Month: July 2020

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]How is time treating you? And, how are you treating time?

So many of our usual markers of time and the patterns that we have followed have been transformed or lost entirely in the pandemic. We have to be newly intentional in claiming a sense of time’s passing, and to honor the shifting of the seasons, the losses and the achievements both big and small.

This is one of the reasons that I felt really strongly in late March that we should stay on track with the schedule we’d set for our 2020 initiative of a print newsletter, The Communicator. We set a schedule for an April edition, recognizing that it may need to extend a bit into May. It could be an important way to mark time in this out-of-time situation.

We even had a concept that we felt compelled by: we’d write articles directed towards the “future Foothills,” so that those who would find this newsletter in our archives someday (far after the pandemic was in our past) would later be able to see all the ways we responded and adapted to this huge and sudden change in our world.

But then, ironically, time got the best of us. And before we knew it, it was the end of June!

We kept plugging away though, and even though like many things in life today, it didn’t go quite as we planned, and took longer than we might have hoped, we kept going. Which in today’s version of time, and life, I think can be our best strategy. Keep going, until something new happens. Just keep going.

Finally, in these last few weeks, it all came together; and late last week, it went out to all those who asked us to send it to their mail. For the rest of you, you can find the link below. Please let me know what questions arise as you read it, and what info you’d hope to hear from in the next edition – we’re already working on it, aiming to go to print in September. Whatever “September” means 😉

Speaking of marking time’s passing, this Sunday we’ll be holding space for a really important milestone, as we celebrate with Rev. Kristen in her last Sunday service with us. She’ll be offering her response to the question of UU Good News, as a part of this series, focused in on shaping change. I look forward to being with you this Sunday at 9 or 11 as we bless Kristen in her next stage of ministry, and thank her for all the many ways she has blessed us in the last two years.

In partnership,
Rev. Gretchen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Click the image to go to the Communicator download page:

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Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It’s my first official week at Foothills!

I am already so amazed at the deeply connected community that the people of Foothills have built. I’ve spent the last few years doing consulting work for Unitarian Universalist congregations and organizations all over the United States, and I can confidently say, Foothills is really a different kind of church. Foothills is truly a mission-driven, vision-inspired, and relationship-based congregation.

Obviously, I have so much to learn. I am only at the very beginning of my journey with this congregation. But, seeing the church’s response to this global pandemic is inspiring. A crisis can bring out the very best in people (and the very worst). It has certainly brought out the best of Foothills. There have been so many changes recently, of which I am one, and this congregation has been flexible, adaptive, experimental–and most importantly–forgiving.

My job, in this new position, is to help people find and connect to Foothills. To help us connect more deeply with one another. To foster a healthy, energetic, and faith-based presence on social media. And, most importantly, give Rev. Sean and his husband, Charles, a Sunday off (a.k.a I’ll be helping with the technical aspects of worship production).

I am beyond excited to be on the Foothills team. I want to meet everyone! I’ll be holding an informal meet and greet next Friday, July 24th, from 10 am to 2 pm. Please drop-in anytime during that window, and let’s have a conversation! Here’s a link to join.

I can’t wait to meet all of you. Foothills has created a vibrant, awe-inspiring ministry that I’m so grateful to be a part of.

Blessings,
Tanner Linden

PS Read about Tanner on our Who’s Who page.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]If you’re following COVID trends, it’s not such good news.

If you watched the supreme court this week and its decision around access to birth control, also….not good news.

If you are looking for leadership around kids in school this fall, it’s definitely not good news.

The search for hope and happiness these days can be a hard haul. Which is why we decided to spend the next few weeks focused on messages of good news!

Over the next six Sundays we’ve invited Unitarian Universalist colleagues from all across the country to share their UU message of good news for today. Each of our colleagues responded to this invitation in their own way, locating hope in a different source, and yet still grounded in the living tradition of Unitarian Universalism.

Each of the services will be co-hosted by one of our ministers, and we will continue to feature testimony and offerings from you, our Foothills community. And – this is a great opportunity for you to hear from ministers from other congregations about where they see hope in our faith.

We start this Sunday with a message from Rev. Hannah Roberts Villnave. As a lifelong UU, Rev. Hannah shares her perspective on the gifts and the challenge of being given no constraints on the notion of God.

We hope this series will offer you an anchor and some constant encouragement in the midst of this summer’s continuing uncertainty – and we also hope it’ll provide some foundations for any newcomers. In other words, this is a great series to invite a friend who has been UU-curious for a while to join us. We’ll kick it off this Sunday at 9 & 11.

See you there for some much needed good news!

With love,
Rev. Gretchen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

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Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”37459″ img_size=”medium”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]When I’ve checked in with people lately, a new common response has been “I don’t know how I feel.” It’s a reflection of the serious uncertainty, confusion, and real paradox of life in the US in 2020. It can be exhausting! Even as plans have been changed or postponed, I hope you are finding in this summer time some moments of real renewal, and where you can honor the challenges of simply being in the world right now. Moments of joy, and gratitude!

And actually I have some joyful news to share with you. We are so excited to announce that Tanner Linden will be joining our staff team as a part time Digital Marketing Manager beginning July 12th. Tanner is a lifelong UU, raised in the church in Ventura California – and a dedicated leader for Unitarian Universalism in both paid and volunteer capacities. You can learn more about him at his website tannerlinden.com.

We got to know Tanner initially because we needed to find someone to run our (now all-virtual) Sunday services. All services since moving online have been run out of Rev. Sean’s home with the huge technical support of his husband, Charles – which is definitely not sustainable.

We also hoped for some insight and advice about how to improve our digital presence for the coming year while we are all online. We didn’t want to just take what we have always done in person and replicate it online. We want to really use this time to grow our reach and our impact.

Tanner came highly recommended by the Church of the Larger Fellowship, the largest UU congregation in the world (that has always been all-virtual), where he has been working as their Communications Coordinator for the past few years.

We asked Tanner to provide us an audit of our current systems and materials and to make recommendations for how to improve those systems. In receiving that report, it was clear that he could provide us a degree of expertise and skills – all grounded in a deep understanding of and passion for Unitarian Universalism – that we need as we think about both our short and long term future.

Tanner is especially passionate about finding ways to bring the Sunday service into the rest of the week and to growing Unitarian Universalism’s impact far beyond what we’re able to experience in just a few hours once a week. Obviously this is a really great fit for our congregation and the bold vision you have imagined!

Tanner’s work to begin will be in understanding our work and ministries, and also to provide that Sunday management so that Sean and Charles can have a few Sundays off! We will be re-tooling our communications systems based on his recommendations, and so we’ll let you know as this develops. For now, things will continue as is! We will set up some times for him to meet with folks over zoom (he’s going to stay in Ventura for now), so look for those invites.

One other fun piece of communications news to share – Anna sent The Communicator in for final proofing today – we think we’ll have it printed and ready to mail by the end of next week! For all who have been wondering, thanks for your patience – I’m excited to share it with all of you soon!

One thing I can say for sure is that this Sunday at 9 am we will have a service ready to offer you! We’re finishing up the “Loving Where You Live” series with another fabulous series of neighborhood tours and reflections on self-sufficiency, vulnerability and democracy.

With love,
Rev. Gretchen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.