2026 Annual Meeting
“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 36:26
DELEGATES: Churches with 500 members or fewer may have FIVE delegates. Ministers with standing in the SWC, members of the SWC Executive Board, and General Synod Delegates are Delegates in their own right and do not count toward the five church delegates.
STANDING RULES: Click here to read and/or download.
RESOLUTIONS: Procedures for communicating resolutions from churches, individual delegates, or other interested parties which are to be considered by the Annual Meeting are as follows:
Resolutions must be submitted to the Conference Minister and the Executive Board, in writing or via email, no later than ONE week before the meeting of the Board preceding the Annual Meeting for approval for submission at the Annual Meeting.
The Notice of the Annual Meeting will contain the date that resolutions must be received by the Executive Board.
The Executive Board has the authority to change, withhold, or combine resolutions with the permission of the submitter.
March 19, 2026 is the due date for resolutions to be submitted this year.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS are due no later than March 31, 2026.
We’re beyond grateful to our Annual Meeting planning team led by Rev. Dr. Gloria Smith for their organization skills, attention to details, and communication gifts as we put together this year’s event. We appreciate you SO MUCH!
OFFERING: This year’s offering during the worship services will be shared between Tohono O’odham scholarship fund and the Sahuarita Food Bank culinary program.
April 23-25, 2026
The Good Shepherd UCC, Sahuarita AZ
We are thrilled to invite you to our 3-day transformative gathering centered on the theme of “A New Heart: Crossing the Threshold." This year’s annual meeting aims to equip clergy and church leaders with the tools, inspiration, and faith-based strategies to address today's pressing chaotic times. Together, we’ll explore how the church can lead in advocating for equity, compassion, and lasting change. Our 2026 event will feature a film screening, an awards banquet, intriguing workshops, and so much more!
We are excited to announce that our keynote speaker will be ELCA Bishop, The Rev. Deborah K. Hutterer! The Rev. Deborah K. Hutterer is bishop of the Grand Canyon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), serving Arizona, southern Nevada, Utah, and the Navajo Nation. First elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2024, she provides spiritual and administrative leadership to congregations and rostered ministers, and is a trusted voice in matters of mission, justice, and church vitality.
Ordained in 2004, Bishop Hutterer holds a Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary and a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from Augsburg University. Her ministry experience spans congregational leadership, faith-based nonprofit work, and higher education. Prior to becoming bishop, she served as pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Pontiac, Illinois; executive director of Faith in the City in Minneapolis; and Chief Development Officer of Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, where she worked extensively on issues including refugee resettlement, child abuse prevention, and aging.
In 2020, Bishop Hutterer was elected to the Executive Committee of the ELCA Conference of Bishops. A lifelong Lutheran, she is deeply committed to ecumenical partnership and to equipping the church to live out the gospel with courage, compassion, and hope in a changing world.
Registration is now open! Early registration ends on March 1, so save $50 per person and register now!
Early registration prices are $186 in person, and $146 virtual.
Attending IN PERSON? Click here.
Attending VIRTUALLY? Click here.
In-person registration includes these four meals:
snacks on Thursday evening during the film screening of “SAMARITANS”
Friday lunch and banquet dinner
Saturday lunch
Travel reimbursement is available for $225 for airfare or driving.
Virtual attendance includes live streams of the business session on Saturday morning, opening and closing worship, and workshops in the church sanctuary.
VENDORS AND EXHIBITORS
Vendor registration is now open for non-SWC vendors for $50. Note: Meals are NOT included.
SWC exhibitors and vendors may have a table but MUST be registered for the Annual Meeting. Please notify Wende Gonzales that you would like to have a table.
LODGING
We’ve secured a block of rooms for the event at the Best Western for the special rate of $130 per night (one king bed or two full beds), which includes a free breakfast. It’s located at 111 S La Canada Drive in Green Valley, an easy 10-minute drive down the street from the church. To get our special rate, simply call the hotel (520) 625-2250 and let them know our group name, Southwest Conference UCC and the dates, April 23–25, and they'll hook you up.
OPTIONAL THURSDAY ACTIVITIES, 8 am – 4 pm
(registration required; choose ONLY ONE)
#1 Immersion Experience to La Casa de la Misericordia
Please be ready to leave the church at 8:00 AM. Visit this migrant shelter in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico run by Sister Lika. This trip will be led by Pastor Randy Mayer. You will have opportunities to meet migrant families staying at the shelter while awaiting the next steps along their journey and to learn about the work of the shelter. (Driver’s license or passport is required). Information regarding lunch will be provided after registration.
#2 Samaritans Water Drops
Accompany Green Valley/Sahuarita Samaritans as they deliver water and food to locations along possible migrant trails in the Sonoran Desert. *Participants must wear closed-toed shoes and bring a water bottle and snacks. Limit: 4 participants.
#3 Desert Search
Accompany Green Valley/Sahuarita Samaritans as they drive along trails in the Sonoran Desert while possibly providing humanitarian aid to the people in need and learn about the Desert Search program. *Participants must wear closed-toed shoes and bring a water bottle and snacks. Limit: 8 participants.
THURSDAY EVENING FILM SCREENING AND Q&A WITH THE FILMMAKER!
Documentary filmmaker David Damian Figueroa has spent the last few years working on this film. "Samaritans" examines a seldom-explored aspect of extreme volunteering and migration, specifically focusing on Nogales and Sasabe, as well as a twenty-three-mile stretch of one of the deadliest land crossings in the world: the US-Mexico border in Southern Arizona.
In the shadow of remarkable human struggle, *Samaritans* weaves a poignant narrative of hope and humanity along the US-Mexico border in Southern Arizona. The film highlights the importance of extreme volunteering and the compassion shown by those providing life-saving aid to migrants facing harsh realities and often deadly challenges in the Sonoran Desert.
DELEGATES
Please attend the mandatory orientation session on Saturday, April 18 at 9 am Arizona time / 10 am New Mexico time. We ask that virtual delegates stay on the call for a bit longer for specific training on voting during the business session, please.
Printed materials will NOT be available at the event! All of your need-to-know reports will appear below as they become available. You'll be able to click on them to download, print, whatever works for you to prepare for Annual Gathering. Please review them thoroughly BEFORE the event and bring them with you in either paper or digital format. The budget and other financial documents have been emailed to you.
watch this space too
watch this space
AGENDA
Thursday, April 23
8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Optional Experiences (Pre-registration required)
2:00 PM Delegates and guests check-in
7:00 PM Viewing of the documentary “Samaritans” by David Damian with a panel discussion to follow (snacks provided)
Friday, April 24
9:00 AM Worship service
10:30 AM Workshop session 1
12:00 PM Lunch (provided)
1:30 PM Workshop session 2
3:00 PM Free time and optional tour of Sahuarita Food Bank and Culinary Program
6:00 PM Banquet and awards program
Saturday – April 25
9:00 AM Worship and communion service
10:00 AM Southwest Conference business session
12:00 PM Lunch (provided) and departure
WORKSHOPS
More information will be added as it is available, so check back often!
Discovering God in the Quiet Places: Contemplative Prayer Practices for Busy People
with Teresa Blythe, SWC clergywoman and author of "50 Ways to Pray"
Join Rev. Teresa Blythe for an exploration of quiet, simple, and quick prayer practices for busy people—especially pastors, church leaders, parents, students, and social justice advocates. Teresa is a full-time spiritual director who has worked over the years with many people who know prayer is important but fail to find time or inclination to slow down and connect with God. In this workshop we’ll talk about prayer, discuss a few traditional contemplative prayer practices, and experience a few lesser known practices. Surely there’s a contemplative practice that fits your active life, so please join us!
Art & Social Justice
with Rev. Dr. Tom Martinez, Sr. Minister and Marc Gaston, Minister of Music & the Arts of Desert Palm UCC
Pastor Tom will share about the power of art in relation to his November 2025 trip to Palestine (citing works of Banksy and a local Palestinian dance group), as well as other examples drawn from pop culture, including the film, Nuremberg. Desert Palm's Minister of Music and the Arts, Marc Gaston, will share a bit of his journey (both in his current capacity, as well as stories drawn from his previous position as the Artistic Director of the Phoenix Gay Men's Chorus. This workshop will be relevant for anyone concerned about genocide in Palestine, as well as all those convinved that the power of art is relevant in the struggle for justice.
To Build a Thriving Church
with Rev. Guillermo Marquez-Sterling
Pastor Guillermo will lead an in-depth conversation about how our churches thrive and continue to offer valuable ministries in a changing world.
Awakening Awareness to Implicit Bias in the Church
Offered by the Decentering Whiteness Task Force of the SWC
Rev. Clara Sims, Christopher Schouten (MID)
In our commitment to be an extravagantly welcoming and affirming community, we often focus on the explicit values of justice and love that define the Southwest Conference of the UCC. Yet, much of the human mind operates beneath the surface—like an iceberg—where automatic associations and implicit biases can quietly undermine our most deeply held egalitarian principles. This workshop, anchored in the groundbreaking research of the Harvard Implicit Association Test (IAT), invites you to explore the "thumbprint of culture" on your mind and understand how our childhood environments and societal imprinting shape the way we categorize and perceive the world. Like all tests, the IAT has its limitations. However, we will use it here as a valuable catalyst for raising awareness of what we didn't know that we didn't know about our own perceptions, associations, and assumptions.
Join us for an interactive and grace-filled 90-minute journey as we move from cognitive awareness to transformative action. Through engaging small-group exercises and 1:1 discussions, we will apply the lens of implicit bias to multiple social domains—including race, gender identity, sexual orientation, relationship style, mental health, and immigration status - to uncover the "blind spots" that hinder our prophetic witness. Our goal is not to mire in guilt, but to find the "abundant grace of a forgiving God" that empowers us to consciously unlearn old habits and collectively cross the threshold toward a more just and inclusive church for all.
