Episcopal Church of St. Matthew St. Matthew’s Online ...€¦ · St. Matthew’s Online Newsletter Page 7 Vestry Candidates 2017 (cont.) Nancy Reynolds came to Tucson at the age

to serving God; a peo-

ple who are ground-

ed, loving, welcoming,

respectful and affirm-

ing; forever seeking to

grow in the ways of

Jesus in everything we

do.

Mission: We are with

God’s help, an inclu-

sive people of God,

reverent in our wor-

ship, radical in our

hospitality, and devot-

ed to growing in the

Spirit of Jesus, to

boldly yet humbly (Continued on page 2)

We make it a practice

at every Vestry

meeting to have a 20-

30 minute teaching

segment, addressing

some aspect of leader-

ship. For the last sev-

eral meetings, we have

been going chapter by

chapter through the

Vestry Resource Guide,

a publication of the

Episcopal Church

Foundation. In No-

vember, we looked at

the chapter entitled

“Vision and Strategic

Thinking.” Our pre-

sent vision statement

and mission statement

came out of our stra-

tegic planning work

done in the fall and

winter of 2013. It was

facilitated by Chuck

Chambers, a nonprofit

consultant who did it

pro bono. From that

process, we developed

the following state-

ments:

Vision: We seek to be

an assembly of people

who are fully devoted

Vision, Mission & Strategic Thinking

By Fr. Rick Wilson

Christmas Worship and Luncheon Times

Episcopal Church of St. Matthew

December 2016

St. Matthew’s Online Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Shoebox Ministry 2

Advent Raffle 4

Shoebox Photos 5

Vestry Candidates 6

Vestry Candidates 7

Who We Are 8

The Online Newsletter

is a production of lay

ministers and the cler-

gy. Please email all ar-

ticles or photos to the

editor, Julie Neff-

Encinas at

[email protected]

Saturday, Dec. 24 6:00 pm

and 11:00 pm

Sunday, Dec. 25

10:30 am

Christmas Day Luncheon 12:00 noon in the

Parish Hall

Please sign up soon! There will be food, fun

and games!

love and serve our neighbors.

Generally every three years a new stra-

tegic plan is encouraged to be created

and implemented. Along with this is

the possibility of revising a the vision

and mission statements or creating new

ones. With the new Vestry members

coming in at the January Annual

Meeting, we will be able to consider if it

is time. Interestingly enough in the

Vestry Resource Guide book we are

reading, the authors recommend an

approach called strategic thinking. It

begins with three steps after the vision

and mission have been identified:

Identify a few goals that are aligned

with the organization’s long-term

vision.

(Continued from page 1) Identify potential strategies for reach-

ing these goals.

Evaluate your potential long- and short-

term strategies in light of your mis-

sion, financial capacity, strengths,

and other criteria.

The authors encourage the asking of

questions – including identifying the

things you value most as a congregation

as a help to selecting the best ideas for

achieving the goals. Along with this is

evaluating the progress of the strate-

gies that are implemented. If a strategy

does not work, then it needs to be

dropped.

In September 2015, the Vestry and I

met for a mutual ministry review.

(Continued on page 3)

Vision, Mission and Strategic Thinking (cont.)

Page 2 St. Matthew’s Online Newsletter

Shoebox Ministry Wrapping Event

On Saturday, November 12 a group of about 18 elves spent the morning wrapping shoeboxes, filling the boxes with scarf and hat sets, school supplies, toys and other fun items and having a great time doing it!

In early January the boxes will go to Nogales, Sonora to be distributed to families selected by a Rotary committee who goes door to door to identify those with great needs.

Our thanks to the Knitting and Crochet Ministry group for all their hard work in creating the handcrafted items, to some of Matty’s Men for making wooden toys and to all those who donated the other items and their time. The children will be thrilled with their gifts.

See more photos on page 5.

Vision, Mission and Strategic Thinking (cont.)


Through brainstorming, we generated 9 goals we would like to have for our parish. Our facilitator for

that process was the Rev. Canon Megan Traquair, Canon of the Ordinary (Bishop). She encouraged us

to merge some of the goals together. In the October Vestry meeting, we developed the following

four goals from those nine:

1. Grounds/Maintenance: investigate the cost of hiring a landscape person and investi-

gate the installation of solar panels to reduce our electricity costs.

2. Increase the use of electronic media/technology, i.e. use of Twitter, podcasts, etc.

3. Increase our focus on outreach and social justice.

4. Develop strategies for increasing new membership.

Some action has been done on each of the goals but the need is to look again at them through the use

of strategic thinking. Or possibly generate new goals. The vestry will have an opportunity to do this in

2017.

Whatever 2017 brings, it will be the first year since the current church was built in 1997 that we are

out of debt. There is a freedom that comes with this but also a responsibility. Our attention is to be

on what God is calling us to do as a people of God without having to be concerned about the fiscal

health of the parish. Where are we to put our energies in 2017? The Vestry and I will be giving ener-

gy to this question and this will mean involving the entire parish as well. We are a blessed community

but we need to be blessings to others within the larger community. Here’s to great things in 2017!

(Continued from page 2)


Special Advent Raffle for Primavera Outreach

Tickets available beginning November 27

For the last 5 years or so, St. Matthew has prepared lunches for the participants in the Primavera Works Program (a day labor program for people living with homelessness as a means to generate in-come in order to build a deposit for a home or for other basic needs). This is done on the 3rd Thurs-day of the month. Four parishioners meet at 7AM and make the sandwiches and put together the rest of the lunches. They are then delivered to the facility in South Tucson in time to go out with the people on the work crew. The cost of this runs between $52 and $62 per month depending on sea-sonal prices etc.

This Advent season we will sponsor a raffle to finance the program for next year. Ticketholders will have chances to win one of six prizes:

One of four hand-quilted, seasonally-themed table runners (Christmas, Easter, 4th of July and Thanks-giving) donated by Cheryl Burke and two pairs of red/blue UA earrings made and donated by Cindy Lowe.

With six prizes your chances of winning are better than ever!

Please purchase your tickets from any vestry member. The tickets sell for $5 each or 3 for $10. The quilts will be displayed in the narthex for the Advent Season. The drawing will take place on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 18. Winners need not be present to win, but those present will make their selections from among the prizes first, so it will help to be there! Please support this im-portant outreach project for 2017 by buying tickets!


Shoebox Ministry Wrapping Event (cont.)


Hello, my name is Harry Redman, and I am familiar to most of you. I have been at St. Matthew's for five years. During that time, I have served on the Vestry, which I really enjoyed. I learned a lot about St. Matthew's and the Episcopal Church in general. It was a wonderful experience to see the workings of the church first hand, and to be a part of the direc-tion our parish travels. St. Matthew is a special and unique place. For a parish the size of ours, we have much being offered to us, something that is usually found in much larger parishes. Father Rick has been inspi-rational in bringing people together, sharing their own unique gifts for the benefit of us all.

Currently, I am a Lector and Lay Eucharistic Minister and put together the schedule for us each month. I am also the Director of Music and a member of Matty's Men. I ask that you give me your consideration for another chance to serve on our Vestry.

Carl Genthner’s professional career included 20 years in the US Air Force, earning a Master’s degree in Human Resources prior to retiring in 1988. He worked an additional 21 years as a defense contractor supporting the Navy. He earned a rep-utation as one who took on any challenge, and through team work, imagination, leadership and persistence brought the project to a successful conclusion. Before moving to Arizona in 2012, Carl put his Christian values into action, founding a small community-based organization in Prince William County, Virgin-ia. The Gainesville Group spearheaded food drives, collections of school supplies and a road adoption to improve the cleanliness of an area. While living in Virginia he was also a member of the local Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club and American Legion Post. Carl was active as a lector while June sang in the choir at Trinity Episcopal in Manassas, Virginia. Since joining Saint Mathew Carl has been a lector, usher, member of Matty’s Men, and currently serves on the Vestry. His creativity, attention to detail, and experience will serve our church well as the Junior Warden. Carl and June have been married thirteen years and between them have six children, ten grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Carl is a candidate for the position of Junior Warden.

Vestry Candidates 2017

On Sunday, January 22, our parish will come together for the Annual Meeting. Among other business,

we will select a new Junior Warden and three other vestry members. You are encouraged to get to

know these candidates if you do not already know them. Two additional candidates are on page 7.


Vestry Candidates 2017 (cont.)

Nancy Reynolds came to Tucson at the age of three with her family. Following her graduation from the University of Arizona, and a year of teach-ing 6th grade, she combined her love of teaching with her love for dogs by training dogs with several local organizations. She had the opportunity to work with and learn from prominent leaders of this area of expertise. Nan-cy’s teaching of human owners and training of dogs was a satisfying career for many years while she raised her two sons. Nancy served on the Board of Happy Tails Service Dogs for 7 years, with three of them as President. She also served on various other com-mittees for Assistance Dogs International. Additionally, she was President, Training Director, Secretary, and Treasurer of Old Pueblo Dog Training Club. She also served as Show Chairman for 4 years and Show Secretary for 3 years. She was a Sunday school teacher for many years and was on the Church Vestry before her stroke. These leadership positions developed her ability to work on teams, collaborate with others and achieve goals and objectives for an organization. Nancy likes reading and studying animals, and nurturing herself spiritually. She also enjoys reading about the history of Southern Arizona, collecting dolls, and building doll houses. As daughter of the founding rector of St Matthew, Nancy has a unique perspective on the history and future of this parish and she is pleased to offer to serve on the vestry.

I am Edwin Rodriguez and I was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico. My aunt took me to the Roman Catholic Church when I was 7 years old. I was baptized and confirmed there. When I was 19, I was a postulant in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, OFM order. At age 20, I began to question and explore who I was. In talking with my spiritual director, he encouraged me to be myself, hence I decided to leave the order. I was taking classes in psychology, at that time, with a professor who was an Episcopalian deacon, my first experience hearing about the Episcopal Church. However, I was not, at that time, interest-ed in any church. One Holy Saturday I was walking by an Episcopal church when I noticed the fire and the woman priest, Mother Rebecca. This was the first I had seen a female priest! I went in and stayed for the service. I went back the next morning, on Easter. I met my husband, Omar, and introduced him to the Episcopal Church, while we were in Puerto Rico. We moved to Utah, where we later married, and began attending the Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City. We moved to Tucson to be near family. St. Matthew’s was the second church we visited and where we stayed. At St. Matthew, the people have been friendly and welcoming. They approached me and welcomed

me. Rev. Nadine was preaching on our first Sunday here and she was very lovely. Father Rick sat with us at

coffee hour and invited us to talk with him. We then became members. We started the Wednesday Evening

Prayer in Spanish, more than a year ago. I became a Lay Eucharistic Minister and Lay Eucharistic Visitor. We

are on Altar Guild and participate in the Coffee Hour ministry. I find the liturgy simple and easy to find the

message. I would like to be on vestry and focus on reaching the young adults in the community. I have no-

ticed that there are many young adults in the houses and apartments around the church. I want to bring fresh

ideas to St. Matthew’s. Please consider me for vestry!

We seek to be an assembly of

people who are fully devoted to

serving God; a people who are

grounded, loving, welcoming,

respectful and affirming; forever

seeking to grow in the ways of

Jesus in everything we do.

We are with God’s help, an inclusive people of God, rev-

erent in our worship, radical in our hospitality, and de-

voted to growing in the Spirit of Jesus, to boldly yet hum-

bly love and serve our neighbors.

Everybody Needs a Home! Episcopal Church of

St. Matthew

9071 E Old Spanish Trail

Tucson, Arizona 85710

Phone: 520-298-9782

E-mail:

[email protected]

We’re on the Web!

stmatthew.azdiocese.org

Page 8

Who We Are

Opportunities for Involvement

Worship Fellowship Growth

Sundays 8:00 am Meditative Eucharist 10:30 am Choral Eucharist Wednesdays 6:00 pm Evening Prayer in Spanish Thursdays 10:00 am Morning Prayer/ Healing Eucharist First Saturdays 5:30 pm Celtic Liturgy

Sundays After each liturgy Coffee Hour 1st/3rd Mondays Sewing/Quilting Guild Tuesdays 2:15 pm Yoga 2nd/4th Wednesdays 10:00 am Knit/Crochet Group 1st Saturday 9:30 am Matty’s Angels 3rd Saturday 7:30 am Matty’s Men Breakfast 8:30 am Matty’s Men Meeting

Sundays 9:15 am Adult Education 10:30 am Sunday School Tuesdays 10:00 am Cursillo Reunion Group @ Academy Village Wednesdays 7:00 pm Cursillo Reunion Group 2nd/4th Saturdays 10:00 am Dream Analysis Class Quarterly Wednesdays 6:30 pm Speaker Series Exact dates TBA

Episcopal Church of St. Matthew St. Matthew’s Online ...€¦ · St. Matthew’s Online Newsletter Page 7 Vestry Candidates 2017 (cont.) Nancy Reynolds came to Tucson at the age

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