Friends Center Director's Report
Winter 2008

Friends Center General Programming

Friends Center’s year-long celebration of its 25th anniversary got off to a wonderful start with a panel and dinner on October 28. Dan Allen organized a panel of Lisa Lundeen Nagel (QLSP), Mary Henry Hawes (Campus Ministry), and Lou Ouradnik (Quaker Renewal Program) to share about their experience with Friends Center programs and look toward the future. A packed Founders Gallery heard each describe the growth they experienced and the gratitude they feel for the opportunities given them.

The panel was followed by another packed house – this time in the Walnut Room of Founders Hall – as 105 people gathered for dinner, a retrospective by Judith Weller Harvey, a keynote by Willliam R. Rogers, and reflections by Max L. Carter. Attendees enjoyed the fellowship, and several commented that we should do this more often!

Sandwiched around the October 28 event was the visit of Mary Rose O’Reilley as the JM Ward Distinguished Quaker Visitor in September and Quakerpalooza in November. O’Reilley’s visit afforded the poetry lovers in the community an opportunity to enjoy Quaker sensitivities expressed in verse. Quakerpalooza offered a little something for everyone: vocal music, story-telling, a song-writing workshop, humor, and vignettes from the experiences of authorship. Attendance at both events was quite respectable, but a little less than hoped for; however, quality made up for quantity! The Quakerpalooza visitors, Carrie Newcomer, Brent Bill, Phil Gulley, and Scott Russell Sanders, were delighted to be together at Guilford and spoke in glowing terms – even when back in Indiana – about the experience. O’Reilley, too, loved her visit and has been in frequent touch with us about various Quaker questions.

Courses that Frank Massey and I taught on Quaker spirituality, Quaker testimonies, Quaker faith & practice and Quaker history were well attended and appreciated. Enrollment totaled 56, further indication that there is interest enough to warrant an expanded schedule of Quaker courses. The head of the religious studies department has agreed, and pending Academic Dean approval, Frank will teach a course on Quaker history in the fall and one on Quaker spirituality in the spring. I will continue to offer Fast Track Quaker history courses, the Quaker testimonies and faith & practice courses, and teach the QLSP senior seminar. I hope that we will be able to add in occasional “topics” courses as well.

One of the topics my Quaker Faith & Practice class took on this semester was a study of local Quaker history in preparation for Friends Center’s developing a self-guided tour of Quaker “hot spots” in the area for Greensboro’s 2008 bicentennial observances. Continuing next semester with other students’ efforts, we will produce a brochure with brief histories and maps to guide hikers, bikers, and drivers through 250 years of Quaker history and interesting sites in Greensboro and the Guilford College community.

Deborah and I continue to travel widely among Friends. She is often called upon in FGC’s traveling ministry program and accompanied others from the College to an FGC conference in Pittsburgh on nurturing spiritual gifts, for which she was one of the resource people. I have spoken for programs at Deep River, Forsyth, and Durham Friends Meetings and attended the Shoemaker Fund consultation in Philadelphia on Quaker leadership. I was delighted to hear from many of the consultation’s 50 participants that Guilford College and QLSP in particular have captured the attention of the wider Quaker world as concerns deepen about where leadership in the Society of Friends will be developed.

I will again be joining my wife, Jane, in leading an FUM-sponsored work/study trip to Israel/Palestine in 2008 (July 15-29). There is already a long list of students and older adults who wish to participate – including an Amish storekeeper from Yadkin County!

Negotiations with the NCYM-FUM ministers’ association are ongoing concerning a meeting for the association on campus. This is an annual event, but this year’s calendar has been particularly challenging. The president of the association, Scott Wagoner, very much wants it to happen.

FCNL’s Joe Volk will speak on campus January 31 as the Peace Studies’ Fleming Lecturer; Ann Riggs will be the Judith Weller Harvey Quaker Scholar February 17-19, speaking Feb. 18 on “Ecumenism in Quaker Perspective;” Colman McCarthy will be the featured speaker for the 3rd-year QLSPers’ conference on peace February 22-23; James Newby will speak in Greensboro February 24 for the Piedmont Interfaith Council, with time spent later that day and the next at Guilford; Pendle Hill’s artist, Carol Sexton, will be on campus April 9-10 during Quaker Festival Week.

Special speakers for 2008-09 have been selected: Joe and Terry Graedon, members of Durham Friends Meeting (NCYM-C) and hosts of NPR’s “The People’s Pharmacy,” will be the JM Ward Distinguished Quaker Visitors in September 2008; Eduardo ’73 and Clara Diaz, members of Miami Friends Meeting (SEYM), will be the Luby Casey Campus Ministry Visitors in January 2009. Eduardo is a Cuban-American alumnus who is the past head of the civilian police review board for Dade County, Florida; Althea Sumpter, member of Atlanta Friends Meeting (SAYMA) and a multimedia ethnographer specializing in African-American and Gullah populations, will be the Judith Weller Harvey Quaker Scholar in March 2009.

We are also in contact with authors Haven Kimmel and Catherine Whitmire, public Friend Tom Ewell, and business leaders Sam Caldwell, Bill Graustein, and Mark Myers about visits, possibly extending into 2010. New history professor and expert on Native American history, Damon Akens, and I are working on a possible symposium for 2009 or 2010 that would bring to campus nationally known Native American historians and writers, along with noted Quaker historians of the Native American experience.

Much of the semester was taken up with the Routh Challenge, about which more will be shared later. Details about the annual Take Back Your Time Week, fall break work trip to Kansas, fund-raising, and planning for the transition of the Initiative on Faith and Practice staff into Friends Center will be shared elsewhere in this report.

Campus Ministry

Perceptions of increased student involvement in campus religious life have carried through the semester, with participation in morning worship, vespers, GCRO, and other activities maintaining good numbers. College Meeting for Worship continues to draw a loyal attendance of regulars and friends of the day’s speaker. The last worship of the semester, “Seasonal Music,” featured wonderful selections by the Chamber Singers and individual students and drew quite a full Moon Room.

Take Back Your Time Week was again sponsored by GCRO and saw excellent participation in some of the old stand-bys: the chocolate passional attraction group; homemade doughnuts; and simplicity-themed vespers. A new attraction this year was a barn dance at Hodgin Valley Farm in southern Guilford County – the result of wonderful collaboration between Friends Center, the Alumni Office, and various student organizations. Around 100 people packed the haymow of Phal Hodgin’s barn for an evening of contra dancing, music, hayrides, and refreshments. I’m sure it will become an annual affair.

The fall break work trip with Friends Disaster Service to Kansas drew 27 students. They acquitted themselves quite nicely and impressed the FDSers with their hard work and ability to maintain footing in the steady gale-force Kansas prairie winds! Evening conversations after the hard day’s work featured animated theological discussion among the Guilford students and several of the pastors along on the trip. Again, the students were impressive in being able to maintain their footing!

GCRO’s end-of-semester retreat was held once again at Winthrop Friends Meeting in Iredell County, with the now-mandatory stops for breakfast at Union Grove’s Cook Shack, wreath-making at John Robertson’s farm, and lunch and discussion at the Amish deli/bakery, Shiloh General Store. At the retreat, a stimulating list of speakers for College Meeting for Worship was selected, plans for small group Bible studies were made, and Religious Emphasis Week activities were discussed.

Highlights of the coming semester will include Religious Emphasis Week, themed “Blowin’ in the Wind: Religion in Personal and Public Context.” The week will feature Luby Casey Campus Ministry Visitors Noel Paul and Betty Stookey in a concert by Noel (Paul of Peter, Paul and Mary) on January 19 and a College Meeting for Worship on January 20 led by Betty. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an eminent philosopher of comparative religions and professor of Islamic studies, will speak on January 23, co-sponsored with Friends Center by a coalition of Greensboro congregations. A study on “Difficult Passages in the Bible” will begin during REW; the new tradition of pancake races on Shrove Tuesday (February 5) will continue; a spring break work trip to northern Indiana with FDS will be offered; Friday afternoon work parties at the Hut will be instituted; Friday brown bag lunch discussions will be revived on a periodic basis.

Hillel is experiencing new life through the efforts of some especially eager young men in revitalizing Jewish life on campus. They built a sukkah for Sukkot, made latkes for the holiday fun night, and are organizing a Tu B’shevat seder for Religious Emphasis Week. Episcopal and Catholic campus ministries continue to offer opportunities for students, but interest has been low; they did cooperate in offering alternative gift-giving ideas for the holidays. Guilford Christian Fellowship has provided creative programming on campus and is seeing its numbers grow slowly. A monthly lunch is held with those involved in campus ministries.

Adult Programming

This fall’s Quaker Renewal Program offering was a study of NCYM-FUM’s Faith & Practice, held at Jamestown Friends Meeting. Registrations topped 50, and attendance was steady at around 35-40. With attendees from at least 15 different meetings and representing the full spectrum of theological diversity in the yearly meeting, there was good discussion on any given topic – but there was no bloodshed! Tony Lowe is now coordinating the yearly meeting’s study of Faith & Practice and reports good interest in holding study sessions. Friends Center has no plans to offer further programs on this particular study but is open to participating upon invitation in the broader yearly meeting offerings.

During the winter months there will be so many speakers and programs provided by Friends Center that a separate QRP series will not be offered. A program for the spring is being developed at this writing which would be a weekend workshop focusing on Quaker understandings of Christ, the Bible, and the testimonies, with a session on future prospects for Friends. A tentative date of March 28-29 has been selected, and Lloyd Lee Wilson has indicated an availability as one of the resource people. Frank Massey and Max Carter are planning the program.

In coming months, Friends Center will be providing programming for Rotary and Kiwanis groups, a women’s book study group, Chapel Hill Friends, Haverford College, and Surry Quarterly Meeting.

Transition of the Initiative on Faith and Practice

By the time you receive this report, the Guilford Initiative on Faith and Practice will have made the transition into life after the Lilly Grant. On January 1, Scott Pierce Coleman and Frank Massey became part of the Friends Center staff. Scott’s primary work will be as director of QLSP; Frank’s will be with gifts discernment and support of QLSP. Deborah Shaw will resume full-time duties as assistant director of Friends Center. The sustainability grant received from Lilly will support the continued work of Leslie Essien with Friends Center and the Careers and Community Learning office as well as other programs initiated by IFP.

At a December retreat, Deborah, Frank, Scott, Leslie, and Max discussed the transition and future work together. Friends Center’s mission was discussed, with renewed commitment to doing the work of “guerilla Quaker contagion” on campus and a strong Quaker Renewal Program off campus. Insights drawn from IFP’s six-year history of programming will be incorporated into a strengthened campus ministry. QLSP will receive increased focus with an eye towards developing a national model for Quaker leadership based at Guilford and incorporating summer institutes, exchange programs, internships, a more focused curriculum, and QLSP caravans.

Particular focus of staff will include:

• Leslie - work with CCE and spirituality; bridging between former IFP programs and Friends Center; administrative assistance
• Frank - work with the ministry and spiritual gifts group; envisioning a “meta-QLSP” and exchange programs; teaching
• Scott - work with QLSP, small groups, and teaching; developing a QLSP alumni association and recruiting through meeting visitation and conference attendance
• Deborah - work with spiritual formation through Taize, worship & nurture, Womyn’s Circle singing group and a women’s spirituality group, offering spiritual hospitality, and working on a brochure listing resources available through Friends Center staff; recruiting and travel, and continuing work with QLSP
• Max - programming, fund-raising, teaching, recruiting, and travel
  

Budgeting

With Friends Center’s assumption of former IFP staff, financial responsibility sky rockets! But this is what we’ve been anticipating for six years and why Friends Center’s fund-raising efforts are out ahead of the College’s campaign. Reserves have accrued through cost-saving; materials and programs have been developed to heighten awareness of Friends Center; we think we’re in decent shape.
Specifically, these are our material assets, as best we can estimate at the present:

• Endowment (including the Routh Challenge funds): approximately $1.5 million
• Annual Fund: $56,000 budgeted
• Reserves: approximately $120,000

Against this, we anticipate these expenses:

• Staff: Salaries plus fringes are estimated at $124,000 (excluding Max; our recommendation to the College is that the director’s compensation be picked up by the College, streamlining the old Byzantine cost-sharing arrangement)
• Program: A proposed budget of $40,000 has been submitted to the College (part of this program cost will be borne by funds for QLSP in the Lilly Sustainability Grant)
  

Using a 5% draw on the endowment, this gives us around $131,000 in available funds for the coming year against anticipated expenses of $164,000. We would need to draw $33,000 from reserves. In the meantime, a return to the $70,000 Annual Fund total contributed last year, anticipated payments on endowment pledges, and another successful Routh Challenge will bring an additional $30,000 the following year, closing the budget deficit to approximately $5,000 (assuming a cost of living raise for staff). Depending on how much of the Lilly Sustainability Grant applies to Friends Center program costs, this shortfall could be non-existent.

These are conservative estimates. Our Annual Fund this year may rebound from the hit it took with the Routh Challenge; we may bring in more than $100,000 each year toward the Routh Challenge; program costs may be lower than anticipated (they have been consistently under budget); gifts to the endowment may continue to come in through the capital campaign; the College may accept our request that $5,000 of Frank’s and the same amount of Scott’s compensation be covered by the academic budget.

The Routh Challenge and the Annual Fund

When last I submitted a director’s report four months ago, we had $17,500 in hand toward the Routh Challenge. There was some concern expressed from various corners, and many rose to the occasion! More than $20,000 came from steering committee contributions; Trustees contributed more than $30,000; other gifts began arriving through concerted efforts on the part of steering committee members, Trustees, Advancement Office staff, and the work of Friends Center staff. On December 12, we received the exciting news that a $20,000 cheque had arrived from a first-time Friends Center donor, putting us over the top. I shared the exciting news with Charlie and Mary Routh, and they were equally thrilled, letting us know that anything over this year’s goal could be applied to next year’s $100,000 challenge. At this writing, we are nearing $112,000, with a possibility of another $10,000 to come this year.

Multi-year pledges and other indications of support for next year already total more than $35,000. There is the very real possibility that we could enter the new year already half-way toward the goal! But as you may have noticed from the previous section on the budget, we need to exceed the goal.

In the meantime, the Annual Fund has received a hit. At least $15,000 in usual contributions was diverted by donors to the Routh Challenge – with our encouragement. As of December 18, we had received $14,798 in the Annual Fund (as compared with $27,404 this time last year). It is readily seen that we are down in the Fund by about the amount that went to assure the success of the Routh Challenge. Following the Routh Challenge, I would anticipate that the Fund will not only rebound but experience real growth, as first-time donors continue giving. However, there is still opportunity in the remaining six months of the fiscal year to recoup some of the loss in the Fund.

Max L. Carter, director
Friends Center
Fifth-month, 2006