Thursday, November 12, 2009

Check out the UU Growth Blog, UUPLANET on Twitter and FaceBook

Friends, this blog has been placed on the back burner as other communication tools take over.

I am actively using Twitter, Facebook, have an E-Newsletter, and a new blog. Not sure what will happen to this blog, but for the time being you can follow these other communications.

UU PLANET on Twitter
Follow @uuplanet

UU PLANET on Facebook
Friend UU PLANET / Peter

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the UU Growth Blog

Friday, August 07, 2009

Plano, TX Covenant Group Facilitator Training, August 15

Friends,

Later this month I will be leading another small group facilitator training at our Community UU Church in Plano, TX. The following is from the event announcement on their website. Click Here for full details.



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Covenant Group Facilitator Training
9 AM to 3 PM, Saturday, August 15th, 2009
Community Unitarian Universalist Church
2875 East Parker Road, Plano, Texas 75074

Please let us know in advance if you will be participating and any childcare needs by emailing covenant@communityuuchurch.org.

This all day workshop led by Peter Bowden is intended to train those whowish to explore being Covenant Group facilitators, or to brush up your skills if you already are one. This workshop or its predecessor is required to serve as a Covenant Group facilitator at Community Church during the next year.

Covenant Groups will be launched in mid September for the 2009-2010. The training is free to members and friends of Community Church, and $ 25-30 for others. Lunch and child care are available. Registration limited to 60 participants. For more information contact the Rev. Patrick Price.

Peter Bowden is a Unitarian Universalist consultant working with congregations across the United States and a children's television producer. Peter's Unitarian Universalist work is focused on helping congregations use small groups to strengthen lay leadership, build community, deepen spiritual exploration, and through this inspire greater engagement with the world out-
side our congregations' walls. On the television side, Peter works on a number of nationally syndicated children's shows including the Curious George show and Peep and the Big Wide World. He lives in Newport, RI with his wife, the Rev. Amy Freedman, minister of Channing Church, and their daughter, Liza.

Here's what Peter has to say about covenant groups:

"Small Group Ministry (is) a way of 'doing church' which strives to deepen and expand the ministry of a congregation using an intentional system of lay-led small groups. Imagine all that your congregation is trying to accomplish, everything your minister, staff, leaders and members are called to do as a community. We have learned that we can design lay-led and clergy-supported small groups to accomplish this work and ministry. At the heart of healthy congregations and life/world changing ministries we find 1) strong relationships, 2) engagement with meaningful issues, 3) leadership/leadership development, and 4) inspired action. You might think of Small Group Ministry not as a new program, but an alternative model for doing what Unitarian Universalist congregations have been doing for years."

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Rev. Peter Morales elected president of Unitarian Universalist Association


Tonight the Rev. Peter Morales was elected 8th president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. According to the UU World Magazine Morales won by a vote of 2,061 to 1,481.
UUA President-elect Peter Morales won the UUA presidency decisively with 59 percent of all votes. He won 55 percent of the absentee vote (1,020 to 827) and 61 percent of the on-site vote (1,041 to 654). His margin of victory is 580 votes. Seven ballots were disqualified for discrepancies; one vote was cast for "No."
On his campaign website Peter offers a message to all UUs:

Dear UU Friends,

As many of you know, I have just been elected President of the Unitarian Universalist Association. But this victory belongs to all of us. I may have been the candidate on the ballot, but we were all in this race together. The real candidate has been our shared vision of what is possible.

I have trouble expressing how profoundly the generosity of people in this campaign has touched me. I can only say, in the Spanish phrase, mil gracias, "a thousand thanks." Continue reading...

We should take pause to thank both candidates for their service and dedication to our association and to our faith. Running in the election alone is a huge sacrifice.

Thank you Peter.
Thank you Laurel.

Friday, June 26, 2009

5 ways to experience REMOTE or VIRTUAL GA

I was disappointed to not be at this year's General Assembly - we're filming for the TV shows I work on this week and had to pass. However participating in the new media side of GA a.k.a "Remote GA" or "Virtual GA" has been great.

1) I'm watching much of the live GA video stream and can watch what I miss online once the video is uploaded by the GA webteam.

2) I'm following people writing twitter updates about GA - they just add a #uuga2009 tag to their tweets to mark it as GA relevant. There are also at least three official UUA twitter accounts providing up to the second info: @uua, @uuga2009, and @sslove.

3) The UU World is reporting on GA online, no more waiting for the next issue of the magazine to catch up...

4) There is even a General Assembly 2009 blog.

5) Okay, that's four. I'm sure I'm missing something. If you know of other facets of the remote GA experience let me know. Email me.

Thanks to all the many staff and volunteers and content creating participants who are making this a rich long distance UU experience ;-)

Peter

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Join UU author Robert Thorson for "Walden to Wobegon" tour

A member of our congregation, Robert Thorson, is launching a tour of kettle lakes across the Northern US. Professor Thorson, a.k.a "Thor," will be blogging as he travels from "Walden to Wobegon."

This tour is part of the PR tour for the publication of his book Beyond Walden. Part geology, part history and culture, if you're a brainy UU you'll love this title. The tour kicks off June 26th. You can visit his blog and sign on to follow the journey.

Visit the blog at http://waldentowobegon.blogspot.com/