Greetings to members, friends, pastors, lay people, and youth of all ages in our 135 churches that make up the Southern California-Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ:

   I want to extend a special invitation to all of you to come to our Annual Gathering this June in La Jolla. We are employing the spacious and beautiful grounds of the Torrey Pines Christian Church in order to accommodate all of us comfortably.

   Our theme for Annual Gathering is, The World As Our Altar: Engaging Life Through Worship.  We will be lifting up the importance of "giving good Sunday morning."  Whether you call it "worship" or "celebration," if you perform it in a traditional or contemporary style, or if you are in a large or small congregation; how we carry our faith out into the world in our actions begins with a meaningful expression of gratitude and connection to our Stillspeaking God.    

   The Thursday event will be on church vitality, with ideas and inspiration for renewing your church.

   Our Friday night key-note speaker and Saturday morning preacher is none other than the Rev. Tom Long, noted as "One of the Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English Language."  His book, The Witness of Preaching, is one of the most widely used texts on preaching, appearing on class reading lists in seminaries across the country and world.

   Workshops will include Stillspeaking resources for welcoming visitors and integrating them into the life of the church, children's programs, music, worship resources, small group formation, and others...including workshops in Spanish. Our Conference Minister, the Rev. Felix Villanueva will also be preaching for us.

   The vendor space will be large and welcoming, featuring resources for our churches that will enable us all to learn more about how we welcome, provide entry into our congregations, and celebrate together on Sunday morning and on into the week.
   Finally, this is that terrific time of the year when we can get together as one body and enjoy each other's company with good food and fellowship.  I look forward to seeing you there!
 
The Rev. Dr. Paul Tellstrom
Moderator