{"id":9260,"date":"2026-03-24T14:48:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/?p=9260"},"modified":"2026-03-24T14:52:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:52:03","slug":"a-mid-year-letter-from-rev-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/a-mid-year-letter-from-rev-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mid-Year Letter from Rev. Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello WellSpringers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I returned from vacation today, I intentionally set one item on my to-do list as \u201cnumber one\u201d for my first day back: collecting the notes from our Senior Leader Retreat, held one month ago, back at the end of February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a year, we invite all our Senior Leaders (that is: leaders of each Team, and participants on each Ministry) to come together in the middle of the winter season, for a check-in on our congregation\u2019s annual goals<\/a>. We talk about the accomplishments we\u2019re seeing this year so far, assess the progress we\u2019re making on the goals we set last year, and discuss what we see changing in our wider world \u2013 changes both within and beyond our community. Then we spend a little bit of time with our congregation\u2019s DNA<\/a>, talking about where we feel called as a community for the year to come. What opportunities exist for us, at this stage in our life cycle? Where are we feeling the pull to grow, or develop, in new ways?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you\u2019ve felt like this too\u2026 sometimes in the midst of our day-to-day work, it can be hard to even see \u2013 let alone celebrate \u2013 the progress we\u2019re making. But after a week away, as I read through these notes from our Retreat\u2026 I felt so proud of us. We\u2019ve made significant progress on all the goals we set, for the current congregational year. Plus, our leaders had such tremendous insights to share, when we gathered, about the way our world is changing \u2013 and the way our congregation has truly stayed strong while the chaos swirls around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a huge increase right now, in folks\u2019 interest in community activism and engagement \u2013 people are looking for ways to plug in. And, people in our local communities are also hurting \u2013 some in old or familiar ways, but with a new and unprecedented sense of urgency\u2026 and some are feeling fear like this for the very first time in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have an incredibly meaningful role to play, in a time like this. As a growing, authentically human, and fully alive community of souls gathered together for a purpose, I think we are finding ourselves more connected to the world beyond our doors than ever before. As inheritors of a rich and lasting spiritual tradition, we feel the strength of our deep roots, solidly embedded in the values of love, justice, and compassion \u2013 in an era when demonstrations of those values feel all too rare. So, I really just wanted to write to you all today to tell you that I am grateful for each one of you, and the role you play in keeping our community alive and well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a chance, feel free to look over the notes from our Leader Retreat<\/a>, and see what the folks who dedicate their time to service on our Teams and Ministries are saying about where we are, and where we are called to be, in the year ahead. There are four pages of notes, each focused on a different question, available for you to read. We\u2019ll share a final version of next year\u2019s congregational goals, as always, at our annual Congregational Meeting in early June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until then, pat yourselves on the back and celebrate the strength of our community \u2013 and the way you\u2019ve each contributed so beautifully, to it. <3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take care,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Lee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello WellSpringers! As I returned from vacation today, I intentionally set one item on my to-do list as \u201cnumber one\u201d for my first day back: collecting the notes from our Senior Leader Retreat, held one month ago, back at the end of February. Once a year, we invite all our Senior Leaders (that is: leaders of each Team, and participants on each Ministry) to come together in the middle of the winter season, for a check-in on our congregation\u2019s annual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[98,102,112],"class_list":["post-9260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellsprings-news","tag-bot","tag-ld","tag-staff","ctfw-has-image"],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-300x225.jpg","large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-1024x768.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-150x150.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-768x576.jpg","post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-720x480.jpg","saved-section":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-1440x1050.jpg","saved-banner":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-1440x400.jpg","saved-square":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-720x720.jpg","saved-square-large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-1024x1024.jpg","saved-square-small":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-160x160.jpg","saved-rect-medium":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-480x320.jpg","saved-rect-small":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/room-200x133.jpg"},"appp_media":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9260"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9263,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9260\/revisions\/9263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}