UULTI by the Sea
UULTI by the Sea
August 18-21, 2011
(Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon)
Ocean Grove Retreat Center
Ocean Grove, NJ
Space is limited!
Sorry, Registration is closed.
No walk-in registrations.
2011 Tracks:
Theologies of Audacity and Virtuosity
Participants in this workshop will explore theologies rich enough, deep enough, and supple enough to help us live fully in the midst of beauty, wonder, joy, ambiguity, despair and suffering. We will begin by exploring the gifts and challenges of our homes - the natural communities that sustain us and the human communities that have shaped us. Participants are asked to bring favorite hymns, and we will examine the implicit theologies that they celebrate and express. Together we will clarify and deepen our theological commitments that evoke and sustain creative social engagement, whether as parents, citizens, and/or leaders within institutions.
This track will require some advance reading and/or other preparation. Details will be emailed to participants late July.
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Dr. Sharon Welch is Provost and Professor of Religion and Society at Meadville Lombard Theological School (Unitarian Universalist), Chicago, Illinois. She has held positions as Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Adjunct Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri from 1991-2007. She was assistant and then associate professor of Theology and Religion and Society at Harvard Divinity School from 1982 to 1991. She received her doctorate from Vanderbilt University in 1982. While at the University of Missouri, Welch was a Senior Fellow in the Center for Religion, the Professions, and the Public, a project leader of the Ford sponsored Difficult Dialogues Program and co-chair of the MU Committee for the Scholarship of Multicultural Teaching and Learning. Welch is currently a member of the International Steering Committee of Global Action to Prevent War. Welch is the author of five books, her most recent being Real Peace, Real Security: The Challenges of Global Citizenship (Fortress, 2008). She is also the author of After Empire: The Art and Ethos of Enduring Peace (Fortress, 2004), and A Feminist Ethic of Risk (Fortress, 2000). Dr. Welch is the recipient of numerous awards, many of which recognize her excellence in teaching. Among these are the Internationalizing the Curriculum Course Development Award (2002) and the College of Education, High Flyer Teaching Award (several years). She also received the Annual Gustavus Myers Award: Honorable Mention for her 1999 book, Sweet Dreams in America: Making Ethics and Spirituality Work (Routledge). She was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology by Starr King School of the Ministry in May 2007. |
Adaptive Leadership
Develop leadership skills to learn how to face our toughest challenges: the ones we don't have ready answers for. The "Adaptive Leadership" framework pioneered by Harvard's Dr. Ronald Heifetz is more than a toolbox of tips. It will change the way you think about the internal and external components of leadership and equip you to lead through any change—welcome or unwelcome.
This track will require some advance reading and/or other preparation. Details will be emailed to participants late July.
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The Rev. Sue Phillips is the District Executive of the Massachusetts Bay & Clara Barton Districts of the UUA. Prior to joining the District staff, Sue served as the minister of our congregation in Keene, New Hampshire and was an active lay leader at the Unitarian Society of Northampton & Florence (MA). Sue was trained by Alexander Grashow, co-author with Ron Heifetz of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership. She has worked with and taught a wide range of UU lay and professional leaders to apply adaptive leadership concepts to congregational life. |
Mission Based Growth
Learn how to lead your congregation to become a growing and vibrant faith community. Using tried-and-true methods from highly successful congregations, this track will help you create a sustainable path for committed and diverse membership while finding ways to serve your greater community.
This track will require some advance reading and/or other preparation. Details will be emailed to participants late July.
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Mark Bernstein is the Regional Consultant for Growth Development. Prior to this position, Mark served as the Director for Growth in the Joseph Priestley District for two years. Mark has served as the president of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, Media, Pa. He has been an active lay leader having taught religious education, serving on the canvass committee, being a worship associate, and being elected to the board of trustees twice. His professional career has been as a direct support professional and administrator in the field of disabilities. For the past twelve years he has operated his own business which provides training and consultation in the field of disabilities. He has been a member of the JPD Adjunct Staff leading board/staff/lay leadership retreats. Mark brings a deep knowledge of congregational life and ways to support congregations in growing our institutions. |
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Jody Malloyis the Director for Leadership Development for the Joseph Priestley District and a certified Healthy Congregations® trainer. She works with congregational lay leaders to share relevant expertise and best practices information, and on-line resources. She assists leaders with lay leadership development assessment and planning in their congregations. |
2011 Lenses:
Participants will further enliven their personal growth journeys by applying different "lenses" to each track in the areas of:
Faith Development
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Patricia Infante serves as the Regional Consultant for Faith Development. Pat has served in the same arena for the Joseph Priestley District for the past two years and before that had the portfolio for Growth for two years. She has been a Director for Religious Education at the Cherry Hill, NJ congregation for nine years before joining the JPD staff. She brings a wealth of experience in all aspects of faith development to assist our congregations in growing in faith. Pat is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist. |
Transformative Multicultural Sensibility
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Janice Marie Johnson serves as the Multicultural Growth Director at the Unitarian Universalist Association. As a religious educator, she is deeply committed to creating multifaceted community -- multicultural, anti-racist, anti-oppressive, interfaith, multigenerational, etc., within the context of collaborative, experiential learning. Her maxim is "Masakhane," a rich and resonant word from the language -- one of the many languages of South Africa. Loosely translated into English it means, "Let us build together." Janice takes her maxim seriously, very seriously. |
Multi-Generational Perspectives
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The Rev. Betty Jo Middleton is a retired UU Minister of Religious Education. She served 8 congregations in the Washington, D.C., area and the UUA as field staff. She has developed religious education materials for all ages. She received the Angus Maclean Award for excellence in Religious Education in 2005. She has taught religious education courses at Wesley Theological Seminary and Meadville Lombard Theological School. She and her husband live in Alexandria, Virginia. They have two children and four grandchildren. |
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The Rev. Kristin Grassel Schmidt grew up attending Cedar Lane UU Church in Bethesda, Maryland. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in music from McDaniel College in 2004 and her Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2010. Kristin is currently the Assistant Minister for King's Chapel in Boston and she serves on the Board of the UU Christian Fellowship. Kristin enjoys cooking, baking, quilting, singing and spending time with her husband, Christian, in their home Brighton, Massachusetts. | ||
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Beth Dana is the Young Adult & Campus Ministry Consultant for the Metro NY District, a seminarian at Union Theological Seminary, and a candidate for the UU ministry. She is a lifelong UU from Albany, New York, where she was active in her congregation's religious education program and youth group. Beth "bridged the gap" from youth to young adulthood through involvement in two campus ministries and by serving in various district and continental leadership roles, including as UUA Youth Ministry Associate supporting the Consultation on Youth Ministry, as Youth Ministry Consultant for the Metro NY District, and as a trainer and trainer-of-trainers for the UUA's youth training programs. |
Musician
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The Rev. Mary Grigolia was ordained a UU minister in 1992. She served for 16 years as parish minister in Northeast Ohio and in Durham, NC. She served as a new congregation minister, consulted with a "phoenix from the ashes" congregation for seven years, served for a year as Extension Minister for the Ohio-Meadville district, and ministered to a large congregation for seven years. She serves as a consultant to congregations and committees, facilitating workshops, and retreats focusing on team building, goal setting, and change work, as well as programs specific to pastoral care, social justice, and adult spiritual development programs. She leads programs in spiritual development (locally and nationally) and is a singer-songwriter with eight songbooks, and three recordings of original music. Her hymn I Know This Rose Will Open (#396) is included in the hymnal Singing the Living Tradition. She and her partner live in Lakewood, OH. |
