Fran Park Center - Progress Report for 2020

BIBLE | FAITH | DIALOGUE | WORLD

To serve the church and community through

INNOVATIVE, INCLUSIVE AND

transformative

EDUCATION.

FRAN PARK CENTER for FAITH and LIFE Annual Report 2020 – 2021

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Table of Contents Annual Report 2020 - 2021 FRAN PARK CENTER for FAITH and LIFE About the Park Center

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Of Note

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Leadership 8 Community We Serve

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Park Pillars - Programming

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Evaluation Process & Future Focus

14

Financials 15 Partners 15

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About the Park Center The Fran Park Center for Faith and Life develops innovative educational opportunities for people across generations, life circumstances, political convictions, and theological backgrounds.

Designed for both lay enrichment and professional development, the Park Center incorporates experiential learning with integrated technologies with strong alignment among its four pillars: Bible, Faith, Dialogue and World.

The Park Center values conversation that is responsible, civil, and challenging, with teaching that is informed and respectful, and learning opportunities that serve the church and community. In this way, the Park Center helps develop leaders for the church and through the church, for the world.

We are incredibly grateful to the Park Center for its dedication to our community and the dedication to dialogue in such troubled times. ~ Janis & Tom Fitch, FPC Supporters 4 | FRAN PARK CENTER for FAITH and LIFE

Bible —We help life-long learners encounter the

scriptures as they ask important questions today: who is God, what is God doing, and what does that mean for us all?

Faith — We believe that God invites us to gather at

a learning table with our predecessors, to reason with our contemporaries, and to piece together what it means to be Christian disciples in thought, word, and deed.

Dialogue — Because reasoned and respectful

conversation is an important path to truth, we foster a community of dialogue around important questions of our time.

World — Living between God’s creating love and

human freedom, we believe that faith is the best lens for making sense of our perplexing and fascinating world through community engagement and curated pilgrimages.

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Of Note:

Dr. Wesley D. Avram Director of the Fran Park Center for Faith and Life

We believe that the need is great in the Southwest for theologically moderate, community conscious, and academically rich learning opportunities. This leavens conversation across differences, contributes to civility, deepens conviction, and helps develop leaders for faith communities.

Our approach is non-sectarian, though rooted in the broadly interpreted Reformed Tradition of Protestant conviction.

Each year has brought us new opportunities and new challenges as we do this work. In 2020 we made turns on a dime, built some new capacities, and imagined new directions. We couldn't be more excited about where this will take us as we move into 2021 and beyond.

With 15 years of programming behind us, our focus this last year has been on technological innovation, shifting toward experiential learning, and broadening intentional outreach.

We continue to identify and help develop leaders for the church.

We invite new people, across generations and life experience, to join us in learning.

And so we aim to promote the gospel of Christ and the common good through inclusive and transformative learning experiences. In doing all of this, we have created a sustainable educational program that is a model for other churches and communities as theological education is reimagined.

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Leadership EXECUTIVE GROUP

ADVISORY GROUP

Susan Bacon, Chair Retired CLO & Professional Trainer. Ph.D. in Communicative Disorders with a minor in Organizational Development

Susan Bacon Executive Group Member

Phil Branson Retired Businessman & Minister. Master’s in Business, Northwestern, Master’s of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary Kim Bussey, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Precision Medicine at Midwestern University Sergio Mazza B.S. Economics & MA in Religion.

CEO of SurgInsite, Inc. Diane Ruebling M.A., Industrial Relations.

Executive Business Coach The Ruebling Group LLC.

Jim Bacon M.B.A., Retired, City Manager and General Manager, New Dawn Healthcare Phil Branson Executive Group Member Kim Bussey Executive Group Member Mike Conklin M.A., Retired, Journalist Chicago Tribune. Co-founder Journalism Department, DePaul University Kathe Drake, LLM Retired, Attorney William Mitchell College of Law Ralph Earle, Ph.D. Retired, Psychological Counseling Services, Adjunct Professor in the Counseling/Psychology Department at ASU, Founder of Ecumenical Counseling Services.

Ph.D. in Pastoral Counseling from the School of Theology at Claremont, Master's in Divinity from Harvard Divinity School

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Janis Fitch B.S.N., Retired ER Nurse, former Director of Children’s Ministry Presbyterian Church Chuck Goldthwaite M.B.A., Retired, Senior Executive, Health and Beauty Aid Companies Mary Goldthwaite B.S. in Education, Kansas University. Arizona Music Fest Board Beth Johnson, Ph.D. Retired, Minister for Clergy Health and Vitality, Southwest Conference of the UCC Master's of Divinity, Yale University Divinity School, Master's of Social Work, University of Connecticut Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology Marti King Retired, Teacher M.Ed, Calvin University Diane Ruebling Executive Group Member

FAITH & SCIENCE MINISTRY

STAFF

David Schaller Geologist, Mineralogist, Scientist MS, Geology, Arizona State University. BA, Geology from Occidental College

Kim Bussey Executive Group Member

Rev. Wesley Avram, Ph.D. * Director

David Schaller Advisory Group Member

Rev. Michael Hegeman, Ph.D. * Associate Director

Mary Joy Stead Retired, Medical Technician Associate, University of Iowa and Medical Institute of Minnesota

Doug Drake, Ph.D. Retired, Orthopedic Surgeon, B.S. Chemistry from the University of Illinois. M.D., University of Minnesota Medical School, where he gravitated to orthopedic surgery

Rev. Allen Hilton Ph.D. * Consulting Theologian

Jerry Stead Executive Chairman and CEO, Clarivate Analytics PLC Graduate of University of Iowa & Harvard University Advanced Management Program in Switzerland

Kay Henderson Retired, M.Ed., College of Idaho and Master's in Community Counseling, licensed in Japan, the South Pacific and the US as a Behavioral Health Therapist

Kelly McGinn Administrator Jordan Ray * Multi-Media Communications Associate * denotes part-time

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The Community We Serve The Fran Park Center for Faith and Life serves Maricopa County, the fourth largest and one of the fastest growing counties in America. Where much of the United States can pull resources from their closest seminary, our immediate regional area has none that aligns with the mainline Protestant traditions.

Throughout history, communities have relied on academic theological institutions, such as seminaries, to provide religious leadership. This model of education, learning and living together in shared and overlapping spaces is not accessible to Arizona. This drought in religious educational leadership leaves the Park Center to serve our local community and beyond.

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The Park Center seeks to serve...

• life-long learners • potential leaders • religious professionals • people of all faith journeys • community in dialogue • in support of the common good

Arizonans are facing significant challenges and turn to their faith to find the answers for: • Isolation • Grief • Disconnection • Employment Insecurity • Political Disillusionment • Family Challenges • Aging • Physical and Spiritual Trauma

Providing accessible and innovative educational opportunities to our community is where the Park Center helps our participants to thrive. We meet our students where they are with a large variety of learning opportunities to answer questions that are important to the informed person of faith.

Helping Learners Thrive For 15 Years!

DURING THE PROGRAM YEAR OF 2020 - 2021

413

18

participants were impacted by our Biblical Studies

students received scholarships to attend the Leadership and Dialogue Academy

268

$225K

participants joined the Park Center for a year of R.E.A.D. Race, Education, Awareness and Dialogue

was donated to support the programs of the Park Center

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Park Pillars - Programming BIBLE

FAITH

• Project: Bible – Week-long intensive study of the Bible with different speakers bringing their wisdom on the theme “The Bible in American Lives.”

• Project: Faith – Exploring how our faith transforms our lives through discipleship and deep discussions. This program focuses on exploring the essential questions of our faith journey as we seek to enrich our lives as a community.

• Big Tent Bible – 52 weeks, 52 classes starting from Genesis and ending with Revelation.

• Tasting the Bible – What were the foods that Jesus would have eaten? This sixepisode video series explores this question through a four-dimensional model of learning which excites the senses.

• Summer Road Trip – Each summer the Park Center takes a road trip through a different book of the Bible in a more casual, fun setting.

• Faith & Science – This program rests at the intersection between spirituality and scientific development. As a group, we strive to understand ourselves and the world around us using theological and scientific lenses. We cover controversial topics from the environment to palliative care to reproduction and beyond.

The Fran Park Center engages our minds and fills our spirits. We are grateful every day for the impact the Park Center makes on our community.

~ Phil & Sue Branson

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WORLD • Park Pilgrimages – A rotation of thematic pilgrimages, including trips to the Holy Land, are key parts of our core curriculum.

• Calvin University January Series – Each year the Park Center proudly partners with CU as a remote location for its celebrated 15-day lecture series.

• Out-of-the-Park Podcast – Tools for the art of living one’s faith, which focus on the grounding and guiding principles of spiritual inquiry, community, education, and the arts in everything we do.

• Common Good Series: Can We Share the Future? The pandemic has given us a special opportunity to ask “just what does it mean to follow the golden rule?”

How do we “do unto others” when others seem so alien to us? What has happened to community? We joined to discuss the "every person for themselves" state of mind."

DIALOGUE • Courageous Conversations – Listening to what the Spirit says to the church is a crucial posture for hearing multiple voices and perspectives on tough topics.

• Project: Dialogue – We provide forums that open us to navigating differences and learning from each other.

• R.E.A.D. (Race, Education, Awareness & Dialogue) – A Year of Race - A year-long study dedicated to the topic of race. This included a 21day Race Equity Challenge, a webinar series with national scholars and a year-long book study.

• Leadership and Dialogue Academy (LDA) – offers high school students opportunities to communicate across differences in the interest of empowering leaders to advance reconciliation, to promote intercultural conflict resolution, and to engender bias awareness.

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Evaluation Process & Future Focus Annual and periodic evaluations are imperative to help Park Center staff determine whether the teaching strategies employed are working and impactful. Results of evaluations are used as a basis for identifying challenges and making changes to improve effectiveness.

Below are the processes considered for evaluation:

• The Park Center Advisory Group serves to evaluate and shape all aspects of the center’s work.

• Each program’s registration process allows us to understand the demographics audience.

• Impact surveys follow each program to give participants the opportunity to give the Park Center feedback regarding their learning experiences.

• Regular responsive financial support from participant donors demonstrates a successful program.

• Our work is reviewed by national grant-giving organizations and includes feedback to improve and modify the program.

• Learning outcomes are accessed with traditional academic measuring tools to ensure student achievement of programmatic expectations.

• Organizational flow is assessed annually to ensure proper administrative support is in place.

What has been learned from the evaluation processes has helped the Park Center plan next steps: • • • • • •

Outreach to broaden the Park Center circle of influence Incorporating a Learning Management System with a core curriculum Financial sustainability Re-evaluate learning models Shift toward cohort learning Staffing expansion

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Financials PARK CENTER OPERATING FUNDS June 30, 2020 - July 1 2021 • Annual budget: $200,000 • Total operating fund income: $224,813 • Total operating fund expenses: $157,673 SOURCES OF INCOME: • annual pledge • pilgrimage fees • programming fees • special event income • donations

Adminstrative Support 12% Technology 16% Materials & Equipment 5% Instruction & Programming 60%

Communications 7%

Pilgrimage Income and Expenses are passed-through funds

Gratitude for our Partners

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a program of PINNACLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 25150 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85255 480.585.9448 | franparkcenter.org