Finding a Path Forward

by James Moore on 7/20/2026

Dear Friends,

I can't begin this update without recognizing some people first. Our outgoing board members, Tracy and Elisa, have done so much for our congregation, and I'm sure will continue to do so, but no longer as members of the board (just in their many other roles). Our past president Eric guided Tapestry through a local social media scandal that had nothing to do with us, but that didn't stop people online from hurling threats and misplacing blame. Then, our minister departed, and he worked on the process of searching for a new minister.

I'm very thankful to Eric and the other board members for their leadership and support through difficult times. Tracy, Elisa, and Eric have all served on the Ministerial Search Committee (MSC) alongside Rebekah, Annette, Dawn, and Lisa, who is also our incoming president-elect. Our other new board member is Allan, and I am so happy to have the opportunity to work with the board of trustees over the next year in pursuit of our congregation's mission to weave a tapestry of love and action.

At the beginning of July, I reached out to each member of our congregation individually to gather feedback about our shared goals and sense of purpose. I’ve had many wonderful conversations with members this month and plan to keep that line of communication open throughout my time as Tapestry’s president. There were some common themes in many of the talks thus far.

• Desire for more support and programming for families with children
• Need for growth of our community
• Preoccupation with the selection and retention of a new minister
• Budget concerns related to our projected deficit

While these are distinct needs, they are also interconnected. Our ability to afford our place of worship, our minister, and our other expenses depends on growing the number of pledging members we have. In order to grow our Tapestry membership and participation, we must provide services that welcome families of all shapes and sizes. Having a new minister also has the potential to help us attract new members and help us design better programming for families.

After a search process that has lasted almost a year, the MSC has chosen a ministerial candidate, the Reverend Dr. Laura McGuire, who will be delivering a service at Tapestry on August 9, so mark your calendar! We want Dr. McGuire to feel welcome and want to join our community as minister. The MSC is working to schedule other events during the reverend’s visit to give congregants a chance to get to know them better. Our plan is to finalize our agreement with Dr. McGuire after this visit. You can learn more about Dr. McGuire on their website: https://drlauramcguire.com/about.html

Regards,
James Moore

An eventful summer...

by Eric Huckabay on 8/27/2025

For those who might have been away for the summer: it has been an eventful transition period the last couple months at Tapestry.  Since I became president in July, we've dealt first with threats thanks to a national news story, and now with the impending departure of our minister.  We are now entering a time of discernment for the congregation as we figure out where to go next.

Our last search took us 2.5 years. The UUA minister listings didn't prove to be terribly helpful because, surprisingly enough, there aren't a lot of people eager to make a cross-country move for a part time job that puts them in the role of leading a tiny liberal congregation in the middle of deep red Texas.

We're not in a financial position right now to hire a full time minister, unless someone out there happened across a few tens of thousands of dollars that you meant to send in but forgot about.  But churches historically struggle to retain members, let alone grow, when they are lay led.

So, what should we do?

We're probably going to have to get creative.  We will probably need to look for people who don't match all of our assumptions about what we're looking for.  Perhaps that will be someone without a seminary background.  Perhaps we will need to partner with another local church to share the services of a full time position -- maybe even a non-UU, or perhaps even non-Christian church.  Are we willing to embrace someone who has a non-religious bent?  A humanist, or a secular celebrant?  A scholar or a counselor instead of a minister and preacher?  How flexible can we be?

What places and organizations can help us, outside of the obvious?  Should we be posting on a jobs board?  Should we be asking our friends at LGBT+ organizations (say, The Montrose Center) for recommendations?  What about other area churches? Should we be talking to local seminaries about recent graduates?

Whatever our direction; I promise to bring creativity and flexibility to the process.  I encourage you all to bring yours, as well.

It’s June!!!

by Tracy Cook on 6/1/2025

Wow! Can you believe it’s JUNE! Welcome, Summer!!!

This will be my last blog as your President. I have to admit, it has been a full year, and we have accomplished a *lot*!

Which of these events do you recall?!

• Dawn finding the ooopsies Pledge mistake - a mistake several of us have done before - and we adjusted? What a great compromise we made! It almost closed the gap created by the missing amount!
• Our Thanksgiving Campout, where we *again* brought too much food! But people also felt comfortable attending without needing to bring anything but themselves. I heard several people saying that was a great gift to them, to just show up and be warmly embraced by framily.
• The Holiday Treats Bake Sale, where we collectively sold soooooo many items! OPM, baby!  Other People’s Money! And do you remember my Peppermint Nipples?! OMG, toooooo funny!
• The Climate Justice Revival where we gathered together to envision and make a plan for the future. What kinds of damage do we, as people, do to the environment? How could this change? What would our world look like if we made these changes a part of our day-to-day living?

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as your President this year. I’m excited to see how Eric Huckabay will lead us forward in the coming year! I warmly welcome James Moore as our incoming President-Elect, and Lisa Pedersen as our new Member-at-Large. Thank y’all for your trust and support. It has meant the world to me! 

Welcome to May!

by Tracy Cook on 5/5/2025

Wow, almost a year has passed since y’all elected me as your President. I cannot believe we have just had our Annual meeting again! Congratulations to our incoming members. James Moore is stepping into the President-Elect position this summer, and Lisa Pedersen is taking a Member-at-Large position. I am so glad to welcome them to the Board of Trustees, and am really looking forward to having their input!

I’m also enthusiastic about our newest Covenant Group, the WFPB group. They meet every Saturday on Zoom at 2:30 PM. Whole Food Plant Based is a completely plant-based diet, aka vegan. No animal products are used at all. If you were at the Retreat, we had vegan options there for our friends who choose this path, and I have to say the foods were yummy. I know our vegan friends have been talking since *forever* about getting a group together. And after a few of them went on a plant-based cruise recently, they dove into setting this in motion!

The Board will be meeting to combine the two various budgets into one cohesive proposal. I guess this is what happens when the Board members meet without the Finance team, and then the Finance team meets separately from the Board. Yikes! Those circumstances will probably never happen again, thank goodness. But this year they did. Thank you for being so flexible and trusting us to work out a plan.

Bear with me for just a few more weeks, and then you will get to hear a brand new voice in these blogs as Eric Huckabay steps into his new role as President! Yay, Eric!

Hello, April!

by Tracy Cook on 4/7/2025

Wow, can you believe it is already April?! I can’t! Wowie-wow, sometimes time seems to just fly by.

Our Retreat is at the end of the month, April 25-27, at Blackwood Farms. This is about an hour away, so you could come out for the day on Saturday. But I would encourage y’all to spend the nights with your Tapestry framily. Walk the trails during the days, hike around, and spend time sitting near the campfire in the evenings. Get away from the stress and the busy-ness of the ‘city’, like Rev Alisha said on the 6th! There is a special meal on Sunday morning that you won’t want to miss. Also, TXUUJM is going to be preaching from Blackwood Farms.

Registration for the Retreat is now OPEN! See the Newsletter for complete details and a map to the location.

Next month, on May 4, we will have our Annual Meeting where we vote on our budget, and our slate for the Board. A quorum is needed, and this can be from Zoom as well as in person. We will have a Town Hall meeting on April 13, so if you have any questions about the budget or about the slate of candidates, ask them then!

May 4 is also when we will have our Volunteer Fair! That’s where we get to see what everyone has been up to in the last year, all of the fun stuff and the good trouble! How many events did you attend?! Were you involved with letter-writing? Did you attend a camping trip? Did you march or protest any issues? Did you volunteer to help out? Then good for you! Give yourself a big pat on the back for getting involved!