Excerpts from Rev. Greg's Ministerial Record

WHY ARE YOU SEEKING MINISTRY NOW

I’m interested in helping our congregations spend less time in confusion and conflict and more time conveying our commitment to love and justice. I’ve learned a lot in 20 years of Parish Ministry. Particularly, I’m interested in taking what I've learned as a specialist (Accredited Interim Minister) regarding transition in ministries and help us understand what parts of transition are essential and healthy and what parts keep us stuck. I want to help congregations interested in optimizing their organizational and spiritual health. This is how I share my passion for our faith:

• Powerful, humorous and poignant sermons that inspire people to move from passive and peripheral to engaged and involved.
• Experience in Conflict Management, Non-Violent Communication, Appreciative Inquiry and Adaptive Leadership to help communities have the courageous conversations that allow them to serve each other and the community of which they're part.
• Call forth empathy, compassion and understanding.
• Implement strong organizational and administrative skills.
• Bring in ideas and programs that promote the radical acceptance our denomination is calling forth.

I choose to minister by inspiring and motivating people rather than invoking guilt or shame. I want to compel communities to action by lifting up the good within them. I believe we are all recognizing the need for love in this time of fear. I want to help us love boldly and know that we do not have to do it alone.

WHAT KIND OF MINISTRY ARE YOU HOPING TO CREATE?

I want to build leadership. In the last ten years, I’ve come across too many people who are feeling more disappointed and angry than powerful and I think they are ready to do something about it. I want to empower and embolden such people to find their own purpose as well as be part of a larger shared purpose. I want to be a part of building a consortium of leadership that can organize around radically inclusive principles and a commitment to focused priorities. I am most inspired and energized by a ministry created by those willing to share vision, share responsibility and share ownership of the community’s successes and setbacks. With leadership, I seek a ministry committed to building bridges. We need bridges between theological and political perspectives. We need bridges between people of different cultures, religions, races, ages, classes, genders and a variety of orientations. To stem the tide of the misunderstanding and mistrust fracturing our global society, we need to be part of an empathetic enlightenment - something UUs are well suited to support and model.

DESCRIBE YOUR CALL TO MINISTRY AND HOW IT LED TO THIS MOMENT

A great number of decisions I’ve made in my life are tied to events of my early life.

I grew up in Los Angeles, the middle child in a divorced household. Both parents worked several jobs. Our neighborhood was caught in the midst of racial, cultural, class and religious change – and tension. It was to community my family turned when we needed care, companionship and courage to meet the challenges we faced. Organizations like Parks and Rec., the YMCA, Indian Guides, Scouts, Little League and my church (Neighborhood Unitarian Church of Pasadena). These communities taught me to listen for and trust an instinct of belonging – and they taught me how to take care of myself and others.

I was born into, fawned over and dedicated in my church. When my sister was given a life-threatening diagnosis and life-saving surgeries at an early age, it was my church that showed up at the hospital. And it was into members' care I was entrusted. The impression it made on me never left.

From blue collar roots, both my parents went to school to become teachers. Education – especially math and science – was praised and highly regarded. Without being dictatorial, my parents both shared their faith that education and learning was key to success and a good life. I attended UC San Diego from 1983 - 1987 as a pre-med major. I saw science as the interlocking of physical laws toward the unlocking of secrets about how things worked. I developed an unconscious faith in science to help me – and all living beings – become more safe, happier and lessen the hurt and pain in the world. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be that simple.

A few years of undergrad studies was enough for me to decide against medicine as a career. It wasn’t the complexity of the material so much as the palpable stress I detected in my fellow pre-med majors. The competitiveness for good grades and admission into good schools seemed more important than relationship and community. When I began interviewing doctors, I learned that that the competitive ethos could be found even further into the profession.

It was in the midst of this vocational discernment that the call to ministry became clear to me. As a young person, and later as a teen, I’d had others suggest this. They pointed out my love of story telling and singing during worship and how I liked to accompany our minister (Tom Owen-Towle) on pastoral visits to shut-ins. But I rejected the idea since I thought it was not the lucrative profession my parents – especially my father – thought of as ‘successful.’ A conversation with Tom (who had since become the Sr. Minister of 1st San Diego) helped me understand that it was social – not financial – collateral I was most interested in. He also helped me see that it was community that I'd turned to - even more than science - to ‘save’ me. I also was ready to admit that learning how people worked might pose an even greater promise for the future than learning how the world worked. Especially if I could be a part of helping people work together. But Tom cautioned me that I needn’t be in such a hurry – it was life experience that would help me in ministry much more than any class I’d take in seminary.

I finished my degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics and spent 8 years working as a consultant in Environmentalt sciences and the Pharmaceutical industry. This allowed me to study, travel, meet people and save enough money for seminary.

In August 1993, I enrolled at Pacific School of Religion and it was love at first class. I found the academic work easy. It was the work of mining my interior I found more challenging: filling in the potholes of fear and distrust with faith and gratitude.

I graduated with my M.Div. after only two years with a 3.94 GPA. I decided on an internship in Toronto (Aug. ‘96 - June ‘97) for a couple reasons: it was in another country / culture that would challenge many of the assumptions I had about the world; and it gave me the chance to work with the Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed who taught me a great deal – not only about our history and the challenges / opportunities of bridge-building across racial and cultural divides, but also about how to be an inspiring, empathetic presence in the midst of formative change.

I loved everything about Toronto: the city, the culture, the church, the people. I arranged to serve as the summer minister and stay a second year at the church (Aug ‘97 - June ‘98) serving as DRE during the ministers’ sabbatical. I also completed a residency as a chaplain (June ‘97 - June ‘98) in the city’s largest hospital. That period of time continues to remind me about the price we pay making cultural assumptions of how people and the world works. Because of that experience, I am far more inclined to explore how I might fit in to differing cultural perspectives rather than try to fit them into my world view.

Although, in many ways I would have loved renounce my U.S. ways and become Canadian, I realized I would have to take up hockey and ice-fishing. Even more compelling was the slaying of Matthew Shepard and the rise of fundamentalism around Y2K and the clear escalation toward war. I recognized how ministry was needed in both justice-making and community building and realized that being a U.S. citizen came with an obligation to help and serve not just when it pleased me but when it needed me.

I chose Atlanta as my first ministry (Aug ‘99 - Jun ‘07) because, again, it felt like a new culture to me; and it gave me a chance to work with children. The congregation was only 75 members but 120 children and that felt like too much of an opportunity to serve and raise up a community like the one that served and raised me. The church grew to over 200 members in a short amount of time. I grew a lot as well. I learned about church size transitions, hiring and managing staff, organizational structure, governance and running Operational and Capital Campaigns. I threw myself into community organizing and began seeking out tools and skills like Non-Violent Communication, Conflict Mediation and Family Systems.

I also got married. Liz, an identical twin, was her twin’s primary care-taker and a PhD student in neuroscience when we met. After four years together in Atlanta, we moved to Monterey where I was called to be the Sr. Minister (Aug ‘07 - June ‘12). I also became the primary caregiver for my mother for her last five years of life. We got to work in an incredibly beautiful place and become involved in a great many community issues. I worked on Marriage Equality (for which I was awarded the Ralph B. Atkinson award by the ACLU) and Immigration. I was arrested in Phoenix with 15 other ministers and 50 UUs while protesting SB1070 immigration raids – an experience which awakened me to the need for more awareness about institutional and systemic racism and classism. One of the most profound experiences in my life happened in my fourth year in Monterey: a fire swept through the apartment complex where we lived while I was at work and destroyed everything we owned. The fire, it turns out was symbolically prophetic of the change that was to come – emotionally and spiritually as well as physical. Within 18 months, my mom would die, I would resign at Monterey, and my marriage would end. Although each of those losses and endings had profound sadness, they each revealed an underlying resilience and an ability to pull love from the ashes. I learned it’s essential to grieve; and to take stock of the transient and the permanent parts of my identity. I learned how clinging to old things can sometimes hold us back from a wealth of new ways of seeing and being. I learned that transitions are not to be endured. They are to be appreciated for the opportunities they are.

This great lesson in impermanence began my intensive study of transition ministry. I spent two years at the Bull Run Unitarian Universalist (BRUU) church in Manassas, VA (Aug ‘12 - June ‘14) in part to have a chance to work with the people at the Friedman Center for Family Process (Family – Church Systems Theory) and to be part of their amazing community organizing work in the larger community. Although I loved the history of the east coast,

I returned to the west coast to serve the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley (Aug ‘14 - June ‘16). It allowed me to be with my father for the last year and half of his life and also complete my accreditation as an Accredited Interim Minister. I was able to use my communication and conflict management skills to address some After Pastor (sexual misconduct issues) and rebuild energy, trust, financial stability and confidence in the congregation. In two years there we raised their operational pledge levels by 20% earning us the district award for Most Dynamic and Creative Stewardship Strategies; as well as awards for Best New website (which the UUA began using as a template for congregations redeveloping their websites); and (3) Innovative Youth Programming.

The following year I had been planning to take a year off, but was asked by our regional lead and the director of the Transitions Office in July if I would be willing to work with the congregation in Vancouver, WA (Aug ‘16 - present) to help resolve some of the conflict around an earlier-than-anticipated departure of the previous minister. Although conflict had left them behind schedule, we have managed to get back on track with respect to all major financial and operational goals for a successful two-year ministerial transition.

Toward the end of that ministry, I was, again, encouraged by the Regional Lead to apply as the Developmental Minister for the UU Community Church of Santa Monica. They were experiencing polarizing conflict around a negotiated resignation of their previous settled ministry. The focus was building leadership, addressing covenantal and systems struggles that have required courageous conversations to surface and conscientiously address. They benefitted from clear conversations around money, vision and the kind of sustainable organizational model that would be invitational to current stakeholders as well as the constituency of younger folx they were reaching out to carry their mission into the future. We made significant inroads within each of these areas. Two very successful years of ministry saw us resolving some of the polarization in the congregation, understanding and owning the mission and vision, raising financial giving levels, increasing leadership, modernizing and professionalizing marketing and communication, updating personnel practices, making some good hires and beginning looking at some outdated governance and policy issues.

But even with all the hard work and the growing confidence of leaders, I realized we were still looking at 4-5 more years of Developmental Work ahead of us. At this point, I was asked to consider applying for a position that would allow me to live anywhere. During my Interim years in Berkeley, I fell in love and entered a committed relationship with a woman who lived in Hayward. It grew and got stronger while I was in Portland. It continued in Santa Monica. Long distance relationships have a certain romance and wistful nostalgia when you're in a high school. But later in life they are simply inconvenient and hard.

The job possibility did not wind up being what I was looking for. But it did plant the seed that told me I was ready to commit myself to a life-long relationship with Lucy. But as we began to discuss it, I realized I wanted to commit to the length of our relationship, but the depth as well - which is hard to do separated by so many miles.

I announced my resignation when an appropriate successor was identified. My departure from Santa Monica was incredibly sweet. But the wedding here was even sweeter. Now, I feel ready to take everything I've learned in ministry and serve a place where I can put down roots. Lucy is a teacher in the San Leandro School District and is 10 years (maybe more) away from retirement. It is time for me to shift gears, deepen relationships - both personally and professionally - and put my experience to the best use possible.

TALK ABOUT YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE

One of the approaches I find essential to ministry is to do as many one on one and small group interviews as it takes to understand the organizational system and the dynamics of leadership in place. I aim to build understanding and trust – develop social collateral – in these conversations which I can then reinvest to extend ownership and cultivate a sense of shared endeavor. I speak frankly but never harshly. I listen carefully for what each person feels is most important and I honor their interests without shame or blame. I always try to identify areas where energy and ideas can be cooperative and mutually beneficial. I try very hard to be anabolic (energy contributing) by being inspiring, compelling, motivating and supportive. I avoid being catabolic (coercive, manipulative). I always want people to leave conversations and meetings with me feeling more energized and hopeful than when they came in. My leadership style is a cooperative team-building model. I see myself as a facilitator to discern ideals and objectives; an accountant to keep tabs on what assets and resources will help; a forager calling for untapped energy and interest; a first responder to do some triage and decide what pieces need the most attention, a motivator when spirits are flagging, a consultant to lift up best practices and industry standards and a process guide to make sure that everything we do happens with love, respect and appreciation.

DESCRIBE THE KIND OF ROLE YOU SEE HAVING IN THE LARGER COMMUNITY

My experience in Community Organizing taught me how essential one-on-one relational meetings are for cultivating connections, understanding needs and identifying potential areas for collaborative partnerships. It is quickly becoming apparent that the work before us is bigger than any single person, group or institution can tackle. It will only be through learning trust and building cooperative partnerships that we will have collective success we need. I find that congregations who have leadership connections in city and county agencies, social services, NGOs, local corporate connections, and media outlets respond best to both opportunity and crisis when relationships in place. Between 2012-14, I worked with VOICE - Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement. Because we treated the work of building relationships as central, we were able to bring accountability to the financial crisis of mortgage foreclosure in Northern Virginia. We set and reached goals of negotiating for principle debt reduction - $150 Million - Housing counselors - $2 Million - and the restoration of neighborhood equity - a $45 Million project which increased home ownership and created 250-400 units of affordable housing. I feel my job as interim / developmental minister has been to facilitate relationship between the institution and the local communities. I tried to bring leaders with me when I work in the larger community because I believe it empowers the institution to be in conversations where decisions are made and power is exercised. I want to constantly empower the institution's leadership to know and relate to the important social, political, media and corporate leaders in the community and for such leaders to see the church as more than the minister.

DESCRIBE YOUR APPROACH TO CONFLICT

I've found in many congregations - especially ones who have experienced unresolved conflict (and I can't think of too many that haven't at one time or another) that it's easier and preferred to avoid conflict - even if avoidance leads to isolation and entrenchment (and fighting the same old fights over and over). I've found it's helpful to do a couple things: - Without shaming anyone, lift up the things that have brought about confusion, pain or that have broken trust. As Fred Rogers said so well, "if it's mentionable, it's manageable." - build faith in covenant and in healthy process and cultivate healthy people to listen each other into their truth - point out what Marshall Rosenberg kept advocating: that our needs are very rarely - if ever - mutually exclusive - keep bringing the conversation back into the light and teach people to resist the temptation to carry conflicts into parking lot conversations and the echo chambers of those we think are our friends because they always agree with us - constantly appreciate the presence of courage overcoming fear - always look for opportunities to build bridges; and to keep bridges built in good repair - understand the limits of your medium (in particular, never use email to address conflict. Email and newsletter strategies carry and unfortunate side-effect of making irrefutable wisdom sound like polemics and rants.

DESCRIBE YOUR WORSHIP STYLE

I love worship. I love writing and telling stories. I love preaching. And yet, it all begins to quickly feel empty and without purpose unless there is a special group of people to whom I am beholden. I have been asked why I don't write professionally and move toward a broader audience. But, to me, it feels clear: I need to share specifically with people who will hear and integrate and spread these stories. I need to know them personally. Intimately. I need to know we're in the struggle together. AND - I need to know there is a community beyond the gathered community to which we all feel beholden. I also have incorporated a theology of inclusion. I no longer feel satisfied simply telling a story. I want to release and retrieve and reveal the story from within the community. I need to bring in the voices and the actions and the motivations of those in the gathered community - and beyond. It's in this way that the story can begin to work both ways - to tell me as well as me tell it - the truth emerging before us. Worship in the 21st century needs to incorporate voices too long silenced. There is truth there. And wisdom. And our future.

DESCRIBE YOUR APPROACH TO PASTORAL CARE

Pastoral care and spiritual growth are a personal rendition of public worship. It is the telling of a story in which we have sometimes lost our place. Sometimes we need to have someone listen us back into our place in our own story. To be given the gift of becoming a 'holy listener' is an ancient sacred honor. It does not and should not belong to any one person. Until and unless communities can learn how to do this for one another, they will never know resilience. Or trust. Or vulnerability. And without these, they will never know creativity, risk, joy and happiness. I work to train leaders to be listeners. Occasionally, in moments of tragedy or within the realm of the priestly function (vigils and memorials) I will lead pastoral work. But, more often, it is good for me to empower the emergence of a listening community.

DESCRIBE YOUR APPROACH TO CHILDREN’S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

This is hard for me. Not because I don't like it or because I'm not good at it. But because it is so alive in me that I can't refute it. And yet, I can neither be all places at once nor can I undermine the leadership of other professionals who love, protect and shepherd our children. I was born into our RE programs and raised by them. I turned to them when my life became confusing. When I had found myself at the bottom of deep holes I had dug myself, they taught me to put down my shovel. Churches - and specifically, Religious Education programs - saved my life. But my work as a Minister is to support leaders, not to micromanage them. And support means listening, learning with and being in relationship. And it means continuing to find sources of joy and exuberance that need to be lifted up when the work in other quarters loses its connection to wonder and possibility.

DESCRIBE YOUR APPROACH TO ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

I love to teach classes. In particular, I have taught theology and spiritual practice, communication (non-violent communication as a primary resource for holy conversations). I have taught 'Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography for Fun and Prophet." And one of my favorite classes to teach is 'A Year to Live' which is a composite of identity exploration, values clarification, boundaries, theology, priorities and spiritual practice. All of these are about developing self awareness as a means of cultivating leadership and purpose.

DESCRIBE YOUR APPROACH TO COMMUNITY BUILDING

My supervisor and mentor during my internship, the Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed once said, "The purpose of the church is the transformation of society." And yet, the power of transformation is built from attention, acceptance, planning and trust. All of these are cultivated in ordinary moments: in the reception line, in less formal and more intimate conversations, in expressions of vulnerability found in emails and texts, while sitting next to one another at a meeting or in a social function. Brene Brown talks about trust being akin to the cumulation of marbles in a jar: when the jar is full, you have enough trust to invest it in something that strengthen the bonds between each and the all-encompassing ideal you are, together, pursuing. It's important to be consistently aware of the promises made and the integrity to remain congruent in all your ideals. Good process builds good relationships and it is something you always thoughtfully cultivate in every interaction.

DESCRIBE YOUR APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Leadership is everything. People will say they want happiness. Or trust. Or connection. Often they will come in with stories of abandonment or betrayal or heartache or disillusionment of every stripe. But, to some extent, this is usually tied, in some way, to some level of victimization. Being a victim in a particular situation is something that happens. Adopting the tenants of victimization - or the identity of a victim - is a sure-fire recipe for despair. Sometimes we can actually change the world - bend the moral arc of the universe toward justice. But it almost never happens until we change ourselves to be the attentive and actualized leaders we are capable of being. And it doesn't happen to the optimal, interdependent degree we want and need until we recognize that our liberation is tied to the liberation of those around us. And what often keeps us captive is the failure to understand the third part of Griswald's three-part covenant: (Love is the doctrine of this church; the quest for truth is our sacrament; and SERVICE IS OUR PRAYER). The key to Unitarian Universalism assuming it's place of power in the religious pantheon is to drop its sense of privileged elitism and adopt a more humble call toward service. It is through that path of leadership we will discover our power, creativity, happiness and hope we've been looking for.