End of summer dreams It may be hard to believe, but as most of our churches are just ramping up the program year, the GOL year is rapidly drawing to a close. With just two more Gatherings this year (see below to register) we’re already planning for 2025, taking your feedback seriously so that we…
Starts & Stops As I write to you we are wrapping up our Clergy Gathering in Michigan. This is the first time we’ve held a gathering here and we’ve had lovely seasonal weather, new connections and friendships, peer learning and more. One of our traditional ways to end a gathering is to host a conversation…
So much good news As we announced earlier this week, we are so thrilled to have exceeded our goals for our Network of Networks Major Gift Campaign. I join with Haley in thanking everyone for their generous giving and for the energy so many of you have infused into our networks this year. We were also over…
Hope & Grief… and Hope. I remember learning many years ago, as part of a class on Family Systems, that often change is hard because change means loss. It is hard to change, hard to let old ministries end, always hard to say goodbye to the way things have always been. A few weeks…
Nephesh & Hope I’ve learned that each Gathering develops its own identity. Its own spirit. Its own feeling. April’s Lay Leader Gathering discussed Mission in the New Reality and it resonated with “experimentation.” No question was too daring, and no conversation was off limits. We began with Rachel Toombs introducing us to nephesh, the vital…
Read the entire issue here. Now the green blade riseth Easter is one of my favorite seasons each year, filled with beautiful hymns, meaningful liturgy, and most of all, hope. Hope that love does triumph in the end, that death is not the end of the story. We’ve launched our newest series, #magnifyhope, and thanks…
Read the full issue here. #Magnifying Hope Last fall the GOL Board of Directors approved an open inquiry process for leaders across the church to learn more about GOL and inquire to join the network. For the last 16 years GOL has only received new persons via nomination from current participants. Relationships, peer-learning, and…
A time to stretch As many of you may already know, the name of the season of Lent derives from the Old English word ‘lencten’, a word related to our own English word of ‘lengthen.’ Whether this is to note that for many of us the days are beginning to grow longer, with a just…
GOL in the New Reality Our theme for this year’s Gatherings is “Mission in the New Reality” and just like life in the church, life at GOL continues to be flexible and nimble. The concept of dynamic stability came up at this past week’s Annual Board Meeting and I haven’t been able to get it…
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior in November of 1975, amid a stormy gale, and all souls on board were lost. Here in the mid-west we refer to these as the Gales of November, a heavy wind that whips up the Great Lakes. But I’ve been working to reimagine what else fresh winds…