[no_button size=”big_large_full_width” icon_pack=”” target=”_self” font_weight=”” link=”https://joycerupp.com/bcf-member-profiles/” text=”MEMBER PROFILES”]
[no_button size=”big_large_full_width” icon_pack=”” target=”_self” font_weight=”” link=”https://joycerupp.com/bcf-resources/” text=”BCF RESOURCES”]
[no_button size=”big_large_full_width” icon_pack=”” target=”_self” font_weight=”” link=”https://joycerupp.com/bcf-newsletter-archive/” text=”NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE”]

March 2021

Dear Boundless Compassion facilitators,

How elated I am to be writing to you in regard to a project that the BC Core Team and I have developed. I believe this new dimension of the Boundless Compassion program will be of benefit to you and to myself as we continue to do our best to live compassionately and invite others to join us in doing so.

With the expansive task of directing the BC program I have found it challenging to stay in touch personally more than once a year with our almost one-hundred certified facilitators. While I never stop being in touch with you through daily prayer and gratitude, I’ve been unable to keep up with the individual contact I believe to be essential for a thriving Boundless Compassion program.

Core Team BCF Groups

Therefore, I have assigned 10-12 BCF to form a group that will be in regular contact with a Core Team member as their specific leader. The following statements will hopefully assist you in understanding the purpose of these groups.

  • The BC Core Team’s central task in regard to the BCF groups is that of being a link between the Boundless Compassion director and the certified facilitators. In order to provide this link of communication, the leaders establish regular contact with their assigned group.
  • The Core Team leader meets quarterly with his or her group. The leader develops a communal relationship with the group members by (a) expressing interest in and receiving information about the BCF activities related to the BC program, (b) encouraging networking within the group, and (c) offering assistance regarding resources, program concerns or related issues when this is requested or deemed to be helpful. Following the Core Team BCF Group meeting, the leader gathers the central information and communicates it to the BC director.
    In order to remain a certified facilitator, every BCF is expected to respond to and be a part of the Core Team group to which she or he has been assigned. You will be contacted sometime in March by your team leader about setting up a meeting with your group. At that time the leader will send you the names and contact information for those in your particular group so you can begin to familiarize yourself with the information.

While BCF participation via the Core Team leader will be the central link with me, you are welcome to contact me directly whenever you wish, as some of you have done in the past. I’m keenly interested in what you send my way, including resources for the BCF newsletter.

Difference between Core Team BCF Groups and a Circle of Compassion

The Circle of Compassion (described in the BCF Handbook) notes that the essential focus and approach of a Circle of Compassion is (a) to reflect on one’s personal experience of compassion and (b) to engage in ongoing study of some aspect of compassion. This gathering is oriented toward how one grows personally in being a compassionate presence.

The Core Team BCF Group’s essential focus and approach is (a) to reflect on one’s active or “professional” life… how each BCF is carrying forth the foundational teachings of Boundless Compassion and (b) to connect with other BCF for support and resourcing in regard to sharing the BC foundational teachings (as found in the book, Boundless Compassion).

In other words, the goal of a Circle of Compassion is for personal transformation related to compassion and the ongoing study of this essential quality. The Core Team group is about being actively engaged in and supported as a facilitator in the BC program.

Core Team Members

Here are the BC Core Team members who will be leading the BCF Groups. (I will also be leading one of these groups):
Bobbi Bussan, Rock Island, IL   [email protected]
Stella DeVenuta, Milwaukee, WI   [email protected]
Ken Larson, Henderson, NV    [email protected]
Erin Matteson, Modesto, CA    [email protected]
Mary Dean Pfahler Toledo, OH [email protected]
Kevin Pokorny, Des Moines, IA  kevin@pokornyconsulting.com
Joyce Rupp, West Des Moines, IA  [email protected]
Mary Jo Wulf, Ames IA    [email protected]
You will be contacted by your group leader in March. If you have any questions or need clarification about this new project, do contact me.
Please send an email to me indicating that you have received and read this newsletter. Thank you!
On the journey with you,
Joyce

 

To seek a better life for one’s family is genuinely human To flee violence, persecution or starvation is an affliction If we are to follow Christ, we must act as if the griefs of today’s refugees and asylum seekers are our own. We must offer them the hopes and the joys we wish for ourselves. We must make America their island of mercy.
Tim Kaine, U.S Senator

******************************************

Here is how you can locate BCF files:  www.joycerupp.com
Boundless Compassion Facilitators, click on this and log in.
Go to: BCF Resources and click on it; this takes you to: BCF Programs

******************************************

I was motivated to recover from that devastating stroke because I pictured a world that was filled with beautiful, peaceful, compassionate, and loving people—people who knew that they had the power to choose, moment by moment, whom and how they wanted to be in the world.  ~ Jill Bolte Taylor