February Newsletter
Page One
     
February 6
Why Do We Disagree on What's Right and What's Wrong?
Dietrich Johnson
This presentation will explore the objective and subjective states of ethics, morals, and values.

Dietrich currently works in the City Manager's office with the principle duty as administrator of the newly implemented public transportation services for the city of Longview.  His graduate and undergraduate studies were in Public Administration.  He serves on an array of local boards and commissions:  American Heart Association, Eastman Community Advisory, and Community Challenge, Incorporated to name just a few.  He also enjoys opportunities to make a difference in our community.

February 13
A Very Personal Valentine
Helen Ausman and Sheila McElroy
Helen Ausman, on of the founding members of the Unitarian fellowship of Longview, wrote this program with the stipulation that "Sheila McElroy will be reading it for me because I suffer from performance anxiety, among other peculiar ailments."

February 20
Religious Revivalism in America
David White
Since the Great Migration of 1630 through 1650, religious revivalism has come to the forefront of American society approximately every eighty years as a primary force influencing both domestic and foreign policy and acting as a catalyst for such diverse events in American history as issuance of the Monroe Doctrine and birth of the women's suffrage movement.  Understanding the template of the cyclical influence of religion in American history gives us a deeper, and sometimes disturbing, comprehension of the forces at work in the United States today.

David has taught in public and private schools since 1979 and currently teaches Advanced Placement U S History at Longview High School where he also serves as the Chair of the Social Studies Department.

February 27
Is the Universe a Safe Place to Be?
Don Prantl
"Yes, if you don't care to live."  But, Yeshua the Anointed One, seems to have offered those who do want to live another possibility.  The question will be examined from the perspective of one whose world view has dramatically changed over the course of his life.

 

 

   tMuch of the speaker's religious background is narrowly defined and rigid.  Just how he happens to keep turning up at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Longview will also be briefly explored.

Don's highest degree is a BA in Bible Studies from a fundamentalist Southern Christian university (not Baptist).  He has been a preacher (for small struggling congregations), a dairy farmer who nearly went broke, and a missionary in Honduras, Central America.  He served eight years as president of an international board known as Escuela Biblica Honduras (Honduras School of the Bible), a Christian leadership training program in eastern Honduras, and is presently a high school Spanish teacher at Chapel Hill ISD near Mt. Pleasant, Texas.  He and his wife, Shirley, also a teacher, (who is steadfastly still with him after thirty years, four states, and two nations) live in Daingerfield, Texas.

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We Did It!
The Building Committee joyfully reports that as of Friday, January 21, 2005 the Unitarian Fellowship of Longview officially became the owner of the building at 2301 Alpine Road. This congregation raised $98,000.00 in three months and monies are still coming in.
 
At closing time, the building fund was $1740.00 short. This amount was transferred from the general operating fund as voted on during the last Board meeting.  By Saturday, enough money had been received to repay that account and leave the Building Fund with approximately $900.00
 
It has been decided to leave that account open and continue to deposit monies from donors and designated fund raisers to pay for needed building changes and to pay down the mortgage. Our monthly payments are $636.00. There is no pre-payment penalty so we recommend paying as much as possible beginning with the first payment February 21, 2005.
 
The committee feels that it has successfully fulfilled its charge from the congregation given November 20, 2004.
 
Jo Porterfield
Building Committee Chair

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So get ready for one more Garage Sale
See Page 2 for details.          to page 2