For many, the eight individuals on our staff team represent the face of The BTS Center. Working alongside our staff, though, mostly behind-the-scenes, are a wise and intrepid group of brilliant people who comprise our Board of Trustees.
Our Board meets six times each year, generally by Zoom, to oversee the mission and purposes of this organization, to guide strategic and organizational planning, to ensure strong fiduciary oversight and financial management, to approve and monitor the organization’s programs and services, and to supervise and evaluate the performance of the Executive Director.
Once each year, our Board members travel to Portland, Maine for an in-person meeting, including a day and a half with our staff team. We look forward to this annual Board and Staff Retreat, and we cherish the time together.
Earlier this month, Board members made the journey from various parts of New England, as well as from Oregon, Kentucky, and Colorado, and gathered at The BTS Center for important conversations around several strategic questions related to identity, purpose, and direction. We’re blessed beyond measure to have the guidance and leadership of this gifted group of individuals, who give so generously of their time, their wisdom, and their love.
This moment calls us to courage and connection. We know that in these challenging days, it’s no small task to lead communities of faith, to provide spiritual care, to serve the needs of your neighbors, to advocate for eco-social justice from your pulpits, and to sustain and deepen people’s love of creation.
And so, top of mind for each of us was you — the courageous, creative, wise, and faithful people who comprise the wider BTS Center community, who participate in our many programs of spiritual and vocational formation, and who are responding to the call of God, of humanity, of our ancestors, and of Earth to take on the mantle of spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world. As we navigate complexity, uncertainty, and grief, we must draw close to one another; do all that we can to uplift, encourage, and strengthen each other; and then, in the many places where we serve, lead with conviction, kindness, and courage. We’re in this together!
Included in this photo, top left, is our former Board Chair, Helen Scalia, who facilitated our retreat with creativity, wisdom, and care.
After Helen, standing, L to R: Lyman Jackson, Eric Elnes, Liz Parsons, Tim Wilkins, Ben Yosua-Davis (Director of Applied Research), Andi Lloyd (Vice Chair), Allen Ewing-Merrill (Executive Director).
Seated L to R: Kapya Kaoma, Ophelia Hu Kinney (Strategic Communications Director), Greg Rose (Treasurer), Alison Cornish (Chaplaincy Initiative Coordinator), Madeline Bugeau-Heartt (Program Associate), Natasha DeJarnett, Alex Shea Will.
Kneeling L to R: Ash Temin (Staff Writer & Program Manager), Debra Coyman (Board Chair), Nicole Diroff (Associate Director), Alison Buttrick Patton.
Unable to join us at this retreat: Board members (each one cherished!) June Cooper, Peter Ilgenfritz, and Sumaiya Zama.