Janine, 2014
Janine Larsen, formerly Pacific Northwest District Executive and now serving PNWD and the Pacific Western Region as Congregational Life Staff team member, will be on Sabbatical January 2 through April 5, 2015. She has served on UUA staff in the PNWD since 2004.
In her pastoral message currently posted on the PNWD Front Page, Janine shares what she will do on Sabbatical and provides information on who to contact for help with congregational matters in her absence.
Diane Brinson, District Administrator for PNWD, is the first contact to make – she is at pnwd @ uua.org or can be reached by phone at the District Office, 425-957-9116. If Diane can’t give you the answer to your question, she’ll arrange for a District Consultant or a Regional Staff member to contact you.
The Pacific Western Region UUA staff are beginning to identify areas of specialty and focused interest, and the Rev. Nancy Bowen, Regional Lead, will be able to direct staff resources your way. This will continue to unfold throughout the year, and Janine will fit into this pattern when she returns. Congregational Life Staff hope that all our congregations in the Pacific West will find dynamic staff partners both geographically and in purpose.
Janine looks forward to reconnecting with congregations when she returns in the spring. She urges congregations to plan now to
- Send as many congregational leaders as you can (including future leaders) to UUA General Assembly (GA) in June. It’s not often that GA comes to our part of the UUA – this is definitely a “don’t miss”! In 1997, when Portland last hosted General Assembly, there were more than 1,100 UUs from the Pacific Northwest. Let’s break that record!
- Send two or more of your leaders to Russell Lockwood Leadership School in August. This regional resource is in Seattle this year, and will probably not return to the Pacific Northwest before 2020. Janine is convinced this week-long residential program is transformational for UU leaders and congregations. Check out the 2015 faculty and staff — many of them from PNWD — and look for on-line registration to open in February!
Janine, 2004
Janine, shown at right when she began with the UUA Pacific Northwest in 2004, says
“Thank you for the blessing of serving you, as District Executive for the past ten years, and now as one of your regional Congregational Life Staff team members. Thank you for the gift of Sabbatical, rare and wonderful. Here’s to renewal. Catch you on the flip side!“