June 8, 2018
Dear Friend of The Falls Church Episcopal, There's almost always "a lot going on" at The Falls Church Episcopal. But wow, even by our normal "a lot going on" year-round standards, there's so much going on now that we thought we'd provide a bit of an "executive summary" (details in links and in other blurbs below).
As announced May 25th, on Monday (June 2), we welcomed Heather Starek as our new Parish Administrator and Nikki Baltatzis as our new Financial Administrator!
As announced May 21st, This upcoming Wednesday AND Thursday (June 13 & 14), Glennon Doyle -- the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Love Warrior, a 2016 Oprah's Book Club selection, as well as the New York Times Bestseller Carry On, Warrior -- and her nonprofit Together Rising, will
come together to celebrate Love, Freedom, Sisterhoodas
Amanda Doyle, who attends The Falls Church Episcopal and is Vice President, General Counsel and a member of the Together Rising Board of Directors, will be interviewing Glennon for this very special event, which will take place in the Main Sanctuary to two sold-out events, and,
we are THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE TODAY, as is their practice, Glennon and Together Rising will give back to the local community by donating $10,000 to our partner in ministry Homestretch!
Today we are thrilled to announce that after five straight months of design and writing and development, we are launching our new website! Please take a look, and please thank parishioner Casie Disantis, who has put countless hours into this effort.
Next Sunday (June 17th), as we announced March 15th, we will
honor and celebrate Nina Bacas' ministry among usand bid her farewell, ever-so-appropriately at our
Annual "Children and Youth" Sunday, at which
Nina will be the preacher, and which
is our first combined 10:00 service of the summer (to be held in the Main Sanctuary) and after which is
an ice-cream social further honoring and thanking Nina.
As announced April 20th, plans are underway for a year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of our Historic Church -- and of finding ways we can not only celebrate that occasion, but continue to be good news to the wider Falls Church community. This effort is led by parishioners Cleve Johnson, Elizabeth Scarborough, and Tom Kearns.
As announced May 25th, plans have fallen into place for me to be able to take sabbatical, starting in July.
As announced nearly every week, and updated again today BELOW, teams of parishioners, ably led by Rev. Kelly and with professional consulting help from Ministry Architects, are right on target in identifying and recruiting candidates for a Director of Children and Family Ministries and a Director of Youth Ministries.
As you've been hearing from different parishioners each Sunday the last four Sundays, we're plugging our all-parish retreat at Shrine Mont early this year, We are nearly half full on registrations so please get yours in soon.
Phew!
That's a lot. In order to answer any questions you may have, or to get more information, and to address any concerns, please know that this Sunday (June 10th), our last "regular program year" Sunday, we're dedicating our Adult Forum hour (10:20 am to 11:00 am) to an informational communication session. I'll be joined by Rev. Kelly and your Junior Warden Maury Wray for this open forum Q&A communication session. I hope to see many of you there. You can also email me with any questions, comments, or concerns.
Glory to God, whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine!
See you Sunday, John