Gratitude for Leaders

In the annual life-cycle of this Fellowship, June is a time of transition. We have recently had our annual business meeting, summarizing the accomplishments of last year and looking ahead to the next; this week we celebrate the Flower Communion which bookends the year. During the summer months, the minister takes several weeks off and we have a slightly different routine for our summer worship. And in terms of governance, key leadership committees such as the Board of Trustees and the Shared Ministry Team also end their terms on June 30.

This year was especially challenging for the dedicated lay leaders of UUFCM. We are trying to hold together a Fellowship that serves as a sanctuary from a rising tide of authoritarian oppression and inspires us to defend our freedoms. We worked endless hours, with tears and heartbreak, to enact a sex offender policy that tests the limits of our value of radical inclusion—holding in love those who support the policy and those who feel unsafe because of it. I’ve worked with these leaders through regular meetings, emergency meetings, heartfelt one-on-one conversations, and deep faithful discernment about what is right for this congregation. They have given their time and energy to this work out of profound love for this congregation and this UU faith.

One more milestone of the transitional month of June is a meeting of the old and new Board along with the old and new Shared Ministry Team. All together – 15 UUFCM leaders strong – we look at the annual evaluation of shared ministry that looks at four key areas of UUFCM and asks: What is the minister doing well in this area? What could he do even better? What is the congregation doing well in this area? What could we do even better?

These are the people I’m talking about:

2025-26 Board of Trustees             2026-27 Board of Trustees

Dave Allan                                       Dave Allan

Jennifer Davis                                 Jennifer Davis

Guy Newland                                  Guy Newland

Jennifer Prout                                 Jennifer Prout

Norma Bailey                                  Laura McBride

Matt Collins                                    Kurt Roeder

Annette Pratt                                  Katie Zapoluch

2025-26 Shared Ministry Team      2026-27 Shared Ministry Team

Mel Bailey                                       Mel Bailey

Kirsten King                                     Kirsten King

Sierra Burke                                    Kelly Green

Katie Zapoluch                                   Victoria Sladek

I will end with these words from Rev. Kendyl Gibbons—written as a dedication to a new Board, but it serves well to honor all the leaders named above:

DEDICATION:

We, the members of this congregation

express to this congregation’s Board of Trustees

our gratitude for your investment in our community,

our trust in your integrity and wisdom,

our support of your leadership,

and our enduring loyalty to the mission and vision of this church.

We pledge to do what is within our power

to make your stewardship or our shared future

an experience of discovery, accomplishment, and growth.

Together may we make this community a beacon of reason, compassion, and freedom,

and a witness to the power of love and aspiration to make a better world.

May it be so.

Rev. Drew Frantz

June 2, 2026