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From the Chairperson: Growth and Changes in AWAB

Dear members and friends of AWAB,

When I was a child, my experiences of Thanksgiving were ones of spending the day with extended family, eating lots of food and playing raucous games with the other kids. As the time would come for the Thanksgiving meal to be served, all of us herded into the dining room to be seated. The large dining room table was always elegantly set and brimming with food. Yet that was the adult table; the kids always sat at folding tables set up around the periphery of the big table. I remember eating my Thanksgiving day feast, enjoying the meal, but always wistfully looking at the big table and longing for the day when I would be big enough to sit up there.

At this Thanksgiving season, AWAB has grown to the place where we have earned the right to sit at the big table. Throughout this year, we have done the tough work of building our organizational infrastructure to the point where we are now poised to burst forth on the national welcoming scene like never before. We have solidified our Council, shored up our organizational framework, and launched a process of dreaming big dreams that will thrill you and, hopefully, entice you to join with us in an ever more engaged way in the future.

Along with this work has come the realization for us on the AWAB Council that our staffing structure needs to change in order to accommodate and cultivate the organization we are now and are yet becoming. Thus on November 1, Ken Pennings, AWAB’s former Executive Director, moved into a new role with us, becoming the first AWAB Director of Community Outreach. For most of you, this means that Ken will still be the person whom you talk to as your church considers becoming a welcoming and affirming congregation or as you plan to be involved in regional or national events with AWAB or our ecumenical partners. We will soon be hiring another person to serve as the interim Executive Director. That person will assume responsibility for overseeing AWAB’s fund development and managing the day-to-day administrative tasks of running an organization such as ours.

The AWAB Council is very pleased to announce these exciting changes in the way we live and breathe in the Baptist community and the larger welcoming movement. As always, we remain committed to securing the day when LGBT persons of faith are welcome in all of our churches. We also remain committed to you, wherever you may be on your own personal journey of LGBT inclusion. We would love to hear from you and we look forward to seeing you at the big table as we dine and fellowship together.

Heather Rittenhouse,
AWAB Council Chair


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	From the Chairperson: Growth and Changes in AWAB Dear members and friends of AWAB, When I was a child, my experiences of Thanksgiving were ones of spending the day with extended family, eating lots of food and playing raucous games with the other kids. As the time would come for the Thanksgiving meal to be served, all of us herded into the dining room to be seated. The large dining room table was always elegantly set and brimming with food. Yet that was the adult table; the kids always sat at folding tables set up around the periphery of the big table. I remember eating my Thanksgiving day feast, enjoying the meal, but always wistfully looking at the big table and longing for the day when I would be big enough to sit up there. At this Thanksgiving season, AWAB has grown to the place where we have earned the right to sit at the big table. Throughout this year, we have done the tough work of building our organizational infrastructure to the point where we are now poised to burst forth on the national welcoming scene like never before. We have solidified our Council, shored up our organizational framework, and launched a process of dreaming big dreams that will thrill you and, hopefully, entice you to join with us in an ever more engaged way in the future. Along with this work has come the realization for us on the AWAB Council that our staffing structure needs to change in order to accommodate and cultivate the organization we are now and are yet becoming. Thus on November 1, Ken Pennings, AWAB’s former Executive Director, moved into a new role with us, becoming the first AWAB Director of Community Outreach. For most of you, this means that Ken will still be the person whom you talk to as your church considers becoming a welcoming and affirming congregation or as you plan to be involved in regional or national events with AWAB or our ecumenical partners. We will soon be hiring another person to serve as the interim Executive Director. That person will assume responsibility for overseeing AWAB’s fund development and managing the day-to-day administrative tasks of running an organization such as ours. The AWAB Council is very pleased to announce these exciting changes in the way we live and breathe in the Baptist community and the larger welcoming movement. As always, we remain committed to securing the day when LGBT persons of faith are welcome in all of our churches. We also remain committed to you, wherever you may be on your own personal journey of LGBT inclusion. We would love to hear from you and we look forward to seeing you at the big table as we dine and fellowship together. Heather Rittenhouse, AWAB Council Chair

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