Dearest Braid Community,

As many of you will be aware, Rebecca and I have been in a year of transition. I have been in the process of stepping away from the Co-Director position at Braid and Rebecca has been shouldering more and more responsibility as the sole Director.

It is time for that transition to come to completion. To that end I will be leaving California and moving to Knoxville, Tennessee in mid-May. I will be closer to family in Knoxville, including my step-mother. While I would like to retire, this is not possible at the moment, so I have also accepted a position at the Episcopal Cathedral in that city and will be assisting them for the next couple of years.

I have spent 35 years working for the Episcopal Church. And while there is nothing particularly Episcopal (or religious) about Braid, the work is a spiritual undertaking. Any time we can find a way to move out from our Self and into the space of helping the Other, we have engaged a spiritual exercise. This is the teaching of most of the major religious traditions. I say this in order to state that founding Braid alongside Rebecca has been the crowning achievement of my ministry to the Community, to the Church, to Individuals, and to Self.

Given this truth, it would be impossible for me to step away fully. So I am not! I have asked the Braid Board to consider me as a candidate for the board with the hope to serve as a Co-Chair. In this role I hope I can continue to support the work of Braid Mission and support Rebecca by continuing to be a part of her team. It might also mean I need to travel to the Bay Area on occasion and attend Braid events, which would be wonderful.

The good news for Braid being this work might have been facilitated by Rebecca and myself over the years but it is not dependent upon us. The transformative work is accomplished because of you and the many who have come before and the many who will come after. You, our volunteers and supporters, are the reason children who have met more brokenness than they should have found a path towards healing. You, our volunteers and supporters, are the reason these young people have found community in a world that has told them they are not worthy of community. You, our volunteers and supporters, are the reason why these tender souls can find a ray of light and love in a room of darkness. You make Braid work. You always have and you always will.

Thank you for allowing me to journey with you in your work and allowing me to hold space so you could be the agents of transformation you were called to become.

I will miss the day-to-day but the work continues. I will stay alongside.

With gratitude to you all,
Chris