District Executive
Rev. Joan Van Becelaere
|
Rev. Joan VanBecelaere is the District Executive of the Ohio Meadville District of the Unitarian Universalist Association. This regional district provides many services to congregations in most of Ohio, West Virginia, and parts of Pennsylvania and New York. She has served in this position since July 2007. Previously, Rev. VanBecelaere was Vice President for Student Services at Iliff Theological School in Denver, CO and also taught Unitarian Universalist history and polity classes. She has extensive experience with Unitarian Universalist congregations including serving as the Settlement Representative in the Mountain Desert District. She has previously served on the Unitarian Universalist Minister’s Association (UUMA) executive committee and continues to serve on the UUMA’s Center Committee responsible for the continuing education of ministers. She has been teaching leadership development for almost a decade including service at two of our Unitarian Universalist leadership schools. Her BA is in Theater and Communication Arts from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO and her M.Div from Iliff Theological School. In her spare time she loves to perform Dr. Seuss stories. |
If you need to get in touch with Joan you can reach her at jvanbecelaere at ohiomeadville.org or by phone at 303-641-5896.
Rev. Van Becelaere has a study at North UU Congregation in Lewis Center. The address is OMD Office, 1539 Franklin Street, Lewis Center, OH 43035. For a Google Map click here, for a Yahoo map, click here.
Read Rev. VanBecelaere's blog at www.ohiomeadville.org/blogs
This is Rev. VanBecelaere's article from the September issue of OMD Now!
Last week, I took a look at my fall calendar and that of the Ohio-Meadville District and realized that we are getting to be one very, very, very busy District.
To start things off, presidents, vice-presidents and clergy (and moderators/vice-moderators) are all gathering in Akron on Sept. 12 for the OMD’s annual Presidents’ Day. This year, the OMD Leadership Team is offering a series of short workshops on social networking, policy governance, resources, inspiring volunteers, budgeting, and more.
The Leadership Team is also busy planning for its Oct. 10 Leadership Conference in Toledo. The Rev. Hope Johnson is the exciting keynote speaker and the topic is an exploration of the very timely matter of Leadership in a Multicultural World. Please see the OMD website for more information about Rev. Johnson and the conference.
As I write this note I’m preparing to attend the fall gathering of the district executives and program consultants of our four-district regional group, “CERG Co-op.” (Central East Regional Group) We will be starting to plan our regional leadership school (UULTI) and will review the many free webinars and conferences we are scheduled to offer this year. We will look at the upcoming Association Sunday and regional growth and outreach support.
OMD and our CERG partner districts have scheduled a number of free webinars for this fall, all of which are available to our Ohio-Meadville congregations. These include:
- Teacher Training for Congregations ~ August 27, 2009, 7 - 9 pm ~ JPD presentation
- Volunteer Management ~ August 27, 2009, 7:30 - 9:30 pm ~ JPD presentation
- Committee on Ministry: Best Practices ~ August 29, 2009 ~ OMD presentation
- Anxiety and Leadership ~ September 1, 2009, 7:30 - 9:30 pm ~ JPD presentation
- Revised RE Credentialing Program ~ September 10, 2009, 10 am - noon ~ JPD presentation
- Revised RE Credentialing Program ~ September 17, 2009, 7 - 9 pm ~ JPD presentation
- Choosing Wisely: A Biomimetic Approach to Nurturing Growth in Congregations, 4 sessions ~ October 7, 14, 21, 28, 2009 ~ OMD
- Congregational Website Management ~ October 24, 2009 ~ OMD presentation
- Essential Elements of a Multigenerational Congregation ~ November 7, 2009 ~ OMD presentation
- Congregational Dymanics 1 ~ December 19, 2009 ~ OMD presentation
Please see the Ohio-Meadville District website for more information about these webinars: www.ohiomeadville.org/webinars.html.
The fall has brought several staff changes to the Ohio-Meadville District . As of August 1, Evan Young joined our Ohio-Meadville District staff as OMD’s Young Adult and Campus Ministry Intern. Evan’s 1-year internship will focus on developing campus and young adult ministry, particularly in the larger congregations and clusters in the district; A candidate for UU ministry, Evan currently also serves part-time as Spiritual Director for UCM Center for Spiritual Growth and Social Justice, an ecumenical and interfaith campus ministry serving Ohio University.
Karen Lapidus, the OMD Consultant for Lifespan Faith Development will be leaving District staff to become the Director of Religious Education at the Kent UU congregation. She will be greatly missed. Consequently, the District will be gearing up later this year for a search for a new staff person. There will be more information about this later.
As we start this fall, a number of our OMD congregations are going through various kinds of transitions.
- The Rev. Tim Temerson just started as the full time settled minister at the UU Church of Akron.OH. The decision was the culmination of two years of preparation, a year of search, and an intense candidating process. Tim and his spouse, Carol, and family are very excited to be making this transition in their lives, and the Akron congregation said is ready to stretch and grow.
- First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh selected the Reverend Alma Faith Crawford as its new Associate Minister. Rev. Crawford’s background includes teaching preaching at Starr King School for the Ministry.
- Intern Minister Sunshine Jeremiah Wolfe recently arrived at West Shore congregation in Rocky River, OH. Sunshine is the 2009-2010 Intern at West Shore and comes to the district from Starr King School for the Ministry.
- The First Unitarian Church of Youngstown welcomes the Rev. Matt Alspaugh as its Consulting Minister who will be serving the congregation in a three-quarters time capacity. Matt Alspaugh was recently ordained at his home congregation, Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden CO
- UU Church of North Hills selected the Rev. Martha Munson as Interim Minister. Rev. Munson is currently completing a one-year interim ministry with the First Unitarian Church of Youngstown, OH.
And several folk in the OMD are being ordained or installed this fall.
- Jeremiah (Miah) Kalendae (Jeremy Elliot) will be ordained at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, Rocky River, OH on Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.
- Greg McGonigle will be installed as Director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Oberlin College) Friday, September 11, 2009 at 4 pm in Fairchild Chapel (within Bosworth Hall, 50 Lorain Street, Oberlin, OH 44074).
- Kathleen Clark Fowler will be ordained on October 23, 7:00 p.m at the First UU Church of Columbus.
It’s going to be a very busy fall!
Blessings,
Rev. Joan Van Becelaere
District Executive
