Monday May 11, 2009

A busy week at the Diocese! All staff attended a team building retreat at Thomas the Apostle Center Monday and Tuesday. Our hosts, Connie and Jay, did double duty as staff participants, too. In addition to some great discussions led by our facilitator, Mary Caucutt, we built some planters for TAC (so they can demonstrate how to do gardening, as well as, supply fresh produce for TAC events). Everyone was back in the office on Wednesday, energized by the retreat experience.

Special thanks to the folks that have contacted me about their Mustard Seed Mission Projects! Part of the convention will be highlighting what each church has done for the Mustard Seed Mission in a poster display, multimedia production, and presentation. I would like to visit with each church (phone/email) soon on the projects and, if needed, schedule a visit to interview folks, take pictures and video, etc. Also, if any churches need help with the Mustard Seed Mission project, I can help (and find help if it is out of my area of expertise). Already some exciting projects are being started and we at the Diocese Office want to make sure the story is documented so we can share these projects (from start to finish) with the world.

Also, a reminder that if you have articles you would like to share with the rest of the Diocese, please email them (and a picture if you have one) to info@wyomingdiocese.org. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering news or events, but anything you would like to share. The Diocese is still putting together a list of blogs, too, so if you have a blog please send me the address so I can list it.

Thanks and keep the stories coming!

God’s peace,

-Andrew

Phone: (+1) 307.265.5200
Email: andrew@wyomingdiocese.org

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The Rev Canon Margaret Babcock sat down with Andrew Kerr for an interview about the recent Wyoming Weekend. This link is posted in Diocese's account with MyPodcast http://wyomingdiocese.mypodcast.com/

Give it some time to load...it may take a few minutes. OR, click on one of the many podcast options, including sending the file directly to iTunes

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By Mr. John Peacock. Email: mettenheim@msn.com

Reading of the Names:

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is hosting the Reading of the Names of the approximately 5900 coalition military fatalities from the Afghan and Iraqi campaigns as part of its Memorial Day observances.

The Reading of the Names will take place at the church over a nine-hour period, starting at 8:00 a.m., on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2009. Groupings of names will be read by volunteers, beginning every 10 minutes, through out the day. An Order of Service for Noonday will be offered at 12 Noon and the Reading of the Names will resume at 12:20. The Reading will conclude shortly after 5:00 p.m.

Special invitations have been to extended to F.E. Warren AFB personnel, and their families and friends, and to Cheyenne-area Veterans’ organizations. The general public is also invited.

...and St. Mark's in the news:

Check out the KGWN-TV website http://www.kgwn.tv/story.aspx?ID=2070&Cat=2 to read their story and follow the link to see film coverage of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter's kick-off of Be Kind to Animals Week. Some good shots of Fr. Rick conducting the Blessing of the Animals.

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By Mr. Pat Walsh. Email: pat@wyomingdiocese.org

The snow has melted and given way to green grass and wildflowers at Wyoming Wilderness Camp in Esterbrook. This week, a host of groups will start to arrive at camp, with the first being young adults from the University of Wyoming school of admissions, orientation leaders. The camp is becoming a center for leadership growth and development for youth, young adults and adults in Wyoming. This year the camp will host 14 public school leadership programs, 2 University Leadership programs, 2 church leadership retreats, and host an 8 week summer camp program, and serve over 2000 youth and adults between May and the end of September.
The camp is starting to receive registrations for each of the summer camp sessions:
• Family Camp – July 3-5 all ages
• Middler I –II – July 5-10 – 3rd through 6th
• Art and Music Camp – July 12-17 – 6th grade -12th grade
• Junior High Adventure – July 19 -24 – 7th and 8th grade
• Wind River Leadership and mission Camp – 6th-8th grade
• Big Blast IV – August 2-7, -8th – 12th grade
• Wyoming Catholic Diocese –Junior High Camp – Aug. 9-14. (register through the Diocese of Cheyenne)
The camp is asking those individuals and church’s that can afford to donate to give to the Hank Raymond Scholarship Fund. This fund allows the camp to support up to 1/3 the tuition cost of attending camp. The other 2/3 of the cost of the camp is split between the sponsoring church and the family. Due to difficult economic times, the HR Camp Foundation Board is asking for those who can to support this fund. We are looking ahead to an exciting summer!

God Bless,

Pat Walsh, Director – Wyoming Wilderness Camp

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By The Rev Warren Frelund.

Email: warren@wyomingdiocese.org

The Diocese of Wyoming hosted 8 people from around the church for the second Wyoming Weekend. The visitors included one from British Columbia, three from Episcopal Divinity School, two from the Diocese of Iowa, and two from Wyoming. The group met from April 24-27 at St. Mark's, Casper. The weekend began with the history of Shared Ministry in Wyoming. Saturday afternoon the visitors departed for an overnight visit with local congregations. Hosting the visitors were St. Stephen's, Casper, All Saints, Wheatland, St. John the Baptist, Glendo, Church of the Savior, Hartville, and Christ's Church, Douglas. Sunday evening and Monday morning the folks met with the Ministry Developers to learn how Shared Ministry is offered and experienced in Wyoming.

The comments on the evaluations indicated that the weekend was very informative. Each visitor felt they were leaving with a great deal of information and a better understanding of value and effectiveness of Shared Ministry.
Plans are in progress for the 2010 Wyoming Weekend.

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By The Rev Warren Murphy. Email: wychurches@wyoming.com

“On Sacred Ground - Celebrating the Wyoming Range” was the title of an evening forum held April 21st at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. This event was sponsored by the WAC, the National Council of Churches (NCC) and Students for a Sustainable Environment (SSE). A diverse group of people from the Laramie community were in attendance.

This forum was designed to celebrate passage of the long sought after Wyoming Range Legacy Act which now offers protection to this spectacular mountain range in southwestern Wyoming. Keynote speaker for the gathering was Albany County State Senator Mike Massie who talked about the success of having diverse groups work collaboratively to benefit what’s best for the state’s future. This same theme was picked up by a panel which represented the diversity of those who partnered to make passage of the bill a success.

The panel was made of Temple Stevenson, natural resources policy analyst for Governor Dave Freudenthal. She talked about the lengthy process undertaken by diverse political interests in getting the bill through Congress. A second panelist, Kim Floyd of the AFL-CIO, spoke about the 18,000 union members in Wyoming who care about the outdoors and its possibility for true recreation. Kim said he heard plenty of support from his members for passage of the act.

Gary Amerine, an outfitter from Daniel, talked about the hunting and recreational opportunities available in the Wyoming Range and congratulated those who supported the bill even though many of these groups would disagree on other issues. Lydia Reinesen of SSE spoke on behalf of university students and pointed out they are the voices of the future. And the Rev. Sally Palmer represented the faith community on the panel. Sally gave a talk-slide show presentation that pointed out that all creation is linked from the smallest spider to the most majestic mountains.

Funding for this event, as well as the previous forum in Rock Springs, was made possible by the National Council of Churches. Jordan Blevins of the NCC Washington staff was able to be in attendance. The NCC joined the WAC in promoting the successful legislation as part of their eco-justice program.
 

Wyoming Range was also featured in Episcopal Life in a story by The Rev Phina Borgeson: http://tinyurl.com/occx5b
 

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By The Rev Doug Wasinger. Email: doug@wyomingdiocese.org

Hello folks of Carbon County and beyond, how is life treating you during this fine Easter Season? All is well around here. I have fully recovered from a full week of travel and will be staying put for most of this week. I have not heard much from St. James in Encampment and I will take that is good news; St. Thomas is preparing for a DiSC training (group building workshop that has been used with the Diocesan Office and Ministry Developers with success); St. Paul is getting ready for the annual Memorial Day weekend event (a service at the cemetery followed by a hamburger fry at the museum); and I have not heard from St. Luke’s in Medicine Bow and I take that is good news. I hope this letter finds you well.

Last Thursday I headed over to St. John’s in Green River to reengage their development work. We had a night in which we played games and learned more about each other. It was a fun night that was full of laughter and good cheer. One person told me at we were heading out the door around 10pm, “You think you know somebody for 20 years and still you learn something new about them tonight.” Mission accomplished!

Friday I was still recovering from a late arrival and made it to Kraft Hall for a couple of hours. It was a chance to review the up-coming Sunday Service at St. Thomas, talk to Linda Wilson about Region V and how we are going to work together in the future and to catch up on some administrative items before heading to Laramie for the reminder of the day.

Saturday I was blessed to have an open and effective meeting with the Ministry Support Team of St. Thomas in Rawlins. There were some questions about DiSC workshop and I do believe that the group got the answers they needed. I was most impressed by the questions and how the information was shared among all the members in the team. I see this team as another real potential for continued work in building God’s Kingdom in Rawlins.

Sunday I was at St. Thomas which was a break in the normal Sunday routine. Normally I would be at St. Paul’s in Dixon on the first Sunday of the month; however three different churches worked together with their schedules to make it possible for me to be at St. Paul’s for Memorial Day weekend. The wonderful “connecting” event was a young couple who has moved to Laramie about 10 months ago and is getting married at St. Matthew’s this September drove to Rawlins to check out St. Thomas. They were introduced to the congregation and given a friendly “charge” to take Rawlins’ warm welcome back to Laramie. What a church we live in!

The reminder of the week looks like this – Monday is the big day starting with “The Bible For Today’s Church” book study at St. Thomas in Rawlins @ 9am. That afternoon I drive to LSRV for Spring Café Bible Reflection @ 2pm. Wednesday and Thursday is the DiSC training at St. Thomas and those sessions will start @ 4pm and will end @ 8pm. Friday I will be having office hours in Kraft Hall @ 10am to 12pm. Saturday I will be driving over to Laramie for the Regional Confirmation @ 11am. On Sunday (May 10th Mothers Day) I will be at St. Luke’s in Medicine Bow @ 10:30am.

Have a good week! Shalom –

Doug

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Submitted by The Rev Kathy Robinson. Email: kathy@wyomingdiocese.org

Do you have a bright idea for making Utah, Wyoming or Idaho a little greener? Could you use a little green to make your project a reality? As they have since 2006, Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky customers—who make a difference by purchasing renewable energy credits from Western wind farms every month—are also funding new community-based renewable energy projects in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho.

Renewable energy projects eligible for funding awards from Rocky Mountain Power may include those that support technologies such as wind, solar, biomass, wave, landfill gas, certified low-impact hydro and geothermal. To be considered in this competitive application process, interested parties must complete an application and submit it along with supporting materials by 5 p.m. on Monday, May 15, 2009. Applications will be accepted beginning March 9.

"We’re honored to be able to offer these funding awards to help bring community-based renewable energy projects in our service area to reality," said Karen Gilmore, vice president of customer services for Rocky Mountain Power. "We look forward to seeing this round of applications and selecting projects that demonstrate significant community benefit for our customers."

This funding is available for projects in Rocky Mountain Power’s service area that are locally owned and produce less than 10 megawatts of electricity. Projects need to be completed within two years of the receipt of funding and focus on encouraging renewable energy market transformation. A preference is given to local community-based projects that develop renewable energy generation, support educational efforts to bring broader understanding of renewable energy development and generation, and/or invest in research and demonstration of new generation technologies.

Funding is not available for off-grid projects or projects from private individuals. For detailed criteria on project qualifications and application forms, please go to: www.rockymountainpower.net/blueskyfunds.

Entries should be thorough, and should be submitted with supporting materials such as photographs, schematics, drawings, cut sheets, narratives or anything the applicant considers useful in the project evaluation.

Materials may be submitted by mail, fax or e-mail to:

Rocky Mountain Power
Attn: Blue Sky Fund Award
One Utah Center – 24th Floor
201 S. Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Fax: 800-754-3114
E-mail: blueskyprojects@rockymountainpower.net

The amount available for funding awards will vary year to year. It comes from Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky Block program, where customers can purchase 100-kilowatt-hour increments of renewable energy to help encourage the development of new clean energy in the region. The growth of the award-winning Blue Sky program has already helped support small and medium-sized community-based renewable energy projects that may not otherwise be viable, going beyond the wind energy purchases made on behalf of Blue Sky customers.

"Our successful Blue Sky program coupled with the large investments we are making in renewable energy projects now and in the coming years demonstrates our company’s commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship," said Gilmore. "We see these funding incentives as another strong component of our overall commitment to our customers and communities, encouraging their initiative. We are looking forward to seeing what kinds of quality projects this process produces."

In 2008, Rocky Mountain Power gave Blue Sky funding awards worth $872,824 to 15 projects in its service area.

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