Report from the Board of Trustees

July 2003

Greetings,

Quickly approaching are the “Dog days of summer”. I was never very sure why they were called this; the label seems to have such a negative connotation. I think it may have to do with the heat or perhaps it has to do with the fact that we tend to overextend ourselves in terms of commitments during this time….you know what I’m talking about; picnics; parties; events; work commitments; taking that summer trip to see the family; running the kids to as many sporting events as humanly possible after work (how these kids can play in this heat is also a mystery to me; but that is a topic for another time); Wow; am I feeling stressed just thinking about it! These things are all important and seem to crescendo (Rick and Jean; how’s that for a music plug) at the same time when the temperature moves into the upper quartile of the thermometer.

Our Church is no exception this summer. We are also moving on a very focused and fast pace at this point. Think of all of the things going on this summer for our wonderful community; three big “hot topics” come to mind:

Our blessed relationship with a wonderful teacher and leader is coming to an end (she will always be with us as she has left a profound and positive mark on this organization and our lives); Marylou will be moving on to new and fabulous challenges at the end of the summer. She has prepared us well for the path we are ready to take and our gratitude needs to be expressed both personally as well as formally.

We are “in the heat” of a mystery; kind of like playing “where is Waldo?” we are drawing near to finding our next permanent Minister. John Beck and the Search Team are “hot” on the trail of delivering to us candidates in early August; (read his red hot report in this issue of the Wings) we plan on having our new minister in place in the early part of September.

I affirm we will begin to see our Minister Search fund grow; currently we have (round numbers) $4000 in the fund. We are blessed that we will be able to fund the travel to our community for the two candidates. Our goal was to also support a moving package for the new minister with out “melting” our operating income or digging into our reserves. We need your support to accomplish this.

I love the Summer; but is goes by so quickly; before you know it we will be raking leaves; watching the Green Bay Packers; tuning up the snow blower; searching the stores for sidewalk salt and planning that ice fishing trip we have always wanted to take (I am not sure what ice fishing is)…..and guess what; I bet we will be missing the “dog days of summer”……….. We will be missing Marylou and knowing that all is well.

Peace,

Doug Wurl, President
board@unityofappleton.org