Rev. Morris Hudgins, Senior Minister revmorris@westsideuuc.org
This is an exciting time for Westside UU Church. I congratulate Rev. Carol Bodeau, the Search Committee, the Board, and the Congregation for the recent decision to call Carol as your next minister. My main task as an Interim Minister is to help you with this process. It has been an open process. Rev. Carol received a unanimous vote, which is always appreciated.
I remember when I was called by a church that had several short term ministries, and I was told that any minister would receive 10% negative votes because the congregation liked doing church without a minister. As the vote came, and I received 96% I was overjoyed. The church grew from a small to a large church while I was there and when I resigned to accept another position the President said: “When Morris came here we weren’t sure we needed a minister and now we need two.” I was very pleased with the growth as well as their support.
In the coming months Rev. Carol and I will work together. Religious Education will receive our full support. I have agreed to renegotiate my contract to allow Carol to assist with the ministry, then recruit a DRE and train that person. My plan is to fulfill my contract date to finish July of 2015. We still have some Interim work to do. After January will probably preach twice a month, Rev. Carol once, and we could do one Sunday together. I hope this will work for us and the church. If we renegotiate my contract, I will probably change my office hours.
As Terry Tyler, the Chair of Finance, has said, our budget is very tight this year. I ask you to consider your gifts to Westside. If you haven’t made a pledge this year, this would be a good time to do so. If you can make a contribution before the end of the year this will also help as the Board makes a decision about a Music Director. I also want to thank those who have pledged and are making generous contributions to Westside.
I want to congratulate the Board of Westside for reaching out to former members who have not been attending in recent months. I have never seen church leaders do this. Whether or not individuals respond to the effort, it is a good thing to do and reflects the positive state of the Church.
Finally, I want to invite everyone to a workshop sponsored by Westside, January 30-31st. It is titled “Compassionate Communication” and will be led by District Staff member, Carlton Smith. Members and Friends of Oak Ridge, Foothills and TVUUC are also invited to attend. Flyers are available at the Church.
See you all at Church.
Rev. Morris Hudgins,
Accredited Interim Minister