A long, winding journey
By Tamara Williams, RGCSL Webmaster
This website has truly taken the scenic route. What began in 2022 wandered through visioning sessions, pauses, reboots, and a whole lot of persistence. And now, at long last, it’s here.
A Vision with Many Pit Stops
Our first visioning session with Interim Minister Karen Linsley, Rev. Gil, Nancy Bowers, Carmella Herrera, Annette Martinez and Hana Mason and me set the tone for everything that followed. We imagined a site that felt welcoming, friendly, full of ease and grace.
We wanted visitors to feel intrigued, calm, joyful, expansive, and maybe even tumble into what Nancy brilliantly called a “rabbit hole of goodness.” A place where someone might think, “This could be my spiritual home.”
In 2023, Marilyn Kirk joined the adventure. We wrote pages, developed the navigation, and revised endlessly. Life shifted, the project paused, and I kept tinkering quietly behind the scenes.
Momentum, Detours, and a Whole Lot of Teamwork
By 2024, Rev. Gil led a team of Nancy Bowers, Sue Klump, Sherry Noone, and me, and together we refreshed the site with new energy and fresh eyes. When other priorities pulled Rev. Gil in a different direction for a bit, he passed the baton to Rev. Kamatara, who stepped in with her signature clarity and enthusiasm. I brought in developers to help build out the structure, and later a freelancer when the first company didn’t quite hit the mark, because this project clearly had its own sense of adventure.
A New Home, A New Vision
Everything shifted when RGCSL moved in early 2026. As we settled in, Rev. Gil re‑engaged with fresh energy, and he, Nancy, Robyn, and I were already exchanging emails and meeting notes as we shaped the next phase of the site. Nancy stepped away after April, and from then on the three of us carried the work forward, refining content and aligning the site with our emerging identity in our new home.
A Website That Feels Like Us
Today, the website reflects that whole journey: persistence, teamwork, evolving vision, and a community discovering itself anew. It’s clear, welcoming, and easy to navigate, but more than that, it carries the feeling we named in that very first visioning session. And if we did our job well, members may smile and think, “This shows what RGCSL is truly about as my spiritual home,” and newcomers may find themselves thinking, “This could be my spiritual home.”
To everyone who touched this project, in big ways, small ways, early on, or right when we needed you, thank you. Your ideas, your patience, your encouragement, and your willingness to jump in, sometimes more than once, made this website possible. This is a celebration of all of us, and every page carries a little spark of your love for RGCSL.
PS New features for the events and calendar sections are on the way, along with other enhancements that will help the site grow right along with our community.
