Brethren Volunteer Service
June 05, 2013
In a city like Chicago, it’s easy to find amazing people doing outrageously awesome ministry if you look in the right places. The people of Chicago are out in the streets “doin’ life together,” as Phil Jackson, pastor of the Lawndale Community Church, put it. They have learned what it really means to live in community.
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Resident Minister, University of San Francisco
2012 VEV West Coast Former Volunteers Retreat Chair
October 29, 2012
Just one week ago former volunteers from Tucson, AZ to San Francisco, CA
to Dublin, CA joined together at Mercy Center, a Sisters of Mercy
convent and retreat center located in lovely Burlingame, California.
Fifteen former volunteers, including the leadership team of five local
young adults, as well as Volunteers Exploring Vocation staff Jim Ellison
and Martha Wright, came together for the 2012 “Volunteers Exploring
Vocation” West Coast Retreat.
The retreatants in attendance were
alumnae/i of Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Jesuit Volunteer Corps NW, Jesuit Volunteer Corps International, Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteers, Lutheran Volunteer Corps, Episcopal Service Corps, Mission Year and AmeriCorps..
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March 17, 2012
Several times during the engaging and enriching two-day conversation FTE
organized around mentoring young ministers, the ambiguity around formal
and informal mentoring relationships emerged, as well as the
remembrance of a bygone era in our culture when mentoring was more
organic, when it was woven into the fabric and people didn’t have to be
so intentional about setting up mentoring relationships. As we told
stories of our mentoring experiences and tried to come up with language
to define what we mean by the word "mentoring," a passage from Lao Tzu’s
Tao te Ching came to mind. "When the Great Tao ceased to be observed,
then virtues came into vogue." Could it be that as our Great Way ceased
to be organically observed, virtuous words like "mentoring" and
"vocation" came into vogue?
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February 07, 2012
This weekend five of us from Hollywood attended a conference in
Seattle put on by Volunteers Exploring Vocation. While it a was a short
retreat, the time was spent doing some serious reflection and discussion
on what vocation means and how to discern vocation.
Before the conference, I simply associated the word vocation with a
career path. I expected to attend this conference and learn about
different ministerial and social justice vocations. Instead, we
discussed vocation in a way that I never considered. Vocation is more
than just a career; it’s your lifestyle. Throughout the weekend, the
definition of vocation revolved around this central theme: where your
greatest desire and the world’s great need meet.
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Site Coordinator
Young Adult Volunteer Program
Presbyterian Church (USA)
December 05, 2011
I want to add my voice among all of this Black Friday Holiday Gifts In Yo Face Must Have Deals Grouponcopious Ticking Time Bomb You Can’t Afford This Except for Today O M G Why Do We Do This Every Year Extreme Makeover Madness.
Gift-giving is great. Giving gifts that are meaningful is also great. But let’s be honest. If I were to tell you that instead of buying you something this year, I donated money to a charitable organization on your behalf, would we still be friends this time next year? Now you’re just envious of some Mongolian family who has a water buffalo that you could’ve used… or re-gifted to a co-worker. So instead of creating a spirit of covetousness, let’s meet in the middle...
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Director of Strategic Partnerships
October 25, 2011
I attended the funeral of Marion Zwicker. She was 80 years old. She
and her husband, Otte, and their 55-year-old son, Kurt are special
people. At one time, they were my parishioners and model church members
in terms of attitude, service, and support. You could also say they were
change agents, people who made things happen.
With four others, they started up an educational center for
developmentally disabled adults. Years later, the founded a jobs center
for the same population. They did what needed to be done to make sure
their son, Kurt, had the service he needed to have a full life as a
disabled adult.
Kurt was perhaps the most valuable member of our parish...
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Intern for Volunteers Exploring Vocation
May 24, 2011
What does freedom look like? I am a wind lover. As a child I loved
running barefooted in the wind and climbing a certain tree with my best
friend where we could feel the wind more intensely. We would compete to
see who could climb the highest and then we would stay awhile longer,
waiting for the wind to sway the branches back and forth. I don't have
quite as much freedom to do these things anymore but I continue to value
the wind and as I have come to see her as a metaphor for the Holy
Spirit, I learn to feel her presence in other areas of life.
Feeling her movement in the first event I attended with Volunteers
Exploring Vocation surprised and excited me. The few days I spent with
VEV participants in Atlanta were the best days of my year in service. I
was suddenly surrounded with other young adults asking many of the same
questions as I was.
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