Closing Multigenerational Worship

Annual Conference 2011 Archive

Sunday, April 10, 2011
9:30 to 10:30 AM

The closing worship will be held in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn. All ages are welcome. Child care will be available for infants and pre-kindergarten children.

Closing Worship: Mattering, and Believing and It

The Reverend Mark Stringer will lead the Sunday service.  For this multi-generational service, Rev. Mark will reflect on "Mattering, and Believing and It".  The Prairie Star District Choir, culling singers from all over the District, will lift its voice in song and celebration.

Conference Choir

All conference participants are invited to join the Conference Choir. Experienced singers of any age, including young people, are welcome!

The choir will rehearse on Saturday during Workshop C and again after breakfast on Sunday morning. It will perform during the Sunday morning service.

On the registration form, please indicate both your interest in singing and the part you normally sing. If you are registered on or before March 18, we will mail your music to you.

Biography of Reverend Mark Stringer

While serving as minister of the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines since August 2001, Reverend Mark Stringer has been an active leader in the central-Iowa Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy).  He served as a board member of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, an organization he chaired from 2004-2006.  

Supporting marriage equality in Iowa, Mark is a strategy team member of Faithful Voices, an organization of Iowans of faith and goodwill. To the delight and pride of the congregation, Mark had the honor of officiating Iowa’s first legally recognized same-sex wedding in the front yard of his home. 

Nominated by Prairie Star District staff Mark received the Unitarian Universalist Association’s 2007 Westwood Grant, a memorial to three Unitarian Universalist ministers.  This award goes to a Unitarian Universalist minister who has shown exceptional entrepreneurial spirit in congregational leadership. Our congregation continues to grow in spirit and size in part because of Reverend Stringer's forward-looking leadership. He was delighted that the Des Moines congregation was honored as a 2009 Unitarian Universalist Association Breakthrough Congregation.

Mark served as the evening vespers leader for the first two seasons of the Prairie Star District's Camp Star Trail, and remains on the planning committee.  Mark and his wife Susan are proud parents of their daughter Leah.