Happy 7th Anniversary, RevGals and Pals!
Here's what Cass wrote:
There followed 115 comments, and by the end of that string we had a Cafe Press store, including T-shirts, mugs and thongs (!) (we no longer offer the thongs), a webring, and the beginnings of a blog our own set up. We also determined to donate the proceeds of the CafePress store to charity, which in the past has been Heifer International.RevBlogGalPals
Should we have a t-shirt with this? I don't know much about Cafe Press so I'm just wondering.
Is there an award for RebelWithoutAPew/PureChristianthinkYes. Yes, she does.
who came up with "does my butt look big in this pulpit?." She deserves special recognition at our Annual Meeting.
Little (?) did we know what we would actually have an annual meeting, in the form of the Big Event continuing education programs. Our sixth one will be this year, and registrations are nearly at the full mark! If you are still interested, click the link in the right sidebar for more information. CEU's are available.
It's been an amazing seven years. We are now a blog with daily posts, including the highly popular Tuesday Lectionary Leanings and Saturday Eleventh-Hour Preacher Party. We have a separate Prayer Blog, RevGalPrayerPals. We also have a Facebook Group with 334 members, and a Facebook Page with 687 members. We are incorporated as a 501 (c) (3) (non-profit) in the State of Texas, with an elected Board of Directors.
Our membership includes males and females, straight and gay, clergy and laity, and people right around the world. We support and love one another through tragedy (personal, family, church, world, and universal). We are truly a community of Christian love, and that means we have also had our challenges. As with any Christian community, we have tried our best to address these faithfully, lovingly, prayerfully. I pray that the years ahead will show new ways that our community can be of service to clergywomen and their friends.
Celebrate with us today! Share in the comments (or on your blog with a link here) your favorite RevGals memory. How did you find the group? What has made it meaningful for you?
Huzzah!!!
* Note that if you go to the RevGals CafePress store today, there is not currently much to purchase. We have not had a coordinator for this effort for several years, and we would welcome volunteers to discuss how this could be revitalized. Martha/Songbird has added our new logo to some old items, but the CafePress site is wonky. Click on an item to see if it doesn't really have the new artwork. And please do contact revgalblogpals@gmail.com for more information if you might have the time and talent to help with the store. Thanks!
words fall short of conveying what a blessing RGBP has been, and to how many.
ReplyDeleteYAHOO!! Happy Birthday!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday and TBTG for RGBP! I remember way back when I first stumbled across you all as a lurker pretty close to 7 years ago. Can not count the number of ways this community saved my sanity and spirit.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to us! :)
ReplyDeleteI was a seminarian when I found the RGBP group, having come out of a patriarchal "women don't DO this" kind of church experience. I've grown, learned and been blessed many times over from this group. Now, if I could just get over my crazy fear of large boats, deep water, etc. I'd come to a B.E. Until then, I'm proud to know you, pray with you and serve with you. <3
7 years ago this very week I started my first clergy position as a newly ordained (transitional) deacon. I had wandered into the world of blogging and found a community of clergy women, moms and academic types where I felt very much at home. I started my own blog in October of that year, and I think it was Songbird who invited me to join the RevGals. The blogging community has changed a lot over the last few years, but I am so grateful that the RevGals keep on keeping on!
ReplyDeleteAND I just signed up for my first BE! Excited!
I wrote a Happy Anniversary Blog Post last year to celebrate Anniversary #6.
ReplyDeleteSo thankful for all of you, for new friends, for a place to find community and support, and -- especially -- for the fun of being together, in cyberspace and sometimes in person.
TBTG!
Goodness what alot has changed for so many of us in those 7 years. I did love the days when we all managed to find time to blog regularly, when there was space to reflect & time to share...and I'm so grateful for the friendships forged through the Ring which have been cemented by irl meetings & even one journey across the Pond.
DeleteI'm sad that neither time nor circumstance seems to allow for that sort of intense blogging we all once managed - but so very very glad that we found one another. Happy Birthday to us :) (and I still have the t shirt!) :) xxx
I am incredibly grateful for RevGalBlogPals, which has been an incredible source of strength and joy. Blessings to all!
ReplyDeleteHappy Happy Birthday to us and many happy returns of the day!!! as I mentioned to MaryBeth over on FB, a couple days ago my main theology blog turned 10; I hope to blog about that event within the octave and maybe could include RGBP @ 7 in my post?
ReplyDeleteLeah, please do!
Deleteps: I just got a check from CafePress yesterday for $38.69! Following the next Board meeting we will turn those funds around for a Heifer (or other) purchase.
ReplyDelete(I am the treasurer, which is why I got the check. WE got the check.) :)
DeleteI didn't hook up with RGBP until about 2007 I think. Was that when Katrina was? That is when I started blogging. It was shortly after that that I found this bunch. It has been wonderful to get to know so many of you--some in reality on BE cruses but mostly because of what you have written. There are so many of you I keep in prayer after several years of ATM.
ReplyDeleteJust a bit of news, J is finally our of her cervical collar and able to get around. Not quite ready to drive but getting there. She sends her blessing on this b'day.
Muthah+, Katrina was in late August of 2005...so it was very shortly after the group was formed as described above. Looking back, many of us believe that our shared heartache and concern for St. Casserole and her people in Mississippi were key in forging the linkages of the budding group. She made a Grace Solidarity Chocolate cake for the evacuation, and I would venture to say that it is the official dessert of the RevGals.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to imagine that, at that time, most of us did not know her name or even where she lived! We were having our churches and friends "pray for St. Casserole!" which garnered some strange looks.
What a long strange trip it's been! How grateful I am to have been on it.
and, so glad to hear that J. is better. Love to her.
DeleteSeven years ago I didn't know most of those commenters by their real names; now I know almost all of them in person, and I know for sure those I don't have met some of the others. I'm grateful beyond typed words for the connections born from that comment thread.
ReplyDeleteRevGals gives me joy, comfort and community. Has it really been 7 years since we gathered on my blog and began to bond?
ReplyDeleteYou are all my blessings! XXXOOO St Casserole
I don't even know how I came across this wonderful community several years ago, but I am so thankful I did, especially on Saturdays when I am inclined to start throwing myself a pity party, thinking I am the only person in the world suffering through sermon writing and its associated woes and distractions. How much better to leave that one behind and join in the Preacher Party!
ReplyDelete