The latest issue of Celebrate Florida begins with coverage of General Synod 34 in Indianapolis and the election of the first woman and the first woman of African descent to lead The United Church of Christ as the denomination's General Minister and President, the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson. In addition, as the 2023 Hurricane Season heats up, there are useful tips on preparing for a hurricane, plus updates on banned books and from Florida UCC Women President Patsy McDowell, and much, much more. Read all about it!

Now is the time to gather the church and to celebrate and recommit to our shared covenant as The United Church of Christ in Florida comes together at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, 9700 International Drive in Orlando, Oct. 12-14 for the 2023 Annual Gathering of the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ. This year's theme is "Dancing in the Dark: We Shall Prophesy!" (Acts 2:17-20). In addition to other invited guests and friends, we are honored and excited to be joined by the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, recently elected as the 10th General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ at the 34th General Synod. -> Register today! ->  Get Agenda ->  Proposed 2024 Budget ->  2022 Minutes ->

The Florida Conference will be underwriting a "Clergy Burnout and Self-Care" online workshop on Oct. 27 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET. Together we will acknowledge the very real risk of clergy spiritual, physical and relational exhaustion, and we will explore how to recognize the red flags of unhealthy ministry relationships and practice self-care so as to avoid burnout. Florida Conference clergy who attend will earn one unit of boundary training credit. Registration is required, but there is no cost to participate for clergy who have their standing in Florida. Cost is $40 for clergy who have their standing in another conference or association. The workshop will take place via Zoom video conference, and links will be emailed to registrants the week before the workshop. Register today!

According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel on Feb. 1, 2023, "Former Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran is slated to become the next president of embattled New College of Florida, while Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing to cut diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and curtail faculty tenure on state university campuses. All of these planned changes apparently are intended to further DeSantis’ campaign against what he describes as a 'far-left' agenda in higher education." Conference Minister Rev. John Vertigan is urging the church to raise its voice and object to the "hijacking of higher education at New College and on campuses across the state of Florida." Read his pastoral letter here.

If you've been missing our e-Celebrate and Celebrate Florida email newsletters, you may have missed the announcement last December that we discontinued e-Celebrate, which had been published every other week, in favor of a new weekly newsletter that we're calling The Sunshine Connection until we come up with a better name. If you'd like to start receiving The Sunshine Connection, you can sign up here. In addition, starting this year, Celebrate Florida will be published quarterly, at the end of March, June, September and December, rather than every other month as it had been. If you've already subscribed, you don't need to do anything. If you'd like to subscribe or update your email address, go here.