March 31, 2002
Rev. Dr. Steven Peay Unanimously Elected as Senior Minister
Rev. Dr. Steven Peay to Speak at WCA Meeting
The Church in the Heart of Tosa with Tosa at Heart
DLLines - Congratulations First Church
First Church to Send a Student Team to Anchorage
NAPF Held at Gonzaga University
Minister Evaluation Seeks Membership Input
A Letter of Thanks from Joy House
On March 17, the Rev. Dr. Steven Peay was unanimously and enthusiastically voted in as the Senior Minister of First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa at a very well-attended all-church meeting. He will assume his new position on June 1, 2002.
Prior to his recent call as Senior Minister to First Church, Dr. Peay served as the Senior Minister at Heritage Congregational Church, Madison, a position he assumed in February, 1999. Before going to Madison he served First Congregational Church Wauwatosa as its Associate Minister/Teacher. His earlier work was in theological education as Assistant Professor in Homiletics and Historical Theology at Saint Vincent Seminary/School of Theology in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He also served as the seminary's Academic Dean from 19891994. In addition, Dr. Peay was closely involved with pastoral work, serving as an associate pastor in several parishes.
A native of Indianapolis, IN, Dr. Peay attended public grade and high schools in that city. He was educated at Greenville College, Greenville, IL (B.A.Church History), Saint Vincent Seminary (M.A.Systematic Theology and M.Div.), the University of Pittsburgh (M.A.Rhetoric /Communication Studies), and Saint Louis University (Ph.D.Historical Theology) and has done post-graduate work at both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. He has published articles on topics such as preaching, church history, and spirituality in a variety of journals. Dr. Peay organized the first Congregational Symposium, held at First Congregational Church, Wauwatosa in 1998. The Symposium proceedings, published as A Past With a Future: Continuing Congregationalism into the Next Millennium was awarded the Nathaniel Guptil Prize by the Congregational Christian Historical Society in 1999.
Dr. Peay is active in the Congregational fellowship on a variety of levels. At the regional level, he has served as the clergy member-at-large on the executive committee of the Wisconsin Congregational Association and as the Secretary-Treasurer for the Wisconsin Congregational Ministerial Association. He was one of the founding members of the Wisconsin Congregational Theological Society, has served as its convener, and supervised the publication of the first two volumes of its Proceedings. On the national level, he was on the Board for the Founders' Library and is currently the chairperson of the Board of Directors for the Congregational Foundation for Theological Studies. He is a member of the Theological Commission of the International Congregational Fellowship and on the editorial board for the International Congregational Journal.
Service to the community is also highly important to Dr. Peay. He is involved in the Madison West Side Ministers' Association and sits on the board for the Allied Partners (a group of churches aiding the Allied-Dunn's Marsh Community Center). He is currently Community Service Director for the Fitchburg-Verona Rotary Club. During his previous service in Wauwatosa, he was president of the Wauwatosa Clergy Association, sat on the Board of the Mayfair Interfaith Ministry to the Aging, was an active member of the Mayfair Rotary Club, and the Wauwatosa Historical Society.
Dr. Peay met his wife Julie here and they were married in July 1996. They have two sons: Jeremy (a graduate of UW Madison and living in Madison) and Matthew (a student at MATC in Milwaukee). Julie's work is in the area of radiology as a magnetic resonance imaging technologist. Julie is active in her professional society and has served as the President of the Section for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. The SMRT recently named her a 'fellow' of the society. *
Come to the Wisconsin Congregational Association's 42nd Annual Meeting to be held April 19th-20th at North Shore Congregational Church and join Steve as he conducts a Workshop entitled, That ISN'T Congregational! ... IT IS!?!
How many times have we heard, or found ourselves saying, "That isn't Congregational," in response to something new to us? How many times have we discovered, after saying it, that what we'd thought wasn't 'Congregational' had great precedent or long-standing tradition in the Congregational Way? If you said 'yes' to both, you're most certainly not alone! Steve will offer background, approaches, and resources for us to use in deepening our self-awareness as Congregationalists. We'll soon discover that the Congregational Way is pretty broad!
The workshop will begin at 8:30 am and will be repeated at 9:45 am. You are welcome to attend the entire Annual Meeting beginning Friday night, April 19th, or just the workshops on Saturday morning, April 20th. Check the schedule given. For registration information, contact our church office as soon as possible.
Please join Steve as he represents First Congregational Church as well as Heritage Congregational Church in Madison at this important meeting for the Wisconsin Congregational Association. Hope to see you there.
Tentative Schedule
for the WCA Annual Meeting
FRIDAY, April 19th
4:30pm Registration/ Reception
6:00 Dinner at NECK
7:30 Business Mtg.
9:30 Social Time
SATURDAY, April 20th
7:30 am Breakfast at NECK
8:15 Morning Devotional
8:30 Workshop I
9:30 Break
9:45 Workshop II
10:45 Worship, Communion, Installation of Officers
12:00 Lunch
STOP and THINK a moment ... and consider the homebound senior citizens, families in need of nourishment and children in need of our loving support right here in the neighborhood of our church. What better way to celebrate the everlasting life of Christ this Easter season than to support Mayfair Interfaith, Tosa Food Pantry and Tosa for Kids as they collectively attempt to address the needs of these individuals. These three neighborhood organizations are to receive equal shares of our Lenten offering in our first benevolence campaign of 2002.
As of March 17th, our church family has raised $3075.00 Our children will add to this donation when they proudly turn in their Lenten offering coin cards Easter morning during Sunday worship. These cards represent their giving a
quarter each day of Lent! If you haven't joined our children's efforts to help, please give prayerful consideration to making as generous a donation as possible this Easter Sunday. Our goal is to raise $9000. Will you help?
This year, our benevolent giving depends on the efforts of each of us, above and beyond our individual pledges. You are encouraged to support the neighbors of our church since First Church is the church in the heart of Tosa, with Tosa at heart!
Please, give until it helps!
Wow! What a great weekend in the life of this Church.
First off, the youth dinner and auction was a fantastic success. The youth had worked in securing items to auction, served the tables like pros and even serenaded us with a wandering musician. Keith Harmon had just the right touch as the auctioneer. He was humorous and persuasive, yet kept the proceeding moving. All who were present shared in a very good dinner and an evening of great fun coupled with warm comradery.
Making the whole event even more exciting and successful is the fact that the membership of this Church revealed their generosity and support of our youth by oversubscribing the goal of $10,000. Congratulations to all.
The weekend was also another demonstration of love and cohesion when on Sunday afternoon, a huge congregation gathered in the nave to enthusiastically and unanimously vote to call The Rev. Dr. Steven Peay to be the Senior Minister of this Church beginning June 1.
In a demonstration of congregational love and support, Steve and Julie accepted the call and will begin their work here on that date.
Thus, another chapter begins in the life of this Church and it occurred almost on the day of our 160th anniversary. As your Interim Minister, it has been a great source of joy and satisfaction to see this congregation come together. My work here is almost done, but you have given both Chris and me, a lifetime of memories to relive with great joy and appreciation.
In the remaining time we have together, let us explore the depths of our faith as Lent comes to a close and we celebrate the very essence of our faith at Easter time. Between Easter and Pentecost, we will be working toward preparing the Church for Steve's arrival and a smooth and seamless transition. Pentecost, the birthday of the beginning of the Christian church, occurs on May 19th this year. What a great time to celebrate the imminent start of new life at First Congregational Church. *
God's love to you all.
Rev. Dr. Doug Lobb
Charles (Chuck) Barcus is the Vice President of Development at Marcus Corporation. After becoming acquainted with First Congregational Church through a friend, Chuck was impressed with the warm, welcoming people and the leadership. He lives in Waukesha and enjoys cooking, travel, and reading.
Lisa and David Duecker and their two-year-old daughter Emily live in Wauwatosa. When looking for a church, they decided to give First Church a try partly because Lisa's parents were married here and it is a beautiful church close to their home. The first Sunday here, Lisa bumped into an old college friend who was a Greeter. From that time on, they found the people to be friendly and have become involved. David is a product manager for Milwaukee Electric Tool and Lisa spends her days caring for Emily and their home.
Also Tosa residents, Bill and Tammy Bokern have a son, Kurt who is nearly 9 years old. Bill works in sales for Sentry Insurance and Tammy is the Registration Coordinator for the West Suburban Branch of the YMCA. While the men of the family are avid fishers, Tammy prefers biking, walking, reading and quilting. They came to First Church, in part, because they know several members here. One of the reasons they stayed is because they agree with the philosophy of Congregationalism.
We welcome each of these new members. Please be sure to say hello and introduce yourself when you see them! *
The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC) is sponsoring a Pilgrim Missionary Voyage to Anchorage, Alaska this July. Already, 85 student missionaries and chaperones have signed on for the event, representing Congregational churches from Connecticut to California. "It's been quite a struggle for us," said Chris Rygh, associate minister. "Initially, there were only 60 spots available, and those were filled by late September. Thankfully, the planning committee is securing more work and the Anchorage church, already overwhelmed, has found additional spaces for as many as 25 more. More and more members, excited by the response, are opening their Anchorage-area homes and finding room to host the student workers!"
First church reserved 16 spots and plans to travel with a group of 9 student missionaries from North Shore Congregational Church in Fox Point. The group will serve from July 3 through July 10 and return to Milwaukee on the 11th, after flying all night. The Anchorage host committee initially planned a cabin building blitz at an Episcopalian camp outside Anchorage called Camp Meyer. However, due to the overwhelming response and the desire to fully utilize the large number of laborers, the committee is now negotiating a different project with a Nazerene camp which was devastated by wildfire several years ago. "I was part of the first Alaskan PMV in 1991," said Rygh. "Our team of forty-something flew by way of floatplanes out to the island of Metlakata to help build a new Congregational church and parsonage. From that group, at least four were inspired to pursue full-time Christian ministry. Several others went on to become carpenters as a result of what they learned from carpenter/pastor Dick Adair. But no one returned home the same."
Though all the spots are currently filled, there is a waiting list. Those interested may call Chris for more information at 258-7375. *
This June, as many as 20 senior high students from First Congregational Church may be attending the National Association of Pilgrim Fellowship (NAPF) conference in Spokane, Washington. "It's been quite a while since so many of our senior high students have attended this conference," said Associate Minister, Chris Rygh. "I'm thrilled at the prospect of sending this many delegates to our youth meeting."
Sponsored by the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, this meeting draws youth delegates from Congregational Churches across the United States. "I think this is a wonderful opportunity for our students because they'll get to meet other Congregationalists from other parts of the country. For close to a week, they will live with other kids who share the faith.
This year's program entitled, Quest Toward Discipleship, will challenge students to live out an authentic Christianity. But besides the programs, there will be all kinds of other fun events. The kids who have gone in the past always want to return.
This year's conference will be held on the campus of Gonzaga University, Saturday, June 29th through Wednesday, July 3rd. Students interested in learning more about this event should contact Chris by calling 258-7375. *
The Personnel Committee has created a new process for use during minister performance evaluations. It seeks feedback from our members, as well as from the minister's peers, supervisor and subordinates (whichever is appropriate). This new approach is in response to the comments and concerns expressed by our congregation.
New Process Benefits The Ministers and Therefore The Church
The new evaluation process provides valuable and insightful performance feedback, which the minister may otherwise not receive. It helps the ministers:
Through this process, church members and others have the chance to offer constructive feedback and support to their ministers. Ministers learn to develop their full potential and realize a higher level of satisfaction and reward from their efforts. This feedback is not the sole basis for a performance evaluation; it is one of many sources of input.
At this time, the new process is for our ministers only. It is appropriate for a Senior Minister, Ministers or Associate Ministers.
A Feedback Form Gathers Input From All Who Interact With A Minister
The new process uses two documents. First a Membership Expectations and Clergy Feedback Form, or "Feedback Form" is prepared by members, peers, subordinates or supervisors. The Feedback Form has fifty questions regarding performance. It provides space for written comments on strengths and areas for improvement. The minister also prepares a form to assess his or her own performance.
Individual Feedback Forms are kept strictly confidential even from the minister. Responses are consolidated with other Feedback Forms from the same group (member, peer, subordinate, supervisor).
Each form must be signed and returned by the return date to be considered. Blank forms are available at the church office. Members may call the church office to have a Feedback Form mailed to them.
The Minister Gets Feedback By Question From All Groups
The second document used in the new process is the Feedback Analysis and Results document, or "Results document". It shows how each group (member, peer, subordinate, supervisor) responded to each of the fifty performance questions. This is compared to the minister's self-evaluation. All comments on strengths and areas for improvement are in the Results document. The minister's supervisor uses the Results document as input for the minister's formal evaluation, along with other sources of performance feedback. A formal written evaluation, which is separate from the Results document, is prepared by the minister's supervisor or supervising body. A final written evaluation documents areas and time frames for improvement.
The results of the feedback on the fifty performance questions will be available to the membership, upon request.
Look For Your Chance To Participate This Spring.
Rev. Dr. Doug Lobb will be our first minister to be evaluated using this new process. This will allow the Personnel Committee time to improve the forms and process prior to our first evaluation of our new Senior Minister in 2003.
Feedback Forms for Rev. Dr. Lobb's evaluation are available at the office TODAY. The deadline for returning your Feedback Form is April 30th, 2002. This allows us to tally the results and conduct an evaluation with Rev. Dr. Lobb before he departs in June.
This is an excellent opportunity for your voice to be heard. Please pick up your Feedback Form in the office today, or call the office to have one mailed to you.
Your Personnel Committee
Dear Mr. Rose:
We are so grateful to all our friends at First Congregational Church for your very generous Christmas offering of $9,260.35! You are such a blessing to us and to the homeless mothers and children that we serve.
I wanted you to know what a great help this gift will be to our ministry. Right now we are serving about 25 families every night in Joy House that's 70 to 90 mothers and children! With your help we can provide safe, warm shelter, food and clothing. We are also able to provide moms with the help, direction and resources they need so that they can in turn provide for themselves and their families. Through our New Life program, our staff and volunteers have the opportunity to come alongside mothers and teach them important skills. It is very exciting to see broken lives pieced back together again.
Just the other day, Deena, a graduate of our program came back and shared with us some exciting news she's buying a house! Deena came to us about two years ago with her six children and very little else. We were able to help her find employment and housing and, in Deena's words, "find a new start."
Thank you for being such generous partners in this important work!
Gratefully yours,
Barbara S. Vanderburgh
Director, Joy House
Each winter since we began Breakfast with the Girls we've been so fortunate not to have to deal with a "weather issue" that I for one got complacent until March, of all months! The no-go decision was mine-mea culpa and I guess it was warranted but it broke my heart and I do apologize! Acacia Theater (who were concerned too) will be back next year --I promise!
Coming up on April 6th, we've asked Melody Narr, a landscaper and member of First Church to bring us a program sure to fire up our spring feeling. It is titled "Come to your Senses in the Garden"...Exploring plants that will delight your 5 senses.
Her letter to us is so perfectly descriptive I quote it verbatim!!
Melody Narr and her husband Tim are co-owners of Landworks, Inc., a landscape maintenance company in Sussex.
A self taught gardener, she is one of those lucky people who was able to turn a passion into a career. Looking for a mid-life career change, she decided to follow her heart and make a jump from advertising to horticulture (and hasn't looked back once!).
Landworks comes in #2 behind her family-sons Jack, 13 and Joe, 9 -her husband, Tim and two step-children, Amy, 13 and Tyler, 10.
After family and Landworks, any time left is spent enjoying photography, golf and their newly acquired farm animals stray cat, ducks, chickens, and a pot-bellied pig)."
I don't know about you but I can't wait! See you all in April.. *
Char Schweitzer
The Friends of Congregational Home
Cordially Invite the Women of the Church
To our Annual
Thursday, May 16, 2002
Noon Reception, Twelve Thirty Luncheon
Followed by
"Red Hot and Blue"
A Cabaret Program Featuring
The Songs of Cole Porter
with
Becky Spice of the Skylight Opera Theatre
and
Jamie Johns, Pianist
Reservations accepted starting April 8th
Fifteen Dollars
For further information, Please call (262) 781-0550
Senior Women
meet April 8 at 10:00 a.m. The speaker will be Susan Sanson who will speak about X-rays and other imaging, "What Do These Machines Do Anyway?"
Circle 8
meets April 2, at 1:00, at Congregational Home. Bring a sandwich and after lunch we'll play Bunco with the residents.
St. Vincent Meal Program
Our church participates in this benevolent organization the first Friday of each month. We next serve on Friday, April 5. Please call Barb or Ruth Dunham, 774-7147 to volunteer for meal preparation at 8:15 a.m. or call Pam Parker, 475-0044, to serve. Plan to meet at the church at 4:15 to go to the meal site at 910 West Madison Street to serve meals, or meet us there.
All Church Dinner APRIL 10
Please note the all-church dinner will be on the second Wednesday this month. The menu includes salad, Sauerbraten, potato dumplings, red cabbage, apple sauce and strawberry shortcake....sehr gut, ja?
The deadline for submitting articles for the next issue of the Columns is
www.FirstChurchTosa.org
Editor, Beth Linscott
Communications Committee
Mary York - Chairperson,
Nancy Fisher, Sue Rowbottom,
De McDermott, Bill Edens
*
Rev. Dr. Douglas Lobb, Interim Minister
Rev. Chris Rygh, Associate Minister
Rev. Dr. Charles Goldsmith,
Congregational Home Chaplain
Rani Gusho, Administrator
Lee Jacobi, Director of Music
Betty Dethmers, Organist
Michelle Jackson, Parish Nurse
Sally Boyle, Secretary
Nancy Grundle, Secretary
Anne Callen, Secretary
Charles Nelson, Administrator, Congregational Home, Inc.
Rev. Dr. Norman S. Ream, Minister Emeritus
*
Congregational Columns (USPS 010-493) is published monthly by The First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa, 1511 Church St., Wauwatosa, WI 53213-2593, 414/258-7375. Periodical Postage Paid at Milwaukee, WI 53203-9998. Postmaster: Send address changes to Congregational Columns, 1511 Church St., Wauwatosa, WI 53213-2593.
Vol. 11, Issue 3
