Register For A Believe Out Loud Provincial Workshop Near You!

By all accounts, our first Believe Out Loud Provincial Workshop in San Diego last month was a great success. Matt Haines [Province 8 Coordinator, shown on the right] and Neil Houghton [Vice President for Local Affairs] led this workshop with the help of Vicki Wunsch [a trainer with the Institute for Welcoming Resources].

Attendees were from many dioceses in the southern part of Province 8--including San Diego, Los Angeles, San Joaquin, California, and Northern California. Two Integrity members joined us from the Diocese of Rio Grande in Province 7, where they are eager to make a difference.

Participants not only left this workshop with tools to communicate more openly and effectively with those in their parishes and dioceses about issues of LGBT inclusion, but many returned home with a commitment to become new leaders in Integrity. Their love of the Episcopal Church was rekindled, as was their conviction that believing out loud in the radical welcoming of Jesus Christ will grow our denomination.

Action plans were initiated and suggestions made for how we can make future workshops even better.

Here’s what participants said about the San Diego workshop:

"I really enjoyed the camaraderie, the networking and the opportunity to brainstorm with other nation and local leaders."

"I am very interested in the BOL concept as an organizing strategy."

"This was incredibly worthwhile, thank you all."

"I was really pleased about organizing around real issues and the whole process of 'graceful engagement'."

"The presenters were great. I thank Integrity for developing this training."

Several more workshops have been scheduled during the summer….

• July 9-10 | Portland OR
• July 23-24 | Danbury CT
• July 30-31 | Martinsburg WV
• August 6-7 | Atlanta GA
• August 13-14 | Austin TX
• August 27-28 | London OH
• Date to be determined | Denver CO

Visit http://sites.google.com/site/bolprovincialworkshops/ for more info about each workshop and to register. There is no registration fee, several meals are included, and reasonable hotel rates have been secured. A limited number of scholarships to partially defray transportation and housing are available.