Ambassadors for Growth leadership seminar

The 'Ambassadors for Growth' leadership seminar Saturday was great!  We've received so many compliments about our feature presenter, Thom Singer, from the many ministry leaders who attended.  He's such a dynamic speaker, and SJN is blessed to have him as our own parishioner!

Read Thom's reaction to the seminar on his own blog here.

Thom Singer, Ambassadors for Growth seminar, Sept. 18, 2010

Ministry leaders, Ambassadors for Growth seminar, Sept. 18, 2010

Thom Singer, Ambassadors for Growth seminar, Sept. 18, 2010

As you'll read on Thom's blog, the key idea that was taken from the seminar was the idea of our current ministry leaders going up to someone new at Mass, or any church event, every week and meeting someone they'd never before met.  With the 35 leaders who attended the seminar, if they did that every Sunday and then encouraged everyone in their ministries to do the same, our parish community would be so engaged and connected!  The leaders were all so enthusiastic about the idea, how simple it is to do.  The seminar had such great energy!

Thanks to everyone who came and, most especially, to Thom for putting on the workshop.  We hope to feature more similar workshops for our leaders in the future!  

Go forth and 'build the Kingdom!'

Ambassadors for Growth: A Workshop on Servant Leadership

Ambassadors for Growth is a workshop on Sept. 18 from 9 a.m. to noon designed for the leaders of the 60 St. John Neumann Church ministries and partner ministries as well as those who have been identified as future leaders.  This interactive program and facilitated discussion at SJN will inspire the various ministries in working together to serve the community as "ambassadors," welcoming the new families that are beginning to join our parish as a result of the positive buzz being created by the construction of our new church.

The workshop will be facilitated by Thom Singer, local author and international professional speaker (and member of our St. John Neumann Church family).  His message of "All Opportunities Come From People" and the power of relationships will entertain, inspire and motivate the ministries to cultivate relationships with new and existing members of the parish.

We have all been called to be servant leaders in our parish, and establishing stronger relationships across the community will allow St. John Neumann Church to prosper as we continue to grow in size and in the Holy Spirit.

Please plan on having the leaders of your ministry participate in this half day program.  Additionally, each ministry is encouraged to identify one or more future leader to participate in the program.

We will begin the day with Mass at 9 a.m. in the Worship Space then head over to the St. Timothy Room afterward for breakfast and our program.  The event will end at noon.

For more information or to RSVP, contact me.

How To: Get Ethics and Integrity in Ministry certified

The Diocese of Austin requires anyone in a parish who ministers to or with minors or vulnerable adults (i.e. elderly, homeless, ill, people in crisis situations) to complete their Ethics and Integrity in Ministry Training.  This means that anyone who participates in the following SJN ministries must get this certification:

• Alpha Prison Ministry
• Boy Scouts
• Care Communities
• Challenge
• Christian Medical Missions
• Coffee and Donut Social Hosts
• Communion to Sick
• Cub Scouts
• Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion
• Engaged Sponsor Couples
• Faith Circle for High School Students
• Family Religious Education
• Catechists
• Vacation Religion School
• Bereavement Ministry
• Godly Play
• Hearts and Hands Respite Ministry
• K for J
• Life Teen volunteers
• EDGE volunteers
• Readers
• Ushers
• Sacristans
• Mary and Martha Guild
• Mobile Loaves & Fishes
• Parish library volunteers
• Southwest Austin Caregivers
• Summit / Querencia Communion Service Teams
• St. Vincent de Paul Society
• Touching Hearts, Bridging Hope
• Venture Crew
• Weekend collection counters
• Gift Shop volunteers

The reason the diocese asks most volunteers to go through the training is so that we can do our part to protect the vulnerable entrusted to our care and ministry.  You can read more frequently asked questions about the training on the diocesan Web site.

The training involves a two-part process -- one of which can be completed from the comforts of your own home!

1. Complete the diocesan Application for Ministry, which will run a background check.  This is best to be completed online, but you can go to the same link to print out a hard copy and mail it to the parish office for us to input into the system, if you wish.
2. Attend a basic workshop.  These are constantly being scheduled all around the Austin area (and beyond); schedules can be viewed at http://www.austindiocese.org/.  It's best to call the number listed ahead of time, but it's also perfectly fine to just show up the day of the workshop if it's a last minute convenience. 

Completing the application is a one-time requirement -- the system automatically runs a background check every few years with no extra work required on your part. 

Attending a workshop, however, must now be done every three years, so if it's been more than three years since you last attended a workshop, it's time to renew your certification!  The good news is that the refresher workshop, as they're called, is half the time that the basic workshop is.  You can also find the list of upcoming refresher workshops at http://www.austindiocese.org/department_home.php?id=9, under the header "Upcoming EIM Refresher Workshops.

Thank you for helping us do all we can to ensure the comfort and safety of those to whom we minister as a Church!
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Image courtesy of http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/