Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson

NUUSLETTER

 A Newsletter for our Members and Friends

  August 2004 - Web Edition

WORSHIP SCHEDULE

Every Sunday Fellowship at 9:30am, Service at 11:00am
(Note: Forums are on hiatus for the summer.)

August 1

      Service:  Presenter: B.N. Shaw,  JoAnn Bienvenu, Coordinator.  

August 8

      Service:  "Demystifying Holy Spirit," Art Panke, presenter.  Coordinated by Aimee Hagen.  A Potluck Lunch will follow the service.

August 15

      Service:  “Our 2^nd Principle: Justice, Equality and Compassion in Human Relations.”  This will be done forum or discussion style and led by Waverly Liles and Liz Steere. 

August 22

      Service:  “A Discourse on Islam and Christianity,”  Sabri Agashan, presenter.  Jim Becker, coordinator. 

August 29

      Service:  “What I Believe Sunday,”  Jim Becker, coordinator.

Deadline for submissions to the August UUCJ NUUsletter: August 18.  Please make submissions to Susan Voisin at NUUsletter@uujackson.org.

If you would like to receive the NUUsletter by email, contact Susan at the email address above.

The President’s Corner

Congratulations to UUCJ!  At our Congregational Meeting last month, you all voted unanimously to affirm the selection of Jacqueline Luck as our Shared Minister with Our Home.  I was so proud to have the honor of notifying Jacqueline, and she was excited and appreciative.  Folks, I want to extend my personal “thank you” not only to all those who worked hard to assure that we presented a worthy candidate, but also those who kept this “task” person on the “process track.”  As you know by now, I often see the objective and run straight to it.  That’s great at times, but often that leaves out those who first want to make sure there isn’t a pothole covered over by good intentions in that straight path.  So, a most hearty “thank you” to the process people (and you KNOW who you are!) for all the wise input you gave to help assure that no one was feeling left out.

Jacqueline is busily searching for an apartment or house to rent in Jackson.  Our Home has a parsonage near Ellisville that will serve as her home while she is serving that church community.  Anyone with any leads on a nice apartment (JL wanted a loft in town, but this doesn’t seem to be working out), please let us know.  Jacqueline is planning on being with UUCJ on September 5, the Labor Day weekend, and again one more time in September.  Between now and then, we can work out the rest of the year’s schedule.

We’re embarking on a great adventure!  Maybe one day, Jacksonians won’t say, “Is that like the Moonies?” when we say we belong to the Unitarian Universalist faith.  Ah, what a day that will be.

JoAnn

Children’s RE News

We would like to thank George Barnes for introducing our children to the firefighters on duty at Station #7 on July 11.  Chief Campbell, Captain Griffin, and Lieutenant Ricks gave us a tour that helped the children become more aware of their responsibilities regarding fire safety.  It is comforting to know that Station #7 is only 1 and 1/2 blocks from our church in case of an emergency.

Plans for August include:
Aug. 1- a dance experience led by Wendy Shenefelt McCurtis
Aug. 8- a field trip to the home of Susan & Peter Haik for bird watching
Aug. 15- ceramic painting led by Susan Haik
Aug. 22- story-telling led by Tahira'h Abubakr
Aug. 29- a field trip downtown to the site of our first UUCJ building led by Margaret Drake & George Vockroth

On Aug. 8 and Aug. 29, try to have the children at church by 10:45 a.m.  A parent will need to sign a permission slip.

There will be a R.E. Committee meeting following the service on Aug. 8 to finalize plans for September.  Anyone who has an interest in participating in the children's religious education program is invited to attend.

--Dary Shenefelt

Volunteer of the Month

Our president of the congregation, JoAnn Bienvenu, indeed deserves the honor of being volunteer of the year rather than volunteer of the month.  When we lost our president, Jim Hampton, last spring, JoAnn made the sacrifice of filling out the rest of his term – a whole nother year.  She had just finished two years as president when Jim took over, so she got only a year off before resuming this crucial role.

JoAnn was born in Morgan City, Louisiana, and moved to Metairie, LA, a suburb of New Orleans, at the age of three.  She grew up in the traditional Italian Catholic culture.  She started school in the Catholic parochial School but switched to Public School by fourth grade.  After completing high school, she went on to LSU for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.  She worked her entire clinical career in “women’s healthcare.”  She became certified as a Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner.  This was followed by an interest in professional liability when she had the opportunity to work with hospitals and healthcare professionals to improve quality of health care delivery thereby reducing liability risks.  Currently she is the Director of Risk Management for the Medical Assurance Company of Mississippi, a physician professional liability insurance carrier. 

Most of her “off” time is spent in the service of UUCJ and the UU Mid-South District.  She is a member of the Growth Team, which is a committee answering to the Mid-South Board of Trustees.  She also advocates for animal rights and loves dancing.  She used to be a belly dancer.  Her Life Goal is to not make work her life goal any longer.  She adds to that that she wants to make a difference in the lives of people around her so that their lives will be richer for having known her.  We can safely say that that goal has already been achieved through her service to our congregation.

 --Margaret Drake

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Volunteer Connection

Do you need help in your efforts to improve church life?  Is your committee suffering from lack of participation?  Contact Stacy Callender at 713-3295 or vp-membership@uujackson.org to connect with volunteers.

Do you have talents to offer?  Do you have hidden or not-so-hidden skills?  Add some meaningful activity to your life by helping to build the blessed community here in Jackson!  Contact Stacy Callender at 713-3295 or vp-membership@uujackson.org to volunteer.

  Membership Committee:

UUCJ is in store for an exciting new year with professional UU ministry in Mississippi.  We also hope it is a year of growth in membership!

  If you would like to be a part of the team to make this growth happen, please contact Stacy Callender at 713-3295 or vp-membership@uujackson.org with your ideas and energy!

Help!

 Our vacuum cleaner has died.  Anyone having a not-too-worn-out vacuum to donate to the church is certainly welcome to do so.  We would greatly appreciate it.  It doesn’t have to be state-of-the-art, but we would like one that works and does the job.  Thanks.

Fundraising Committee:

The Fundraising Committee needs to start planning for the new year!  We had a blast last year and want to make this one even better!  Previous members and anyone who would like to be a member, contact Stacy Callender at 713-3295 or stacy_uucj@hotmail.com to participate.