Welcome to the Blog

Greetings friends, family, church members, and general internet surfers!

Welcome to my professional blog, which is currently running in conjunction with the website for the Encanto Community Church a United Church of Christ Congregation in the historic Willo Neighborhood, smack in the middle of it all in Phoenix, Arizona. I am the Rev. Brian Frederick-Gray and it is my great honor to serve as the Intentional Interim Pastor at the Encanto Community Church. If you managed to find this page without using the church website, then please check us out at www.EncantoCommunityChurch.org.

Since this is my first post on this blog, it makes sense to set the expectations. Like I said, this is my professional blog. Which means if you are coming here to download all the latest pictures of my son Henry (aka "the world's cutest toddler") then you are in the wrong place. Truth be told, we've become rather lackluster in our picture taking lately, and there really isn't a place to see all the latest Henry photos because there really aren't that many Henry photos...but I digress.

The blog will be a place to keep up with the latest church news and hear about decisions, meetings, events, and upcoming stuff at the Encanto Community Church. It will also be a place for me to post some of the latest links from the UCC (if you haven't found the United Church of Christ's national website then you have to check out www.ucc.org, it is one of the best websites around; and I know I am biased, but whatever, click on the link). I'll also be running a regular blog post called, "What I'm reading this week" which will be a place for me to post links to some of the fun things I'm spending my time keeping up with -- things like articles I've come across for my sermon prep, nifty prayers, the latest from Sojourners, and whatever else tickles my fancy that week (though I promise to keep the fantasy basketball articles to a minimum). I'll also be reprinting the "I've been thinking about..." column from the backpage of the Encanto Community Church Sunday bulletin here too; mostly because I can't think of a better place to post those.

With any luck this will be a fun place to check-up on the church, keep up with Encanto Community Church news, and find something interesting to read (if not here, then at least through a link or two). I'll do my best to post a couple of times a week. If there are features or stories you would like to see included in the blog, feel free to post it in the comments section. I look forward to hearing from you and if you are in the Phoenix area, we would love to have you join us for worship one Sunday morning at the Encanto Community Church -- we're at 2710 North 7th Avenue; just south of Thomas and right around the corner from Phoenix College and St. Joseph's Hospital. For an easy map just click here.

peace,
Rev. Brian