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Pat Kahn: Great.

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Thank you so much, Alicia.

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And welcome everybody to the
October Faith Development

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Webinar on Theme Based Ministry.

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This is Highlights from
LREDA Fall Conference

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and I am joined today--
oh, I'm Pat Kahn.

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I'm the Children
and Family Programs

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Director in the Faith
Development Office at the UUA.

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And we are joined with two
of the wonderful presenters

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that we had on our team
presenting this in five hours

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on last Saturday--
but we'll do it

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in less than five
hours today-- Sheila

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Schuh, who is the
Director of Religious

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Education at the First Unitarian
Church of Rochester, New York

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and Eric Bliss, who
is the Youth Ministry

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Specialist at the
Pacific Western Region.

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And as Alicia said, Alicia
is the Administrative

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and Editorial Assistant in
the Faith Development Office.

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And we greatly appreciate
her technical skills

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in the background.

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So if you have any questions
or anything like that,

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she'll be monitoring
the chat box.

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I want to just say that
the presentation that

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was done at LREDA Fall Con
was a combination of theme

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based ministry and
full-week faith with Karen

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Bellavance-Grace.

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But since we've already done a
webinar and a column response

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blog post on
full-week faith, we're

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focusing only on the theme
based ministry portion

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of the workshop at
LREDA Fall Conference.

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And so without further
ado, we will get started.

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And we'll start with
the chalice lighting

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that Sheila led us
in at the workshop

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and I will read the words and
Sheila is going to sign it.

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So here we go.

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"Life is a gift for
which we are grateful.

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We gather together to celebrate
the glories and the mysteries

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of this great gift."

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Thank you, Sheila, and I'm
going to turn it over to you.

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Sheila Schuh: Great.

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So welcome, everyone.

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I just wanted to
highlight a couple

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of the bigger-picture
issues regarding theme

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based ministry and why we
were considering doing it

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and why I continue to do it.

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One is that it's really
the grand leveler

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in my mind of human
experience, in terms

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of the life of the church, that
children and adults and people

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of any age really get to
participate in theme based

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ministry in a way that is rich
and deep and really feels to me

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like it's an equal
playing field for wherever

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you're coming from, in
terms of your difference.

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And the other piece that we
spoke about in the keynote

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was really that relationally,
it changes the whole church when

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as individuals, we're walking
down the same path together.

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So that's in a nutshell
the two biggest ones for me

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and why it helps the
religious educators not

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feel so isolated on their
teams or in their congregations

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is that we are an equal
participant in that.

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I'm just highlighting some
of the-- going through step

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by step through the template
that I use for theme based

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ministry.

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But really, I'm
encouraging you all

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to think about tweaking your
program to what your needs are.

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So the worship that
we did at Fall Con

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follows this
particular template.

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There's an introduction of the
theme in children's language.

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This would be for a
child or family service.

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There's a hymn that speaks to
the theme, the greeting, which

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is kind of a fun interactive
piece around the theme,

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of course, the chalice lighting,
and a mindfulness practice,

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which is some kind of
breathing or attention practice

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or compassion practice
related to the theme,

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the moment of inquiry, which
is kind of like a fun exercise

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to get kids to think or families
to think outside of the box,

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in terms of how the theme
is relating to the culture--

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for example, the one
we did on Saturday

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was choosing two people,
putting their hand in a bag,

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and really having
different versions of what

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might be in there
and the acceptance

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of different
people's perspectives

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and that as a bigger expression
of our faith community,

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in terms of our
openness to diversity.

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UU source is a story
that I tell interactively

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with the participants.

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So we co-tell the story
using props and drama.

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And then, the reflection
part is, what does this

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have to teach us or to remind
us about in terms of practicing

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that theme according
to our UU principles

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or the mission of our
church or our program?

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And then, the
closing-- so that's

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kind of like the brief
outline of what theme based

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ministry looks like in terms
of worship with children.

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But as I was saying on Saturday
that any one of those pieces

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can be used.

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If you're using a regular
curricular program,

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you can use any
of those in terms

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of choosing an element that you
want to have from theme based

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and even inserting that
in your regular workshop

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for your regular
curricular class.

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An example would be
like youth group,

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like using an opening
circle with youth group

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that's on theme, which
is a ritual element

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to start that off.

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So I hope that gives
just an overview of how

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the worship might be
theme based and also how

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you could tweak your program to
use different worship elements,

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even if you're using a
more traditional model.

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The next part that
we wanted to cover

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is really an overview
of an example,

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really, to get ideas
flowing for you, in terms

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of tweaking your
program with regard

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to parenting groups
that may use the theme.

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So this is an outline
of our parenting

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group called Parenting
as a Spiritual Practice.

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And it is on a theme
every month and runs

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about an hour and five minutes.

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First, we have
settling in in silence.

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We have celebrations
and mournings,

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which is kind of a reflection
on last month's theme

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and how you did as a
parent and whether you

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are able to apply
anything that you

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learned at church last month.

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We have the theme and how it
relates to mindfulness practice

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and NVC.

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So this would be a
direct translation

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of that into the month's theme,
like letting go, for example.

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We did a mindfulness
practice around how

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to let go of your anger,
thoughts, frustration,

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and just take those few
deep breaths so you're

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more empowered to act from
your values with your kids.

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Then, we have a
mindfulness exercise.

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We're actually leading
them through that.

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And then, we have Non-Violent
Communication and the theme

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in Unitarian Universalism, which
is Non-Violent Communication

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is a system for reducing hurtful
or not speaking the truth

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and love and being
able to really

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have a system for
understanding how to do that.

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So we take that
practice and we put it

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through the lens
of our principles

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or our mission and
the monthly theme.

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And then, we do an
exercise, usually

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in pairs, that gives
people an experience of how

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to apply that in their parenting
for the upcoming month.

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So if the theme was letting
go, how do I actually

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do that with my kids?

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And then, we have a
time for gratitudes

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at the end for people who
may have had aha moments

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or moments where they feel
like they really learned

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from their partner something.

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So that's a basic outline
of how the theme could

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be used in a parenting group.

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And as I said, this
is just one model,

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but it's to give you ideas
of how it might be integrated

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in something that you're
doing with parents

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or how you might add
an element for parents

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in your program to look
at beefing up the parent

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piece that might go along
with your program in some way.

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We also have a Soul
Matters Parenting

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Group, which is a
different is a group,

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and we also are trying
to highlight some things

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for parents to figure out
how to help them to learn how

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to fish themselves, to be able
to integrate the theme at home

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in ways that'll work for them.

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We send home a weekly
After-Church Adventure Activity

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in the weekly newsletter
for their child's age group

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to try to also beef up ideas
for them in terms of the theme.

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Eric.

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Eric Bliss: Hey, everybody.

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So at the LREDA Fall Con,
we broke into four quadrants

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during a section
of the presentation

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to act out how a
workshop rotation

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model might incorporate
theme based ministry

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into a Sunday morning.

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And my quadrant was the youth
and technology quadrant.

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And so right now in your Chat
Box, I want you to type a way

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that you've used technology
in your religious education

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program.

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So please take a
moment and type in how

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you've used technology in your
religious education program,

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technology and media.

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Take a second to do that.

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And if you haven't, type a
question mark, indicating you

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have questions about
how you might do that.

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I'm seeing Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter, Netflix, Interactive

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Bulletin Board-- this
is a great group.

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This is a technologically
savvy group.

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Wonderful.

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So when we broke up
into our four quadrants,

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my little group,
we went downstairs

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and we acted out a
workshop with youth, played

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by the adult participants.

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To start, we used media
as our chalice lighting.

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So I showed a video clip
from the movie Contact.

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It was the one of
the ending clips

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where Jodie Foster's talking
about the grand mystery

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of the universe.

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And it was so perfect
because that's really

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what we explore on Sunday
mornings or at least one

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of the things we explore.

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And I invite you to
check out that clip.

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If you just type in
"Contact ending scene,"

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you can have a good cry
when you finish this video.

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Then, we did a check-in
and we used technology

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for our check-in.

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So when we broke up, I asked
our group to break into pairs

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and those pairs recorded
using a tablet or a smartphone

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the question, "What
do I have faith in?"

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for one minute or so.

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For our purposes, since we can't
share videos in this format,

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please type in the
Chat Box something

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that you have faith in.

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Leah says, "The courage
of religious educators,

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the natural world, change,
the goodness of humanity,

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path of consistent learning,
seasons, love, the transforming

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power of love."

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Indeed.

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And so breaking up into our
groups or pairs, I should say,

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we then got our pairs
to join with groups

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of about six or eight and to
share one video from each pair.

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And so each group watched
about three to four videos.

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So we did that and
I know that was

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painful for some of the
participants to watch

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themselves speak.

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And what I was going to have
y'all do was actually record

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a video and watch it yourselves,
but I think that would take too

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long in this format.

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So what those folks
did was then take ideas

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that they'd gotten
from the video,

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pick one of their
colleagues's responses,

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and then consider
the following prompt.

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"Recognizing that revelation
continues to unfold for us

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as UUs and that we are a living
tradition that incorporates new

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ideas into our
theological framework,

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how has this interpretation"--
meaning the videos that

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the individuals
had just watched--

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"their interpretation
of faith shaped yours?"

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So just take a moment and
you can use the scroll bar

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on the left side of
your screen to look

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through your
colleagues's responses.

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So take a moment and
just kind of scroll

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through your
colleagues's responses

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and pick one that kind
of resonates for you,

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one that isn't your own.

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I'm going to give you
a moment to do that.

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Next, we used another bit of
technology in our workshop

248
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called Poll Everywhere.

249
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It's amazing.

250
00:15:11,350 --> 00:15:16,630
It's a great text-to-screen
application, it's free,

251
00:15:16,630 --> 00:15:18,790
and what happens is,
you'll get your--

252
00:15:18,790 --> 00:15:20,410
if you go to Poll
Everywhere, which

253
00:15:20,410 --> 00:15:23,470
I recommend you do after this
webinar when you get a moment,

254
00:15:23,470 --> 00:15:24,180
sign in.

255
00:15:24,180 --> 00:15:26,030
It's free, as I mentioned.

256
00:15:26,030 --> 00:15:29,610
And you can set up a
screen on your computer

257
00:15:29,610 --> 00:15:33,800
which then is projected into
the room using an LCD projector.

258
00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:38,940
And folks simply type in a
code and can now text directly

259
00:15:38,940 --> 00:15:41,400
from their phone to
the screen, which

260
00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:45,670
makes for a great kind of
change of pace in a class.

261
00:15:45,670 --> 00:15:47,800
It makes for a wonderful
worship experience

262
00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,620
if people are
reflecting on a ritual.

263
00:15:50,620 --> 00:15:52,790
It's absolutely terrific.

264
00:15:52,790 --> 00:15:56,760
And some of the feedback that we
got via the text-to-screen app

265
00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:05,560
in this workshop was
lovely and transcendent.

266
00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,690
Then, folks were encouraged
to take the bit of information

267
00:16:08,690 --> 00:16:13,330
from the text-to-screen and
have a spiritual practice.

268
00:16:13,330 --> 00:16:18,030
And it was kind of a variation
on Lectio Divina, where

269
00:16:18,030 --> 00:16:24,040
you repeat a phrase or a
written piece of scripture

270
00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,990
three times or more,
emphasizing different aspects

271
00:16:27,990 --> 00:16:29,340
of the scripture.

272
00:16:29,340 --> 00:16:35,190
And so we did that in our
group and sat silently

273
00:16:35,190 --> 00:16:38,360
for one minute in contemplation.

274
00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:40,310
And unfortunately,
we didn't have time

275
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to ponder or discuss any ahas,
but in a classroom setting,

276
00:16:44,250 --> 00:16:51,290
you certainly would.

277
00:16:51,290 --> 00:16:57,350
Then, we closed with words by
Deepak Chopra, which are there.

278
00:16:57,350 --> 00:17:01,180
One of the things that I'd like
to close this technology bit

279
00:17:01,180 --> 00:17:03,220
with is a couple of thoughts.

280
00:17:03,220 --> 00:17:06,920
First, I've talked to
religious educators

281
00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:11,030
who talk about churches being
a bastion away from technology.

282
00:17:11,030 --> 00:17:13,470
And I respect that
and understand it

283
00:17:13,470 --> 00:17:16,079
and at the same time, I
believe part of our role

284
00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:20,420
as religious educators is
to help our youth, children

285
00:17:20,420 --> 00:17:25,030
in youth, learn how to navigate
technology so that it can be

286
00:17:25,030 --> 00:17:30,740
used as the tool that it is to
not only connect information,

287
00:17:30,740 --> 00:17:32,990
but also to their highest self.

288
00:17:32,990 --> 00:17:37,560
I truly believe that
technology can be a way

289
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,210
to explore spirituality
when employed

290
00:17:40,210 --> 00:17:42,680
in thoughtful and
intentional ways.

291
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:46,640
There's a wonderful
quote that Peter Bowden

292
00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:50,710
shared in the keynote
from Sherry Turkle.

293
00:17:50,710 --> 00:17:54,180
And her quote was,
"Technology isn't just

294
00:17:54,180 --> 00:17:57,600
changing how we do things
but more significantly, it's

295
00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,052
changing who we are.

296
00:18:00,052 --> 00:18:04,440
Are we ready to be changed?"

297
00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:15,060
That's all I've got
for this section.

298
00:18:15,060 --> 00:18:18,100
Sheila Schuh: So now,
I'm going to cover,

299
00:18:18,100 --> 00:18:22,550
in terms of workshop rotation
or workshop adventure, which

300
00:18:22,550 --> 00:18:26,170
we call it in my church, just
a basic template for what

301
00:18:26,170 --> 00:18:28,320
a workshop might look like.

302
00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,480
As a religious educator,
you could certainly

303
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,900
develop your own template
based on what your needs are.

304
00:18:33,900 --> 00:18:37,150
But here's one that we
practiced at Fall Con

305
00:18:37,150 --> 00:18:41,400
and that I use in my
program consistently.

306
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,270
Opening fun about the theme,
then there's-- that could be

307
00:18:45,270 --> 00:18:49,890
anything from a game to
an exercise of learning--

308
00:18:49,890 --> 00:18:52,695
an introduction of what
the workshop is about,

309
00:18:52,695 --> 00:18:57,020
a listening circle, which may
end up tying back to the theme,

310
00:18:57,020 --> 00:19:00,310
depending on the leader--
that's really a joys and sorrows

311
00:19:00,310 --> 00:19:02,940
ritual that we have
in all our groups.

312
00:19:02,940 --> 00:19:05,880
Reflection on the theme
from the worship story--

313
00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:09,200
so this is kind of an
important crossover for me

314
00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:10,970
because when the
children are in worship,

315
00:19:10,970 --> 00:19:12,980
it's like 20, 25
minutes and then they

316
00:19:12,980 --> 00:19:14,870
go to their small-group rooms.

317
00:19:14,870 --> 00:19:18,580
And so the leader
asks them literally,

318
00:19:18,580 --> 00:19:20,590
do you remember the
story from worship

319
00:19:20,590 --> 00:19:24,227
and what was going on
for you in that story?

320
00:19:24,227 --> 00:19:26,685
Where were you in the story or
what do you remember from it

321
00:19:26,685 --> 00:19:28,470
and how does it tie
into what the theme is

322
00:19:28,470 --> 00:19:30,480
we're working on today?

323
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,460
Then, we do a learning
activity of some kind,

324
00:19:33,460 --> 00:19:37,980
exploring the theme
through a source or a room.

325
00:19:37,980 --> 00:19:39,780
I'll talk about
that in a minute.

326
00:19:39,780 --> 00:19:42,650
And then, we recap
and then close.

327
00:19:42,650 --> 00:19:45,040
So the example that
we brought to Fall Con

328
00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:51,250
was from Superhero City,
which is our room that

329
00:19:51,250 --> 00:19:54,450
teaches kids about the
source of the words and deeds

330
00:19:54,450 --> 00:19:56,220
of prophetic men and women.

331
00:19:56,220 --> 00:19:58,900
And it's our social
responsibility room.

332
00:19:58,900 --> 00:20:02,970
One time in the whole year, one
rotation out of the whole year,

333
00:20:02,970 --> 00:20:08,230
we always have an interpersonal
oppression workshop

334
00:20:08,230 --> 00:20:12,170
that deals with either racism or
ageism or something like that.

335
00:20:12,170 --> 00:20:16,940
And this one in particular
was dealing with communication

336
00:20:16,940 --> 00:20:20,730
and understanding that
all people have needs.

337
00:20:20,730 --> 00:20:23,480
So it was a basic
step in learning

338
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:25,550
about non-violent communication.

339
00:20:25,550 --> 00:20:29,120
And so the opening fun
was the telephone game,

340
00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:33,250
where we whispered in the
ear, "Everyone is important.

341
00:20:33,250 --> 00:20:36,300
Everyone has needs,"
and see where that went.

342
00:20:36,300 --> 00:20:39,900
And then, we had an
introduction to-- the Superpower

343
00:20:39,900 --> 00:20:43,570
of the Day was really being
able to listen and to understand

344
00:20:43,570 --> 00:20:48,084
that everyone has needs and
there are universal needs that

345
00:20:48,084 --> 00:20:49,500
aren't in conflict
with each other

346
00:20:49,500 --> 00:20:52,490
but are just present
in any relationship.

347
00:20:52,490 --> 00:20:54,960
So we didn't do Listening
Circle, because it would

348
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,620
have taken too long, but
we talked a little bit

349
00:20:57,620 --> 00:21:01,240
about the story that we
did earlier from worship.

350
00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:03,860
And then, we did
an exercise where

351
00:21:03,860 --> 00:21:06,680
people learned that feelings
and needs are connected

352
00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:08,080
in non-violent communication.

353
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:12,740
And in terms of
practicing the skill,

354
00:21:12,740 --> 00:21:15,330
we had some people
act out a feeling,

355
00:21:15,330 --> 00:21:18,420
other people try to have
curiosity about that feeling,

356
00:21:18,420 --> 00:21:20,610
and then the people
who were doing

357
00:21:20,610 --> 00:21:23,920
the charade of the feeling talk
about when in the last week

358
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:25,760
they had that feeling
and what needs

359
00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,350
might have been
underneath there for them.

360
00:21:28,350 --> 00:21:31,750
So that's an example
that we brought

361
00:21:31,750 --> 00:21:35,870
that's a really skills-based
example, in terms of relating

362
00:21:35,870 --> 00:21:37,170
it directly to the theme.

363
00:21:37,170 --> 00:21:43,860
In this case, it was faith and
affirming the inherent worth

364
00:21:43,860 --> 00:21:46,650
and dignity of every person.

365
00:21:46,650 --> 00:21:53,430
So a couple of things about
workshops in my mind--

366
00:21:53,430 --> 00:22:00,860
the worship workshop framework
that is in workshop rotation

367
00:22:00,860 --> 00:22:03,180
can be used in many
different ways,

368
00:22:03,180 --> 00:22:05,240
in terms of the rest
of your program.

369
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:07,030
You can have Opening Circle.

370
00:22:07,030 --> 00:22:08,630
That's more like a
worship experience

371
00:22:08,630 --> 00:22:10,470
in a regular curricular group.

372
00:22:10,470 --> 00:22:11,460
You can do planning.

373
00:22:11,460 --> 00:22:13,750
Like in our youth group,
we have the monthly theme

374
00:22:13,750 --> 00:22:15,830
and they slot the
different pillars

375
00:22:15,830 --> 00:22:21,750
according to what the
theme is of the month.

376
00:22:21,750 --> 00:22:23,500
but you can also adapt
what you're doing.

377
00:22:23,500 --> 00:22:25,890
If you're doing
workshop rotation,

378
00:22:25,890 --> 00:22:29,160
you can adapt it so that
you are covering still

379
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,650
the same-- if you have
priorities in your program

380
00:22:32,650 --> 00:22:37,390
around racial justice or
around-- like one of my rooms

381
00:22:37,390 --> 00:22:40,300
is the humanist room called
the Thinking Cap Lab.

382
00:22:40,300 --> 00:22:43,560
And I always make sure that
in that particular room,

383
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,650
I have something from the
"Humanist Manifesto" in there.

384
00:22:48,650 --> 00:22:50,940
So the kids are constantly
learning about that.

385
00:22:50,940 --> 00:22:55,190
In the Superhero
City room, we always

386
00:22:55,190 --> 00:22:58,510
have a clip of a video that
goes with that learning activity

387
00:22:58,510 --> 00:23:01,490
part, which teaches the
kids about the outside world

388
00:23:01,490 --> 00:23:02,870
in some way.

389
00:23:02,870 --> 00:23:06,610
So you can tweak-- even
if you have a singular

390
00:23:06,610 --> 00:23:08,160
kind of framework
that you're using,

391
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:10,780
you can tweak it so
that you have elements

392
00:23:10,780 --> 00:23:14,870
in each of those rooms that
really define it in ways

393
00:23:14,870 --> 00:23:15,930
that you want.

394
00:23:15,930 --> 00:23:21,800
For me, I'm running rooms
that are the Six Sources.

395
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:25,120
Not just art, music, dance,
but each of those rooms

396
00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:27,150
is based in the Six Sources.

397
00:23:27,150 --> 00:23:31,090
So when children rotate,
they're going into the room

398
00:23:31,090 --> 00:23:33,946
to learn about
wisdom in that area.

399
00:23:33,946 --> 00:23:35,320
But you can set
it up however you

400
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,900
want depending on your mission
and what's important to you.

401
00:23:38,900 --> 00:23:44,460
But I think identity-wise, that
was really important to me.

402
00:23:44,460 --> 00:23:50,710
Anything else that I might
add-- I know that some people

403
00:23:50,710 --> 00:23:53,770
don't have access or can't--
one of the things that we spoke

404
00:23:53,770 --> 00:23:57,570
about was really being careful
about your time as a DRE

405
00:23:57,570 --> 00:24:00,812
and what you can do in one year.

406
00:24:00,812 --> 00:24:02,270
This particular--
if you were going

407
00:24:02,270 --> 00:24:05,440
to change to workshop rotation,
that takes a lot of time

408
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,010
and energy and change,
especially because the rooms--

409
00:24:09,010 --> 00:24:10,460
you would want
space to really be

410
00:24:10,460 --> 00:24:15,250
part of that experience for
kids if you can do that.

411
00:24:15,250 --> 00:24:17,240
So that was one of
the things we talked

412
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:21,450
about was that changing
to a theme based model

413
00:24:21,450 --> 00:24:24,990
may be gradual or you may
use other Tapestry of Faith

414
00:24:24,990 --> 00:24:29,070
and work at not
developing your own stuff,

415
00:24:29,070 --> 00:24:33,420
but adapting what's
already available

416
00:24:33,420 --> 00:24:35,050
online for your own use.

417
00:24:35,050 --> 00:24:36,550
And you can use a
template like this

418
00:24:36,550 --> 00:24:39,640
to just plug in activities,
even from Tapestry,

419
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:53,280
to make it work
for what you need.

420
00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:54,990
Eric Bliss: All
right, participants,

421
00:24:54,990 --> 00:24:58,800
quick quiz-- from the
technology workshop

422
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:04,720
that we just kind of skimmed the
surface of, what was the theme?

423
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,440
Please type it in your Chat Box.

424
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,730
Remember, we're talking
about theme based ministry.

425
00:25:11,730 --> 00:25:14,770
Special bonus points
and a gold star,

426
00:25:14,770 --> 00:25:18,420
the first person who can
name the theme-- Matthew.

427
00:25:18,420 --> 00:25:20,340
Matthew [? Shineman, ?]
you are the winner.

428
00:25:20,340 --> 00:25:21,880
Well done.

429
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,650
Yes, we're talking about
theme based ministry

430
00:25:24,650 --> 00:25:27,750
and we've touched on a
number of different contexts

431
00:25:27,750 --> 00:25:33,910
from worship, parents, groups,
technology in a youth group

432
00:25:33,910 --> 00:25:36,670
setting, workshop
rotation, and now we're

433
00:25:36,670 --> 00:25:40,190
going to talk about
youth a little bit.

434
00:25:40,190 --> 00:25:45,320
How could we explore a monthly
theme using a youth group

435
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:46,180
model?

436
00:25:46,180 --> 00:25:47,870
And the model I
want to hold up is

437
00:25:47,870 --> 00:25:53,170
one that was devised
with the adults and youth

438
00:25:53,170 --> 00:25:55,000
together at First
Unitarian Denver, where

439
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:56,990
I served as DRE for six years.

440
00:25:56,990 --> 00:26:00,340
It's called SoUUl Surfing.

441
00:26:00,340 --> 00:26:07,154
And so please type a
question mark or-- here,

442
00:26:07,154 --> 00:26:08,070
let's put it this way.

443
00:26:08,070 --> 00:26:12,040
The number of question marks
that you type in the Chat Box

444
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:17,290
is going to indicate
the level of frustration

445
00:26:17,290 --> 00:26:21,340
that you've had with the
following questions, what

446
00:26:21,340 --> 00:26:25,470
to do on Sunday
with our youth group

447
00:26:25,470 --> 00:26:27,860
or if you youth group
meets at another time,

448
00:26:27,860 --> 00:26:31,270
what curriculum should
we use with our youth,

449
00:26:31,270 --> 00:26:34,570
and how is the
best way to balance

450
00:26:34,570 --> 00:26:38,780
the youth and adults' voice in
that decision making process?

451
00:26:38,780 --> 00:26:42,310
Please type one to
a million question

452
00:26:42,310 --> 00:26:46,430
marks in the question
box to illustrate

453
00:26:46,430 --> 00:26:48,490
your level of frustration.

454
00:26:48,490 --> 00:26:50,980
Kathleen-- whoa.

455
00:26:50,980 --> 00:26:52,810
That's quite a few.

456
00:26:52,810 --> 00:26:55,340
Danielle-- not very frustrated.

457
00:26:55,340 --> 00:26:56,140
Anna-- yeah.

458
00:26:56,140 --> 00:26:58,530
Dixie-- Dixie's not
that frustrated.

459
00:26:58,530 --> 00:26:59,030
All right.

460
00:26:59,030 --> 00:27:01,430
Well, that's good to hear.

461
00:27:01,430 --> 00:27:05,780
It's nice to see that some
of you have some frustration

462
00:27:05,780 --> 00:27:08,870
because hopefully,
this model that I'm

463
00:27:08,870 --> 00:27:11,640
going to show you will
give you some ideas.

464
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:17,010
We called it SoUUl Surfing
and SoUUl Surfing, as my youth

465
00:27:17,010 --> 00:27:19,620
ministry coordinator
referred to it,

466
00:27:19,620 --> 00:27:25,540
is like Neighboring Faiths
on Monster Energy Drink.

467
00:27:25,540 --> 00:27:28,100
It starts usually--
and it doesn't

468
00:27:28,100 --> 00:27:30,930
have to follow the same
format each month--

469
00:27:30,930 --> 00:27:33,860
but as you're probably
aware, Neighboring Faiths

470
00:27:33,860 --> 00:27:37,130
is comprised of a couple
different discrete components

471
00:27:37,130 --> 00:27:38,120
each Sunday.

472
00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:41,250
One includes a field trip
to a different church.

473
00:27:41,250 --> 00:27:45,490
In SoUUl Surfing, the field trip
is arranged around the theme.

474
00:27:45,490 --> 00:27:49,350
So for the participants
at LREDA Fall Con,

475
00:27:49,350 --> 00:27:52,820
I could not take a room of 200
religious educators on a field

476
00:27:52,820 --> 00:27:53,740
trip.

477
00:27:53,740 --> 00:28:00,540
So instead, we went on a mental
journey to the UU afterlife.

478
00:28:00,540 --> 00:28:03,950
And some folks got a little
philosophical with it,

479
00:28:03,950 --> 00:28:06,680
struggled-- others
had a lot of fun.

480
00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:11,210
And in your Chat Box, please
type someone or something

481
00:28:11,210 --> 00:28:15,890
you expect to be present
if there is a UU afterlife.

482
00:28:15,890 --> 00:28:18,030
And please, this
is for fun's sake.

483
00:28:18,030 --> 00:28:20,680
This is-- we're having
a good time here.

484
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:26,000
So what's in-- oh,
"questions," Deborah, love it.

485
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,990
What else might we find
in the UU afterlife?

486
00:28:29,990 --> 00:28:36,045
"Universal love and acceptance--
cartilage"-- I'm not sure, Lee,

487
00:28:36,045 --> 00:28:39,480
where you're going
with that one.

488
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:44,390
"Love--" of course,
Kathleen, yes.

489
00:28:44,390 --> 00:28:48,210
"Freedom from
pain--" there we go.

490
00:28:48,210 --> 00:28:52,820
So the idea is one of the
Sundays-- at First Unitarian

491
00:28:52,820 --> 00:28:55,930
Denver, we always typically
did the first Sunday

492
00:28:55,930 --> 00:28:56,690
for a field trip.

493
00:28:56,690 --> 00:29:01,400
So let's say, for example,
the theme is "scripture."

494
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:05,400
One month when we had
"scripture" as our theme,

495
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:09,260
we decided to go to the
Denver Museum of Art

496
00:29:09,260 --> 00:29:12,280
and look at artwork,
because the whole idea

497
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,400
behind this theme of
scripture was anything that

498
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,260
has the power to inspire us.

499
00:29:18,260 --> 00:29:21,290
And so we went on this lovely
field trip with our youth

500
00:29:21,290 --> 00:29:23,350
to the Denver Art
Museum and then

501
00:29:23,350 --> 00:29:27,610
afterward, stopped off
for coffee and snacks

502
00:29:27,610 --> 00:29:31,120
and discussed the
theme of "scripture"

503
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,770
through that lens of
artwork, lovely artwork.

504
00:29:34,770 --> 00:29:36,870
So the first one's a field trip.

505
00:29:36,870 --> 00:29:41,070
Another example, when we
did the theme of "justice,"

506
00:29:41,070 --> 00:29:45,380
our middle school
group traveled-- just

507
00:29:45,380 --> 00:29:48,045
around the corner
from First Unitarian

508
00:29:48,045 --> 00:29:52,110
is an LGBTQ center called The
Center and they have an area

509
00:29:52,110 --> 00:29:54,160
called Rainbow Alley.

510
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,250
And our middle school
youth decided-- here's

511
00:29:57,250 --> 00:30:02,620
the technology piece-- to
interview transgender youth

512
00:30:02,620 --> 00:30:08,260
there for a project to learn
more about the transgender

513
00:30:08,260 --> 00:30:09,870
youth experience.

514
00:30:09,870 --> 00:30:13,970
This video was produced, edited,
shown to our congregation,

515
00:30:13,970 --> 00:30:17,570
and now it lives
on the UUA website.

516
00:30:17,570 --> 00:30:19,690
And that was the
theme of "justice"

517
00:30:19,690 --> 00:30:25,260
that our middle school
youth were exploring

518
00:30:25,260 --> 00:30:28,660
and the field trip
that they took.

519
00:30:28,660 --> 00:30:32,660
The next Sunday is
a guest speaker.

520
00:30:32,660 --> 00:30:34,040
And for the theme
of "scripture,"

521
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:36,480
we brought in a local
slam poetry group,

522
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,830
a national award-winning
slam poetry group

523
00:30:38,830 --> 00:30:42,800
called Slam Nuba who came
in and worked with our youth

524
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:49,180
to write their own slam
poems focusing on the theme.

525
00:30:49,180 --> 00:30:52,940
Those poems were then
recorded and again shown

526
00:30:52,940 --> 00:30:59,630
to the congregation
in a family chapel.

527
00:30:59,630 --> 00:31:03,410
The third session in SoUUl
Surfing the third Sunday

528
00:31:03,410 --> 00:31:05,760
is called a reflection session.

529
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,060
So the advisors, the advising
team, the youth ministry team

530
00:31:09,060 --> 00:31:11,600
get together and come
up with some activities

531
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:15,830
and prompts that bring back
the experience of the field

532
00:31:15,830 --> 00:31:19,970
trip-- the art museum-- and the
guest speakers-- Slam Nuba--

533
00:31:19,970 --> 00:31:23,200
and talk about and
highlight those experiences

534
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:27,440
and explore the concept
of scripture more deeply.

535
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,150
Oftentimes, the
youth are encouraged

536
00:31:29,150 --> 00:31:31,950
to bring their own
things from home,

537
00:31:31,950 --> 00:31:34,870
whether it's a
representative artifact

538
00:31:34,870 --> 00:31:38,500
or if it's a piece
of scripture that

539
00:31:38,500 --> 00:31:42,220
personally resonates for them.

540
00:31:42,220 --> 00:31:45,990
That's the third
reflection session.

541
00:31:45,990 --> 00:31:50,160
And then the fourth Sunday
of the month-- and typically,

542
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:51,780
as you know, we
have four Sundays

543
00:31:51,780 --> 00:31:55,970
in each month-- the
youth attend the worship.

544
00:31:55,970 --> 00:31:57,920
And this is key.

545
00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:00,630
We want our youth
to bridge out having

546
00:32:00,630 --> 00:32:03,270
an experience of
adult worship so when

547
00:32:03,270 --> 00:32:05,310
they return as
bridged young adults,

548
00:32:05,310 --> 00:32:09,000
it doesn't feel alien
or strange to them.

549
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:12,220
The key piece here
is a, the staff group

550
00:32:12,220 --> 00:32:14,130
at your church work
with the youth group

551
00:32:14,130 --> 00:32:18,320
to decide which Sunday is
the most youth-friendly.

552
00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:22,010
Secondly, the youth are
involved in this worship,

553
00:32:22,010 --> 00:32:26,290
either as chalice
lighters or as presenters

554
00:32:26,290 --> 00:32:30,670
for a time for all ages or
speakers or song leaders,

555
00:32:30,670 --> 00:32:32,060
you name it.

556
00:32:32,060 --> 00:32:34,020
This is a key part,
not that they're just

557
00:32:34,020 --> 00:32:36,960
sitting in the pews
keeping them warm,

558
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,690
but also participating
in the worship

559
00:32:39,690 --> 00:32:46,160
and again experiencing
the theme in another way.

560
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:57,660
That is SoUUl Surfing
in a nutshell.

561
00:32:57,660 --> 00:33:00,050
The next piece that
I want to talk about,

562
00:33:00,050 --> 00:33:04,300
we didn't just focus
on theme based ministry

563
00:33:04,300 --> 00:33:06,460
during this day-long
presentation at LREDA.

564
00:33:06,460 --> 00:33:08,860
We also focused on
full-week faith,

565
00:33:08,860 --> 00:33:15,170
which is a lovely concept that
we Karen Bellavance-Grace has

566
00:33:15,170 --> 00:33:19,520
explored through a Fahs
Collaborative project

567
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:21,620
and held up ever since.

568
00:33:21,620 --> 00:33:25,140
And it's a lovely way to
connect with your families

569
00:33:25,140 --> 00:33:28,010
outside of Sunday morning.

570
00:33:28,010 --> 00:33:32,010
And I remember being very
moved by her presentation

571
00:33:32,010 --> 00:33:34,000
on full-week faith
and I would be

572
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:38,550
curious to know what you're
doing to reach out to families

573
00:33:38,550 --> 00:33:43,650
and to hold up either themes
or your church's ministry

574
00:33:43,650 --> 00:33:45,690
after and between Sundays.

575
00:33:45,690 --> 00:33:48,940
So type that in your Chat Box.

576
00:33:48,940 --> 00:33:50,950
What are you doing
with your families

577
00:33:50,950 --> 00:33:56,770
to explore your church's
ministry, mission, and/or

578
00:33:56,770 --> 00:34:34,449
themes outside of Sunday?

579
00:34:34,449 --> 00:34:40,610
Lovely-- I'm seeing lots of
great ideas in the Chat Box.

580
00:34:40,610 --> 00:34:43,219
What we did at
First Unitarian, it

581
00:34:43,219 --> 00:34:45,469
took me a long time to
wrestle with this idea

582
00:34:45,469 --> 00:34:46,480
of full-week faith.

583
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:51,000
As much as it resonated for
me, I just could not find a way

584
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:58,260
to make it work, to integrate
it into our infrastructure

585
00:34:58,260 --> 00:35:03,930
and family-based protocols--

586
00:35:03,930 --> 00:35:08,620
until one morning I woke
up, much as Euripides

587
00:35:08,620 --> 00:35:14,180
sat up in his bathtub,
eureka, realizing

588
00:35:14,180 --> 00:35:17,810
that I could use
technology again

589
00:35:17,810 --> 00:35:20,720
to help me stay connected with
families throughout the week

590
00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:24,810
and to ensure that our families
were connecting to the theme

591
00:35:24,810 --> 00:35:26,920
that the church was
exploring throughout the week

592
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:29,700
so that it was integrated
beyond Sunday morning

593
00:35:29,700 --> 00:35:34,040
into their personal lives
and their family's existence.

594
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:35,270
And so I use this app.

595
00:35:35,270 --> 00:35:36,500
It's called Group Me.

596
00:35:36,500 --> 00:35:37,270
It's free.

597
00:35:37,270 --> 00:35:39,510
It's fantastic.

598
00:35:39,510 --> 00:35:43,520
And each day, I would
send out different things,

599
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:47,840
different theological
prompts, if you will.

600
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:51,190
Monday, I would
send out a blessing

601
00:35:51,190 --> 00:35:52,960
that the family would
use over dinner,

602
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,460
again connected to the
monthly theme that was

603
00:35:55,460 --> 00:35:57,550
being explored at our church.

604
00:35:57,550 --> 00:36:03,800
Tuesday was a bedtime prayer
said together as a family.

605
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:08,910
Wednesday was a meditation
exploring the theme

606
00:36:08,910 --> 00:36:13,070
so the family could sit
together and decompress

607
00:36:13,070 --> 00:36:17,470
and get spiritually
grounded after a long day.

608
00:36:17,470 --> 00:36:21,180
And then, Thursday, a
teaching story-- and you

609
00:36:21,180 --> 00:36:23,490
can't send an entire
story via a text,

610
00:36:23,490 --> 00:36:26,010
but you can send a
link to a YouTube video

611
00:36:26,010 --> 00:36:29,640
or what I often did was I would
upload the story to a Google

612
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:35,330
document and then share the
link to the Google document

613
00:36:35,330 --> 00:36:39,820
so that the family had access
to the story in that way.

614
00:36:39,820 --> 00:36:43,150
Friday, I would do
research during the week

615
00:36:43,150 --> 00:36:45,724
to find an interfaith or
social justice event that

616
00:36:45,724 --> 00:36:47,390
was happening over
the weekend and share

617
00:36:47,390 --> 00:36:53,530
that, a link to that event via
the Scrutiny app to families.

618
00:36:53,530 --> 00:36:56,430
Saturday was our Sabbath,
where we got a day off.

619
00:36:56,430 --> 00:37:00,510
And then, Sunday morning,
this one was a gem.

620
00:37:00,510 --> 00:37:02,010
When I'd get up
Sunday morning, I'd

621
00:37:02,010 --> 00:37:04,830
send out the text
that talked about what

622
00:37:04,830 --> 00:37:08,180
was going to happen in the
service and a highlight

623
00:37:08,180 --> 00:37:10,420
from RE that
shouldn't be missed.

624
00:37:10,420 --> 00:37:12,730
And I can't tell you how
many times families told me

625
00:37:12,730 --> 00:37:14,930
that once they saw
what was happening,

626
00:37:14,930 --> 00:37:16,480
they just couldn't
miss it and had

627
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,410
to be at church that Sunday.

628
00:37:19,410 --> 00:37:22,670
To give you a little
bit more back-story,

629
00:37:22,670 --> 00:37:26,050
before trying to implement
this with the entire community

630
00:37:26,050 --> 00:37:29,550
at First Unitarian, I started
with a laboratory group

631
00:37:29,550 --> 00:37:31,530
from my RE team.

632
00:37:31,530 --> 00:37:35,790
There were about 14
families that participated.

633
00:37:35,790 --> 00:38:16,635
I wanted to see [AUDIO OUT].

634
00:38:16,635 --> 00:38:17,625
Pat Kahn: This is Pat.

635
00:38:17,625 --> 00:38:19,605
Can you hear me?

636
00:38:19,605 --> 00:38:20,620
Sheila Schuh: Yes.

637
00:38:20,620 --> 00:38:21,690
Pat Kahn: OK, good.

638
00:38:21,690 --> 00:38:24,630
I just lost Eric's
sound so I wasn't sure

639
00:38:24,630 --> 00:38:28,490
whether it was on my end or
his or if anybody else had

640
00:38:28,490 --> 00:38:29,240
lost the sound.

641
00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:32,200
But yea, I'm glad
that you can hear me.

642
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:37,330
And we'll go ahead and
take some questions now.

643
00:38:37,330 --> 00:38:40,510
I wrote some of them down
and then if you have others,

644
00:38:40,510 --> 00:38:44,090
we can address those, as well.

645
00:38:44,090 --> 00:38:45,950
One of the first ones
was from a while back.

646
00:38:45,950 --> 00:38:48,130
Sheila, it's for you.

647
00:38:48,130 --> 00:38:51,370
Someone wanted to
know about where

648
00:38:51,370 --> 00:38:55,410
or what kind of NVC, Non-Violent
Communication, training

649
00:38:55,410 --> 00:38:56,280
did you get?

650
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:58,860
And I know it's pretty
extensive in your program.

651
00:38:58,860 --> 00:39:02,609
So if you could take a minute
or two to tell us about that?

652
00:39:02,609 --> 00:39:03,400
Sheila Schuh: Yeah.

653
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:06,970
So in Rochester, we have
the Gandhi Institute,

654
00:39:06,970 --> 00:39:10,080
which is an organization
connected also

655
00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:13,180
to the University of Rochester.

656
00:39:13,180 --> 00:39:17,065
And I went to their
director and asked her

657
00:39:17,065 --> 00:39:20,640
if she would come and do
an in-service for my staff

658
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:23,570
and I also met with her
for a few hours myself.

659
00:39:23,570 --> 00:39:27,530
She recommended Connecting
Across Differences, which

660
00:39:27,530 --> 00:39:29,620
is the main book that I use.

661
00:39:29,620 --> 00:39:32,620
It has everything in
there and it's very basic.

662
00:39:32,620 --> 00:39:36,440
And I also just went to
Peace Circle Training

663
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:40,760
through our local
restorative initiative

664
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:45,410
organization, which has a
lot of NVC in it, as well.

665
00:39:45,410 --> 00:39:49,840
And it's something that
I've been consistently just

666
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:51,390
reading and practicing.

667
00:39:51,390 --> 00:39:54,480
I think that's the main
thing is once you understand

668
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:59,430
the model, to have other
people to practice with,

669
00:39:59,430 --> 00:40:03,170
which has been actually
the best training for me.

670
00:40:03,170 --> 00:40:04,080
Pat Kahn: Great.

671
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:05,960
And actually, if I'd
thought about it,

672
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:09,090
I would have written down in the
Resources the name of the book

673
00:40:09,090 --> 00:40:12,050
that you mentioned
at Fall Con, Sheila.

674
00:40:12,050 --> 00:40:15,177
It was Connecting Through--

675
00:40:15,177 --> 00:40:17,010
Sheila Schuh: Connecting
Across Differences.

676
00:40:17,010 --> 00:40:18,509
Pat Kahn: Across
Differences, great.

677
00:40:18,509 --> 00:40:20,210
Thank you.

678
00:40:20,210 --> 00:40:24,420
And let me go ahead while
you're talking on the phone--

679
00:40:24,420 --> 00:40:26,675
and maybe Eric can
just double-check

680
00:40:26,675 --> 00:40:28,800
his sound because I think
a couple of us lost that.

681
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:33,360
But the other question mark
was asking a little bit more

682
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:35,010
about workshop rotation.

683
00:40:35,010 --> 00:40:40,630
And I will put--
there is a description

684
00:40:40,630 --> 00:40:45,770
of workshop rotation on the
theme based ministry web pages.

685
00:40:45,770 --> 00:40:50,110
But Sheila, if you want to go
ahead and talk a little bit

686
00:40:50,110 --> 00:40:52,470
about that, would be great.

687
00:40:52,470 --> 00:40:58,560
Sheila Schuh: So the specific
question about it, Pat?

688
00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:01,250
Pat Kahn: Oh, now I'll
have to go back up.

689
00:41:01,250 --> 00:41:06,730
I think it was
more about-- If you

690
00:41:06,730 --> 00:41:09,230
asked the question, go
ahead and re-post it

691
00:41:09,230 --> 00:41:15,957
while I'm looking for it.

692
00:41:15,957 --> 00:41:17,040
Well, of course, I can't--

693
00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:19,373
Sheila Schuh: I could
talk a whole day

694
00:41:19,373 --> 00:41:21,012
about workshop rotation.

695
00:41:21,012 --> 00:41:22,470
Pat Kahn: So could
I. Why don't you

696
00:41:22,470 --> 00:41:30,410
give a nutshell overview of
how you would describe workshop

697
00:41:30,410 --> 00:41:31,987
rotation as a model?

698
00:41:31,987 --> 00:41:33,070
Sheila Schuh: Oh, a model?

699
00:41:33,070 --> 00:41:34,680
Pat Kahn: Oh, there it is.

700
00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:38,270
Here is the question.

701
00:41:38,270 --> 00:41:41,030
Katie said, "I'd
love to learn more

702
00:41:41,030 --> 00:41:43,242
about this workshop model."

703
00:41:43,242 --> 00:41:44,660
Sheila Schuh: Oh, OK.

704
00:41:44,660 --> 00:41:46,210
Pat Kahn: So just--

705
00:41:46,210 --> 00:41:48,540
Sheila Schuh: Yeah,
workshop rotation actually

706
00:41:48,540 --> 00:41:50,570
came out of the
Christian tradition,

707
00:41:50,570 --> 00:41:53,360
where in the
Christian faith, they

708
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:55,640
wanted to teach
kids a Bible story

709
00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:57,260
through many
different modalities.

710
00:41:57,260 --> 00:41:59,652
So they would say, for
example, the story of Jonah.

711
00:41:59,652 --> 00:42:01,860
And you would do it one week
through art and one week

712
00:42:01,860 --> 00:42:04,990
through music and one week
through movement and one week

713
00:42:04,990 --> 00:42:06,100
through nature.

714
00:42:06,100 --> 00:42:10,970
And that model-- as
Unitarian Universalists,

715
00:42:10,970 --> 00:42:13,020
we took that on in
terms of wow, we

716
00:42:13,020 --> 00:42:15,550
can use this to do a number
of different things with.

717
00:42:15,550 --> 00:42:19,690
So that model for me
turned into more--

718
00:42:19,690 --> 00:42:23,340
so it's really-- in the
Christian tradition,

719
00:42:23,340 --> 00:42:28,220
it was used to learn a Bible
story along with Bible verses.

720
00:42:28,220 --> 00:42:32,070
But in our tradition, really,
in the theme based model,

721
00:42:32,070 --> 00:42:37,590
it's used to carry the theme
from worship into the workshop.

722
00:42:37,590 --> 00:42:41,770
So for the whole
month, the theme

723
00:42:41,770 --> 00:42:44,060
stays the same but
that story-- for me,

724
00:42:44,060 --> 00:42:47,360
anyway, the story
is one week and then

725
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:50,860
you have another story on
the same theme the next week.

726
00:42:50,860 --> 00:42:55,230
So a rotation would be four or
five weeks on the same theme,

727
00:42:55,230 --> 00:42:57,180
but I have different
stories every week,

728
00:42:57,180 --> 00:42:59,346
not like in the Christian
model where you would have

729
00:42:59,346 --> 00:43:01,387
one story for the whole month.

730
00:43:01,387 --> 00:43:02,470
That's not what I'm doing.

731
00:43:02,470 --> 00:43:05,310
But some people do
principles for a whole month

732
00:43:05,310 --> 00:43:06,620
instead of using the theme.

733
00:43:06,620 --> 00:43:09,230
There's lots of different
varieties of it.

734
00:43:09,230 --> 00:43:11,990
I started off in my program
doing art modalities.

735
00:43:11,990 --> 00:43:16,742
So I did art, music, dance,
nature, social action,

736
00:43:16,742 --> 00:43:20,660
and writing and something else.

737
00:43:20,660 --> 00:43:23,710
But then I switched to
it being our UU sources,

738
00:43:23,710 --> 00:43:25,920
because I thought it was
more defining for the kids.

739
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:29,230
But that model is
the same structure

740
00:43:29,230 --> 00:43:31,760
you have in a large
church, right?

741
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,430
In church in general,
you have the worship

742
00:43:34,430 --> 00:43:37,040
and then you have people going
to some kind of small groups.

743
00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:40,110
And the theme based church
for all ages, that's

744
00:43:40,110 --> 00:43:42,360
kind of the same thing where
you have a worship based

745
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:45,050
on the theme and also a
small group experience

746
00:43:45,050 --> 00:43:46,360
on the same theme.

747
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:49,340
For the kids, it's
squished into one hour.

748
00:43:49,340 --> 00:43:50,774
I hope that helps.

749
00:43:50,774 --> 00:43:51,530
Pat Kahn: Great.

750
00:43:51,530 --> 00:43:52,600
Thanks.

751
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:56,050
And one of the other
questions for Eric

752
00:43:56,050 --> 00:44:00,100
was-- I think it was
referring to youth in worship

753
00:44:00,100 --> 00:44:02,680
or that model of SoUUl Surfing.

754
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:05,186
How did you get
buy-in from the youth?

755
00:44:05,186 --> 00:44:09,560
Eric Bliss: [AUDIO OUT]

756
00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:11,980
Pat Kahn: We're still
not hearing you, Eric.

757
00:44:11,980 --> 00:44:17,060
You've lost your voice.

758
00:44:17,060 --> 00:44:20,260
Sheila Schuh: Maybe
he could type it in.

759
00:44:20,260 --> 00:44:26,450
Pat Kahn: Maybe you could
type it into the Chat Box.

760
00:44:26,450 --> 00:44:29,950
I'm not sure why your--
did you somehow mute

761
00:44:29,950 --> 00:44:37,020
your microphone on the-- no.

762
00:44:37,020 --> 00:44:39,440
So Deb [? Lander ?]
said that was me

763
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:41,190
and it referred to the
work the youth were

764
00:44:41,190 --> 00:44:43,690
doing in their meetings.

765
00:44:43,690 --> 00:44:46,590
Oh, yes, you could
call in, couldn't you?

766
00:44:46,590 --> 00:44:48,245
And so while we're
waiting for Eric

767
00:44:48,245 --> 00:44:53,980
to call in so that we
can get his voice back,

768
00:44:53,980 --> 00:44:58,050
were there other
questions that we might

769
00:44:58,050 --> 00:45:02,550
be able to answer for you?

770
00:45:02,550 --> 00:45:05,470
I know that a couple people
came in a little bit late

771
00:45:05,470 --> 00:45:08,690
so I wanted to remind
everybody that we

772
00:45:08,690 --> 00:45:12,050
do record all the webinars
and they do get posted online.

773
00:45:12,050 --> 00:45:15,890
And we also get
transcripts these days

774
00:45:15,890 --> 00:45:18,260
and post those online.

775
00:45:18,260 --> 00:45:28,790
Matthew, what is your
question about curriculum?

776
00:45:28,790 --> 00:45:29,540
Eric Bliss: Hello?

777
00:45:29,540 --> 00:45:31,130
Can you hear me?

778
00:45:31,130 --> 00:45:31,880
Sheila Schuh: Yes.

779
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:32,463
Pat Kahn: Yes.

780
00:45:32,463 --> 00:45:35,090
Now we can hear Eric so
Eric will go to that.

781
00:45:35,090 --> 00:45:39,160
And then, Matthew,
we'll come back

782
00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:41,950
to your question in a minute.

783
00:45:41,950 --> 00:45:45,790
So Eric, getting
buy-in from the youth.

784
00:45:45,790 --> 00:45:49,160
Eric Bliss: Yeah,
sorry about that issue.

785
00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:57,520
So we created a Reimagining
Sunday Morning youth group team

786
00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,470
made up of adults and youth.

787
00:45:59,470 --> 00:46:03,920
And so to get buy-in,
the youth had a voice

788
00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:06,380
in how this was put together.

789
00:46:06,380 --> 00:46:09,050
And so we designed
it as a group,

790
00:46:09,050 --> 00:46:12,630
taking into account all
the different thoughts.

791
00:46:12,630 --> 00:46:13,910
We want it to be engaging.

792
00:46:13,910 --> 00:46:18,660
We want it to have social,
spiritual and faith

793
00:46:18,660 --> 00:46:21,220
in action aspects.

794
00:46:21,220 --> 00:46:24,370
We want to connect and be a
multi-generational community.

795
00:46:24,370 --> 00:46:27,180
There are a lot of things
that came out of that group.

796
00:46:27,180 --> 00:46:30,430
And then, we did
it as a trial run.

797
00:46:30,430 --> 00:46:32,040
So we said, OK,
look, we're going

798
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:34,730
to try it for the first
month and get your feedback.

799
00:46:34,730 --> 00:46:37,580
So we did it for a month,
got the group's feedback,

800
00:46:37,580 --> 00:46:40,270
we tweaked it here,
tweaked it there, and then

801
00:46:40,270 --> 00:46:42,210
after three months,
got more feedback.

802
00:46:42,210 --> 00:46:44,155
And after that,
it just took off.

803
00:46:44,155 --> 00:46:47,620
From what I understand,
there are a number

804
00:46:47,620 --> 00:46:50,410
of congregations who picked up
this model based on a webinar

805
00:46:50,410 --> 00:46:52,690
that I gave last year.

806
00:46:52,690 --> 00:46:54,140
And the feedback
that I've gotten

807
00:46:54,140 --> 00:46:58,140
from these congregations,
mostly in the west,

808
00:46:58,140 --> 00:47:04,650
have been resoundingly positive.

809
00:47:04,650 --> 00:47:05,570
Pat Kahn: Great.

810
00:47:05,570 --> 00:47:15,150
And Eric, there was a second
question related to youth.

811
00:47:15,150 --> 00:47:21,015
And of course--

812
00:47:21,015 --> 00:47:22,890
Sheila Schuh: I can
answer Matthew's question

813
00:47:22,890 --> 00:47:24,240
while you're looking, Pat.

814
00:47:24,240 --> 00:47:24,906
Pat Kahn: Great.

815
00:47:24,906 --> 00:47:26,334
You answer-- great.

816
00:47:26,334 --> 00:47:28,250
Sheila Schuh: So the
question Matthew's asking

817
00:47:28,250 --> 00:47:30,250
is, "If you're running
theme based ministry,

818
00:47:30,250 --> 00:47:32,210
does your curriculum
coincide or do

819
00:47:32,210 --> 00:47:33,840
you run curriculum
that is separate

820
00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:37,050
from the theme
implementation, basically?"

821
00:47:37,050 --> 00:47:40,360
And the question I'm
asking is related

822
00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:42,990
to what we had just said.

823
00:47:42,990 --> 00:47:48,990
So for me, I have an
interesting experience

824
00:47:48,990 --> 00:47:53,140
with this, in that we had
three service times running

825
00:47:53,140 --> 00:47:57,190
and Saturday night was like
having a more small church

826
00:47:57,190 --> 00:47:57,820
program.

827
00:47:57,820 --> 00:48:03,600
So I was running it in two
different venues, really.

828
00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:09,210
In my K through 5 program,
I'm writing that curriculum

829
00:48:09,210 --> 00:48:10,260
to the theme.

830
00:48:10,260 --> 00:48:13,420
Actually, all the
workshops are on theme

831
00:48:13,420 --> 00:48:16,510
and they're written already
over the summer based

832
00:48:16,510 --> 00:48:19,990
on the themes that have been
selected in that June or July

833
00:48:19,990 --> 00:48:20,890
before.

834
00:48:20,890 --> 00:48:25,550
So my K-5 program, the
curriculum is all on theme

835
00:48:25,550 --> 00:48:27,990
and that's posted on
the Soul Matters page.

836
00:48:27,990 --> 00:48:31,650
And I'm happy to share that
with anybody who wants it.

837
00:48:31,650 --> 00:48:34,470
My junior high program
does not run on theme.

838
00:48:34,470 --> 00:48:38,390
In terms of the curriculum
itself, it's Spiritual Survivor

839
00:48:38,390 --> 00:48:42,310
and it runs on its own rotation.

840
00:48:42,310 --> 00:48:43,780
It's a three-year program.

841
00:48:43,780 --> 00:48:45,970
But I do have
theme based worship

842
00:48:45,970 --> 00:48:48,820
that happens before that
for our junior highers

843
00:48:48,820 --> 00:48:53,030
and many, many times, we look
at how does that cross over

844
00:48:53,030 --> 00:48:54,210
into that curriculum.

845
00:48:54,210 --> 00:48:58,030
So I'm with the person who's
running that each week and we

846
00:48:58,030 --> 00:48:59,160
talk about that.

847
00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:01,080
So that's how we do it.

848
00:49:01,080 --> 00:49:02,970
Coming of Age is the same way.

849
00:49:02,970 --> 00:49:05,990
That program is
really super-defined,

850
00:49:05,990 --> 00:49:09,646
but we use the worship
component in those elements

851
00:49:09,646 --> 00:49:11,890
and tweak on the theme
so that all those,

852
00:49:11,890 --> 00:49:15,370
you feel like they're
also on the theme.

853
00:49:15,370 --> 00:49:17,334
I'm hoping that's helpful.

854
00:49:17,334 --> 00:49:18,000
Pat Kahn: Great.

855
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:20,680
And I did realize the
other question for you,

856
00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:23,460
Eric, was about
the Group Me app.

857
00:49:23,460 --> 00:49:26,690
And the question
was, "Does everybody

858
00:49:26,690 --> 00:49:31,890
have to have the app
in order to do that?"

859
00:49:31,890 --> 00:49:33,230
Eric Bliss: No.

860
00:49:33,230 --> 00:49:36,570
In order to be a part
of the Group Me group,

861
00:49:36,570 --> 00:49:41,790
you simply agree
to be a part of it.

862
00:49:41,790 --> 00:49:44,850
You'll get an invitation
from the organizer.

863
00:49:44,850 --> 00:49:46,700
And this is
wonderful because you

864
00:49:46,700 --> 00:49:50,129
can use Group Me to talk
to your advisor teams.

865
00:49:50,129 --> 00:49:52,420
You can have a separate group
that's all your teachers.

866
00:49:52,420 --> 00:49:54,970
Hey, teachers, there's a
training coming up this Sunday.

867
00:49:54,970 --> 00:50:01,210
You can use it for groups of
parents coordinated around age

868
00:50:01,210 --> 00:50:04,610
cohorts that they're with.

869
00:50:04,610 --> 00:50:06,871
And the individuals
who receive the text

870
00:50:06,871 --> 00:50:08,370
don't have to have
the Group Me app.

871
00:50:08,370 --> 00:50:10,190
The only person who
needs it is the person

872
00:50:10,190 --> 00:50:12,860
who's organizing
these various groups.

873
00:50:12,860 --> 00:50:15,650
And then, the only
trick to it that I found

874
00:50:15,650 --> 00:50:18,030
was folks have to opt-in.

875
00:50:18,030 --> 00:50:22,120
And if they don't opt-in
and they don't respond,

876
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:24,710
then Group Me will kick
them out of the group.

877
00:50:24,710 --> 00:50:27,280
And so that's one
thing to remember

878
00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:28,960
as you're communicating
with folks

879
00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:33,130
is that they should just send
a thanks or a smiley face

880
00:50:33,130 --> 00:50:35,450
or something periodically
when they get these Group Me

881
00:50:35,450 --> 00:50:37,970
texts because if
they're not responding,

882
00:50:37,970 --> 00:50:41,054
Group Me will kick them out.

883
00:50:41,054 --> 00:50:41,720
Pat Kahn: Great.

884
00:50:41,720 --> 00:50:44,950
And I think you, in
that answer, just

885
00:50:44,950 --> 00:50:47,290
answered-- Danielle's
question is, "How is it

886
00:50:47,290 --> 00:50:48,630
different than email?"

887
00:50:48,630 --> 00:50:51,500
And I think because it's
texts that people actually

888
00:50:51,500 --> 00:50:53,300
get-- is that correct?

889
00:50:53,300 --> 00:50:55,170
Eric Bliss: Yes, it's a text.

890
00:50:55,170 --> 00:50:57,970
And I don't know if
you've found this,

891
00:50:57,970 --> 00:51:01,000
but youth do not
read their email.

892
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:05,510
But they tend to stay
pretty close to their phones

893
00:51:05,510 --> 00:51:08,970
for the most part
and I found texting

894
00:51:08,970 --> 00:51:13,690
to be the most and best
vehicle to communicate.

895
00:51:13,690 --> 00:51:16,020
But I will say as a
DRE, I never relied

896
00:51:16,020 --> 00:51:19,750
on a form of communication.

897
00:51:19,750 --> 00:51:23,370
With the full-week faith
stuff, I did just use Group Me

898
00:51:23,370 --> 00:51:26,730
but that was a group that
had opted in intentionally.

899
00:51:26,730 --> 00:51:28,860
For other modes of
communication, getting out

900
00:51:28,860 --> 00:51:32,860
publicity, I always use
Twitter, Facebook, email, text,

901
00:51:32,860 --> 00:51:36,000
the whole gamut.

902
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:37,330
Pat Kahn: Great.

903
00:51:37,330 --> 00:51:40,530
And I know that there
have been some questions

904
00:51:40,530 --> 00:51:46,050
about curating resources to
use on themes and all of that.

905
00:51:46,050 --> 00:51:49,990
Earlier on, I posted that all
Tapestry of Faith programs

906
00:51:49,990 --> 00:51:52,920
for children, youth, adults,
and multi-generational

907
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:58,680
are all tagged and they're
searchable by theme.

908
00:51:58,680 --> 00:52:01,530
And by that, I don't
mean "keyword,"

909
00:52:01,530 --> 00:52:03,160
although you can
search by keyword

910
00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:05,570
but you don't get as
targeted a response.

911
00:52:05,570 --> 00:52:09,820
But if you go to the Search
page on Tapestry of Faith,

912
00:52:09,820 --> 00:52:13,190
you will see a little box
that says Spiritual Theme.

913
00:52:13,190 --> 00:52:17,860
And if you just
start typing one,

914
00:52:17,860 --> 00:52:21,090
it's over 100 themes
that have been tagged.

915
00:52:21,090 --> 00:52:24,980
And those have been--
thank you, Alicia--

916
00:52:24,980 --> 00:52:29,840
those have included
many of the Soul Matters

917
00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:32,980
from previous years-- not
necessarily all of them

918
00:52:32,980 --> 00:52:35,800
because the 2015-2016
themes were announced

919
00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:38,800
after we completed the tagging.

920
00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:42,840
But Tulsa, Oklahoma has been
doing monthly themes for years

921
00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:47,630
and many congregations also use
that same rotation of themes.

922
00:52:47,630 --> 00:52:52,630
So we took themes from a
lot of the major groups that

923
00:52:52,630 --> 00:52:56,080
have been using themes
and tagged everything

924
00:52:56,080 --> 00:52:58,870
in Tapestry of Faith
and also in Worship Web.

925
00:52:58,870 --> 00:53:01,690
So it's a lot more
straightforward

926
00:53:01,690 --> 00:53:05,730
now to be able to pull pieces,
an activity or a story out

927
00:53:05,730 --> 00:53:10,100
of Tapestry of Faith to be able
to use in theme based ministry.

928
00:53:10,100 --> 00:53:15,040
And so there is
a series of pages

929
00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:17,710
I'm sure Alicia is
going to put up.

930
00:53:17,710 --> 00:53:22,380
It's basically RE/themes
but within that, there

931
00:53:22,380 --> 00:53:27,250
are tons of resources
on who is doing it,

932
00:53:27,250 --> 00:53:30,740
how are people doing it,
why theme based ministry

933
00:53:30,740 --> 00:53:34,290
is a good idea--
you could just spend

934
00:53:34,290 --> 00:53:37,590
a whole afternoon exploring
the Theme Based Ministry pages.

935
00:53:37,590 --> 00:53:40,690
So I urge you to do that.

936
00:53:40,690 --> 00:53:42,320
And I'm also trying
to figure out

937
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:47,400
a way to do a tour of the
Theme Based Ministry pages.

938
00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:52,110
Maybe we'll either do some kind
of a brief recording or maybe

939
00:53:52,110 --> 00:53:55,010
even just a PowerPoint to walk
people through, because there's

940
00:53:55,010 --> 00:53:58,170
a wealth of information there.

941
00:53:58,170 --> 00:54:03,080
We have time for maybe
one or two more questions.

942
00:54:03,080 --> 00:54:06,380
So if you asked a
question in the Chat Box

943
00:54:06,380 --> 00:54:09,870
and we haven't
addressed it yet, well,

944
00:54:09,870 --> 00:54:13,260
a, I'll first of all
apologize and then I'll say,

945
00:54:13,260 --> 00:54:14,996
put it again.

946
00:54:14,996 --> 00:54:18,310
Ah, the process
for deciding themes

947
00:54:18,310 --> 00:54:25,090
is as varied as people
who are using them.

948
00:54:25,090 --> 00:54:27,200
And so what I would
suggest, again,

949
00:54:27,200 --> 00:54:30,120
is to go to the Theme
Based Ministry pages

950
00:54:30,120 --> 00:54:34,330
and look at some of
the different groups

951
00:54:34,330 --> 00:54:39,130
or sharing circles that are
using themes because it's

952
00:54:39,130 --> 00:54:41,890
quite different depending
on which congregation

953
00:54:41,890 --> 00:54:44,110
you're talking about.

954
00:54:44,110 --> 00:54:50,190
One video that I would highlight
in terms of choosing things

955
00:54:50,190 --> 00:54:54,750
is there was a GA workshop.

956
00:54:54,750 --> 00:54:57,300
Actually, Sheila was one of
the presenters in that, too.

957
00:54:57,300 --> 00:55:04,310
But in GA 2014, all of the
presentations from that

958
00:55:04,310 --> 00:55:06,480
are on the Theme
Based Ministry pages.

959
00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:11,020
But if you look specifically
at the presentation

960
00:55:11,020 --> 00:55:14,810
by Reverend Jan Taddeo from
the UU Congregation of Gwinnett

961
00:55:14,810 --> 00:55:20,720
in Georgia, her congregation
did a really interesting process

962
00:55:20,720 --> 00:55:24,040
in going through and
deciding the themes.

963
00:55:24,040 --> 00:55:26,530
So that is one place to look.

964
00:55:26,530 --> 00:55:29,910
But if you go to the
link for Soul Matters

965
00:55:29,910 --> 00:55:35,200
or if you go to the Tulsa
home page on themes,

966
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:37,050
you'll see different
ways that people

967
00:55:37,050 --> 00:55:41,680
choose to use the themes.

968
00:55:41,680 --> 00:55:47,230
And I think there's another one.

969
00:55:47,230 --> 00:55:52,170
"In the interest of not
reinventing the wheel"--

970
00:55:52,170 --> 00:55:56,450
yeah, Soul Matters we've
referred to a couple of times

971
00:55:56,450 --> 00:55:58,220
and I'm realizing
that we never stopped

972
00:55:58,220 --> 00:56:02,410
to describe what that is.

973
00:56:02,410 --> 00:56:05,680
But it really sort of came
out of First Unitarian

974
00:56:05,680 --> 00:56:06,620
in Rochester.

975
00:56:06,620 --> 00:56:09,320
And so Sheila, rather
than me paraphrase,

976
00:56:09,320 --> 00:56:11,950
maybe you could sort of
describe Soul Matters?

977
00:56:11,950 --> 00:56:16,400
But also there is a Soul
Matters Sharing Circle

978
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:19,040
and there's one specifically
for religious educators.

979
00:56:19,040 --> 00:56:23,810
And people are sharing
resources right then and there.

980
00:56:23,810 --> 00:56:27,449
So can you talk just a
tad about Soul Matters?

981
00:56:27,449 --> 00:56:28,240
Sheila Schuh: Sure.

982
00:56:28,240 --> 00:56:33,770
Soul Matters is just an adult
faith development program

983
00:56:33,770 --> 00:56:38,390
which came out of really
chalice circles and that whole

984
00:56:38,390 --> 00:56:41,380
covenanting back years ago.

985
00:56:41,380 --> 00:56:45,870
But it really is about--
you get a packet in advance

986
00:56:45,870 --> 00:56:47,410
of the month on the
theme and it has

987
00:56:47,410 --> 00:56:51,170
all kinds of poems, videos--
all kinds of stuff in it.

988
00:56:51,170 --> 00:56:54,560
And you also have a
choice between eight or 10

989
00:56:54,560 --> 00:56:56,410
exercises that you do.

990
00:56:56,410 --> 00:56:58,360
So it's a covenanted
group of people

991
00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:01,440
that select one of those
spiritual exercises

992
00:57:01,440 --> 00:57:03,890
or adventures for their
month and then come

993
00:57:03,890 --> 00:57:07,280
back together every
month and really share

994
00:57:07,280 --> 00:57:10,120
what their experiences have
been and do some deepening

995
00:57:10,120 --> 00:57:13,530
work together around the theme.

996
00:57:13,530 --> 00:57:15,560
We have a parenting
Soul Matters.

997
00:57:15,560 --> 00:57:20,050
We also have teen Soul
Matters and that system,

998
00:57:20,050 --> 00:57:24,080
there's probably over
100 congregations

999
00:57:24,080 --> 00:57:26,080
who are yoked together
on those same themes.

1000
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:28,620
So people are sharing
stuff all the time.

1001
00:57:28,620 --> 00:57:32,190
I share my stuff on that on
the Soul Matters Religious

1002
00:57:32,190 --> 00:57:37,410
Educators page and the
Soul Matters page itself,

1003
00:57:37,410 --> 00:57:40,630
they have a section there that
I upload all my curriculum to.

1004
00:57:40,630 --> 00:57:43,880
So it's kind of ready
right there for you.

1005
00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:44,570
Pat Kahn: Great.

1006
00:57:44,570 --> 00:57:45,949
Can I just put a link?

1007
00:57:45,949 --> 00:57:46,740
Sheila Schuh: Yeah.

1008
00:57:46,740 --> 00:57:47,781
Pat Kahn: Thanks, Sheila.

1009
00:57:47,781 --> 00:57:50,080
I just put a link
in the Chat Box.

1010
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:52,960
I was so impressed with what
I was seeing on that Religious

1011
00:57:52,960 --> 00:57:56,200
Educators Soul
Matters page that I

1012
00:57:56,200 --> 00:57:58,360
took a couple of
different examples

1013
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:00,420
and put them all together
on that link that's

1014
00:58:00,420 --> 00:58:06,150
now in the Chat Box so that
you can see the creativity.

1015
00:58:06,150 --> 00:58:08,160
And it really was amazing.

1016
00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:10,510
So we are getting
close to the end

1017
00:58:10,510 --> 00:58:12,320
so I want to do a
couple of things.

1018
00:58:12,320 --> 00:58:16,160
First, I want to invite
Eric to share some closing

1019
00:58:16,160 --> 00:58:16,930
words with us.

1020
00:58:16,930 --> 00:58:19,630
And then, we'll talk about
what's coming up next

1021
00:58:19,630 --> 00:58:22,710
and some resources.

1022
00:58:22,710 --> 00:58:24,990
Eric Bliss: So by
means of closing words,

1023
00:58:24,990 --> 00:58:29,430
I want to just share a
very, very quick anecdote.

1024
00:58:29,430 --> 00:58:35,150
Our RE team co-chair
was participating

1025
00:58:35,150 --> 00:58:39,200
in this full-week
faith exercises lab

1026
00:58:39,200 --> 00:58:45,180
using the Group Me app and knew
the theme was "forgiveness"

1027
00:58:45,180 --> 00:58:47,120
and they'd been
exploring it as a family.

1028
00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:48,920
And one day, she was
dropping off her son

1029
00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:53,474
to school and her son snapped
at her before he got out

1030
00:58:53,474 --> 00:58:55,140
of the car and slammed
the door and went

1031
00:58:55,140 --> 00:58:58,200
into his elementary class.

1032
00:58:58,200 --> 00:59:01,980
Later that day,
when he came home

1033
00:59:01,980 --> 00:59:06,990
and they did the meditation
on forgiveness, immediately

1034
00:59:06,990 --> 00:59:10,570
after, this young man turned
to his mom and said, mom,

1035
00:59:10,570 --> 00:59:13,720
I'm so sorry I was
rude this morning.

1036
00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:16,990
Will you forgive me?

1037
00:59:16,990 --> 00:59:22,630
And it's those types of
wonderful, transcendent family

1038
00:59:22,630 --> 00:59:26,206
moments and transforming
the family's experience

1039
00:59:26,206 --> 00:59:30,120
of what it means to
be faithful and why

1040
00:59:30,120 --> 00:59:33,820
we want this kind of
integration of themes

1041
00:59:33,820 --> 00:59:36,200
not just into our
Sunday mornings but also

1042
00:59:36,200 --> 00:59:39,844
throughout our families's lives.

1043
00:59:39,844 --> 00:59:40,510
Pat Kahn: Right.

1044
00:59:40,510 --> 00:59:41,780
Thank you, Eric.

1045
00:59:41,780 --> 00:59:46,770
I always get choked up when
I hear stories like that.

1046
00:59:46,770 --> 00:59:49,730
We'll send out an
actual document

1047
00:59:49,730 --> 00:59:54,020
or post it online with
these resources unpacked

1048
00:59:54,020 --> 00:59:56,090
a little bit with a few more.

1049
00:59:56,090 --> 01:00:00,870
And I wanted to just let you
know of upcoming webinars.

1050
01:00:00,870 --> 01:00:04,520
Next month is Money Talk
with Children and Families

1051
01:00:04,520 --> 01:00:12,000
and to sign up for any of these,
Alicia will probably-- well,

1052
01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:14,940
it'll be on the next slide, but
Alicia will probably also put

1053
01:00:14,940 --> 01:00:19,210
the link into the Chat Box.

1054
01:00:19,210 --> 01:00:22,410
December we'll know very soon.

1055
01:00:22,410 --> 01:00:25,150
We've got some exciting
possibilities for December.

1056
01:00:25,150 --> 01:00:28,680
And then, Gail and
I will be doing

1057
01:00:28,680 --> 01:00:33,030
what we hope will be a fun thing
on Four Kinds of Fun in January

1058
01:00:33,030 --> 01:00:38,050
and with lots more great plans
coming up for the spring.

1059
01:00:38,050 --> 01:00:42,300
And then basically, we just want
to say thank you for attending

1060
01:00:42,300 --> 01:00:44,670
and here is the link.

1061
01:00:44,670 --> 01:00:51,450
And also in the
Chat Box, we post--

1062
01:00:51,450 --> 01:00:53,530
after we do the
Wednesday night one,

1063
01:00:53,530 --> 01:00:56,040
we take the recording of
either Tuesday or Wednesday.

1064
01:00:56,040 --> 01:00:57,700
We post that online.

1065
01:00:57,700 --> 01:00:59,230
There will also be a transcript.

1066
01:00:59,230 --> 01:01:03,400
We'll post the slides and any
other resources that are there.

1067
01:01:03,400 --> 01:01:07,240
So thank you all very
much and a special

1068
01:01:07,240 --> 01:01:11,750
thank you to Sheila
and Eric because we

1069
01:01:11,750 --> 01:01:15,120
did this big long workshop on
Saturday and we got to the end.

1070
01:01:15,120 --> 01:01:19,570
And I said to myself,
why did we do this?

1071
01:01:19,570 --> 01:01:22,530
But it worked out
really well and it was

1072
01:01:22,530 --> 01:01:23,780
wonderful working with them.

1073
01:01:23,780 --> 01:01:24,947
So thank you both very much.

1074
01:01:24,947 --> 01:01:26,446
Sheila Schuh: Oh,
you're so welcome.

1075
01:01:26,446 --> 01:01:28,460
Pat Kahn: And thank
you, everybody else.

1076
01:01:28,460 --> 01:01:28,960
All right.

1077
01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:30,126
Sheila Schuh: Bye, everyone.

1078
01:01:30,126 --> 01:01:31,110
Pat Kahn: Bye bye.

1079
01:01:31,110 --> 01:01:33,803