ReShaping The World: Church in Likeness To A Different God; links and news

Hi all. First, here is the link to my past weekend's Keynote Address to the Spring Assembly of the Ballou-Channing District of the Unitarian Universalist Association, held in Fairhaven, MA: ReShaping The World: church in likeness to a different God, an introduction to the missional church and to our work here in far northside Tulsa and the Turley area, followed by a workshop on how we are changing our neighborhoods. http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2012/05/reshaping-world-church-in-likeness-to.html. I will be giving the annual lecture on June 9 of the North Texas Area Unitarian Universalists at Horizon Church in Carrollton, Texas, titled One Mission, Many Communities, followed by a workshop on how missional progressives are changing our neighborhood.

Next up, though, is the Sat. May 12 10 am to 2 pm dedication celebration and 11 am ceremony for our Welcome Table KitchenGardenPark and Orchard at 6005 N. Johnstown Ave, just a few blocks from our community center which will be dedicated later in the year. All the details here at this link: http://www.turleyok.blogspot.com/2012/05/celebrate-with-us-as-we-dedicate-our.html. Come thank our volunteers, our partners, and local officials who have made this Miracle Among the Ruins come true. All ages welcome. See the transformation of a block of abandoned homes and trashed properties. See the vision of our next phases of creating a space for people of diverse neighborhoods to come work and play and grow healthy food and community together.

We are raising funds to pay for end of the year events for McLain High School and Greeley Elementary School; tomorrow, May 10 there will be an assembly for the GearUp program at the school which has had such success this year helping our school students meet much more stringent graduation requirements, and build academic success and community and parent ties. We are funding the meal following the assembly tomorrow; you can help us by donating online safely at our website www.turleyok.blogspot.com, and don't have to have a paypal account to use the paypal system. We are also raising funds for special end of the year top student and teacher dinner; and for field trips for Greeley Elementary students for the school that is being closed and changed to a charter school. We also fund the monthly student of the month pizza meals there, and have helped the McLain Foundation send McLain magnet aviation students, many of whom have never flown before, to Dallas for a special field trip with American Airlines. See this news story on that project: http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/McLain-students-take-flight/yzy3BukXJ0OZRf5QoIb7Nw.cspx.

This Friday, May 11, at 3 pm, come celebrate with us at O'Brien Recreation Center, 6147 N. Birmingham Ave., as we dedicate the gym court floor to Linda Taylor, our former Board member and the long time activities director at the center, who died this past October. We will also be providing the refreshments for the event that will feature many local officials and friends of Linda's.

We will be holding our next planning meeting on exploring incorporating Turley as a city on Thursday, May 17, 5 pm with dinner at The Welcome Table Community Center, 5920 N. Owasso Ave., looking at our research and next steps; then our Disaster Response Network Planning work session will be on Thursday May 24 at noon at O'Brien Park with lunch, as we seek growing community connections as we grow a safer area; impoverished neighborhoods are often the worst hit during disasters, so this is truly justice work.

Our Food Pantry new hours are Tuesday and Friday mornings 9:30 am to noon; our next Mobile Food Van giveaway event is June 7, for all in the 74126, 74130 and 74073.

 Stay tuned for more updates on new community events later in the month.

 We gather for our missional church gatherings on Sundays at 9:30 am at the community center for study, communion, and common meal. more on those at www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com. We welcome all, participants throughout the week, at our events, partnering with us, and in worship and study and above all service.