Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

It's been another full week in the life of our church. Down a parish administrator, we've had a string of great volunteers handling the office. Over in the Parish Hall we continue to host 25ish homeless folks, while John Brennan and Alisa Rasera gracefully wrangle a herd of volunteers and service providers to make it happen. The youth (and the priests!) are heading up to Lake Tahoe for an old fashioned youth group ski trip. We're recruiting some great new vestry members for the incoming class. And the "normal" life of the church proceeds mostly normally. Here are some more detail on all that:

Parish Administrator: As you've likely heard, Christ Church parted company with Ashley Green last week. By the time you read this email I'll have conducted five screening interviews to fill that role. We'll make the hire when we find the right person. In the meantime, please be patient as we juggle many tasks to fulfill parish administrator responsibilities in the interim.

Homeless Warming Shelter: This week Christ Church's vestry committed to continue operating the shelter 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the month of January. In February we'll convert to operating the shelter 7 nights per week, while closing during the days, unless the rain forecast is greater than 50 percent, in which case we'll keep the space open during the daytime. Professional staff will operate the shelter at nights while volunteers cover the days, operate the showers and provide the meals. We don't yet have a funding plan in place beyond January, but we're getting there. For starters, we're shifting the City's spring spending on this project to the present. And Christ Church will spend the considerable sum we've raised following the donors' intent. We are requesting that the City substantially increase its funding, so we'll be inviting folks to weigh in online at the February 7 City Council gathering, but an actual  vote won't take place until February 21.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive from church members and the wider community. Individuals have donated many thousands of dollars to support this program, which is clearly resonating with the community. John Brennan and Alisa Rasera continue to lead our volunteers and perform many hours of direct service. We can still use more volunteers and funding. Please do not donate clothing or supplies at this time, as we're a bit overwhelmed with material.

Youth Gone Wild: Will Scott has organized an amazing ski trip for the youth group. I love going on these things. There's so much bonding around the fire, during snowball fights and chasing each other down the mountain.

New Vestry Member Election Slate: Every year Christ Church elects a new class of vestry members for a three-year term. This year we're blessed with an abundance of strong folks. They include: Claire Brown, Molly Stouffer, Julie Denny, and K.C. Conway/Jeff Elder. You read that correctly, I listed five names for four positions. K.C. and Jeff are married and asked if they could share their vestry position. This seems like a great way to bring more talent to the table, so the current vestry is very supportive. We'll share profiles of these good people shortly.

"Normal" Life of the Church: Meanwhile, the church continues to do regular churchy stuff. This includes our annual meeting on Sunday, January 29 right after church. The following weekend, February 3-5, we'll have our annual vestry retreat up at the Bishop's Ranch. Both clergy will be joining that retreat, so the Rev. Bruce Smith (my wonderful former boss) will be leading services on February 5th. Will and I continue to plan our sabbaticals and will share more at the annual meeting.

God bless you all,

Stephen