December 28, 2008 Update
Year-end Update

Beginning in 2003, we hosted an 18-month dialog with the congregation that became an essential part of the process for planning our future.  That dialog culminated in a written, five-year strategic plan.  Chart and Compass 2010 was presented and accepted by the congregation in December 2005. Now, at the third anniversary of its formal acceptance, here’s a brief look back at our recent progress.

Our Accomplishments During 2008

Caring for one another

•   Rev. Xolani Kacela was hired as Minister of Pastoral Care in January 2008.  This is a staff position for up to two years, not requiring a full “search and call.”  Xolani and many volunteers have launched several new Pastoral Care initiatives, have expanded the Care Teams, and are working with Adult Religious Education and Lay Ministry to establish Small Groups for ministry.  Elder care programs are being planned based on an online survey of member needs, a Sunday transportation pilot study is underway, and Listening Room and Handy Hands teams are being organized.  Volunteer database functionality related to Pastoral Care has been implemented.

•  The Director of Lay Ministry position was filled in August.  Nathan Ryan has already worked with the Program Management Team to update the Participation Opportunities brochure and to develop a survey of volunteer interests.  At his request, the Database Manager has implemented additional volunteer database functionality - the database is currently being populated with skills and interest information from completed surveys.  A church-wide effort to collect information for all interested members will begin in 2009.  Nathan, in conjunction with Adult Religious Education, is planning a Path to Membership process for launch in early 2009, and also plans to create monthly opportunities for church-wide fellowship and to actively support each member’s efforts to find and cultivate their own sense of ministry.

•   Planning and development of a web-accessible church member area on the website, to be integrated with the ACS management software, has begun. Launch is targeted for mid-year.

•   The Membership Committee established a Welcomers Group to mentor new members, developed training materials, and recruited initial Welcomers. After pilot testing last year, the program was launched in January.

Making a distinctive Contribution to the character of public life

•   The Center for Public Dialog consultant completed a business plan, budget and implementation plan this summer.  The business case and an interim implementation plan were reviewed with the Chart and Compass 2010 Leadership Team Co-Chairs and then presented to the Board of Trustees in October. The Board encouraged the project team to have an attorney complete the paperwork to implement an Educational non-profit 501.3c for review with the Board in the next month or so.  Interim plans call for establishing a Center Board of at least 5 members, with initial appointments being President Mary Lee Kilgore, Vice President Gretchen Riehl, Secretary Dan Butler and Education Chair Michael McElhenie.  The Project Team members continued the training begun in 2007 with 4-day training sessions in April and October of this year.  An initial curriculum is under development, classes will be offered to the congregation in 2009, and an initial event is planned for 4th Quarter 2009.    

•   The Social Action Council created four issues-oriented task forces that are now active.  Peace -  Held several Issues Forums on peace, including presentations by Iraq war veteran and author Brandon Friedman, and by the Executive Director of the UU - United Nations Office.  They also organized a workshop on the UUA's Peacemaking Statement of Conscience, led by a representative from the UUA's Washington Office for Advocacy. Social Justice - First Church members working in leadership roles within Dallas Area Interfaith help unite churches in Dallas to work for Social Justice.  With focused support from DAI, the Parkland Bond Proposal passed by a wide margin. Environment - Conducted the first annual Green Fair, celebrating Earth Day and providing information and ideas for improving our environment. Also organized an electronics recycling event.  Both were well attended. Democracy - Registered over 300 new voters in under-represented areas within Dallas County, and contacted them to encourage them to vote.  Provided polling location and early voting information to hundreds of already-registered voters.  Over 40 First Church members became deputy registrars and participated in this event. In 2009 we will continue to build our knowledge in these areas and continue to take visible action to address these critical issues.  Additional activities are being planned for 2009.

•   The First Sunday plate collections to support social services agencies continued this year.  Our total contributions passed the $100,000 milestone in September 2007 and total $175,616.96 as of November 2008.

•   Development of our Volunteer Database is in process.  The Director of Lay Ministry, the Minister of Pastoral Care and the Program Management Team (PMT) are defining the ACS database requirements, working with Database Manager Mary Thompson to execute.

Curriculum – educating ourselves and others

•  The UUA Tapestry of Faith project continues its five-year effort to develop a comprehensive lifespan curriculum to be made available to all UUA churches. We’ve committed $150,000 to the project over three years, pending completion of clear milestones to verify progress. We contributed $25,000 last year and $25,000 this year, with additional payments tied to future progress reports. Several of the new courses are currently being used in Children's Religious Education.

•  A variety of new adult short courses have been conducted, mostly as evening classes. Further expansion of Sunday classes for adults will await completion of new facilities. 

Communicating – spreading the word

•   Our Publicity and Branding Campaign was launched internally on Ingathering Sunday in 2007 when we were invited to recognize “reaching deeper” as our shared spiritual practice of open-minded discovery. “Be the way...” was added in 2008 to recognize that doing whatever we can to create a better world is what reaching deeper calls us to.

•   Fritz Kuehn was hired as Director of Communications in January 2008, and continues to expand the institutional use of the brand.  We are now executing our first-year marketing plan with regular advertising in area-wide publications, as well as other targeted ad insertions. 

•   Electronic communication has expanded with the addition of weekly Friday Reminder emails and better list management.  Additionally, “reach deeper” spots have been launched on-line and an active web-presence created on the social networking site Facebook, where videos of our sermons and “fan” networking are broadening our reach in cyberspace.      

•   Development of a new and fully integrated website is progressing.  The necessary content development is currently taking place church-wide and the information architecture to present it in a meaningful intuitive way is being finalized.  Our existing site has received several updates, including new calendar functionality, and will be maintained through the public launch of our new site in the first part of 2009.

Capacity – embracing change

•   The C&C Facilities Team selected ArchiTexas as our architects in 2006. A master plan and conceptual building design were presented to the congregation and neighbors in May 2007.  Working with our attorney and the Neighborhood Relations Committee, in October, 2007 we obtained City of University Park approval of zoning changes to the church’s Planned Development that will allow expansion of our church facilities.

•   In April we learned that construction costs in the Dallas area had escalated and after careful consideration, the Board of Trustees asked the team to continue working with ArchiTexas and Joe Funk Construction Engineers to complete a detailed design and updated cost estimates for phase one of our building program.  The results will be presented to the Board at its first meeting in 2009, and a decision will be made about when to take the next steps - to obtain final City approval of our building design, to prepare construction documents, to solicit bids and to start the construction project.  Construction could begin about July 1, 2009 if we stay on schedule and accomplish our funding objectives.

• Additional technology updates were implemented this year, including installation of a new high-speed high-capacity printer used for the DU newsletter and other high-volume publications.  All PCs were converted to the new Vista operating system, and the latest 2007 version of Office software has been installed.  As part of an expanded program of professional development for church staff, four staff attended ACS software training this year.

•   An Archive Project Team is being organized to develop short- and long-term plans for the preservation of the church’s historical documents, business records and memorabilia in an environmentally appropriate fire-proof and weather-proof facility.  A separate effort is underway to preserve magnetic tape recordings of services going back to the 60s and 70s by copying them to digital storage.

•   Near-term ministerial succession planning is well underway.  The Second Minister Search Committee is about to select candidates for interview. This is the next step in replacing Dr. Kanter as Minister when he becomes Senior Minister.  Once that search is completed, a full search and call process for the 3rd Minister (of Pastoral Care) can get underway.

Administration and Budget

•   The Chart and Compass 2010 Capital Campaign has reached $6.22-million in pledges and one-time contributions, from 480 families and individuals.  $3.8-million has already been contributed.  The next phase of the campaign will be launched after final construction cost estimates are received in 2009.