HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Administrative items:

• Diocesan staff time away: Susan Altig will be on vacation next week. Also, please make a note that the diocesan office will be closed the week between Christmas and New Years (Dec 24th through January 1st). We will all be back in the office on January 2nd.
• Along the King’s Highway – The next edition scheduled for delivery to your homes in February, is in the writing and editing phase. Please submit articles or comments for future editions to Edy Unthank at: editor[atecr]edecr.org
• Deployment/Position Postings – Detailed postings for jobs can be seen by clicking on the following link: http://www.edecr.org/jobs.htm .
  • Youth Director, St. Paul’s Salinas
  • Youth Coordinator, All Saints’ Episcopal Church of Palo Alto
• The El Camino Real Foundation website has great information on planned giving, wills awareness, and links to the Episcopal Church Foundation. You can send questions or requests via e-mail, and one of the Foundation members will contact you with a reply. Check it out at: http://www.edecr.org/foundation/ . Also, please see below information on the upcoming Foundation Academy to be held at St. Mary’s in Pacific Grove February 1-2.
• Parochial reports are to be completed online with a hard copy sent to the diocesan office by April 1st.  If you have questions or need help in completing these reports, please contact me at: brian@edecr.org  or 831-304-4465. close your books.
• Attention Rectors and Vicars: Please remember that ASA (Average Sunday Attendance) is the process for delegates to be elected, and your congregations need to gather that information before your Annual Meetings (Resolution 1, Article 7, Section 5). After your annual meetings, please contact the diocesan office with your officers (wardens, treasurer, delegates, and alternates) for 2008.
• Are you looking for Lenten and springtime programs? Check out the attached Resource Center News.
• Parish/Mission Treasurers: A special emailing with information on 2007-8 Fairshare computation and reporting was sent out today. If you are a treasurer of a congregation, and did not receive it, please let me know and I will forward it to you.

Announcements:

• Celebrate God’s New Ministry at All Saints Episcopal Church Carmel, California - The Feast of the Epiphany January 6, 2008 at 4:30pm. Clergy: white stoles. Be our guest at the Gala Dinner RSVP required as seating is limited allsaintscarmel@sbcglobal.net .  831-624-3883
• GRANT REQUEST FOR SMALL CONGREGATIONS -- In keeping with the theme, A Year of Wonder, the Diocese of El Camino Real is pleased to offer a grant application intended to support the dreams and hopes of our smaller congregations. This $13,000 fund for 2008 provides an opportunity to imagine what might be possible if seed money is available and granted. $5,000 is set aside from an endowment for education and $8,000 is available for other projects that meet the funding requirements outlined in the application (attached). For more information, contact Diane Lovelace at DiLovelace@aol.com  or Keith Johnson at Keith0731@aol.com  with any questions you may have.
• Religion & Violence; untangling the roots of conflict – January 22-23, 2008, a live webcast from Trinity Institute with theological reflection at St. Timothy’s Church in Mountain View. Explore with a panel of leading theologians how religion becomes entangled with violence and what are the resources within each tradition for living together in peace, without losing unique identities. The keynote speakers are James Carroll, James H. Cone, Susannah Heschel, and Tariq Ramadan with Katharine Jefferts Schori as preacher. Registration: http://www.sttims.org/events/dialogue.shtml . Program details: www.trinitywallstreet.org/institute
• Trip to Camp Coast Care in Mississippi - Our dates for the next Diocese of El Camino Real Mission trip to Camp Coast Care have had to be changed due to lack of space through the week of April 5 - 12. We have now settled on May 3 - 10, 2008. Al Vossler will be the contact name for the group and his e-mail is 2pbear@sbcglobal.net . The group name is Diocese of El Camino Real. We are asking everyone to visit the www.campcoastcare.com  website and watch the movies and read all the information. If anyone wants to go with the group, they will need to apply for a reservation on-line to the e-mail address given there. We must also make our own flight arrangements and find a way to get to the camp from the Gulfport airport. They should give the contact name and group name in the reservation so we can be associated as a team. If enough of us arrive within an hour or so at Gulfport we could rent a van together and no one would have to rent separate cars. It would be nice if we could raise enough money to pay for our keep and also give $ for lumber etc. We are especially in need of anyone with prior experience in any part of construction. They are desperate for trained persons and even suggest that volunteers can go to Home Depot for free classes in some form of construction.
• Youth ministry:
  • A group of people interested in youth ministry met earlier this week via phone conference with Bishop Mary to begin planning for future events/direction of our diocesan youth ministry. The next meeting is scheduled for January 31, 2008 at St. Paul’s, Salinas, from 10:00 and 2:00pm. For more information, please contact the diocesan office.
  • Diocesan Youth Mission Trips for 2008: Next summer our youth will have the opportunity to serve Native American populations in Nevada through Sierra Service Project. http://www.sierraserviceproject.org . Our diocese has a 5-year history of teaming with SSP for our mission trips. This year we plan to send two groups to the Walker River Paiute reservation in early summer, coordinated by Leann Brooks and Robin Denney. The first trip, June 29-July 5, is for high school youth who will be entering 9th grade in the fall of 2008 through those graduating in the summer of 2008. Experienced counselors from ECR (including Bishop Mary) will accompany our youth and other church youth groups will join us at the reservation. The second trip, July 14-19, is a brand new opportunity for Middle School students and is for youth entering 6th through 8th grades in the fall. This will be a smaller group and the program is being specially crafted for the younger audience. Please begin discussing these opportunities with your youth and youth leaders.
  • Youth Katrina Relief Summer Mission Trip: June 14-20, 2008: Open to all Junior High and High School Students. Spend a week working to provide better housing for our gulf coast neighbors with Lutheran Episcopal Services in Mississippi. There is a wide variety of jobs we might due gut a damaged home, work in the kitchen, dig a foundation, paint, clean the dorm, frame, install sheet-rock, remove debris from a home, or finish out a home. Everyone will have the opportunity to do meaningful work in restoring the beauty and dignity to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. For more information contact Katie Machemer at 408 867-3493.
  • One of the great opportunities The Episcopal Church offers is the Young Adult Service Corps, which allows young adults (age 20-30) to live and work around the Anglican Communion for a year. To get an idea of what life is like as a YASC missionary, check out the blogs of current YASCers at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79705_88430_ENG_HTM.htm . The ad with contact information is at www.e4gr.org/doc/YASC_Ad  ... please note the application deadline is early January! Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested. Applications can be downloaded at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/30703_77666_ENG_HTM.htm .
• Prayer and Donation Request: Please pray for the safety of our students and their family and the safety of all in Kenya. We are still in need of donations to pay for the school fees of several of our students. Send donations to “Trinity Cathedral – Hope With Sudan,” 14801 Whipple Ct., San Jose, CA 95127 Fr. Jerry Drino, Priest-in-Charge of Sudanese Ministry jdrino@sbcglobal.net .

Important Training / Dates to mark on your calendars:

• Mark your calendars now for these important Deanery Visioning Meetings (9AM-3PM) in January. (Bishop Mary will be leading all three sessions). These meetings are open for all members of El Camino Real.  Registration begins at 9:30am and the program will conclude at 3pm.  Lunch will be provided for a small fee. Please plan to attend one of the following:
  • Saturday, January 5 – Good Shepherd, Salinas
  • Saturday, January 12 – Trinity Cathedral, San Jose, followed by the Welcoming and Seating in the Cathedral of Bishop Mary at 4PM
  • Saturday, January 19 – St. James’, Paso Robles
  • Please let the head of your convention delegation know if you wish to attend. Delegation leaders should contact Susan Altig at: susan@edecr.org  with their congregation’s total participant number so we can plan to have enough materials and food available. Please see attached bulletin insert for your use.
• The Foundation Academy will be held at St. Mary’s in Pacific Grove on February 1-2, 2008. Bishop (elect) Mary Gray-Reeves will be the keynote speaker at Friday night’s banquet. More information to follow on the learning tracks of planned giving, capital campaigns, and annual giving.
• The Foundation Academy will be held at St. Mary’s in Pacific Grove on February 1-2, 2008. There will be a kick off event the evening of Friday, February 1, 2008. Training sessions will run concurrently on Saturday, February 2, from approximately 9 am to 4 pm. This event will be held at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Pacific Grove, CA. Meals provided for small registration fee. Registrants will make their own accommodations; details attached.  For more information and to register, contact Susan Altig at susan@edecr.org  or call 831-394-4465. Cost per person: $30, including meals.
• THE COMMISSION ON MINISTRY is preparing a “Day of Discovery” on Saturday, February 9, 2008 at St. Paul’s, Salinas. This is the third time we have offered this program which has the purpose of offering individuals a way to further explore how they might respond to their calls to ministry in our churches. The COM cordially invites members of your parish to attend this Day of Discovery. It offers the opportunity for those already doing active ministry to renew their call to a particular ministry or to explore new ways of responding to God’s call. Although this Day of Discovery is a required first step for those individuals who are discerning a call to ordained ministry, its focus is not in any way limited to these individuals. All lay persons would benefit from participating in this process. Experience has shown that participants in our “Day of Discovery” come away having shared in a process of discernment which is rejuvenating, validating, and transforming. Pre-registration (by February 1st) to Susan Altig (susan[atecr]edecr.org ) will help us in preparing enough materials and order enough lunches for the participants. Thank you.
• Epiphany West Interfaith Conference - Sacred Text as Window: Seeing one’s self through the eyes of another. Conference classes: January 28 – 30, 2008 Conference presentations: January 30 – February 1, 2008 CDSP campus, Berkeley. Religiously-fueled conflicts around the world are intensifying. We must push beyond "tolerance" to deeper, more enduring inter-religious understanding and cooperation. This conference takes inter-religious dialogue to a new level of engagement, by meeting one another through our sacred texts. Classes offered include: Beit Midrash (House of Study); FAQs About Islam; FAQs About Christianity; FAQs About Judaism; Principles of Dialogue; Dialogue for the Common Good; Youth as Catalysts for Interfaith Action; Ultimate Values in Our Different Religions; Faithful Renderings: Translation as Window; Sacred Text in Worship; Women in Jewish and Muslim Law; Redemption and Revelation. For more information and to register, visit www.cdsp.edu/center_epiphany.php 
• CLERGY CONFERENCE – April 21-23, 2008 at St. Francis, San Juan Bautista. More info to follow.
• MAGNETIC CHURCH CONFERENCE – May 16-17, 2008. This event is led by an Episcopalian, is fun, has some great practical ideas and will stimulate lots of thought about how to effectively be hospitable and welcoming to those not yet with us. It will be very accessible to all and a good way to begin our collective work of empowering our diocese for evangelism.
• Breaking Barriers Conference – Sometime in September/October 2008. Details to follow.
• 2008 Diocesan Convention – November 7-8 – Sherwood Hall in Salinas

Diocesan Office Meetings:

• Next Week:  Commission on Ministry – Tuesday the 8th. Standing Committee - Thursday the 10th.
   

Question and challenge for the New Year:
What is your gift to Jesus for Epiphany (and the rest of 2008)?
I suggest that we allow the light of Christ to shine through us for all to see.
Epiphany is the season that our church places emphasis upon the cause of world missions.
It is the season for outreach, and the time to witness (share) the light of Christ to all people we have contact with.
Let your Christ-light shine! You may be the only person to reach out and touch someone that needs it…