Mile-High
Board Meeting
Summary
of ECWR Board Meeting, April 30-May
2, 2004
The
Evangelicals Reconciled (ER) group
in Denver, Colorado, hosted ECWR's
April 30-May 2 board meeting. I left
the 90-degree Burbank airport in the
morning and discovered a light snowfall
on the tarmac as the plane rolled
to the gate. Since I'm a California
boy, this light snowfall was a real
treat. We all converged on Dixon's
downtown restaurant Friday evening.
Our
nine-member board, plus our conference
coordinator and office manager, met
to discuss plans for our upgraded
web site, Connection 25 and upcoming
mini-conferences. Saturday night,
the ER potluck brought together Denver's
finest homemade entrees and goodies
- and many warm and inviting conversations.
Some
tidbits of news you'll find interesting:
- At
this year's Connection, emcee Mama
(alias Worthy Meecham) will host
an original social event - Remembering
and Rejoicing - with returning Christian
vocal artists Jason and deMarco.
Michael Darling plans to have a
fun reunion-style event and an uplifting
renewal you won't want to miss!
- All
Connection volunteers are tentatively
invited to a gathering immediately
after lunch at Connection. If you
are a volunteer, remember to schedule
your departure so that you can participate.
Many remarked how great last year's
mixer was!
- Two
leaders (a man and a woman) will
field requests from first-timers
who ask for contact before Connection
this year. Please pray that those
who need such support will reach
out to us.
- The
Conference sub-committee (Bruce
Boesiger, Michael Darling and Tracy
Fletcher) recommended that Michael
make contacts in several locations
for possible mini-conferences in
fall 2004 and spring 2005. We intend
on reaching communities where no
EC group exists and bringing together
people who have expressed interest
in starting chapters at these smaller
conferences.
- Patti
Richmond will work on setting up
a local group workshop at Connection
this year. When Patrick Mire steps
down from the board in July, he
will concentrate on being ECWR's
local groups coordinator, to strengthen
chapters and local leaders.
- The
upgraded ecwr.org
is now officially online with over
100 pages of content, many of them
new. Board member Jamie Horn contracted
Mark Middleton, who owns whirledweb.com,
a web design firm in Vancouver,
Washington, to work on the redesign.
- ECWR's
web site has many new areas in addition
to the traditional ones: sections
for photographs and local group
happenings, an events calendar,
a large collection of the writings
of founder Ralph Blair, a press
room with a press kit and news releases,
beefed up resources with a section
on bible studies, ex-gay issues
and past issues of the EC Gram
, Cable , Record
and Review . There
are also new links to web sites
of major Christian writers on the
subjects of homosexuality and God's
love for GLBT people.
These
and other efforts are designed to
get the message of God's infinite
love out to gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender Christians. The board
has stepped forward in faith, as the
Spirit seems to be directing. We thank
you for your generosity so far in
2004, which will enable us to produce
additional ways to reach people who
need to experience God's boundless
acceptance.
Barry
Dixon
ECWR
Vice President
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