NASHVILLE CHAPTER - Past Programs 2010
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April 21, 2010 - Camp AnyTown, at the Turner Commons Building
By Carol Mansour, photos by Laura Flippen
April's meeting featured Kim Sharp, Board Member for Community Nashville, and Tasha
Fletcher who is Programs Assistant & Youth Advisory Council Coordinator for Building Bridges, a program under the auspices of Community Nashville and the Oasis Center. (Kim and Tasha are seen at right.)
Their most prominent project is Camp AnyTown, a week-long residential camp for high school students aimed at creating leaders in the fight against prejudice and for tolerance. Tasha attended Camp AnyTown as a delegate, returned as a counselor, volunteered whenever they'd let her, and now works full time helping young people learn how to build communities and how to recognize the obstacles in our way. Recruiting students is always a challenge because it's difficult to explain to teens why they should give up the last week of summer vacation to go to a camp with no cell phone service, no computers, no Wi-Fi, no television, etc. But once students go, they're hooked!
(At left: Brian Fesler and Julie Forney from the Nashville Church of Scientology)
Kim and Tasha pointed out that an ongoing need is finding meeting space to conduct training sessions for about 20 folks at a time, so if your office or congregation has room, please contact Tasha at tfletcher@communitynashville.org. You can also contact Tasha if you know of young people who would be good candidates to attend Camp AnyTown (rising 10th-12th graders). Camp AnyTown costs $300 per student for the week-long camp, but no one is turned away for financial reasons. A fundraising dinner will be held Monday, May 24 at Loews Vanderbilt. For information about the dinner, visit www.communitynashville.org.
Kim and Tasha offered to do an exercise with RCC Nashville, so look for that in an upcoming program! Favorite quote: "Prejudice rarely survives experience." - Eve Zibart
We were also pleased to have Rev. Brian Fesler and Julie Forney from the Church of Scientology join us. Welcome aboard!
Members and Friends present: Sharon Dean, Rev. Brian Fesler, Tasha Fletcher, Laura Flippen, Julie Forney, Royya James, Nancy Lown, Carol Mansour, Andrew Schleicher, Kim Sharp, and Amelia Tucker-Shaw.
(At right are Royya James, Amelia Tucker-Shaw, and Carol Mansour)
March 17, 2010 at Gordon Jewish Community Center
Story by Polly House
Nashville members served Seder meal
Nine members were served a Seder meal by Rabbi Saul Strosberg of Nashville’s Orthodox Synagogue at the March 17 RCC meeting.
Rabbi Strosberg (at left) presented each member with a copy of the Beginners Passover Haggadah, a book designed for beginners participating in a National Jewish Outreach Program-sponsored of the Passover Seder. He encouraged the members to follow as he led in the feast commemorating the deliverance of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt.
Members agreed that the experience of sharing the food – karpas, maror, charoset and matzot -- was wonderful, as well as educational.
In the business meeting, President Laura Flippen-Tenzel said our local chapter had received its share of the national RCC dues.
She also announced that a slate of officers would be presented at the next meeting.
Discussion centered on the national Religion Communicators Congress April 6-10 in Chicago. Several members of the local chapter said they were planning to attend.
Royya James, a member of Kairos Community Church, offered an invitation to members to attend a church-sponsored Pet Blessing Celebration on Saturday, March 27, from 11 am-2 pm at the Nippers Corner Pet Medical Center, 5511 Edmondson Pike, Suite 105.
Judy Saks invited the group to attend two special programs at the Jewish Community Center: one commemorating the Holocaust on Sunday, April 11, from 5-6 pm; and another on Sunday, April 18, celebrating Israel Independence Day.
Members present: Laura Flippen-Tenzel, Katie Shull, Chelsea Sanchez, Royya James, Tom Albin, Judy Saks, Polly House, Carol Mansour and Kwasi Kena. Guest presenter: Rabbi Saul Strosberg, JCC guest: Jordana White.
February 17, 2010 at Vanderbilt Divinity School
Provided by Andrew Schleicher
Nashville RCC members hear from students in alternative ministries
Four Vanderbilt Divinity School students shared with Nashville RCC members February 17 their call into alternative ministry settings. Local RCC members gathered gathered at the school along with Vicki Matson, director of field education, and her students.
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Sharon Dean (R) listens to Vicki Matson's presentation. |
Vanderbilt University and its Divinity School are inter-denominational, having long been independent from their Methodist founders. Matson shared that half of the students in field education are doing creative things in non-traditional settings. The student guests did their field ed. in university teaching, chaplaincy, church agencies and a center for women leaving lives of addiction and prostitution.
The student body at the Divinity School is also becoming younger. Matson said the mean age is now 26. They are less connected with a specific faith grouping than their predecessors. “More and more I’m hearing students say, ‘I don’t know if I have a denomination,’” Matson recalled. Indeed that is the case with the students present at the RCC meeting. Most are still discerning where they fit while they may have been raised in one specific Christian denomination.
One student interned with Weavings, a journal published by The Upper Room. At another time, when she was working with people in addiction, she wrote her own curriculum. “Have you ever thought about the ministry of writing?” someone once said to her. The student is now exploring whether that will be her call.
Matson praised her entrepreneurial students, and the Nashville RCC members thanked their hosts for sharing how they see the direction of ministry evolving.
Members and Friends present: Sharon Dean, Laura Flippen-Tenzel, Dustin Frye, Dawn Gibson, Royya James, Dale Lature, Anna Lee, Nancy Lown, Carol Mansour, Vicki Matson (presenter), Lori Oden, Andrew Schleicher, and Brandon Simonson.
January 20 at WPLN, Nashville Public Radio
Nashville Public Radio is in a modern building on Mainstream Drive in the MetroCenter area of the city. The Nashville Chapter 
gathered there to meet with news director Anita Bugg and reporter Nina Cardona. The call letters (WPLN) stand for Public Library Nashville, where the station originated and operated for many years. The station operates at 90.3 FM and 1430 AM (as well as 3 HD signals) and has been on the air for more than 40 years.
We were hosted in the conference room for our brief business meeting, then to hear from Anita and Nina. We heard about the history of the station, about the values and operation of the news department, and discussed the kinds of stories that our members might suggest for use at WPLN.
We toured the station, visiting the news room, the control rooms, the on-air studios, and the music studio. Below, at left, we see Anita Bugg (holding an RCC
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handbook) in one of the studios, with mid-day host Ed Lambert dimly in the background, along with the audio board and computer editing system.
Following the meeting, several members met for lunch at Kebab Gyros / Pita Bar in the MetroCenter.
In attendance: Heather Bennett, Vicki Brown, Carolyn Dandridge, Sharon Dean, Laura Flippen-Tenzel, Mike Hickcox, Polly House, Royya James, Kwasi Kena, Dale Lature, Harry Leake, Carol Mansour, Tom Nankervis, Jared Porter, Andrew Schleicher, and Jennifer Tramel - in addition to presenters Anita Bugg and Nina Cardona.
