I want to update everyone briefly about the recent Board of Trustees meeting held this past Monday 7/9. This was the first meeting of the newly configured Board of Trustees since the annual meeting in June. We’ll distribute the detailed minutes of the meeting in a few weeks, but I wanted to share some of the highlights. Board members spent some time getting to know one another and connecting on a personal level. We talked at length about our collective governance vision, our hopes and aspirations for the coming year and our shared desire to work together as a collaborative team in partnership with Erin and all members of the Congregation. After a thorough discussion about Board leadership roles and how we plan to distribute leadership responsibilities, the Board voted unanimously to elect myself as Chair and Josie Greene as Vice Chair for FY2019. Both Josie and I are grateful for the vote of confidence from our fellow Board members and also fully appreciate the responsibility and challenges inherent in serving in these leadership positions.

But I really want to turn the attention back on the Board as a whole. I’m very impressed with the creativity, energy, thoughtfulness, and commitment of my fellow Board members and I want to convey to all of you that I’m feeling very positive about the coming year and the Board’s service to the Congregation. As a vibrant, complex, and dynamic congregation we face many challenges but we also have so much potential. Above and beyond the Board’s fiduciary and stewardship responsibilities, which are essential to the present well-being of the Congregation, the Board is tasked with strategic visioning and long-term planning for FUUSN’s future. An essential ingredient in our doing our job well as a governing team is accurate discernment of the Congregation’s priorities. In order to do that, we need to listen carefully and learn from each of you. In the coming months, we intend to offer a range of formal and informal opportunities for you to share your thoughts and your feelings about what you see as priorities for FUUSN both in the short term and the longer term. But in the meantime, we invite you to informally approach or contact any of us—myself, Josie, Brooke Foucault Welles, Demie Stathoplos, Jon Reuman, Christine Lookner and our youth members Leah Lakomski and Theo Burba—to share your thoughts, hopes, and concerns both for FUUSN’s present and FUUSN’s future. Please don’t hesitate to speak to us any time before or after Sunday services or during coffee hour or in any other setting where you encounter us.                                                                                                                                               With warm regards, -Chris Krebs