Ginger Gaines-Cirelli - Foundry United Methodist Church

Foundry welcomes our
new senior pastor
Ginger Gaines-Cirelli
July 6, 2014
Letter from the
management
BOARD
Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
We are excited and blessed to welcome the Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli as the
new senior pastor here at Foundry United Methodist Church. It is a great joy
for us to begin our third century as a congregation under Ginger’s energetic
and thoughtful leadership.
Several Foundry members first met Ginger last month, as she marched
with the United Methodist delegation at the Capital Pride parade. Others
might remember Ginger from preaching here a few years back as part of our
Outstanding Preachers series. And we on the Management Board have met
with her in preparation for her arrival.
Ginger communicates with warmth and demonstrates a positive leadership
style. She is a good listener and a great thinker. Ginger emphasizes the
importance of spiritual practices and relishes the beauty of music, poetry and
even gardening. She is also a proven leader who has strengthened ministries
and grown membership in the congregations where she served before.
Ginger embraces Foundry’s core values — our commitment to Christ, our
emphasis on service, and our celebration of diversity. She has worked to
make church a place where all are welcome.
Fact
Ginger
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One of my all-time favorite quotes is from St. Irenaeus:
“The glory of God is the human person fully alive.”
My goal in life is to be “fully alive!”
Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
We know Ginger supports marriage equality at Foundry, and we on the
Management Board stand firmly committed to making sure that all members
of Foundry can be married here. We continue to honor this congregation’s
2010 decision on marriage equality, by making our facilities available for the
weddings of same-gender couples and by fully supporting our clergy who
officiate at those weddings.
All of us at Foundry will get to know Ginger better in the coming months.
Ginger, of course, will also get to know us better, too. She will be listening to
Foundry members at house gatherings, the same way the Rev. Dean Snyder
did when he first came to Foundry. Those conversations will help shape
Ginger’s ministry and vision for this church, so please make sure you join us
at one of those meetings.
Let us remember, as we go through this transition, that God is leading us to do
great things together. We have been sent yet another great leader in Ginger,
and we are excited to see where God will take us together.
Let us do all we can to welcome Ginger and her husband, Anthony, to Foundry
Church. We are very blessed to have them with us.
Faithfully,
The Management Board
Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
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Message from
Pastor GINGER
To God’s Beloved called Foundry United Methodist Church:
Grace and peace be with you!
It is with hope and joy that I come to serve alongside you as your pastor.
Foundry Church is a beacon of faithfulness, vitality, radical inclusion, and the
power of the Holy Spirit at work in the world. The opportunity to participate
in what God is doing and will do in and through Foundry is an awesome
privilege. It is also a gift to be following the ministry of the Rev. Dean Snyder.
I know that you have been blessed by his vision and leadership and I am
certain that my ministry at Foundry will be stronger because of all that Pastor
Dean has cultivated among you. I give thanks for him and for Jane and, with
you, pray God’s continued blessings upon them.
We are coming together at an extraordinary time, both in the life of Foundry
Church and in the life of our denomination. I believe that I have been called—
and that WE have been called—“for just such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14)
In the midst of the larger currents of change and challenge in secular culture
and within the church, we will stay grounded in the faith that has sustained
Foundry through the last two hundred years. Guided by the core values that
you have developed, we will continue to be a place where all people are fully
embraced and included in the life of the church; we will bring to fruition the
plans to make our building a more efficient and effective space for emerging
ministries; we will discern the most faithful ways to develop ministries with
our children and youth; we will build on Foundry’s vital mission initiatives,
including ending chronic homelessness in
D.C.; we will provide care for people in times
ct
of illness, grief, and struggle; we will commit
inger Fa
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ourselves to connecting with persons in our
community who may not know the love of God
I am a certified Yoga
in Christ Jesus; and we will continue to be a
teacher (but who isn’t,
place where the beautifully diverse people
these days?)
of God gather to lift high the cross and to
proclaim the saving love of Christ.
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Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
In service of these goals, I am committed to supporting the new leadership
structure that you have adopted and to developing lay leadership and shared
ministry within that structure. As we face the challenges of this time in history,
this model of governance is appropriate for a church of Foundry’s size that
wants to grow. As with any system, it only works well when all the parts are
also working well and together. I look forward to seeing the fruits borne out of
our shared ministry.
I now want to assure you of my commitment to the full inclusion of LGBTQ
persons in the life of the United Methodist Church and to the eradication of all
discriminatory language from The Book of Discipline. I will prayerfully do all in
my power to be an advocate toward this end. Further, I not only fully support,
but also rejoice in, your established ministry of marriage equality and I am
supporting efforts in the United Methodist Church to make Foundry’s ministry
practice something that our wider connection will not only tolerate but also
potentially support. I want our time together to lead to fruitful changes in our
denomination and (more importantly!) fruitful partnerships in marriage which
reflect God’s love. You have my full assurance that weddings will continue to
be celebrated at Foundry.
It is an extraordinary honor to become your next Senior Pastor. During this
important and challenging time of transition, I ask that you support me as
I get to know you, listen deeply to your stories, watch for signs of the Holy
Spirit among us, and develop my own ministry at Foundry in ways that will
move us forward with purpose and with power.
I have been praying for you and will
continue to do so. Please pray for me
as well. And in that place of prayer
the Spirit will draw us together, for we
are already One in the Body of Christ.
Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli
Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
5
Q and A with
GINGER & DAWN
We welcome the leadership of our newly appointed
senior pastor, the Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli. She is
coming at an exciting time in the life of Foundry as we prepare to celebrate
our Bicentennial, renovate our building and continue our emphasis on a
number of social and spiritual justice ministries. Pastor Ginger and I spent
some time together to get to know each other. Our Q&A primarily highlights
our communal life at Foundry.
1. Dawn: When you were first approached about coming to Foundry what
was your first thought?
Ginger: My primary reaction was an incredible and overwhelming sense of
being humbled. To be identified as one who had the gifts and graces to serve
such a vibrant and powerful faith community, to follow the ministry of Dean
Snyder, a beloved, well-respected and wise pastoral leader (and a person who
has personally blessed and inspired me!), and to be given the responsibility to
serve as Foundry’s first woman Senior Pastor as the church turns 200 years
old…all of this and more was—and is—incredibly humbling.
2. Dawn: What are you most looking forward to about coming to Foundry?
Ginger: The people, the vitality of worship and communal life, the urban
context, the opportunities to participate in life-changing mission, and the
privilege of stepping into the newly clarified role of Senior Pastor as preacher,
teacher, fundraiser, and visionary leader.
3. Dawn: When did you know that you wanted to become an ordained clergy?
Ginger: Well, that is kind of a trick question for me since I’m not sure I can
say I “wanted” to become ordained clergy. For many years, I actively resisted
the call to become ordained, even going to seminary with no intention of
doing so. I landed at the Yale Divinity School thanks to the support and
encouragement of my undergraduate mentor who insisted that I continue my
studies in theology. While I loved and fully engaged in my studies at YDS, it
was only after some time—and after trusted friends and teachers continued
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Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
to insist that I was called to serve as clergy in the church—that I relented and
entered the ordination process. My ambivalence had to do with a concern that
I would feel “boxed in” within the confines of professional church life and that
I would have to deal with folks’ projections about what Christian clergy are
like. While it was friends and teachers who pushed me to enter the ordination
process, I confess that it is God and God alone who has carried me through
all these years, giving me patience and grace to deal with the moments when
church life has proven to feel confining and when others make assumptions
about me simply because I am a Christian pastor. It is God, together with the
people with whom I have lived and served in the church, who have revealed
to me that my truest calling is as a pastor-theologian in Christ’s church. It took
me a while to “get it.” But, these days, I hold my ordination as among the most
precious gifts of my life. (And I have taken it as one of my charisms to blow up
folks’ stereotypes about what a Christian pastor is like!)
4. Dawn: What do you enjoy about ministry?
Ginger: I am passionate about cultivating intentional Christian communities
of love and justice in which folks are inspired, challenged, and supported;
where deep mutual commitment is fueled by prayer, worship, and laughter.
I love worship and the sacraments. I love exploring ideas and engaging
theological questions in ways that connect with the lived experience of being
human and of being in relationship. I live to see the ways that the love of
Jesus Christ changes individual lives and whole communities. I love that my
vocation draws me near to persons at the margins and the “thin places” of
life. I enjoy the fact that my job is to pray, to study the scriptures, to read, to
proclaim the Good News in word and deed, and to share life with others in the
Body of Christ.
5. Dawn: As you know, Foundry has been raising money for its Mission
Possible Campaign. On June 1 during a Church Conference the congregation
voted to begin Phase I of a building renovation by securing a $4 million loan.
What are your thoughts about this Mission Possible campaign?
Ginger: It is exciting! In order to grow ministry, you have to invest in ministry
and this campaign is a very wise investment in the current and future ministry
and mission of Foundry. It will be important moving forward to keep our goals
Fact
Ginger
Hypocrisy, prejudice, self-righteousness, cruelty,
and condescension are among my least favorite
things in the world.
Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
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Q and A with
GINGER & DAWN
for this project clearly in focus as a way to maintain energy and support; it will
also be important to assure that all those who are making gifts toward this
important initiative are given regular opportunities to witness the profound
difference that their gifts are making. I am committed to doing all I can to keep
the Mission Possible Campaign on track and on schedule and, perhaps most
importantly, fully funded. I give thanks for the excellent work of all those who
have brought the Campaign to life and who will continue to offer expertise and
management for its fulfillment.
6. Dawn: You are coming at an historic time in the life of this church. We are
at the beginning of celebrating our bicentennial and you have been appointed
as Foundry’s first woman senior pastor. What does this mean to you?
Ginger: I am deeply aware of the many women who paved the way for this
historic moment. Back in 2006, on the occasion of the commemoration of
the 50th Anniversary of full clergy rights for women in the UMC, I wrote a
reflection for publication in the book, A Bridge to Now, a collection of essays
and reflections written by clergywomen in the Baltimore-Washington Annual
Conference. In my reflection, I noted the luxury of only occasionally being
self-consciously a “woman pastor.” This luxury is afforded through the strength
and sacrifice of so many women who served before me. I give thanks for them
and I seek to serve faithfully in ways that honor our gender and, above all, that
honor God. (see reflection on page 14)
7. Dawn: Let’s state the obvious…senior pastor – woman; executive
pastor – woman. One associate pastor – woman. Primarily, a strong women
presence comprises three-fourths of our clergy team and will be highly visible
during worship. Any thoughts?
Ginger: Well…it will be different! The good news is that we do have a
great age and gender mix among our senior staff—including not only those
mentioned, but also Al, Stanley and Ben. And, perhaps, the key word above
is the word “strong.” Good leaders are good leaders. Having said that,
Ginger
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Fact
I love to hang out in dive bars...once wrote a poem
beginning, “I’ve done some of my best work in bars...”
Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
Q and A with
GINGER & DAWN
I’m sensitive to the need to be as inclusive as
possible in our public witness in worship and
will seek, within reason, to make sure that men
as well as women are regularly engaged in
meaningful leadership in our shared worship
life. One other thought that comes to mind:
I remember one Sunday at Christ Church in
Manhattan on which I was preaching and Cathy
Gilliard, one of the Associates at the time, was
the only other clergyperson present. As I stood up to greet folks that morning
I mentioned, fairly casually, that it had come to my attention that this was
evidently the first time in Christ Church’s history that worship leadership and
preaching were being done by women alone. The congregation erupted into
applause! Perhaps we can claim this moment as a gift and a witness, even
as we recognize the challenges it brings and the very important need for
continued, intentional attention to diversity of every possible sort.
8. Dawn: Foundry has a strong commitment to social justice including
ending chronic homelessness in the DC area and championing inclusiveness
of LGBTQ community in the full life of the church. Why are these issues
important to you?
Ginger: Back when I went through the ordination process, one of the
required tests I took was called something like “religious activities interest”
survey. If I remember correctly, the two areas from the survey in which I had
the highest scores were “Priest” (worship and sacramental life and practice)
and “Reformer.” The “reformer” in me is impatient with any structure or way
of being that is not just, not working, not in right relationship with God and
God’s Kin-dom. That is why not only homelessness and issues of inclusion
for LGBTQ persons in the life of the church, but also other issues of injustice,
prejudice, and oppression are important to me. Our calling as disciples of
Jesus Christ is to embody, to share, and to participate in the vision of God’s
Reign which is perfect love, mutuality, justice, and peace. Until I die or Christ
comes again and that perfect vision is brought to fulfillment, I will offer myself
as a servant and disciple of the Kin-dom of God, a Reign in which all persons
have what they need to live safely and securely and in which all persons are
embraced and fully included within Christ’s church, no matter what.
Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
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Q and A with
GINGER & DAWN
9. Dawn: Let’s have a bit of fun…
Ginger: In general, I struggle with these things as I tend to be a “both-and”
kinda gal. But for the sake of fun:
• Mountains or beach? Mountains
• Vegetarian, vegan or carnivore? Carnivore
• Ice cream or frozen yogurt? Ice cream!
• Coffee or tea? Coffee
• Driving or metro? Driving
• Yoga or lifting weights? Yoga
10. Dawn: Foundry has a rich history with tradition and offers more
contemporary style of worship encompassing a wide range of music. Do you
have a preferred worship style?
Ginger: I like good worship—worship that is alive, engaged, and offered to
God with love and humility and joy. I describe my primary style of worship
as “traditional but not stuffy.” However, I can be just as excited and inspired
by certain forms of contemporary worship, Taizé-style worship, soulful
gospel worship, praying the monastic Hours, and forms that might be called
“emergent.” I love beautiful words, rituals that are soaked in centuries of
prayer and piety, art that helps the Gospel come alive, music that is in service
to the message for the day. I hold a very high view of the sacraments. I love
music—all kinds of music—and am very excited about being blessed by
Foundry’s Music Ministry every week!
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Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
Q and A with
GINGER & DAWN
11. Dawn: Are you more of a lectionary preacher or sermon series
preacher?
Ginger: My discipline has been to preach from the lectionary and, as
often as possible, to develop thematic series based on the lectionary within
a given season. My commitment to the practice has been driven by two
primary factors. First, my preaching is deeply grounded in the scriptural
text. I understand myself as receiving a word—as having a living encounter
with a living Lord who desires to speak to me and to the congregation
through the text. I am often presented with texts in the lectionary that I
would not otherwise choose and am often struck by how a given text will
have something very powerful to say to the current issues or challenges
of the present moment. All this is to say, I have found it powerful and often
humbling to be given a text instead of personally choosing a text. The second
influencing factor has been an awareness of and commitment to ecumenism.
As a person who worships pretty regularly with my Catholic spouse and who
is painfully aware of the brokenness in the Body of Christ, it is a powerful
thing to hear the same Gospel passage (and often other readings as well)
proclaimed in both the Catholic and United Methodist Churches on the same
weekend—not to mention knowing that the same readings are being heard in
so many congregations of various Christian tribes. In an age when our visible
unity as the Church (big “C” used intentionally) across denominations is
pretty inevident, the use of the lectionary is one, small way that I have sought
to maintain a sense of connection.
All of this is not to say that I am against sermon series, categorically. I love
having a theme to play with and actually look forward to the opportunity to
explore preaching from this other direction.
12. Dawn: Many folks are going to be eager to get to know you.
Undoubtedly you will get lots of invitations to lunch, dinner, etc. What’s your
preferred way of initially meeting folks?
Ginger: I am looking forward to meeting many folks at the house gatherings
that will be scheduled over the next couple of months. This will give us an
opportunity not only to get to know one another, but also for me to really listen
to folks thoughts and ideas about Foundry and our shared ministry moving
forward. I will be available to chat following worship on Sundays as well.
Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
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Q and A with
GINGER & DAWN
13. Dawn: How can folks get in touch with you? What will your schedule
look like?
Ginger: It will take some time to determine what my weekly rhythm will look
like at Foundry. Once I get settled in, specific times will be set aside when
I will be available for scheduled, half-hour appointments. You will be invited to
call the church office to set up an appointment. I don’t respond to every email
I receive (if you require a response, let me know!)
Fridays will generally be designated as sermon-writing days and I do that work
in my home office.
In order to keep life in balance, I practice a weekly Sabbath for rest and
renewal. Mondays will be my Sabbath Day. Please respect this sacred space
and understand that I will not be returning phone calls or responding to emails
on Mondays unless it’s a case of pastoral emergency.
14. Dawn: Hmm, fill in the blank…
• A good past time – Porch sitting/people watching or Hiking
• A good book/movie – I love movies! Too many good ones to mention!
• A good sightseeing place around DC area – National Gallery of Art
15. Dawn: Growing up, I had plenty of folks to pick on my last name
– Hand. I was called Dawn head, Dawn arm, Dawn… it went down from
there. Of course lots of singing Delta Dawn what’s that flower you got on…
Did anyone ever pick on your first -name – Ginger? Oh, say, Ginger-snaps,
Ginger-ale or ..?
Ginger: Oh, you know it! Ginger-snap, Ginger-ale, and Gingerbread were the
nice ones. A favorite name from the childhood playground incorporated both
first and last names: Gingerbread Gainesburgers (remember the dog food?).
Perhaps the nastiest nickname has been
“Gingivitis.” Gotta love being called
ct
gum disease! I also tend to get a lot of
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“Gilligan’s Island” references (“Where’s
Maryann?”).
I love to plant things
and watch them grow.
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Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
Q and A with
GINGER & DAWN
16. Dawn: Who is part of your close family circle?
Ginger: My primary family is Anthony with whom I have lived in covenant
since 1998, our Clumber Spaniel, Lord Edmund Harvey Augustine
Puppyface, and our blue-cream Persian cat, Annie Rose. My parents live in
the country, near Centerville, TX. My older sister and her family live in Nixa,
MO, and my younger brother and his family live in Bixby, OK. Anthony’s
parents are in Waterbury, CT and his older brother and family live in Fairfield,
CT. Other members of our “close family circle” include friends-who-are-family
here in the DC area, including our Godson and his parents.
17. Dawn: Where are you and Anthony from and how did you get to
this area?
Ginger: I grew up in Kiefer, Oklahoma, a town of 950 people 20 miles
southwest of Tulsa. Anthony grew up in Waterbury, Connecticut, among
an immigrant Italian community. In 1998, Anthony and I moved into an
apartment in Silver Spring, MD for Anthony to begin his Ph.D. program
at The Catholic University of America. I was later ordained here in the
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference and we have now claimed DC
as “home.”
18. Dawn: What is Anthony’s vocation?
Ginger: Anthony holds a doctorate in Patristic Theology from CUA. He
worked as a professor of systematic theology at St. John’s University in NYC
for several years and is currently working for the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops as a Director in their
Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs
office. Anthony manages the CatholicMuslim dialogues in the United States as
well as the Catholic-Reformed Church
dialogues. [Yes, Anthony is Catholic.
And, yes, we have many interesting and
animated conversations over dinner!]
Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
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Q and A with
GINGER & DAWN
19. Dawn: What do you think it’s important for folks to know about you?
Ginger: Over many years, I have come to understand that my primary calling
is to know, love, and serve God and God’s people…and to help others do the
same. This calling has grown in strength and clarity throughout my life, a life
spent within the fold of the United Methodist Church. I grew up in First UMC,
Sapulpa, Oklahoma and was nurtured in the faith through Sunday School,
VBS, UMYF, church camp, and all the rest. I fell in love with the study of
theology when I was in college, recognizing that, for the first time, I was being
given a language to describe and express so much that had been, up to that
point, intuitions, feelings, and dreams. I understand my vocation primarily
as a “pastor-theologian,” that is, as one whose presence, leadership, and
proclamation are intentionally grounded in and guided by our rich scriptural
and theological tradition.
t
Fac
Ginger
I’m generally not afraid of much--even when
I should be. The thing I fear most is missing life
because I’m “busy making other plans.”
Pastor Ginger’s
REFLECTIONS
Tapuz: an orange
by Marge Piercy*
When women were beginning to be ordained as rabbis, Susannah Heschel was
speaking at a synagogue in Florida. A man rose in anger. “A woman belongs on the
bimah as much as an orange belongs on the seder plate!”
Round you are and bright as a newly risen moon.
You are sweet and acid, dessert and medicine.
You carry within your curves the future
of your kind, those pale seeds winking
from the sections, each an embryo tree.
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Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
Come into your own and shine,
where the only roundness was the almost
hidden plate bearing up the ritual items.
Be subject as well as object. Sing
in your orangeness of female strength.
Clash if you need to. Roll if you must.
Center the plate about your glow.
We are, we will be, we become: rabbis,
yes, cantors, shapers, prophets, creating
a new Judaism that is yours and ours.
Ginger
Fact
I like to laugh. A lot.
“Come into your own and shine…Be subject as well as object. / Sing in your
orangeness of female strength…”
This poem inspires me, reminds me, calls me. I am reminded that, yes, I am a
woman; yes, I have a certain, curved shape; yes, I contain within me a life-bearing
potential that is vital and ripe. I heed the call of this remembrance sometimes joyfully,
sometimes timidly; for it continues to be a struggle to claim and contain and offer
all that is me without apology. It takes a long time, you see, to relinquish the subtly
received notion that it is not OK to be a woman and strong, to be a woman and smart,
to be a woman in charge.
Growing up in Oklahoma, I never knew a woman who was “pastor in charge.” And
when I returned to Oklahoma Conference following my graduation from Yale Divinity
School, I heard of powerful clergymen who were known to say, “Sure, I’ll ordain a
woman—as long as she acts like a man!”
At this stage of my life, I can assert that it is not only OK, but common for a woman
to be strong, smart, capable, organized, “in charge.” The challenge for me is to
consistently trust my particular ways of being strong, my kinds of intelligence, the
shape of my vision, the mode of my organizational skills, and the movement and
character of my pastoral presence and leadership. In other words, the challenge for
me as an ordained clergywoman in 2006 is to celebrate and offer my gifts, gifts whose
very shape and sensibility are soaked in my woman-ness; and to make this offering
without apology.
The fact is, I often fail to consciously note: “I am a female pastor.” And then, someone
will remind me through a word or deed that my gender is still a factor (e.g. You’re the
pastor?!). I’m grateful for the many women who by their strength, love, and sacrifice,
grant me the luxury of being self-consciously a “woman pastor” only once in a while.
As I continue to move into congregations as the “first woman pastor,” I will continue
to ask for God’s grace…so that I might truly “come into my own and shine.” For this
is what I’m called to do—with and for the people of God. And I know that the One
who has called me is the One who birthed me, the One in whose image I am made,
rounded, rolling, juicy, potent, creative, and free.
– 2006
*from Colors Passing Through Us, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2004, p. 100.
Welcoming Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli I July 2014
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Welcoming
PASTOR
GINGER
Gaines-Cirelli
MEETINGS WITH PASTOR GINGER!
Pastor Ginger desires to meet and listen to the Foundry
community. A series of house meetings will be scheduled
beginning late August and continuing through the Fall.
Details will be available in the coming weeks.