Southern Unitarian Universalist Region

What is a Dwight Brown Leadership Experience? It is a challenging, exciting, leadership development experience that will enrich the life of the participants, as well as enhance the sponsoring Unitarian Universalist congregation.  Named after the District Executive who helped launch our first Leadership School, DBLE is designed to teach and reinforce skills and abilities for leaders and leaders-to-be in UU congregations.  DBLE is offered as a Leadership School each summer as a 6-day, intensive program.

When: August August 7-12, 2011

Where: on the campus of Texas Women’s University in Denton, TX

Who: lay and professional leaders including young adults, ministers, DREs, youth leaders 16 and older, and congregational staff.  To maximize benefits from the experience, we encourage participation by congregational teams that include a mix of people in different roles.

How: Read the Expectations and Nomination Process below for more information

Hear from someone who's been there!
"The best thing I ever did for myself and the Little Rock Church was to attend Dwight Brown Leadership Experience. DBLE taught me what a Unitarian Universalist church ought to be and do. When I came home, I could not help but measure our church's performance against what I'd learned. Now we have a good start on a new chapter in the life of our church and it is in large part thanks to DBLE and its vision of what a healthy church ought to be up and doing." -- Virginia Williams, past-president, Unitarian Universalist Church of Little Rock

Expectations and Participant Nomination Process

Once again the Dwight Brown Leadership Experience offers a chance for turbocharged training for leaders – lay and clergy alike. This is an intense and deeply spiritual experience.  It will focus on the presence and functioning of the individual leaders and will help to form them into a team who serve Unitarian Universalism as servant leaders to their congregations and elders of the faith. Through small group experiences, case studies, lectures, worship, and theological dialogue, participants will gain practical understanding of healthy congregation concepts and tools, the value of intentional leadership process, and the vital connections between religious leadership, faith development, and the realization of beloved community.

Our goal is to translate the DBLE experience into tangible congregational health and vitality. Factors that appear to make a difference in how DBLE affects congregational health include participants who come well grounded in Unitarian Universalism, participants who serve significant leadership roles in their congregation, participants who come in teams of two to four from a congregation, congregations who send teams of leaders to DBLE for several years in a row, and congregations that have an intentional process for selecting their DBLE registrants and integrating knowledge and skills from the experience into the life of the congregation.

This letter is the call for you to nominate your congregation’s participants for the 2011 DBLE scheduled for August 7-12 on the campus of Texas Women’s University in Denton, TX. This year we are explicitly inviting leaders from all four districts of the UUA Southland Region. We ask that you carefully consider the leaders you would like to participate in DBLE and submit the accompanying nomination form to the Southwest District Office by April 15th.  We plan to announce the 2011 class by May 1st. Preference will be given to leaders who will be serving in board, staff (particularly ministers and DREs), or major committee/ministry leadership roles. Participants must come in congregational teams of two to four leaders.  No solo participants will be accepted. Congregations and faith movements reflect their leadership, and we strive for DBLE to represent the best of UU multi-generational and multi-cultural community. We encourage you to include your best youth (16 and older) and young adult (YA) leader(s), as well as persons of color in your leadership as part of your DBLE team. Their leadership presence and participation are important both in our congregations today and for the future of our faith.  We are asking congregational presidents, or their designees, to please complete and submit the DBLE Nomination Form to nominate participants from your congregation.  

What to expect from our 2011 DBLE
Participants will be part of an intensive, challenging, and supportive learning environment. The daily program begins with worship at 8:30 a.m. and ends after reflective small group work at about 9:45 p.m., with a long midday and other shorter breaks. DBLE is a covenanted, multi-generational community. All participants and staff must accede to the attached covenant before they come, and must agree to abide by certain rules that apply to all multi-generational, SWUUC-sponsored programs, such as no public consumption of alcohol and no illegal drugs or sexualized behavior, as well as policies and guidelines of Texas Woman’s University. Participants will have the opportunity to add to the covenant and rules when the class gathers at DBLE. We ask that you give a copy of this letter and the DBLE 2011 Participant Expectations and Covenant to all leaders who you plan to nominate as participants.

In addition to the actual week of DBLE, we offer continuing support to participating  congregations, assisting the leaders chosen in more fully using their strengths to advance their congregation’s mission. Participants will be asked to complete a survey of their leadership experiences and attributes, as well as current or expected leadership roles, before DBLE begins.  During DBLE they will create personal leadership development and action plans.  Afterward, DBLE Dean Joe Sullivan and Southland Leadership Experience (SUULE) Dean Peter Kandis serve as coaches during periodic post-DBLE teleconferences for peer and coaching support of participant leadership plans.  Recent DBLE graduates have found this follow-up support quite valuable in addressing immediate leadership challenges and in further cultivating helpful connections with leaders in other congregations.

UUA staff experts in system’s thinking, faith development, the art of religious leadership, and healthy congregation concepts and practices, including District Executives the Rev. Susan Smith, Connie Goodbread, and Rev. Kenn Hurto, will serve as lead faculty for DBLE 2011. Some of our Southwestern Conference’s and Southland Region’s most experienced consultants and ministers will serve on staff as small group leaders, coaches, or chaplain.  

 We urge you to consider now which leaders would help your congregation benefit most from this experience and nominate them. If you are new to the Southwestern Conference or Southland Region yourself or have not attended DBLE or SUULE, join us for a stimulating, challenging continuing education event. This program qualifies for continuing education grants for professional ministry offered by the Rev. Jory Agate of the UUA. We look forward to seeing you and yours there this summer.

Sincerely,

Susan M. Smith
District Executive Joe Sullivan
DBLE Dean
281-342-8133 Home Office
281-415-8208 Cell
jsullconsulting@gmail.com