A Message from Our Outgoing President

I am sitting here thinking about this past year at New Vision and I have this great BIG smile on my face.  What a miraculous year it has been.  I started thinking about my New Vision journey and my smile continued.  I started coming to New Vision after I saw a movie about heart centered living.  That was in 2013, I think.  Rev. Michelle was the minister for about three months.  After she left, I experienced a community that stepped up and had amazing speakers and music every single week.  I loved hearing this teaching from so many perspectives.  The miracle that I saw was how this community just kept on going without a lead minister.  The LC along with Jeff, Karin and Lezli were leading the charge during all of our transitions.   They did a remarkable job.  I remember thinking how amazing the Leadership Council must be to keep this church going, especially when the attendance kept going down. This community is all about the community and they do what it takes to continue this amazing message that we are all One.  I knew then that this was my spiritual community.  I chose to became a member and there still wasn’t a lead minister. 

I started taking classes and never stopped until 2018 when I completed the Practitioner 1 training.  I highly recommend Prac 1 to anyone who really wants to dive deeper and peel away some layers.  My classes and Prac training allowed me to meet some really great folks here at New Vision.  Over the years I have learned that it is safe to let people in, to let them love me.  It is also safe for me to love you back.  I peeled away and will continue to peel away the layers to allow Love to flow freely through me, as me.    

In 2017 the minister made an appeal on a Sunday to consider joining the Leadership Council.  I got a ping, a feeling in my body that I wanted to do this.  I wanted to give back to the community by being on the Leadership Council, the same body that is a big part of keeping this community going through the tough times.  I want to support this community like they did.  Little did I know that this minister would leave too so I really got to experience being on the Leadership Council when we had no minister!  Funny how the Universe guides like that. 

My first year on the Leadership Council was as the Outreach Liaison.  There were parts of this role that went well and parts that didn’t go so well (great growth happened.)  My second year on the LC I was the Partnership Liaison.  As the Partnership Liaison, I created the 2019 Companion Journal.  I truly loved my creative self-expression in this project and I am so proud of how beautiful it came out.  I was asked by a few Partners recently if I would create an NVC journal and I believe that is one of the things I will be doing with my free time, now that I am completing my three-year term on the Leadership Council. 

My third year on the LC has been miraculous for me personally and for our beloved community.  I have experienced Love and Community on a level I never knew possible.  I would like to share my experience and the growth that took place as your Leadership Council President.  (I just love saying that 🙂

This weekend, the Vision Group, which is made up of current and past LC members, will go on a day and a half retreat.  We will connect and consciously LOVE this community up.  The new LC will go through a process of self-selecting their role for this coming year.  I just love the process we use to choose our positions on the Leadership Council each year.  We spend time together in contemplation and prayer.  We really enjoy creating the space where the Power of Love is Revealed for ourselves and the community.  Each year, Jeff Hargis has lead us through a process where we choose our next role.  It is sacred, loving, and always works out having each position filled where everyone feels their gifts are expressed in their new positions.  This past year, I was brought to tears by the Love that felt so tangible, so comforting, to me during this process. 

I remember sitting there, with my eyes closed, centering myself and contemplating on what is mine to do for my role on the Leadership Council.  Suddenly, a wave of Knowing washed over me and my entire being was ready to be vulnerable and throw my hat in the ring for the President position.  Tears of Joy were flowing down my face.  This was one of those times when I just knew.  Then, I thought “What the heck was I thinking?!”  I wasn’t thinking, that was the beauty of it. 

From that moment forward it has been an incredible journey.  Our first month with the new Leadership Council, we completed our new minister search and offered our Senior Co-Ministers a job!  (part time… yea right!)  Thanks, Nancy Harkins, for your leadership with finding us the perfect ministers.  Shortly after, we created thorough Letters of Call (contracts) for our amazing minsters.  Thank you, Judy Walruff and Jeff Miller.  Then… Sold the building, oops – never mind!  Then, an angel lender stepped forward and we refinanced our property!  This allowed us to stay at our current property!  It has been a busy year where we have created policies and procedures and guidelines that support us in building a strong foundation/container while we grow so beautifully with such Strength and Love.  For me, being involved in these kinds of conversations is exciting and rewarding. I just loved learning how the business side of our center works.  I felt like I was being fully expressed in my Zone of Genius (as Rev. Karin said to me.)  I felt heard and respected for showing up as me.   How cool is that!

I have realized gifts I didn’t know I had during my time on the Leadership Council.  My intention this past year was to be in Service to this community, these ministers, and this Leadership Council.  I have stretched myself in so many ways and have been more vulnerable in one year than I have in many years!  I’m getting kinda used to it. 🙂   I can see how miracles show up inside of being vulnerable. I remember the first Town Hall meeting and how nervous I was and I could see my growth at the Annual Meeting a couple of weeks ago.  I actually enjoyed speaking in front of everyone!  That was a big breakthrough for me. 

I am so grateful for the loving and caring space the Leadership Council, Vision Group and community have created for me.  I am so grateful for all of the love and connection I experience with each of you.  I just love the hugs, the smiles and being in this life with you.   I just love our Munch & Mingle’s, classes, and Gourmet 4 God get-togethers.   I feel like I become more connected to this community when I see the familiar faces of people I have classes with or meet at our gatherings.  I love that we wear nametags at everything we do!  As you can see, I just love everything about this community!  I see miracles happening everywhere at the center and in our lives and in the lives of those we love. 

Being on the Leadership Council for these past 3 years has given me the opportunity to deepen my Faith and to be free to be me, to not worry about making mistakes.  I know that I am enough, just the way I am.

My word for 2020 is Ease and this recap of my Leadership Council experience is a part of me Easing out of my role as president and creating what will fill the void.   I know that the new Leadership Council will be perfect in every way, it always works out that way as we allow Sweet Spirit to guide the process.  Please keep the Leadership Council in your prayers this Saturday as they go through the process of being guided into their next role on the Leadership Council.  Knowing perfect Clarity and Ease.

In Gratitude and Love,

Maureen Geraghty

President

Leadership Council

New Vision Center for Spiritual Living