The vote occurred on January 26, 2020 at Desert Palm's annual meeting. You can read the church’s WISE Covenant here.
from Jo Vredenberg’s January article:
As we at Desert Palm look ahead to the January 26th Congregational Meeting and the opportunity to decide on becoming a WISE church, I want to share some of my life-changing journey through this process.
For me, it began in June 2018 when Pastor Tom asked me to coordinate a meeting with the Co-Chairs of the SWC Widening the Welcome committee, him, and myself. The purpose was to explore using the resource of new National staff person, Rev. Sarah Griffith Lund, Minister for Disabilities and Mental Health Justice.
In September 2018, Desert Palm hosted a video conference call with Rev. Lund, interested Desert Palm congregants, with support and participation from SWC/WTW. The timeframe for the November 2019 WISE Conference (in which Rev. Lund was the keynote speaker) was discussed and how we at Desert Palm could best explore the process for becoming a WISE church in the meantime.
As a first step, she recommended reading her personal memoir, “Blessed Are the Crazy”, about the mental illness in her family and how she ended the silence surrounding it. Tom kicked off a group book study the following month to do just that.
While the book group was small in size, the personal sharing and how we each had been touched by loved ones with mental health issues was huge. We were inspired but also challenged by Sarah’s personal story of a disruptive childhood with a father with undiagnosed bipolar disorder, a brother who inherited the bipolar disorder and later the heart wrenching story of a cousin who was executed for a murder he committed. Along the way, we began discussing what it means to become a WISE congregation.
Starting with a Sunday morning after church meeting of 3 or 4, each subsequent meeting grew as more people shared their passion with what we were doing, until we were a committed core leadership of ten. It was through this core group the five-session Lenten series came to fruition.
While I found the series an arduous task, it was also a very rewarding experience with those who faithfully attended one or all of the sessions from Desert Palm, SWC, WTW and other friends interested in mental health concerns. Injected into these events, was the opportunity to attend a WISE Conference in March 2019 in Oakland, CA. Thanks to a $1,000 grant provided through Marleigh Fletcher’s efforts, Pastor Tom and I attended this memorable National event.
Then on the footsteps of our series, the SWC/WTW committee were invited to join the National Mental Health Network team in planning the November 2019 event being held at Church of the Beatitudes in Phoenix. Tom, Kathryn Andrews, and I stepped up and became Team Leaders with others in the SWC leadership. This was all consuming, at times, with tasks in between monthly 90-minute long conference calls. The event had over 80 persons attending from the SWC and various parts of the country. There were twelve, eight from the WISE Committee, who represented Desert Palm at this significant National event. I have heard nothing but accolades and how glad people were to have attended this conference. They were impressed with all the leadership and the stories each had to share.
All of this brings us back to our Desert Palm WISE committee and its ongoing efforts of WISE moments, congregational listening events, and now the proposed Desert Palm Covenant to become a WISE congregation including possible actions in fulfilling it.
W - Welcoming
I - Inclusive
S - Supportive
E - Engaged
The January 2020 vote will not be an end to this journey but rather another beginning.
The spiritual growth for me has been in becoming more open to listening to the painful stories of those with loved ones living with mental illness, becoming more educated in terminology and how to help in reducing the stigma and shame for the families and loved ones living with mental health issues. I am also recognizing the need to rely on God more in order to be a conduit of compassion and understanding. My hope and prayer is that one of the outcomes of becoming a WISE church will be our willingness to become more trusting and vulnerable with one another so that we may tell our own personal stories.
I am reminded of the Christmas Eve Charlie Brown Tree - it really takes a village. Are you going to be part of the village to make a difference? God is indeed still speaking. Are you going to be one of those that God is speaking to and through you provide the “Good News” that God is love?
Thank you to the dedicated WISE committee who I feel privileged to serve with, to Marleigh who is now serving as the very capable Chairperson, and to Pastor Tom for his beautifully WISE vision for our church.
Gratefully,
Jo Vredenburg