers 836 00:43:09,090 --> 00:43:10,790 who are there to help you figure out 837 00:43:10,790 --> 00:43:13,495 which particular place to put your stuff 838 00:43:13,495 --> 00:43:13,995 In. 839 00:43:13,995 --> 00:43:16,280 And staff were asked to bring our own water 840 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:19,650 jugs and our own reusable coffee cups. 841 00:43:19,650 --> 00:43:22,220 And we've been asked to keep track of whether the hotels are 842 00:43:22,220 --> 00:43:25,320 honoring their promises in regard to not washing towels 843 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,210 every day, and so on. 844 00:43:28,210 --> 00:43:32,010 So there's a lot of work put into really making it 845 00:43:32,010 --> 00:43:34,040 as green as it can possibly be. 846 00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:36,790 And I really do appreciate that. 847 00:43:36,790 --> 00:43:40,000 And to pay attention to one of things I've become aware of 848 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:41,990 is how carefully they pay attention 849 00:43:41,990 --> 00:43:43,790 to which hotels we contract with, 850 00:43:43,790 --> 00:43:48,840 and how fair their labor practices are, which it's 851 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:52,530 really nice see us paying attention 852 00:43:52,530 --> 00:43:55,230 to our values in those very practical ways, 853 00:43:55,230 --> 00:43:58,930 in our green practices, in fair labor practices, 854 00:43:58,930 --> 00:44:02,500 and also in accessibility and really 855 00:44:02,500 --> 00:44:05,200 paying attention to one another in terms of accessibility. 856 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:06,991 And those are all parts of the ways we live 857 00:44:06,991 --> 00:44:08,840 our faith at General Assembly. 858 00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:10,630 Pat Kahn: And I'll just add on to that, 859 00:44:10,630 --> 00:44:13,860 because I was noticing, as I was at the booth 860 00:44:13,860 --> 00:44:17,270 this afternoon, that right across the hall from that 861 00:44:17,270 --> 00:44:19,910 is a restroom that specifically says, 862 00:44:19,910 --> 00:44:23,340 this is an eight-stall gender neutral bathroom. 863 00:44:23,340 --> 00:44:25,300 Everyone is welcome in this bathroom. 864 00:44:25,300 --> 00:44:31,230 And there are those places like that throughout the convention 865 00:44:31,230 --> 00:44:33,210 center, at least what I've seen so far. 866 00:44:33,210 --> 00:44:35,650 And I think that's just another example 867 00:44:35,650 --> 00:44:40,700 of seeing our values and our faith living 868 00:44:40,700 --> 00:44:44,720 and actually demonstrating what that means to us. 869 00:44:44,720 --> 00:44:48,490 So I'm sure that that also-- the impetus for that 870 00:44:48,490 --> 00:44:53,730 must've come from the UUA and GA planning staff working 871 00:44:53,730 --> 00:44:57,282 with the convention center. 872 00:44:57,282 --> 00:44:58,240 Gail Forsyth-vail: Yes. 873 00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:00,350 And with trust. 874 00:45:00,350 --> 00:45:06,400 The UU organization T-R-U-U-S-T, and I do not know what those-- 875 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:08,430 I don't remember the exact acronym-- 876 00:45:08,430 --> 00:45:11,620 but it's an organization that really pays attention 877 00:45:11,620 --> 00:45:14,610 to the needs of transgender people in Unitarian 878 00:45:14,610 --> 00:45:16,710 Universalism. 879 00:45:16,710 --> 00:45:18,800 And so if you're a trans person, you 880 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:21,920 don't have to go seek out some hidden bathroom somewhere 881 00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:23,250 under the stairway. 882 00:45:23,250 --> 00:45:26,060 The most convenient bathrooms to the convention center 883 00:45:26,060 --> 00:45:34,150 are gender neutral. 884 00:45:34,150 --> 00:45:35,490 Are there questions? 885 00:45:35,490 --> 00:45:41,284 People have questions for us? 886 00:45:41,284 --> 00:45:42,700 Susan Lawrence: Don't forget that. 887 00:45:42,700 --> 00:45:47,200 Wait a minute. 888 00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:49,270 This is nothing to do with GA, really, 889 00:45:49,270 --> 00:45:51,860 but-- no, no, not the spiritual. 890 00:45:51,860 --> 00:45:54,720 Hang on, let me click. 891 00:45:54,720 --> 00:45:56,502 We have been doing a series of webinars, 892 00:45:56,502 --> 00:45:57,960 and this one we were thinking, hmm, 893 00:45:57,960 --> 00:45:59,970 what can we do when we're all going to be at GA. 894 00:45:59,970 --> 00:46:01,345 We won't be able to do a webinar. 895 00:46:01,345 --> 00:46:03,820 And we came up with amazing idea that I know. 896 00:46:03,820 --> 00:46:07,260 So here we are this evening doing this with you. 897 00:46:07,260 --> 00:46:09,990 We're going back to our more normal sort of webinars 898 00:46:09,990 --> 00:46:11,560 next month and in August. 899 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:15,200 So these are the topics where we are, in July, going 900 00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:18,510 to talk about the full week faith program 901 00:46:18,510 --> 00:46:20,520 that Karen Bellavance-Grace has developed. 902 00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:22,830 And it's basically a strategy for bringing 903 00:46:22,830 --> 00:46:26,380 everyday practices-- lifting that up in your life. 904 00:46:26,380 --> 00:46:28,620 And it's aimed at families, but it really 905 00:46:28,620 --> 00:46:32,689 applies to anybody who's trying to make their UU faith more 906 00:46:32,689 --> 00:46:34,230 of a regular, everyday sort of thing, 907 00:46:34,230 --> 00:46:36,410 and be more intentional about practicing 908 00:46:36,410 --> 00:46:38,020 on an everyday level. 909 00:46:38,020 --> 00:46:42,700 And in August we're going to help the new DRE's. 910 00:46:42,700 --> 00:46:45,770 So if any of you are new DRE's, or are in congregations where 911 00:46:45,770 --> 00:46:48,700 there might be in a new DRE, a number of people 912 00:46:48,700 --> 00:46:51,409 have asked us to do some sort of orientation 913 00:46:51,409 --> 00:46:53,950 and share best practices so that people who are just starting 914 00:46:53,950 --> 00:46:57,450 out can see the doorway to professionalize what they're 915 00:46:57,450 --> 00:47:00,200 doing and to understand how to get themselves grounded 916 00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:02,600 and started, and start with a community of others 917 00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:06,014 around the country who are doing similar work. 918 00:47:06,014 --> 00:47:07,930 Pat Kahn: I'll just jump in there for a second 919 00:47:07,930 --> 00:47:10,780 because we've had a couple people say, well, 920 00:47:10,780 --> 00:47:12,640 how new do you have to be? 921 00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:17,010 So Pat Infante, who's the Director of Faith Formation 922 00:47:17,010 --> 00:47:19,840 for the Central East Regional group, CERG, 923 00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:24,340 as Gail mentioned before, said she usually 924 00:47:24,340 --> 00:47:28,970 says three years or under, but anybody is welcome. 925 00:47:28,970 --> 00:47:31,970 So that that's just her guideline 926 00:47:31,970 --> 00:47:40,780 for what she talks about it is a new religious educator. 927 00:47:40,780 --> 00:47:44,260 Gail Forsyth-vail: I'd love to know, actually, why 928 00:47:44,260 --> 00:47:45,590 people came to this webinar. 929 00:47:45,590 --> 00:47:49,180 I would love to know what about GA you wanted to know, 930 00:47:49,180 --> 00:47:51,700 or what you're intrigued by. 931 00:47:51,700 --> 00:47:54,680 And I'd love to either have people 932 00:47:54,680 --> 00:47:57,470 unmute themselves and ask, or say, 933 00:47:57,470 --> 00:47:59,010 or to type something in the box. 934 00:47:59,010 --> 00:48:02,780 What made you-- is General Assembly kind of one 935 00:48:02,780 --> 00:48:05,470 of those big mysteries that you wanted to know something about? 936 00:48:05,470 --> 00:48:10,530 Or are you a GA follower, a live stream follower, 937 00:48:10,530 --> 00:48:12,280 or why are you here? 938 00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:21,760 I'd love to know that. 939 00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:27,010 Pat Kahn: The board is lighting up. 940 00:48:27,010 --> 00:48:28,510 Speaker 1: One of the reasons I came 941 00:48:28,510 --> 00:48:32,310 is I want to attend some of the virtual streaming things that 942 00:48:32,310 --> 00:48:34,240 are going on. 943 00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:35,930 I didn't do it last year. 944 00:48:35,930 --> 00:48:41,530 And this was sort of a shakedown cruise. 945 00:48:41,530 --> 00:48:44,237 I got the kinks out, download the program I needed, 946 00:48:44,237 --> 00:48:45,820 because I've been trying to get online 947 00:48:45,820 --> 00:48:50,030 with one of the webinars for RE committee chairs, 948 00:48:50,030 --> 00:48:58,110 and I've not had success in playing the recorded webinar. 949 00:48:58,110 --> 00:49:00,948 Gail Forsyth-vail: Interesting. 950 00:49:00,948 --> 00:49:03,051 Well, I'm glad you're here. 951 00:49:03,051 --> 00:49:04,550 Susan Lawrence: Sorry I just-- we've 952 00:49:04,550 --> 00:49:06,841 started corresponding about trying to help your issues. 953 00:49:06,841 --> 00:49:09,402 But if you want to send me an email again, 954 00:49:09,402 --> 00:49:10,860 I'll be happy to follow up with you 955 00:49:10,860 --> 00:49:12,360 and see if we can figure out what's going on. 956 00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:13,860 But there are some issues here as we 957 00:49:13,860 --> 00:49:16,160 try to figure out how to use the technology 958 00:49:16,160 --> 00:49:18,120 and make all the recordings to people. 959 00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:19,990 So glad to help you. 960 00:49:19,990 --> 00:49:22,490 Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your past correspondence, 961 00:49:22,490 --> 00:49:25,450 and I'm sure I'll talk to you in the future. 962 00:49:25,450 --> 00:49:27,776 Thank you for [INAUDIBLE]. 963 00:49:27,776 --> 00:49:35,640 Gail Forsyth-vail: Oh, we've got some answers in the box, too. 964 00:49:35,640 --> 00:49:39,257 Jessica York: Congratulations, Erin. 965 00:49:39,257 --> 00:49:40,340 Susan Lawrence: Oh, great. 966 00:49:40,340 --> 00:49:43,188 An outside delegate. 967 00:49:43,188 --> 00:49:47,895 Gail Forsyth-vail: Fabulous. 968 00:49:47,895 --> 00:49:50,270 And Laura wants to know what to watch for on live stream. 969 00:49:50,270 --> 00:49:51,644 You know, there was one year when 970 00:49:51,644 --> 00:49:55,490 I couldn't go to General Assembly for medical reasons. 971 00:49:55,490 --> 00:49:57,990 And I ended up watching the live stream. 972 00:49:57,990 --> 00:50:01,890 just happened to be I'm not feeling very well, 973 00:50:01,890 --> 00:50:04,430 and I was kind of laying in bed watching the live stream. 974 00:50:04,430 --> 00:50:09,220 And I really felt a lot less sad about missing things. 975 00:50:09,220 --> 00:50:10,280 It was really great. 976 00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:15,800 It was fabulous. 977 00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:21,427 We have a new DRE and-- excellent. 978 00:50:21,427 --> 00:50:23,260 Jessica York: I see that Theresa is planning 979 00:50:23,260 --> 00:50:27,340 to-- hoping to attend in New Orleans 980 00:50:27,340 --> 00:50:29,680 when General Assembly is there. 981 00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:33,410 I think that's going to be a great General Assembly. 982 00:50:33,410 --> 00:50:37,700 I'm hoping that'll be a nice big crowd because of New Orleans 983 00:50:37,700 --> 00:50:39,340 being so centrally located. 984 00:50:39,340 --> 00:50:41,320 And besides, come on, who doesn't 985 00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:43,340 want to go to New Orleans? 986 00:50:43,340 --> 00:50:47,360 Gail Forsyth-vail: So it's Portland, then Columbus, then 987 00:50:47,360 --> 00:50:49,450 New Orleans? 988 00:50:49,450 --> 00:50:55,610 So we're in Portland in 2015 and Columbus, Ohio in 2016, 989 00:50:55,610 --> 00:50:58,970 and New Orleans in 2017, is that correct? 990 00:50:58,970 --> 00:51:00,617 Jessica York: Yes, that's correct. 991 00:51:00,617 --> 00:51:02,700 Susan Lawrence: Well, that's another feature of GA 992 00:51:02,700 --> 00:51:04,070 that we've barely talked about. 993 00:51:04,070 --> 00:51:05,910 But sometimes things get voted on that 994 00:51:05,910 --> 00:51:10,800 has some controversialness attached to them. 995 00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:14,660 This is my fifth GA as a UUA staff person. 996 00:51:14,660 --> 00:51:17,800 And at one of them there was a president thing going on. 997 00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:20,700 And then there are some-- what is it called, 998 00:51:20,700 --> 00:51:24,070 a statement of conscience? 999 00:51:24,070 --> 00:51:26,510 At another GA, the Jefferson District 1000 00:51:26,510 --> 00:51:28,640 decided it did not like being called that any more. 1001 00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:31,010 And that was a really exciting time, 1002 00:51:31,010 --> 00:51:33,840 because there weren't many people against that idea. 1003 00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:37,160 And the debate wasn't that interesting, but the fact 1004 00:51:37,160 --> 00:51:41,470 that so many people who were on board with choosing the name. 1005 00:51:41,470 --> 00:51:44,054 It was really fun to be-- 1006 00:51:44,054 --> 00:51:46,470 Gail Forsyth-vail: I think one of the big issues this year 1007 00:51:46,470 --> 00:51:51,300 is having to do with divestment from fossil fuels. 1008 00:51:51,300 --> 00:51:54,140 And there's a lot of conversation 1009 00:51:54,140 --> 00:51:58,110 about whether we ought to do that, 1010 00:51:58,110 --> 00:52:01,880 and how, both of those things. 1011 00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:05,090 And we're UUA staff and we don't have any opinions about that, 1012 00:52:05,090 --> 00:52:07,140 because the delegates will vote. 1013 00:52:07,140 --> 00:52:09,360 But it is-- the hot topic this year 1014 00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:14,430 is about divestment from fossil-- the UUA 1015 00:52:14,430 --> 00:52:17,760 investments being divested from fossil fuel companies, 1016 00:52:17,760 --> 00:52:20,300 or whether to engage in shareholder activism, 1017 00:52:20,300 --> 00:52:22,251 or to do a combination of both. 1018 00:52:22,251 --> 00:52:23,876 It's going to be-- I think that's going 1019 00:52:23,876 --> 00:52:27,280 to be a fascinating debate. 1020 00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:31,840 And we'll all-- we in UUA staff, we have our own little section, 1021 00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:35,030 and we very carefully are neutral on things upon which 1022 00:52:35,030 --> 00:52:37,697 the delegates will be voting. 1023 00:52:37,697 --> 00:52:40,030 Jessica York: I think we're also going to have some more 1024 00:52:40,030 --> 00:52:43,320 discussion this year to follow up on the discussions we've 1025 00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:45,840 had for the last couple of years about the possibility 1026 00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:51,242 of changing some of the language around principles and sources. 1027 00:52:51,242 --> 00:52:54,680 And so even though this information 1028 00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:58,180 will be live streamed through the general sessions, 1029 00:52:58,180 --> 00:52:59,635 you can get a bit of a heads up as 1030 00:52:59,635 --> 00:53:01,135 to some of the topics that are going 1031 00:53:01,135 --> 00:53:04,050 to be raised if you look at the agenda, which 1032 00:53:04,050 --> 00:53:07,160 you can find online under the General Assembly 1033 00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:09,530 pages at uua.org. 1034 00:53:09,530 --> 00:53:11,530 That'll give you a really good sense 1035 00:53:11,530 --> 00:53:14,780 of idea of some of the business that's going to happen here. 1036 00:53:14,780 --> 00:53:17,910 And Susan is correct in bringing this up, 1037 00:53:17,910 --> 00:53:20,910 because a lot of the business that happens here, sometimes it 1038 00:53:20,910 --> 00:53:23,571 may be a small little tweak of a bylaw change. 1039 00:53:23,571 --> 00:53:25,070 Sometimes it's something that really 1040 00:53:25,070 --> 00:53:29,590 might have quite an effect on you and your work and your life 1041 00:53:29,590 --> 00:53:31,450 as a Unitarian Universalist. 1042 00:53:31,450 --> 00:53:34,540 And sometimes it's just neat seeing some of the process. 1043 00:53:34,540 --> 00:53:37,950 I actually really enjoy the Democratic process 1044 00:53:37,950 --> 00:53:39,930 as it unfolds. 1045 00:53:39,930 --> 00:53:43,490 It sometimes can get sticky and it can get messy. 1046 00:53:43,490 --> 00:53:45,740 And Susan, you mentioned there wasn't 1047 00:53:45,740 --> 00:53:49,010 a lot of debate or controversy over the change 1048 00:53:49,010 --> 00:53:52,050 of the name for the southeast. 1049 00:53:52,050 --> 00:53:54,160 But there wasn't because of all the work 1050 00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:56,010 that had actually been done before they 1051 00:53:56,010 --> 00:53:57,780 got to General Assembly even. 1052 00:53:57,780 --> 00:54:01,950 So you know, it's politics, people. 1053 00:54:01,950 --> 00:54:05,570 But politics is really about the business 1054 00:54:05,570 --> 00:54:07,590 of living and getting along together, right? 1055 00:54:07,590 --> 00:54:09,680 So you can't avoid it even here. 1056 00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:12,674 It's here, and politics isn't ncessarily a bad thing. 1057 00:54:12,674 --> 00:54:14,340 And you really get to see that acted out 1058 00:54:14,340 --> 00:54:15,780 in our Democratic process. 1059 00:54:15,780 --> 00:54:17,980 So if you do have a chance to live stream 1060 00:54:17,980 --> 00:54:21,572 some of the general sessions, I would really urge you to do so. 1061 00:54:21,572 --> 00:54:23,030 And if you look at the agenda book, 1062 00:54:23,030 --> 00:54:24,655 you'll see what's going to be discussed 1063 00:54:24,655 --> 00:54:26,300 during what general session, and you 1064 00:54:26,300 --> 00:54:29,987 can attend something that has interest for you. 1065 00:54:29,987 --> 00:54:32,070 Gail Forsyth-vail: And I think a not to be missed, 1066 00:54:32,070 --> 00:54:36,740 always, is the Ware Lecture. 1067 00:54:36,740 --> 00:54:38,840 It's an endowed lecture, and it's 1068 00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:42,640 been going on for decades and decades and decades. 1069 00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:47,910 And it's somebody who is often outside of Unitarian 1070 00:54:47,910 --> 00:54:53,430 Universalism that offers a lecture that really is about 1071 00:54:53,430 --> 00:54:55,220 something we ought to look at. 1072 00:54:55,220 --> 00:54:58,620 So Melissa Harris Perry has been a Ware lecturer, 1073 00:54:58,620 --> 00:55:01,093 the poet Mary Oliver has been, Martin Luther King 1074 00:55:01,093 --> 00:55:03,950 was a Ware lecturer, Howard Thurman. 1075 00:55:03,950 --> 00:55:07,840 Some very, very big names have been Ware lecturers. 1076 00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:09,970 And this year it is Sister Simone 1077 00:55:09,970 --> 00:55:12,410 who is our Ware lecturer. 1078 00:55:12,410 --> 00:55:15,490 And I think everyone looks forward to it. 1079 00:55:15,490 --> 00:55:19,929 It's a very big highlight of General Assembly. 1080 00:55:19,929 --> 00:55:21,970 We should mention synapse, too, before we run out 1081 00:55:21,970 --> 00:55:26,880 of time, the bridging worship. 1082 00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:28,906 Pat, do you want to mention that? 1083 00:55:28,906 --> 00:55:29,780 Pat Kahn: Well, sure. 1084 00:55:29,780 --> 00:55:35,120 That will be happening Friday night, I believe, 1085 00:55:35,120 --> 00:55:36,680 is the bridging service. 1086 00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:39,800 Or is it Thursday Night I'm sorry, it's Thursday night. 1087 00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:43,320 And it is usually extremely well-attended. 1088 00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:45,430 It will also be live streamed. 1089 00:55:45,430 --> 00:55:49,700 And it's just a really moving ceremony 1090 00:55:49,700 --> 00:55:52,860 of watching our youth bridge to young adulthood. 1091 00:55:52,860 --> 00:55:55,760 So that is also not be missed. 1092 00:55:55,760 --> 00:55:59,700 And I see that we have two questions here. 1093 00:55:59,700 --> 00:56:03,640 And Theresa's asking, is there a way for us 1094 00:56:03,640 --> 00:56:06,990 to request or state preferences for certain workshops 1095 00:56:06,990 --> 00:56:10,470 or content at General Assemblies? 1096 00:56:10,470 --> 00:56:14,050 And what's been happening recently 1097 00:56:14,050 --> 00:56:15,910 is that for the last couple of years, 1098 00:56:15,910 --> 00:56:18,660 there's an overall theme for General Assembly, 1099 00:56:18,660 --> 00:56:20,610 and there's a call for workshops. 1100 00:56:20,610 --> 00:56:23,340 It seems to me it comes out almost immediately 1101 00:56:23,340 --> 00:56:26,110 after General Assembly is done. 1102 00:56:26,110 --> 00:56:29,320 Within probably a couple of weeks 1103 00:56:29,320 --> 00:56:34,090 there's information out to all members, all congregations, 1104 00:56:34,090 --> 00:56:39,640 et cetera, to be thinking about what they might offer, 1105 00:56:39,640 --> 00:56:41,970 what they're looking for for the following year. 1106 00:56:41,970 --> 00:56:43,990 But the process is actually one-- 1107 00:56:43,990 --> 00:56:46,570 and maybe Gail or Jessica, you want 1108 00:56:46,570 --> 00:56:50,030 to step in and talk about this-- but there is a group called 1109 00:56:50,030 --> 00:56:55,760 the Program Development Group, who get together, usually it's 1110 00:56:55,760 --> 00:57:04,160 in December, and look at all of the workshops that 1111 00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:07,720 have been proposed by people, and through looking 1112 00:57:07,720 --> 00:57:11,260 through several different lenses and different criteria, 1113 00:57:11,260 --> 00:57:14,590 try to narrow down to the number of program slots 1114 00:57:14,590 --> 00:57:15,490 that they have. 1115 00:57:15,490 --> 00:57:19,924 And that's-- I did it once, and it's an incredibly difficult 1116 00:57:19,924 --> 00:57:22,340 thing because there's so many wonderful things that people 1117 00:57:22,340 --> 00:57:24,930 want to offer, but only x amount of slots. 1118 00:57:24,930 --> 00:57:26,986 So I don't know if Jessica or Gail-- 1119 00:57:26,986 --> 00:57:29,110 I think you've both been on the Program Development 1120 00:57:29,110 --> 00:57:32,322 Group as well-- if you want to add anything to that. 1121 00:57:32,322 --> 00:57:33,780 Jessica York: Well, you know, aside 1122 00:57:33,780 --> 00:57:36,280 from that I would say a couple of other things, one of which 1123 00:57:36,280 --> 00:57:41,760 is that the GA office welcomes feedback from folks on GA. 1124 00:57:41,760 --> 00:57:45,360 There is an evaluation form that people who are present at GA 1125 00:57:45,360 --> 00:57:46,140 fill out. 1126 00:57:46,140 --> 00:57:48,070 Something like that might be online 1127 00:57:48,070 --> 00:57:51,030 for people who actually take part in the live streaming. 1128 00:57:51,030 --> 00:57:54,820 But whether or not there is, you can find an email address 1129 00:57:54,820 --> 00:57:59,320 for the GA office. 1130 00:57:59,320 --> 00:58:03,590 It might be gaoffice@uua.org, or maybe ga@uua.org. 1131 00:58:03,590 --> 00:58:06,220 And you can send them some feedback 1132 00:58:06,220 --> 00:58:08,490 both on terms of what you saw at this year's 1133 00:58:08,490 --> 00:58:11,320 is General Assembly, or what you would like to see. 1134 00:58:11,320 --> 00:58:13,780 And one of the little pieces of information 1135 00:58:13,780 --> 00:58:16,180 before you even get to the Program Development Group, 1136 00:58:16,180 --> 00:58:18,090 there's a GA Planning Committee. 1137 00:58:18,090 --> 00:58:20,280 The GA Planning Committee really is in charge 1138 00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:22,340 of planning all aspects of GA. 1139 00:58:22,340 --> 00:58:25,620 And the GA Planning Committee, like so many committees 1140 00:58:25,620 --> 00:58:29,610 at the UUA, so frequently hold-- I'm not sure 1141 00:58:29,610 --> 00:58:32,050 whether they hold appointments or elections. 1142 00:58:32,050 --> 00:58:34,430 But I really urge religious educators 1143 00:58:34,430 --> 00:58:37,490 to try to get as involved as they can 1144 00:58:37,490 --> 00:58:42,320 in the faith, not just locally, but also in their district 1145 00:58:42,320 --> 00:58:44,430 and region and nationally. 1146 00:58:44,430 --> 00:58:48,030 So when you see calls go out there from the UU nominating 1147 00:58:48,030 --> 00:58:51,120 committee saying that they're looking for people to be 1148 00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:53,400 on various nationwide committees, 1149 00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:55,620 if you can devote some time to those committees, 1150 00:58:55,620 --> 00:58:56,374 then please do so. 1151 00:58:56,374 --> 00:58:57,832 That's a wonderful way to make sure 1152 00:58:57,832 --> 00:59:01,090 that your participation is kept at the forefront of what's 1153 00:59:01,090 --> 00:59:02,930 happening in our movement. 1154 00:59:02,930 --> 00:59:08,890 So always look out for those calls for committee folks. 1155 00:59:08,890 --> 00:59:12,140 Pat Kahn: Just a quick addition to that since I see 1156 00:59:12,140 --> 00:59:13,490 we're just about out of time. 1157 00:59:13,490 --> 00:59:17,260 But the current chair of the GA Planning Committee 1158 00:59:17,260 --> 00:59:21,070 is Bart Frost, a young adult and who 1159 00:59:21,070 --> 00:59:25,200 is also the Director of Religious Education at one 1160 00:59:25,200 --> 00:59:27,340 of the New Orleans area churches. 1161 00:59:27,340 --> 00:59:30,200 So it's kind of neat to have one of our colleagues 1162 00:59:30,200 --> 00:59:38,594 there as the chair of the GA Planning Committee. 1163 00:59:38,594 --> 00:59:40,260 Susan Lawrence: Well, we should probably 1164 00:59:40,260 --> 00:59:44,380 wrap-- are there any last questions, or comments 1165 00:59:44,380 --> 00:59:45,800 or thoughts? 1166 00:59:45,800 --> 00:59:49,110 And of course, please write to us, the address that's 1167 00:59:49,110 --> 00:59:52,200 up on the screen now of Faith Development Webinar-- 1168 00:59:52,200 --> 00:59:56,930 actually faithdevwebinar@uua.org. 1169 00:59:56,930 --> 00:59:58,597 That address goes to me. 1170 00:59:58,597 --> 01:00:00,180 And if you want to speak to any of us, 1171 01:00:00,180 --> 01:00:01,940 that's an easy way to do it. 1172 01:00:01,940 --> 01:00:05,470 I'll redirect your comment. 1173 01:00:05,470 --> 01:00:07,780 And I'm glad to expand GA through 1174 01:00:07,780 --> 01:00:11,780 this crazy technological marvel that we can talk like this. 1175 01:00:11,780 --> 01:00:13,410 That's cool. 1176 01:00:13,410 --> 01:00:15,006 Thanks for coming. 1177 01:00:15,006 --> 01:00:16,547 Gail Forsyth Vail: Thanks, everybody. 1178 01:00:16,547 --> 01:00:41,590 Susan Lawrence: Yeah, thanks, everybody. 1179 01:00:41,590 --> 01:00:42,360 OK. 1180 01:00:42,360 --> 01:00:44,432 Well. 1181 01:00:44,432 --> 01:00:45,765 Gail Forsyth-vail: That was fun. 1182 01:00:45,765 --> 01:00:46,390 Pat Kahn: Yeah. 1183 01:00:46,390 --> 01:00:47,390 It worked well. 1184 01:00:47,390 --> 01:00:52,962 And Gail, you want to just meet downstairs in the lobby 1185 01:00:52,962 --> 01:00:53,920 and we'll go to dinner? 1186 01:00:53,920 --> 01:00:55,878 Gail Forsyth Vail: It hasn't stopped recording. 1187 01:00:55,878 --> 01:00:56,932