Feed your faith - and doubt - will starve to death!

Administrative items:

• Along the King’s Highway – No newsletter in November. The December issue is in the 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
  •  Chaplain, Santa Cruz County Jail
• CONVENTION INFORMATION - Bishop elect Mary Gray-Reeves’ sermon and convention address and election results have been posted to the website.  Please go to the following to find all of the above: http://www.edecr.org/main.htm .  Robin Denney’s address on her experience in Liberia is available on her blog. The diocesan staff would like to take this opportunity to thank the countless volunteers that made this convention a great success – including all those who helped with the set up, clean up, registration, ballot counting, meals, break/coffee set-up, sound and video system, music, liturgy, the convention planning team, and all others who showed up to participate in our convention at Sherwood Hall in Salinas. Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation go to all of you! We couldn’t have had convention without you!
• Just a reminder that if you have not performed your annual financial church audit per canons, please make arrangements to have it completed by the December 31st deadline.
• The El Camino Real Foundation has a new website with 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/  .
• Treasurers/Vestries: Please don’t forget to pass a housing resolution for clergy on your payroll before December 31, 2007 for next year.
• Treasurers: It is time to make any adjustments up or down to your church’s fairshare payment to reflect actual income for year to date – in your November/December payments. Please notify the diocesan office as soon as you have those numbers available for budgeting/cash flow purposes. Also, you will need to make a final adjustment to your fairshare payments for 2007 in 2008 once you close your books. Details about this will be forthcoming.

Announcements:

• The delegates to Convention on October 28, 2007, voted to accept St Stephen’s in-the-Field in San Jose into union with the Convention as a parish. This move to parish status follows 33 years of mission status, and calls for a resounding celebration. That celebration will be held this coming Saturday, November 3rd, at St Stephen’s, San Jose, and YOU ARE INVITED. Please consider joining us for this gala affair, celebrating our growth to parish status. Please find attached your invitation to our celebration. Blessings to you all on behalf of the vestry and membership of St Stephen’s in-the-Field, Ken Wratten + .
• In June, 2006, five students from the School for Deacons, two of whom were from our diocese, traveled at their own expense to the 75th General Convention to create a documentary film, Called to Love and Serve, on the role and life of the deacon in the Episcopal Church. Their documentary will be premiered at Grace Cathedral on November 13th at 6:00 p.m. Postcard invitations are being sent under separate cover. For more info contact The Rev. Kathey Crowe at: kathleencrowe[atecr]sbcglobal.net 
• VISION INTO ACTION: Small Congregations Conference -- December 1, 2007, at St. Paul’s, Salinas 9am to 2pm– The Commission on Small Congregations invites all small-membership congregations in the diocese to an action-focused conference that will include: SURVEY PRESENTATION: THIS IS WHO WE ARE (Bring your PERCEPT Report – (Go to www.dfms.org/research.htm  and click on Studying Your Congregation and Community. Follow the directions to view your zip code profile – the Percept report); WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET ENERGIZED?; CONGREGATION ACTION REPORTS; STRATEGY WORKSHOP by congregation (Bring the Small-Church Strategy Handbook distributed at the July conference or go to the small church website and click on Small-Church Growth Strategy Handbook http://www.episcopalchurch.org/smallchurch_51603_ENG_HTM.htm?menupage=51394) ; CONNECTION GROUPS: NETWORKING; KEYNOTE SPEAKER: BISHOP MARY. What Bishop Mary wants or hopes for, for the small congregations of El Camino Real; NEXT STEPS: Growing God’s Mission in Small Congregations. All clergy and lay leadership from small congregations are invited – come as a team!! RSVP for the conference with Diane Lovelace at DiLovelace[atecr]aol.com  with your name and church name. Deadline to register: Wed., Nov. 21. See the BULLETIN INSERT <deleted> and FLYER <deleted> for information for your congregation.

Ministry items:

• Youth Ministry –  There was an initial planning meeting this week at St. Stephen’s in Gilroy led by Bishop Elect Mary Gray-Reeves for the youth mission trip in 2008. Leann Brooks and Robin Denney have agreed to work with Mary and others in the organization of this trip for junior and senior high school aged youth. The group decided to plan a Sierra Service Project to an Indian reservation on Nevada for next summer. More into to follow… 
• Vocare International Conference 2008 will be held in the Diocese of Texas in May of 2008. Currently May 23-25 is reserved and the team is working on getting May 22 as well, to be used as a traveling day. For airport information please visit the VIC page on our website www.vocaretx.com .

Important Training / Dates to mark on your calendars:

• Safeguarding God’s Children Church Training - Wednesday, November 7th: 7:00-10:00p.m. @ Saint Andrew’s Church Center - 13601 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga. This training is required of all persons who work with children and youth. This includes all Sunday school teachers, nursery care workers, youth chaperones, drivers, ushers, clergy, and vestry. The presenter for the evening will be The Rev. Kathey Crowe. Refreshments will be served. RSVP to Katie Machemer, Director of Youth Ministries at Saint Andrew’s katiem[atecr]st-andrew-saratoga.org  or call 408 867-3493 ext. 255
• All ECR Clergy: Save the Date - December 4 ECCO sponsored Advent Quiet Day with Bishop Mary... It will be held at the St. Francis Retreat Center. More details to follow…
• 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.
• 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 November 6th; Standing Committee on Thursday the 8th – both in Seaside.
   

God, each day help us to live our lives with a vision toward “wondering” what could be - with your help – here in El Camino Real. Guide us into proper action through courage and faith in you…in Jesus’ name…Amen

On a closing note, please keep Bishop elect Mary Gray-Reeves in your thoughts and prayers this coming week as she prepares for her ordination as our next Bishop – next Saturday November 10th - 11am at St. Andrew’s in Saratoga.