First Friday Communication – May 2016
CONTENTS
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Godly Play® Foundation
o Executive Director Report
o Facebook: Monthly Contributor
Center for the Theology of Childhood
o Book Reviews
Godly Play® Resources
o The Desert Bag is Available!
o The Artwork in The Greatest Parable
Godly Play® US College of Trainers
o 2016 Trainer Gathering: A Welcome
o US Trainer Bio Book: A Request
Prayers for Our Circle
o Upcoming US Trainings
o Prayers for Healing and Fortitude
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Executive Director Report
At times it seems the Godly Play
Foundation went from 0 to 60 in 6
seconds. However, the reality is many of
the fabulous initiatives underway have
been in progress and we have just found
the focus to nurture them more fully.
Highlights of the activities underway:
Board of Directors. The Foundation’s
Board of Directors meets four times a year, three by telephone and once face-to-face. The second
quarter call took place on April 19. The Board heard updates from each of the staff and received
financial reports. These are the standard agenda items. This meeting, though, also focused on
international activities and board membership.
College of Training. The transition of training management has gone smoothly. We thank Sally for her
work with us and look forward to seeing her in Chicago. Regan has stepped into the role to support
U.S. Training in an interim capacity. Thank you to both of these very talented managers for a seamless
transition. The Trainer Gathering in Chicago is organized and should be a wonderful retreat.
Godly Play Español Project. The Brainstorming Retreat with a talented
blend of Latino and Hispanic spiritual leaders is coming together for
early June. Here we will learn what we do not know about the
linguistic, cultural, and ecumenical needs of this community as we form
a comprehensive project to bring Godly Play more fully to our U.S.
Latino and Hispanic communities. Meanwhile, in support of this
initiative, Caryl Menkhus Creswell and David Pritchard (our Godly Play
lead in Spain) will be doing triple-duty, first through their participation
in the brainstorming session, and secondly when they conduct a bilingual Spanish/English Core Godly Play Training in Houston. This
training is very generously sponsored by the Diocese of Texas. Caryl
and David will have the opportunity to take the fresh ideas from the
brainstorming session and our traditional Core Godly Play Training to a
new group of students. Many lessons will be learned here. In their third role, Caryl and David will also
conducting a Training of Trainers in Uruguay this summer. Here they will pilot newly translated
materials combined with appropriate Godly Play Español cultural norms that have been developed and
establish a community of new Trainers supporting our growth in South America. Amazing.
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Global Godly Play. Trademarks and translations. Memorandums,
contracts and lawyers. Not glamorous, but essential to our fiduciary
mission to maintain the quality of Godly Play while protecting the
national associations and the integrity of the trademark.
The Center for the Theology of Childhood. Supported second
edition efforts through publishing contracts. Exploring the options
for academic offerings and publications. Exploring strategic alliances
and partner organizations.
Godly Play Resources. Desert bags are here!
Development and Communications. Continued
planning with ideas for an annual campaign, targeted
grant initiatives, and memberships all in the creative
mix. Continued exploring locations for the 2017 North
American Conference.
The Foundation. Prepared our 990 submissions.
Let me know what you want to hear more of. There will be a “Foundation Update” at the Cenacle in
July and we want to know what you want to know.
--W. Lee Dickson, Executive Director
Facebook: Monthly Contributor
Circles are everywhere, in our classrooms and on-line. In 2012, Sweden handed over
the country’s Twitter account to citizens in a Rotation Curation project that allowed
diverse Swedish nationals to tweet on behalf of their country. We think that sounds a
lot like building a circle. Beginning this month, we too will rotate curation of the
Foundation’s official Godly Play Facebook page! To build our circle, we will ask a
Monthly Contributor to post content relative to his/her unique location and ministry setting as well as
articles, pictures, and of course stories.
Fittingly, US Trainer Sharolyn Browning—who initiated our Facebook page—has graciously offered to
be our first Monthly Contributor. Staff will continue to post articles and information relevant to Godly
Play happenings, but we will now have a cohesive theme curated through our Monthly Contributor’s
posts. Please let Regan ([email protected]) know if you are interested in
becoming a Monthly Contributor. If you have not yet liked our Facebook page, please become a fan—
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and share and like what you see there! Social media is a wonderful platform tell our stories, to grow
our circle and to learn about our partners around the world.
Book Reviews
We have a wonderful new addition coming to our website! The
Center for the Theology of Childhood has been busy writing
academic book reviews, which will soon be available on the
Foundation webpage. These reviews will become permanent
resources for all who are interested in going deeper into theology
of childhood, play, environment, and other academic areas. The
first three reviews written by Jerome Berryman will be posted in
the coming weeks!
The Desert Bag is Available!
We are excited to announce that in addition to the beautiful hand-crafted desert boxes made by the
artisans of Godly Play Resources, you can now purchase a Desert Bag! They are more portable than the
boxes, take up less space in the room, and are more affordable. Many people make their own, but now
you can purchase one from Godly Play Resources.
How trainers can best talk about this new product? Should we
be recommending a box or a bag? Is there a theological or
pedagogical reason why one might be better than the other?
In practice many will say that using the Desert Bag can actually
enhance a story. For those listening, it is a little easier to see the
action. Even the clear sides of a plexi-glass desert box can
detract from the action, particularly if your circle is large. The
difficulty is that the desert bag is not easily moved around, especially by young children. This means
they cannot work as independently with it as they might with a desert box on wheels.
In short, the desert box is the best choice for the children pedagogically because they can work with it
on their own. However, no one can deny that the desert bag offers a flexibility that may be necessary
for churches using shared space or for those who do Godly Play in small spaces. It is also an affordable
way to start telling desert stories as churches are getting started with the program.
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The Artwork in The Greatest Parable
Trainers and storytellers are all learning and loving "The
Greatest Parable" (Volume 8 of The Complete Guide to
Godly Play), but several have called to ask about the
artwork. The chief complaint is that Jesus and his followers
look too "European"—that is, the skin-tones are too light. In
part this is due to the printers used to reproduce the art.
However, we have taken this request seriously. We are
excited to announce the artist has been re-hired to work on
the pictures, and he will carefully darken the skin-tones in
each image. When the new images are ready, Godly Play
Resources will be offering the new plaques with the revised
art at a reduced price. Stay tuned as this work progresses!
2016 Trainer Gathering: A Welcome
Be sure to read the 2016 Trainer Gathering welcome attachment to this delivery email! We are so
excited to be together with you at the Cenacle in Chicago this July!
US Trainer Bio Book: A Request
Trainers Linda Clapp and Sally Thomas have
generously taken on the task of updating the
US Trainer Bio Book! If you would like to
update your biographical page or photo, please
send your updated content to Linda Clapp at
[email protected] by June 10th.
Linda is collecting the information, which will
be formatted for our new Bio Book and the
Training Manuals. We could use a formatting volunteer!! If you enjoy using your formatting skills, and
can volunteer to help, please let Linda know, and she will send the updates on to you for formatting.
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Prayers for Upcoming US Trainings
May 14 – Arlene Decina, Emily Griffin, and
Becki Stewart
Commuter Core in Burke, VA
May 14 – Barbara Sears
Commuter Core on Florida Panhandle
May 21 – Di Pagel
Commuter Core in Oakland, CA
Prayers for Healing and Fortitude
We pray for healing for Sharolyn Browning as she recovers from the kidney
stones which she endured this April. May Sharolyn know Christ’s presence and
receive his healing love as she her body and spirit continue to mend.
We pray for fortitude for Caryl Menkhus and Jeff Creswell as they journey
through South America spreading Godly Play and Faith & Play. May Caryl and Jeff
find peace in the hearts of those they visit; may they find light and love in their
own hearts as they do this good work.
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