We have a Director of Lifelong Learning! I wish to warmly welcome Rev. M. Jamil Scott to WUUC. I had the pleasure of meeting Jamil (pronounced Juh-MEEL) during his interview rotation. He has the compassion of a Buddhist minister and the charm of a southern gentleman (he was raised in Mississippi; you’ll see what I mean). When you meet him, if you haven’t already, I think you’ll agree he’s warm, funny and exceptionally qualified to lead Lifelong Learning.
Jamil will officially start with us Aug. 7 and is currently serving as the Acting Director of Lifespan Religious Education at First Unitarian Society of Denver. He is an ordained Buddhist minister and has worked extensively on multi-faith, multi-cultural, privilege and racism issues.
The four interim coordinators: Rebecca Guthrie (nursery/caterpillars/childcare), Cora Goss-Grubbs (youth programming), Alison Bush (curriculum implementation), and I (elementary RE program coordinator) have been in contact with Jamil and are working on transition plans to ensure a smooth start to the fall church season. Summer RE, Finding Our Way in the Natural World, started June 26 and will run through Aug. 21. Aug. 28 is Ingathering and a Full Community Worship service. Fall RE programming will begin Sept. 4 with our monthly church theme Covenant. We are still actively recruiting fall RE teachers (we call them “Guides”). If you have any questions about being a Guide, the transition with Jamil, or anything else, please feel free to reach out to Rebecca, Cora, or me. We serve at your pleasure and want this to go well for everyone, especially the children, youth and Jamil.
I have been asked by a few if I am sad to lose my job as one of the four coordinators on interim contract “keeping the trains running” while we searched for a DLL. I can tell you with no reservation, no, I’m not sad. It was always part of the deal that this gig was temporary, and WUUC and the children deserve more than just “keeping the trains running.” Jamil has the knowledge, skill, experience, enthusiasm and new ideas to bring a full breadth of learning and opportunities to the children, youth, and members of WUUC. I couldn’t be more excited about Jamil joining the staff. I look forward to doing all I can to ensure his success. I know you will too! And from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for all your support and patience as the four of us worked to continue the current RE program and prepare for what is to come. It was a blessing to serve in this role and it will be a pleasure to turn it over to Jamil and see where he leads us!
In gratitude,
Lindsay Rogers
RE program coordinator
Jamil’s full bio was sent to the Announce list. You can find it here.