Technology and the Church

I had been thinking for quite some time about beginning a blog for Grace Church. More specifically I had been thinking about using it for Children's Christian Education. As I watched other organizations and personal friends jump into the blogging world, I was impressed with how readily you can convey up to the minute information to so many with just a few keystrokes.

So when this opportunity to attend this year's NAECED conference came around, I knew that the time to blog had come. This would be a great opportunity to take everyone with me! A virtual diary, yes, but so much more. I can share photos, video, and even communicate back and forth on the blog with everyone at Grace. How cool is THAT?

What is NAECED and what is this conference?

NAECED is the National Association of Episcopal Christian Education Directors. Pronounced Nay-said. http://www.naeced.org/. They are a gold mine of resources in Christian Education. They offer support, networking, workshops and conferences to Christian Ed Directors around the country. What I love is their email discussion group which is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to what other Episcopal Churches are doing Sunday mornings in their classrooms. Many of the things we have done at Grace with the children over the years, are ideas I've gotten from this list. And I've shared many of the things we do with them.

Every year NAECED members gather someplace in the country for their annual conference. This year it is San Antonio, Texas, hosted by St. Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio in the Diocese of West Texas. The conference is February 4-6th.

The conference consists of guest speakers and workshops on a number of different Christian Education issues. One of things I also appreciate about this organization is that they recognize that it can be overwhelming and exhausting to run a program. That is why one of their goals is to encourage Christian Educators to seek out and embrace practices of spiritual reflection, relaxation and renewal.

Christian Education at Grace has been blessed by having the strong backing of our Vestry ever since Amy (waving to Amy) and I took over the program in 2000. So while I knew they would be supportive of me wanting to attend this conference...the reality is our budget is not.

Enter the frequent flier fairy.

Having to use up my frequent flier miles up before April or risk losing them, I offered them up to pay for the airfare to get me out to Texas in February. Father Parachini encouraged me that we could figure out where the rest would come from...and indeed he was right. We determined that using some of the Christian Ed budget and a wee bit from other appropriate budgets...we could do this. Most of my food in included in the registration fee, and thankfully, I don't need a car while I'm there.

So, my great thanks to the Vestry for giving their approval and support for this conference. I am excited to be bringing some new ideas to grow our program at Grace!

And as I said, I will be taking you along on this journey with me. I'll be posting throughout the conference, sharing with you what I'm learning and uploading photos of it all. Please make sure to leave your comments (you don't need to sign-up)and suggestions. I'll be posting what workshops I'll be attending soon, so if you have something you want me to look further into or specific questions you would like me to ask at the conference, please post them here!