Thank You, Helen

As we work through the editing process for the first sets of the new lesson plans, there is someone we need to thank.

Helen Barron has played a major role in bringing Lesson Plans That Work into fruition. Beginning in 2002 she worked with Robyn Szoke, then Staff Officer for Children's Ministries and Christian Education, and me, then Program Assistant for Children's Ministries and Christian Education, to produce the current set of plans, which replaced an outdated existing curriculum. We based the new plans on the Gospel readings of the Revised Common Lectionary because every indication was that General Convention 2003 would approve it for use in the Episcopal Church. As it turned out, we were way ahead of the curve. The Revised Common Lectionary was not approved until General Convention 2006.

Throughout the three year process of preparing the lesson plans, Helen never missed a deadline and kept a sense of humor, which made it easy for me to maintain the pace of my work getting the plans edited and delivered to Gary Williams, who was the primary web person for the Ministries with Young People Cluster.

Once the first plans were up for all three years of the lectionary cycle, Helen went back and wrote lessons for the Sundays of Epiphany and after Pentecost that we needed for future years. From there she went on to develop and pilot the first intergenerational plans, followed by completing the other intergenerational plans. We were just beginning to talk about next steps when the Church Center reorganized in 2008.

When I became the Program Officer Trainee for Congregational Life (and then for Children's Ministries) with overall responsibility for the Lesson Plans, Helen and I once again began talking about next steps. Even before my Director suggested we might want to have "different voices" for the Lesson Plans, Helen herself had suggested we might want to have different people writing for the different seasons. Helen and I bounced ideas around, and I polled my networks. Helen served as my sounding board as the department figured out the best way to move forward with a set of plans based on the Old Testament readings. Once we had a framework in place, Helen worked with us to develop Writers Guides for the Lesson Plans.

Not only has Helen been a major part of the Lesson Plans project, she has been a great support to me in my work throughout my eight plus years in Children's Ministries at the Episcopal Church Center. She has always had time to listen as I talked through things. She has sometimes been the "squeaky wheel" that kept some of our projects on the right track.

For all of this, Helen, and much more, I thank you. Blessings on your continued ministry.

Jeff