Good News to Give and Good News to Receive!

And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written,
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
                                                                                                                        Romans 10:15

After we sent out the Etimes last week we learned that the diocese had awarded us an Ihloff grant for $10,000! Over the past week, the Outreach Team has not only continued to support our Afghan family in Towson in various ways but expanded our volunteer base for serving this beautiful family of nine! This weekend we will bring this spirit of joy and love to Baltimore Pride to share the Good News of God’s love and our redemption through Jesus Christ! Read on to get more details and find out how to get involved.

The Ihloff grant program is for congregational development. We will use the money to roll out a church management system called Realm. Lots of parishes use Realm, but I have never seen it used to its full potential. We will use this money to train staff, lay leadership, and interested parishioners over the summer in Realm’s many functions and then roll it out in the fall. I’m now using Realm to keep track of pastoral visits. Laura uses it for parish event registration and will use it to replace Sign-up Genius for ministry scheduling. Jen will use it to keep track of parish giving and help parishioners monitor their own pledge progress. Andrea is configuring the database for more efficient communication. Let me know if you’d like to get trained on the system this summer.

Our Outreach Team has been working with the Alimi family for a while now thanks to ERICA. Over the last week they have organized transportation for the youngest child to go to camp all summer thanks to some new volunteers. Another volunteer has come forward to work on conversational English with Mr. and Mrs. Alimi. Meanwhile, team members have continued to help the parents and older children with job and education opportunities. If you would like to get involved, speak to Ted Miller or Melissa Jenkins.

Finally, at last, we have the information for Baltimore Pride this weekend, June 15-16. If you need to reach me on either day, please use the Pastoral Care line: 443-470-5539.

  • On Saturday morning, folks from Unity and Trinity will meet at the Maryland Philanthropy Network parking lot, 1600 W 41st St, Baltimore, 21211, at 10:30am. We will decorate the parade vehicles there and then carpool in them to the parade staging area near the Baltimore Museum of Art. We are the 95th contingent in the parade. After the parade we return to the MPN lot and folks can do their own thing from there.
  • On Sunday morning, while Trinity is holding services, a crew from Trinity and Unity will set up our booth and tables at Druid Hill Park. We know we are booth #107, but we have not yet received a map. I will leave for the park after hospitality on Sunday. We will have bead crafts, facepainting, and halos for selfies. It will be a truly joyous event full of love, grace, mercy, and sequins.

In peace,