It has been an enormous pleasure to begin working with Rev. Tim! It seems to me that he is one of the rare people who has the experience and wisdom to lead, and does so by inspiring others to find their own path. As we talked, I was amazed and heartened by his understanding of all the many dimensions of congregational life, from budgeting and managing resources, to spiritual growth, to organizing for social justice and environmental concern work. I believe he is just the right minister to bring us together to be a powerful presence for each other and the Charlottesville Community.

This summer, our many committees have been working hard to support all the work of our congregation. We had successful yard sales. Our membership committee has been working on helping us to be more welcoming to each other and newcomers. Thanks to the Ushers, Hospitality, Membership and Greeters Teams for the red mug idea! Our grounds volunteers have kept the property looking beautiful through the summer. Our rental task force has done a terrific job of looking at the big picture of how to enhance our rentals. Our Sunday morning worship team has presented fabulous services. We have many people planning fun activities (Hooray for the pool gathering August 28, the Auction Party September 17th, and our social dancing for all ages group!). Many thanks to our Social Action Collection folks. Sean has got our tech to such a point of excellence that multiplatform services and meetings can be the norm for us going forward. Our Pastoral Care and our CareNet teams are caring for us when we most need love and support. This congregation means so much to so many and we make a great team!

I look forward to the board retreat on August 27 and to our initial conversation with Rev. Tim at the August board meeting when we will think about how the board can best support the congregation in envisioning our congregation-wide shared purpose and bringing our goals to fruition. This is going to be an inspiring journey!

I am glad we can be together.

Pam

Board President
Pam Mcintire