Dear Faith Community Nurses,

It is hard to believe that 6 months of our calendar year have flown by. I’m so excited and impressed with the outstanding work of our various committees on behalf of our FCNI members:

The Education Committee under the leadership of Dr. Renee Kumpula, has created a calendar of CNE events showcasing several experts in the discipline for our collective learning, including:

• Saturday October 28 Webinar 9 am to 11:30 am CT "Gray Matters: Understanding Substance Use Disorders in Older Adults" presented by Kay King, 2.25 ANCC contact hours (rescheduled from May)

• Thursday November 16 Webinar at 6 pm CT, ANCC contact hours pending: “Spiritual Practice for FCNs and Self-care” presented by Rev. Dr. Esther Brown, 1.0 ANCC contact hour
  
  
• Vimeo Recordings: The webinars that have been completed will be available soon on our Vimeo platform (so if you need CNEs, you can pay a low cost to get them, or if you registered but were unable to attend, let us know at contact@fcninternational.org and we’ll get you a code to access the recording)
• “Food Insecurity in Healthcare Settings: Screening and Policy Recommendations” presented by Dr. Amanda Thurman, 1.0 ANCC contact hour
• “Nurses Leading Non-Profit Organizations in the 21^st Century” presented by Dr. Mary Lynne Knighten, 1.0 ANCC Contact hour

The Research, Practice, and Education Committees have come together to offer on Saturday September 23^rd our first FCNI Research and Practice Conference “Exploring the Dimensions of Grief and Bereavement”. We are delighted to have Dr. Kathy Schoonover-Shoffner, National Director of Nurses Christian Fellowship and editor-in-chief of Journal of Christian Nurses as our Susan Mills Keynote Speaker! Click here for registration information: https://www.fcninternational.org/event-5374669

The Journal/Publication Committee: publisher of the International Journal of Faith Community Nursing has a few wonderful things in store. I am grateful to Dr. Liz Sturgeon and Western Kentucky University for the resources to publish the journal.

Following our June 12^th “Aspiring Authors Writing Workshop”, presented by Marilyn D. Harris and Mary Lynne Knighten, attendees expressed strong interest in the need for time, space, and discipline to write. So, we will host “Aspiring Writers Artistic Space” over the summer whereby FCNI members can gather on Zoom, bring a writing project, and we will write together. Please block Saturday July 29^th, August 26^th, and September 9^th at 11am-1pm (CT) to see if we can move the needle on those publications we’ve wanted to complete.

The Summer edition of the journal will be out in August, and in December we have a special themed issue facilitated by guest editor, Dr. P. Ann Solari-Twadell, focusing on the international impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how FCNs have addressed faith community needs.

Our Technology Committee chair, Yvette Dulohery, has been super busy updating our website to improve functionality (and aesthetics) for our members, and create better means of communication: a few best practices include a calendar of events that will ultimately include committee meetings as well as CNE events, more frequent notices of FCNI events through eBlasts and social media posts, and improved registration processes.

Our Leadership Succession Committee, under the direction of Dr. Linda Garner, is actively recruiting for board positions, with the ballot coming out in late September. Remember that we are an organization created by FCNs, led by FCNs, for FCNs. As always, we would like to see more of our members contribute, your talent, time, and treasure to our committees and projects, so this is a personal invitation from me to join any of our committees and run for the following board/committee chair positions. Please pray for FCNI and pray that our members may listen for the call to be leaders. 

A call for leadership positions on the Fall ballot:

*Incumbents can run for a second term
¨Current committees can use more members

There are a few last items, which I’d like to share. The quarterly President’s Round Table Forum will be held on August 16^th at 6pm CT where we will discuss the work of the Spiritual Resource Development Committee. FCNI has experienced unanticipated key vacancies on the executive council of the Board, for which we are actively recruiting: Secretary, Treasurer, and VP/President-elect. I want to thank Mary Martin for volunteering to step into the VP role on an interim basis, in addition to chairing the Practice Committee. All of our board members are pitching in to take minutes for board meetings, for which I am grateful, and we are taking a shared governance approach to decision-making. Please know that the FCNI board—YOUR board—takes seriously our responsibility to you, our members. So we are continuously working to improve our services, even in the light of vacancies. This is my prayer for leaders, with two verses of sacred text (EVS Study Bible):

Dear Lord,

I pray for all leaders of Your people.

I pray that you would raise up people who you are calling to lead.

I pray they will lead with humility and commitment, not lead selfishly, for personal ambition, or with vain conceit.

I pray that You help leaders to realize that leading is really an opportunity to serve and they will trust that you will support and provide for their leadership and service.

I pray that these leaders would seek to understand the needs of those they serve, before they seek to be understood.

So, Father, please raise up servant leaders in Your name.

Make them selfless vessels of You, in Your image. Use their hands and hearts to carry out Your will and plan.

Amen.

John 13:13-17 “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” 

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others”. 

In service,

Mary Lynne

#byFCNsforFCNs     #byfaithcommunitynursesforfaithcommunitynurses     #calledtoserve

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