Universal Life Church Announcements

Universal Life Church August 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:52:00 +0000

This is the ULC Seminary Newsletter Announcement.
"Doing That Which is Right"

It's August!

For those of you who have school-age children, you know what THAT means!

Hello!

July was a vacation month for me. Well, a vacation two weeks. The upside was that I worked like a demon and got caught up on everything before I left. The downside was that it rained on our vacation, in July, for several days, in a place that rarely sees much rainfall, and was 'cool' for most of the vacation. Not so good for swimming. Worst weather on vacation, ever. Ah, well.

DEGREES FROM THE SEMINARY - I've had people ask me recently about the Master of Ministry from the Seminary. Some people have asked if it's possible to specialize their training and degree. I like the idea. Let me know what you think and if you'd like to have others than what I'm listing below.

Master of Christian Ministry/Dr. of Christian Ministry
Master of Pagan Ministry/Dr. of Pagan Ministry
Master of Spiritual Ministry/Dr. of Spiritual Ministry

Or should it be Christian Master of Ministry, Pagan Master of Ministry, etc.? Suggestions appreciated.

TWITTER & FACEBOOK
Please join us on Twitter and FB. If you don't want to deal with checking Twitter regularly, check the front page of the site periodically and you'll see a Twitter feed there that updates with the latest all the time. I've posted more videos. One is about FB and Twitter. Please check out and subscribe to our Youtube.com channel.
http://youtu.be/Yo9StISJhKs - this is the link for the video in case it doesn't embed.

http://twitter.com/ulcseminary
http://facebook.com/pages/Universal-Life-Church-Seminary/285690034668

SALE FOR AUGUST - I'm putting the Bachelors, Masters and Drs. of Divinity on sale again this month. I had someone specifically ask, and I do my best to deliver. :)
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=193 - Bachelor
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=192 - Master
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=68 - Doctor

LINK REQUEST - The one part of this job that is a bit of a pain the butt, but is unfortunately, necessary, is the need to get backlinks. By that, I mean links that go from other people's site to the Seminary. Because the monastery took the site from its original owner, people often left the old link, or added the link to the monastery's newer site, even though they are no longer affiliated with the original ULC in Modesto, where most of you all were first ordained. The monastery has since bought about 250 domain names and have the money and manpower to put sites on a lot of them, so they keep on top of the search engines.

With the Seminary, it's all me when it comes to any web content, marketing, etc. This means that instead of working on new programs and keeping up with mailings, I have to spend my time trying to figure out how internet search engine stuff works, along with everything else. So this is a request. If you have a website or blog, would you please put Universal Life Church with our link of http://www.ulcseminary.org, somewhere on your site? If you write the word and highlight it, then click the button that shows a chain (or a figure 8 on its side), that's how to create a link (for those who don't know). It would be greatly appreciated. If I could get caught up on links, I could spend more time putting together more material for the site. I really appreciate it.

LATEST LESSONS - I spent this month getting ready for vacation, then after two weeks, spent a week catching up from vacation. So, objectively-speaking, I guess the month was about vacations. lol. (that's 'laugh out loud' for those who don't know and are afraid to ask.)

ARTICLE DIRECTORY - We have an article directory that I mentioned before. Unfortunately, we had a problem with it and the articles that were previously published were inadvertently deleted. So please, if you have a sermon you've written or other writings of a spiritual or religious nature, please go to http://www.ulcseminary.com and submit/re-submit them. Once you've been approved, you can submit your articles and have them appear immediately. I apologize for any inconvenience. Below is a link to a video I did about the article directory. It's supposed to be embedded, but things don't always work as they are supposed to. :)
http://youtu.be/LuW1cxEjH2U

SPAM - INCLUDE A SUBJECT LINE PLEASE - If you want a response to your email, include a descriptive line. Anything with no subject is automatically deleted. Anything with 'hello' or 'hi amy' is also usually deleted. 98% of those are spam, so I apologize if yours was one that wasn't.

Thank you to all of you who respond to the kind words mailings. Even if I don't respond, I do enjoy your replies. As answer to some questions I receive, I do write every one of those and no, not everyone is getting the same message at the same time.

Warmly,

Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary

Visit Our Website
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 15:48:00 +0000

This is the ULC Seminary Newsletter Announcement.
"Doing That Which is Right"

Happy July!

I hope your 4th was great (for those in the USA) - although the rest of you have a 4th of July too. Just fewer fireworks. :)

Hello Rev. {FULLNAME} !

What the heck happened to June? It seems to have flown by. I can't believe it's July already. It's weird how time can be like that sometimes.

I have been a busy little beaver this last month. I have recorded a whole slew of new videos for a bunch of different sections on the site. More videos are on the way. I have also re-made many of the pages on the site and am working on doing many more. The sidebar is easier to follow, there are more pictures, and videos head up many of the main pages. I've included videos on weddings, funerals, kind words, absolution of sins, and one that covers the split in the churches. Kevin Andrews, Andre Hensley and I have gotten a multitude of complaints from ministers who have been called and harrassed by a certain 'person' in Florida. Among his many offensive claims is the one where he says that his church is the only one who can give 'legal faith-based ordinations'. That's the most obnoxious thing I've ever heard. And I hope that none of you allow yourselves to be manipulated. He's very good at it, but that doesn't change the color of his spots.

http://youtu.be/VLr1OVhT66g - this is the link in case it doesn't embed.

There's a press release about it here: http://www.free-press-release.com/news-conflict-and-controversy-within-the-universal-life-church-1308419672.html

TWITTER & FACEBOOK -
Please join us on Twitter and FB. If you don't want to deal with checking Twitter regularly, check the front page of the site periodically and you'll see a Twitter feed there that updates with the latest all the time.

http://twitter.com/ulcseminary
http://facebook.com/pages/universallifechurchseminary

SALE FOR JULY - We have more new stoles! I made a mistake in last month's message when I said that the embroidery on the colored ones didn't have specific meaning. So I found some that are gold. Plain gold. Very pretty. And you can order a patch or two to put at the end of it, if you like.
You can find them here:
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=217

LINK REQUEST - The one part of this job that is a bit of a pain the butt, but is unfortunately, necessary, is the need to get backlinks. By that, I mean links that go from other people's site to the Seminary. Because the monastery took the site from its original owner, people often left the old link, or added the link to their newer site, even though they are no longer affiliated with the original ULC in Modesto, where most of you all were first ordained. The monastery has since bought about 250 domain names and have the money and manpower to put sites on a lot of them, so they keep on top of the search engines.

With the Seminary, it's all me when it comes to any web content, marketing, etc. This means that instead of working on new programs and keeping up with mailings, I have to spend my time trying to figure out how internet search engine stuff works, along with everything else. So this is a request. If you have a website or blog, would you please put Universal Life Church with our link of http://www.ulcseminary.org, somewhere on your site? If you write the word and highlight it, then click the button that shows a chain (or a figure 8 on its side), that's how to create a link (for those who don't know). It would be greatly appreciated. If I could get caught up on links, I could spend more time putting together more material for the site. I really appreciate it.

LATEST LESSONS - I'm not sure I've been learning anything this month. lol. Nah, not true, but it seems like the entire month flew by. I worked on videos and dealt with other people's stress. I have met some new people this month and have been sad to see a good friend move. I guess I'm working on comings and goings. And patience. It seems I'm always learning about patience. Usually, it's about having the patience to let people make mistakes, knowing fully-well that I could help them, but knowing just as well that my advice will go unheeded. Makes me sad.
But, as I have been explaining to my daughter, sometimes the offer of help is all the person needs. Knowing that there are choices and knowing that someone will help if asked, can be enough. Maybe the person will simmer on that information for a year or two before acting on it, or maybe that person will merely store the information in a secret place in their heart -- the idea that someone cares. Who knows? But even if it's a bit painful to watch someone you care about make poor decisions, there's often nothing to be done about it. To be blunt about it: "You can't fix stupid." People have to fix that on their own.

ARTICLE DIRECTORY - Since I continue to get flooded with low-quality spammy articles, it is taking me forever to wade through them. This doesn't mean I don't want yours though. So please, if and when you sign up, please send me a personal email to let me know (amy@ulcseminary.org) and tell me what your screen name is. I have a wonderful new volunteer, Rev. Patricia Ashford, who has offered to help out' She and I will look for your screen name, then set your account to publish automatically, so your articles get posted right away. If you have sent any to me in the last month, please let me know so I can find them and get them approved. I have thousands sitting there and it's just a pain to try and filter through the stupid ring-tone articles and mortgage loan ones. And they tag it as 'spiritual' or 'general' or something.
http://www.ulcseminary.com

SPAM - INCLUDE A SUBJECT LINE PLEASE - If you want a response to your email, include a descriptive line. Anything with no subject is automatically deleted. Anything with 'hello' or 'hi amy' is also usually deleted. 98% of those are spam, so I apologize if yours was one that wasn't.

As a PS: The kind words is something I really enjoy sending and I love all of your positive responses. Even if I don't email back, know that it made me smile. Also, since several people have asked, yes I do write each and every one of them myself.

If you're new to the Seminary, check out announcements from previous months at http://www.ulcseminary.org/announcements.php

Warmly,

Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary

Visit Our Website
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

Universal Life Church June 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:46:00 +0000

This is the ULC Seminary Newsletter Announcement
"Doing That Which is Right"

Happy June!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there (It's also my birthday)

Hello Rev. {FULLNAME} !

Welcome to the middle of the year! For those of you who are wedding ministers, this is probably a busy time for you. At least I hope so!

So, on the plus side, we have some new things on the site. I promised some videos and they have appeared. I've done just a few so far, but if you all find them helpful, I'll be happy to do more. I put one on the front page of the site, as well as on the Ordination page, the Seminary Program, Chaplaincy Program, Wedding Training, and Funeral Ceremony pages too. I've gotten some pretty good feedback on them, but it was suggested I make them with better lighting. My brother is going to help me, but his girlfriend was attacked and that required all of us to help her get moved (it was her roommate) and my brother's attention has necessarily been there. I will do it though soon. If you have something you'd like to see a video on, please let me know on FB (or email).

TWITTER & FACEBOOK - Firstly, I have admitted and owned the fact that I am a Cityville-Addict, so I have quit cold turkey. I deleted both of my magnificent cities in one fell swoop. I'm just trying to take it one day at a time. (smile) On a related note, I have a favor to ask. I have two accounts on FB - one for ULC and one for my martial arts. Many of you have friended me on both accounts.
Since I use the Karate one for karate-related posts, karate business and other things, I would ask that if you have friended me on both, please unfriend me on the karate one. Nothing personal, but I'm working on marketing a book on Kenpo Karate and it gets confusing. Please do add yourself to the Twitter account and the Fan Page. I am on board with this stuff and post regularly. It's just easier for me to keep things a little more separated. If it happens that you are also a kenpoist, then please keep me on both. You will also find regular updates to Twitter on the front page of the site. Also, on some of the pages, there's an option to comment on the page and it will post both on the page and on FB, so check it out.
http://twitter.com/ulcseminary
http://facebook.com/pages/Universal-Life-Church-Seminary/285690034668

SALE FOR JUNE - We have more new stoles! I found some in a few other colors and they are really pretty. For those of you who want a stole with no particular religious symbolism, I found some in Red, Purple, and Green. Limited quantities for now. Just depends on interest. I still have the white wedding stoles too, so get 'em while they last!
You can find them here:
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=216

LINK REQUEST - The one part of this job that is a bit of a pain the butt, but is unfortunately, necessary, is the need to get backlinks. By that, I mean links that go from other people's site to mine. Because the monastery took the site from its original owner, people often left the link or added the link to their newer site, even though they are no longer affiliate with the original ULC in Modesto, where most of you all were first ordained. They have since bought about 250 domain names and have the money and manpower to put sites on a lot of them.

With the Seminary, it's all me when it comes to any web content, marketing, etc. This means that instead of working on new programs and keeping up with mailings, I have to spend my time trying to figure out how internet search engine stuff works, along with everything else. So this is a request. If you have a website or blog, would you please put Universal Life Church with our link of http://www.ulcseminary.org, somewhere on your site? If you write the word and highlight it, then click the button that shows a chain, that's how to create a link (for those who don't know). It would be greatly appreciated. If I could get caught up on links, I could spend more time putting together more material for the site. I really appreciate it.

LATEST LESSONS - I think the latest thing I'm working on are chain reactions. By that, I mean that there are things in our past that we thought we were over, but still left behind a residue, or a button. Then something else happens, something perhaps less major or even just as big a deal, and it gets compounded by the memory of the original thing. So the old button gets pushed and the new button gets pushed and pretty soon, everything that was ever like that button is now shining brightly and driving you over the edge. So, what I'm finding is that when something happens that makes you want to see red, but talking about it doesn't quite resolve it, look a little farther. Let your mind clear for a minute and see what other things start to fill it. Chances are, that's what it's related to. Often, just recognizing what the related buttons are takes some of the charge off. You may discover the root of some of the problems, which can make it all feel a bit better.

Sometimes too, I've been noticing that even if there relationships which are important to you, and you know they are important to the other people, they may have to be put on hold for reasons that are beyond your control. As much as you might want them to continue (and I mean friendships too), there may be other factors that are beyond your control. I talk to people who say, "I just don't understand why we can't be friends. It makes no sense." For kids, maybe their parents have 'weird' rules that don't allow for it; for adults, it might be jealous spouses. (It doesn't even have to be an opposite-sex friendship - some people are jealous of any relationship that takes time or attention away from them.) And sometimes, even though it doesn't seem fair, you just have to let certain things go. Wow, feels hard to even write that. Of course, if it were easy, it wouldn't be much of a lesson, right?

If you're on FB, chime in. I'm curious about what you all think. Also, for those of you got the netlog invitation, don't feel obligated or give them your FB info. I misunderstood their request. I thought they were looking for people already on netlog, but it seems they sent an invitation to everyone on my friends list. So, I apologize for any inconvenience. Please disregard it and don't give them your FB info. I changed my password.

SEARCH FUNCTION - Really cool thing that I came across with Google. It's a personalized site function. It's at the top of most of the pages in the right hand column, just above a section for answering links to the most commonly asked questions. What's cool about the search function is that you can put in what you're looking for and it'll give you anything related that's listed on the site. I'm going to be adding in our other sites as well, so it can search across all of our domains. There is some annoying advertising at the end of the search, but it's a small price to pay to get to use the search function.

ARTICLE DIRECTORY - Since I continue to get flooded was low-quality spammy articles, it is taking me forever to wade through them. This doesn't mean I don't want yours though. So please, if and when you sign up, please send me a personal email to let me know (amy@ulcseminary.org) and tell me what your screen name is. I'll look for it, then set your account to publish automatically, so it gets posted. If you have sent any to me in the last month, please let me know so I can find them and get them approved. I have thousands sitting there and it's just a pain to try and filter through the stupid ring-tone articles and mortgage loan ones. And they tag it as 'spiritual' or 'general' or something.
http://www.ulcseminary.com

AFFILIATE PROGRAM - Please check out the affiliate program again. If you've downloaded the ULC Toolbar (http://ULCSeminary.OurToolbar.com/), you'll see there is now a direct link to go there. I've added some new pages to the affiliate program, so please sign up and look at the training videos that are available.

The link for the affiliate program is: http://www.ulcseminary.org/idevaffiliate/. It's still new, so more things will be added as I go, and there may be a few bugs, but I think it's ready to rock and roll right now.

It's free to join
You get a $10 bonus just for signing up.
You earn money with every sale that comes through your link.
You can track the link 24/7 to check on sales and traffic.
You will get paid monthly.
If you send me the pages that you have the banner on, I will help promote them through the search engines, which will help increase your sales.

Warmly,

Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary

Visit Our Website
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

ULC Seminary May 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Mon, 02 May 2011 15:44:00 +0000

This is the ULC Seminary Newsletter Announcement.
"Doing That Which is Right"

Happy May!

Hello!

For those of you who are moms, Happy Mother's Day! This last month or so, I seem to have gotten back on track -- at least over the last week. I'm mostly over the whole 'Cityville' thing. The excitement wears off when the rewards are the same. Kind of true about life in general. Time to find new rewards. :)

So, on the plus side, we have some new things on the site. I promised some videos and they have appeared. I've done just a few so far, but if you all find them helpful, I'll be happy to do more. I put one on the front page of the site, as well as on the Ordination page, the Seminary Program, Chaplaincy Program, Wedding Training, and Funeral Ceremony pages too. I just put them up a few days ago, so I haven't heard much if they are helpful or not.

SEARCH FUNCTION - Really cool thing that I came across with Google. It's a personalized site function. It's at the top of most of the pages in the right hand column, just above a section for answering links to the most commonly asked questions. What's cool about the search function is that you can put in what you're looking for and it'll give you anything related that's listed on the site. I'm going to be adding in our other sites as well, so it can search across all of our domains. There is some annoying advertising at the end of the search, but it's a small price to pay to get to use the search function.

FACEBOOK - I am doing my best to get on board with the current internet trends, so I now have a 'like' button on the front page of the site, at the top, on the right. If you'd do me a favor and 'like' us, that'd be great. I'm still not sure how it helps, but everythng I've read says it does. Same for Twitter. We are now all linked up and would appreciate it if you would follow us. I believe the link is embedded here, for those receiving this in HTML. If not, it's below. :) I have a different one on the seminary program page too, just to see if that makes any difference. My lack of understanding of this stuff makes me feel old. sigh.
http://twitter.com/ulcseminary
http://facebook.com/pages/Universal-Life-Church-Seminary/285690034668

SALE FOR MAY - We have more new stoles! I found some in a few other colors and they are really pretty. For those of you who want a stole with no particular religious symbolism, I found some in Red, Purple, and Green. Limited quantities for now. Just depends on interest. I still have the white wedding stoles too, so get 'em while they last!
You can find them here:
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=216

LATEST LESSONS - More lessons. Always more lessons. Without an awareness of life's ongoing lessons, boredom is sure to strike. I've been looking at boundaries lately. My sister has a thing about boundaries where she supposedly teaches women how to set boundaries and such. I guess we teach what we most need to learn. I had a situation come up that I got hung up on. I sent an email to a male friend of mine. It was personal, but he and I are friends and there was nothing secretive or inappropriate about it. However, his fiance insisted on reading it, as well as his response to me. I could tell by his response, before he mentioned it, that it was not written as he usually would. Again, let me stress that he and I are friends - always have been and always will be. So the issue comes up about the difference between 'secretive' and 'private'. Her idea was that if there was nothing to hide, then why should he care? My response was that if I'd wanted her to read it, I would've copied her on it. It wasn't about her - it was about me and things I was dealing with. I would've been okay with him talking to her about it, but somehow insisting on reading my words felt like an extreme violation.

Some people feel that it's okay to read each other's mail, email, etc, but I believe in having privacy, even in a marriage. This is assuming, of course, that there has been no blatant trust broken and no reason to doubt. If there has been, then perhaps trust needs to be re-earned. I'm talking in general though. It's like a woman's purse; what man in his right mind would ever go into his wife's purse for anything? If she says it's in her purse, what she means is, "Bring my purse to me and I'll get it for you." Is this because she has secret things in her purse? Probably not. But they are private. A man's wallet is not quite the same, but close. Men can be like that with their tools in the garage. They don't want anyone messing around in there. I'm curious about where other people set boundaries of that sort.

Money is another one. My mom always said, "Happiness is separate checking accounts." That worked for me well when I was married. One thing I can say for my ex is that we never fought about money. It may have been the only thing we didn't fight about, but we never had a cause. He paid certain things, I paid others. He invested, I saved. It worked. Other people have one account between them. It seem then that it would be hard to buy a Christmas or birthday present without having to explain it all away. It would make surprises difficult. Plus, what if one person fails to mention the $20 or so that was pulled out of ATM so the other spouse does the same and doesn't mention it and both are surprised when the overdraft statement comes in the mail. And frankly, I don't want to have to justify every little penny I spend. I have a friend who has to keep receipts for literally every penny she spends. A trip to taco bell, $1 for parking, a cup of coffee -- everything. Zero leeway. But she says she's fine with that because he pays the bills. So where is the line?

If you're on FB, chime in. I'm curious about what you all think.

ARTICLE DIRECTORY - The article directory is now officially fabulous. :) I say this because, thanks to one thoughtful and clever minister, (Rev. Stephen Fofanoff), I have now the ability to make everything pending until checked by hand. What this means is that no longer will the site be filled with useless articles about ringtones and mortgage rates! Once I recognize that you are a real person, writing about relevant things, I'll change your standing to 'author' and you can have immediate posting rights, but everyone else is a 'contributor' and their articles will remain 'pending' until I check them out. If you'll notice now, the articles are all relevant and interesting. So please add yours.
http://www.ulcseminary.com

AFFILIATE PROGRAM - Please check out the affiliate program again. If you've downloaded the ULC Toolbar (http://ULCSeminary.OurToolbar.com/), you'll see there is now a direct link to go there. I've added some new pages to the affiliate program, so please sign up and look at the training videos that are available. Speaking of videos, I expect to have some videos up on the site soon. Hopefully, I'll be talking about it in next month's announcement. Keep checking the site in the coming weeks and you should be able to find them on a lot of different pages. If you can think of some areas specifically, that you'd like to see more info, let me know.

The link for the affiliate program is: http://www.ulcseminary.org/idevaffiliate/. It's brand new, so more things will be added as I go, and there may be a few bugs, but I think it's ready to rock and roll right now.

It's free to join
You get a $10 bonus just for signing up.
You earn money with every sale that comes through your link.
You can track the link 24/7 to check on sales and traffic.
You will get paid monthly.
If you send me the pages that you have the banner on, I will help promote them through the search engines, which will help increase your sales.

Warmly,

Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary

Visit Our Website
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

Universal Life Church April 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:43:00 +0000

This is the ULC Seminary Newsletter Announcement. To unsubscribe, click the link on the bottom of the page.
"Doing That Which is Right"

Happy April!

Hello!

I'd like to say that I've been working like a demon this past month, but the truth is that I hit a bit of a wall over the last two weeks. I think I spent too much time working 12 hours days and now I'm having a hard time getting motivated. Any motivating energy sent my way would be appreciated. Unfortunately, I've discovered Cityville on Facebook. It's a horrible horrible game that sucks up my whole day. I wish I'd had this when I had cancer years ago. There wasn't even an internet then. Oh, the boredom. LOL!

One of the things though, that I've discovered is the draw for it is that there is some instant gratification. If you do what is asked and are diligent in keeping things moving, you'll get rewarded. If you ask friends for help, they send it. If you give a 'reward', you get one in return. I guess the key is to create that outside of a cybergame. :)

SALE FOR APRIL - For this month, I'm trying something new. Well, not entirely new, but I found a new distributor for some stoles. Right now, I have them in white, with a cross and dove. I haven't found any plain ones yet, but I do have a possible vendor for some. I only bought 4 of them to start, so if you want one, get it now. If you order it and the first ones were sold, I'll order a bunch more, so there may be a slight delay. I'm waiting now to see what sort of interest there is before I invest in more of them. You can find them here:
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=215

LATEST LESSONS - I've been noticing some interesting things going on over the last few months. As a baseline, I will start off by saying that I was very fortunate to grow up in a household where my parents were happily married, got along well, and treated us all pretty decently. As a kid, (and often as adults) we often think that whatever we experience is what most other people experience. That being said, I had generally assumed that most people lived a reasonably good life and their parents were reasonably kind. I knew there were exceptions, but I thought that was the average. I've been finding out exactly how wrong I was.

I've been talking to a lot of people who have had very difficult upbringings. Their parents were unkind to them, neglectful, mean, abusive, etc. Some I've met as adults and some are going through it now, but there are a lot of them.

One of the things that I've been thinking about is how these people who are brought up with no self-worth, not taught how to make good decisions, given wrong information about the world, etc. are then expected, as adults, to 'get over it.' These people are expected to somehow make good decisions and to not do what they have been programmed to do since birth. So the question is, if you are one of those people, how do you move past it? How do you learn to make good decisions, like yourself, and work towards emotional health?

My only answer to that is the one that has worked for me. Be aware. Notice things. Notice when something didn't go well. If you had an interaction and it didn't work out, ask yourself what happened? If you can be honest with yourself and recognize your mistake, then just be aware of it. Next time, you'll catch it a little sooner and a little sooner until you can finally notice the situation happening and stop yourself before you say or do whatever it is that isn't working. It's simple, but in no way easy. It takes a lot of practice and a willingness to recognize when you are wrong.

I did something recently where I hurt my friend's feelings. I didn't think about it at the time -- just running my mouth. Not about him, but about someone else. I wasn't intending harm, just noticing someone's behavior. Still, bad timing on my part and I should've known better. I thought about it way after and wasn't sure, but he told me that he was upset and I knew immediately I'd made a misstep. I apologized immediately and sincerely, and we're all good now. Next time, I'll try to catch it sooner.

I know there's more that's going on with this whole concept, but I don't think I've got all the parts yet. I've noticed too how even small things can make a difference. The kind words mailings are my little way of putting some good out in the world and I've been rewarded a thousand fold. Maybe that's what's getting me thinking. If something that is to me, a small gesture, can make someone's day or help them in any way, imagine what all of you can do if everyone did it?
It's one thing to sit around and claim to be righteous and another thing to reach out and give someone a hand. I know many of you have been reaching out to others and others of you really need a helping hand. Not sure where I'm going with this, but I suspect that next month, or the month after, things will get more clear.

ARTICLE DIRECTORY - The article directory is not turning out the be the fabulous place for you to post articles that I'd hoped it would be. Instead, I'm getting a lot of spam. A few good articles, but lots of things that aren't. It would be great if you all would sign up, put your name on the appropriate lines (spam entries have no names) and please submit your articles and wonderful writings. Rest-assured that I will continue to remove the unrelated articles as quickly as I can. I'm needing to put some kind of spam-guard on it, but I don't know how yet.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM - Please check out the affiliate program again. If you've downloaded the ULC Toolbar (http://ULCSeminary.OurToolbar.com/), you'll see there is now a direct link to go there. I've added some new pages to the affiliate program, so please sign up and look at the training videos that are available. Speaking of videos, I expect to have some videos up on the site soon. Hopefully, I'll be talking about it in next month's announcement. Keep checking the site in the coming weeks and you should be able to find them on a lot of different pages. If you can think of some areas specifically, that you'd like to see more info, let me know.

The link for the affiliate program is: http://www.ulcseminary.org/idevaffiliate/. It's brand new, so more things will be added as I go, and there may be a few bugs, but I think it's ready to rock and roll right now.

It's free to join
You get a $10 bonus just for signing up.
You earn money with every sale that comes through your link.
You can track the link 24/7 to check on sales and traffic.
You will get paid monthly.
If you send me the pages that you have the banner on, I will help promote them through the search engines, which will help increase your sales.

Warmly,

Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary

Visit Our Website
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 21:25:00 +0000

This is the ULC Seminary Newsletter Announcement. To unsubscribe, click the link on the bottom of the page.
"Doing That Which is Right"

Happy March!

Hello!

I hope things are all going well for you. I think I've finally gotten a handle on my work situation, as I'm sure some of you have noticed since I finally responded to your emails. Again, sorry about that.
SALE FOR MARCH - I had some people request that I put the seminary credential package on sale a little longer, so I dropped it another $10 for the rest of this month.
Also, with the wedding season upon us, I put the Wedding Basic Pack on sale for another $5 off for the rest of this month, then it will revert to its original price.
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=133 Seminary Credential Package
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=31 Wedding Basic Pack
I'm also having an upgrade to the shopping cart so when you order something that has ceremonies or when you order a course, you'll be able to immediately download any ceremonies that go with your order and you'll be able to immediately download the first lesson of your course. It should be done any day, so it might be finished by the time you get this.

LATEST LESSONS - The latest lessons running through my life and, seemingly, those around me, have to do with both the importance of kindness, as well as the difference between 'forgiving' and continuing to let someone treat you-me-anyone badly. Kindness has been a focus for me ever since my divorce. I realized, during the last couple years of my marriage that kindness was hugely important to me. I hadn't been getting it and hadn't been realizing my potential for giving it either. Things have changed. I have been stressing to my children, over the last two or three years now, how very very important it is to be kind.

When someone at school is being unnecessarily and out-of-left-field mean to them, I remind them that we don't know what's going on with that person. My daughter (freshman in HS) was having a girl call her names and say mean things, for no particular reason. I pointed out that the girl must have someone saying some pretty ugly things to her at home for her to be spreading it around like that. She hadn't considered that. Her first reaction was to say something mean back, but after she and I talked, she thought a little differently.

How hard is it to say something kind to someone? To find a way to validate someone? I don't mean flattery because flattery usually comes across as false. Validation is more about something said to someone that validates who they are as a person. Saying they have a pretty dress on is one thing, but telling someone, from the heart, that they are missed when they are gone or that they are smart or doing a good job -- that's something else.

The other thing that I've noticed is a change in the people I'm willing to surround myself with. Friends (or family) who have nothing nice to say to me, or who fail to consider anyone but themselves, or who say unkind things -- those are people who I can wish well and wish on their way. You can forgive it without making what the person does okay and you can let them out of your life with a shift of the wind, rather than a push. Sometimes a push is needed, but often not. I've had a few friends lately who have come to the same conclusion.

When someone is a friend, a real friend, they treat you with kindness and consideration. Nobody is perfect and mistakes can be made, but with real friends, it should be always clear that you matter to them and they matter to you. And just because they are related to you, doesn't make bad treatment okay. That's it, in a nutshell. And from the wonderful responses I get from so many of you, after a 'kind words' mailing, I'm seeing that many of you are making similar discoveries for yourself. We all deserve to be treated well and to make sure the Universe is clear on that, I'm making it my goal to treat others as well as I'd like to be treated.

So far so good.

ARTICLE DIRECTORY - One the newest cool things that I decided to make is an Article Directory. I get sent a ton of really cool writings from ministers on a regular basis. I don't have time to read them all or post them all, but I still do think they should be shared. So... I created an article directory at http://www.ulcseminary.com. You can sign up and submit articles, sermons, ceremonies, etc. You can also include a link back to your own site. So it'll work for you to promote your own ministries, as well as share your good work. Please go check it out and start adding your work. Please spell-check it first, no profanity and, of course, only submit articles of quality that are yours to submit. There has been some pretty ugly-thinking ministers out there recently (well, one in particular) who have nothing positive to say. Kevin, Andre and I get emails about his antics all the time. We choose to ignore him, mostly. It has been one of those life lessons, lately. Some people are best left to their own craziness.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM - Please check out the affiliate program again. If you've downloaded the ULC Toolbar (http://ULCSeminary.OurToolbar.com/), you'll see there is now a direct link to go there. I have had a hard time making the pages because, apparently, what I wanted to do is not something the program was designed for. But after a heated discussion with the program designer (I get snippy too, sometimes), he came up with an answer. Apparently, nobody has ever asked before to sell more than one item per page. At any rate, it's amazing what you can come up with when pushed a little. He is smarter than he thinks he is, I guess. :) The new pages will be up shortly, as soon as I can figure out how to create a page without using CSS and still have it look good.

The link is: http://www.ulcseminary.org/idevaffiliate/. It's brand new, so more things will be added as I go, and there may be a few bugs, but I think it's ready to rock and roll right now.

It's free to join
You get a $10 bonus just for signing up.
You earn money with every sale that comes through your link.
You can track the link 24/7 to check on sales and traffic.
You will get paid monthly.
If you send me the pages that you have the banner on, I will help promote them through the search engines, which will help increase your sales.

You can put any or all of the links/banners, etc. on your website. I currently have several banners and some text links available, as well as a couple of html pages that you can put on your site. You can choose which banner(s) you like, depending on what products you want to market. Each banner takes you to a separate category in the store that sells only those items.

NEW PROGRAMS - I've been offered some help for reading, editing and formatting new programs. I am a little buzzy on that, so if you wanted to do one, I talked to you about it, and didn't get back to you with a template and a course, please let me know. Also, if I did send you one, please shoot me a quick email letting me know what you have and where you are on it. I got a bunch of responses and now I can't keep track of who I sent what. I'm no different than the rest of you -- sometimes my brain hard-drive loses data. lol

ADDING ORDINATION OPTION TO YOUR OWN SITE - I've mentioned this before, but I'm putting it out again because I noticed that just by putting the html on a page with html, it was adding extra html when people copied and pasted and that made it not work. (Duh, to me). So I fixed it. Now, there is a little box of html that you can copy and paste into a page on your own personal site. This means that people can go to your site, fill out the form and get ordained and you will get notice of it. One person said he had two ordinations happen within an hour of putting it up.

I put the code at http://www.ulcseminary.org/ordinationform.php You can put it in a column, like I did at http://www.ulcceremonies.com or you can put it on its own page. I think it is a great way to spread the word of ULC and you're giving you all the convenience of doing it right from your own site. There are also instructions to add a line to the code (cut and paste) so you will be notified whenever someone is ordained through your site. If you put the form on your site, send me a link and I'll check it out. :) Let me know if you have any problems and I can try to help. Please run a test on it to be sure it works properly. Between the ordination option and the affiliate page, you can very easily offer a full service ministry website.

SPAM - INLCUDE A SUBJECT LINE PLEASE - The latest spam thing going out is to get emails from familiar addresses, but with no subject line. What that means is that if an email doesn't have a subject line, it will be deleted without being read. I'm sure I'm missing a few real ones that way, but to open all of them is very time-consuming, so please include a descriptive subject. (Not 'hey')

If you're new to the Seminary, check out announcements from previous months at http://www.ulcseminary.org/announcements.php

Warmly,

Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary

Visit Our Website
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

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

The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

The Universal Life Church offers handfasting ceremonies, funeral ceremonies and free minister training.

As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church minister supplies. Since being ordained with the Universal Life Church for so many years and it's Seminary since the beginning, I've watch the huge change and growth that has continued to happen.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

ULC Forum Fixed!

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:08:00 +0000

I fixed the Forum!! I think it was a re-direct problem, but it should be okay now. Check it out and let me know if there are any further problems.

Sorry about that!

--Amy

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

The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive and affordable online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, a beginning course on Wicca, as well as a beginning course on Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more.

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is a free and lifetime ordination, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. We also make available many free wedding ceremonies for your use, as well as funeral ceremonies and other types of ceremonies.

The ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program where you can earn the coveted title of Chaplain. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church materials to help you with your professionalism and confidence. I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and an amazed by the frequent upgrades and new functions of the seminary.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:55:00 +0000

This is the ULC Seminary Newsletter Announcement. To unsubscribe, click the link on the bottom of the page.
"Doing That Which is Right"

Happy Holidays!

(Consider that all-inclusive)

Hello!

Thanksgiving is done and the shopping season has begun! Ugh. .

AFFILIATE PROGRAM - I launched the affiliate program last month and so far so good. I still have some details to work out, so those of you who have signed up, you may not have gotten an email confirming it yet, but you are accepted. Please go check out the banners you can put on your site.
The ULC Seminary is now offering an affiliate program! The link is: http://www.ulcseminary.org/idevaffiliate/. It's brand new, so more things will be added as I go, and there may be a few bugs, but I think it's ready to rock and roll right now.

It's free to join
You get a $10 bonus just for signing up.
You earn money with every sale that comes through your link.
You can track the link 24/7 to check on sales and traffic.
You will get paid monthly.
If you send me the pages that you have the banner on, I will help promote them through the search engines, which will help increase your sales.

You can use any or all of the links on your website. I currently have several banners and some text links. You can choose which banner (s) you like, depending on what products you want to market. Each banner takes you to a separate category in the store that sells only those items.

I am, of course, open to suggestions for improvement. The page it's on, currently, doesn't have the framework of the rest of the site because I haven't figured out how to do that yet, but I will learn more as time goes on.

Once you sign up, there are a bunch of videos to help you get going. It's good stuff. Try it out and let me know what you think! I could use some people to beta-test it, so sign up and put in an order and you'll at least get a percentage off of your own order. I'm still checking to make sure everything tracks, so when you make an order, let me know and I'll go in and track it to be sure you get paid. I asked someone to beta test it, but he used the 'check or money order' option and I won't know how that tracks until the payment happens. So please try the credit card or paypal and I can track it and make sure it all works.

GIANT SALE - I'm putting the Spirit Quest course on sale again for the month of December. It's $55 for this 8-month course. That's a $20 savings.
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=29&products_id=105

LATEST LESSONS - This last month flew by. Feels like all I did was work. What happened to the relaxing November and December from years before, when it was time to slow down, putter around the house, wrap presents, etc? No cookie-baking for me, I'm afraid. I haven't had time to do much of anything. I've been working on lots of things for the seminary. I've been updating all of the blogs, making sure they are all set up and linked correctly. That has been enourmously time-consuming. I've also been working throughout the internet to promote the Seminary. So mostly, I'm trying to mentally relax and just let things be. I had an overwhelming desire to tell someone 'close' to me what I thought of her, so I wrote a very clear email in that regard, then didn't send it. Won't do any good. I guess the trick to figure out what matters and what are pearls before swine.

The other thing that comes up with the holidays is dealing with custody issues. For those of you who have children with someone you're no long with, you know what I mean. Either it's the stress of the back and forth, the stress that one parent isn't around for the kids, or the stress that the parent is technically there, but the kids don't want to go there. Not the ideal Christmas plan. Ah well, it's all an opportunity to grow, however uncomfortable the process may be.

EVENT DIRECTORY - The event directly has been getting a lot of use. It's a great place to list all of the weddings, funerals and other events that you are doing as a minister.
http://www.ulcseminary.org/eventdirectory.php

Go to this page and you can input any and all of your weddings, funerals, handfastings, baby blessings/namings, etc. It will be recorded in our database for future reference. It won't be visible, but it can be retrieved if you ask. Check it out and let me know what you think.

NEW COURSES - Too many things have come up recently for me to be able to commit to getting the new courses ready. It'll be a little longer until I get that going.

ADDING ORDINATION OPTION TO YOUR OWN SITE - Another thing you can add to your own site, along with the affiliate program, is the ability to ordain others through your site. I've created a form that you can copy and paste into the body of a page of your website and your visitors can ordain themselves using YOUR website. It's something great you can offer people at no cost and little effort for you.

I put the code at http://www.ulcseminary.org/ordinationform.php You can put it in a column, like I did at http://www.ulcceremonies.com or you can put it on its own page. I think it is a great way to spread the word of ULC and you're giving people the convenience of doing it right from your own site. There are also instructions to add a line to the code (cut and paste) so you will be notified whenever someone is ordained through your site. If you put the form on your site, send me a link and I'll check it out. :) Let me know if you have any problems and I can try to help. Please run a test on it to be sure it works properly.

SPAM - INLCUDE A SUBJECT LINE PLEASE - The latest spam thing going out is to get emails from familiar addresses, but with no subject line. What that means is that if an email doesn't have a subject line, it will be deleted without being read. I'm sure I'm missing a few real ones that way, but to open all of them is very time-consuming, so please include a descriptive subject.

If you're new to the Seminary, check out announcements from previous months at http://www.ulcseminary.org/announcements.php

Warmly,

Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary

Visit Our Website
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

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

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 15:18:00 +0000

This is the ULC Seminary Newsletter Announcement.
November 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Harvest!

Hello!

The holidays are, once again, upon us! If you need to fix your name or email address, or other information, click.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM - The newest, most exciting thing that I've been working on is finally ready. I am asked, on an almost daily basis by ministers, if they know of any ways for their ministry to raise funds. Either that, or people tell me that they would love to take a class, but they are currently out of work or just don't have the money and many ask if I know of any jobs available. Jobs, specifically, no I don't, but after some thought, it occurred to me of a way that many of you can make some money for yourselves or your ministries.

The ULC Seminary is now offering an affiliate program! The link is: http://www.ulcseminary.org/idevaffiliate/. It's brand new, so more things will be added as I go, and there may be a few bugs, but I think it's ready to rock and roll right now.

It's free to join

You get a $10 bonus just for signing up.

You earn money with every sale that comes through your link.

You can track the link 24/7 to check on sales and traffic.

You will get paid monthly.

I am, of course, open to suggestions for improvement. The page it's on, currently, doesn't have the framework of the rest of the site because I haven't figured out how to do that yet, but I will learn more as time goes on.

Once you sign up, there are a bunch of videos to help you get going. It's good stuff. Try it out and let me know what you think! I could use some people to beta-test it, so sign up and put in an order and you'll at least get a percentage off of your own order. I'm still checking to make sure everything tracks, so when you make an order, let me know and I'll go in and track it to be sure you get paid. I asked someone to beta test it, but he used the 'check or money order' option and I won't know how that tracks until the payment happens. So please try the credit card or paypal and I can track it and make sure it all works.

LATEST LESSONS - The last month or so has been a lesson in adjusting expectations. Expectations are normal. We all have them. We expect things of our spouses, significant others, teachers, students, parents, pretty much everyone we know. The difficult thing is when one's expectations aren't met. That's the point when you have to look past the disappointment and try to determine if it happened because your expectations were unrealistic or whether the other person is not someone you should place expectations on. Some people are basically not dependable.

I've been working on this. There are times I feel disappointed or sad and I've been looking at my expectations. I've found that I've often expected things of people who are not in a place to fulfill them. Even if it's something like a regular phone call or someone you can count on to pick you up from the airport. So I'm trying to adjust what I ask of people by what I know they are capable of and to withhold my judgment. Not always easy! By learning to be aware of other people's limitations, I can perhaps grow through my own.

EVENT DIRECTORY - I've had a lot of people ask me how to record their ceremonies and events with the church. I have created a place for you to do that. http://ulcseminary.org/eventdirectory.php

Go to this page and you can input any and all of your weddings, funerals, handfastings, baby blessings/namings, etc. It will be recorded in our database for future reference. It won't be visible, but it can be retrieved if you ask. Check it out and let me know what you think.

NEW COURSES - I've had people ask me if I had a course planned on Life Coaching, spiritual counseling, and I believe the other was Humanism. I don't currently have anyone who has offered to write such a course, but if you or someone you know is interested, please review the page http://www.ulcseminary.org/coursesubmission.php and get back to me. I will, probably next month, be offering a course on Theosophy. From what I've read so far, it's a fascinating course. I've had many courses submitted to me recently, but I haven't had time to look at all of them. If you are one of those who have sent me something and have yet to hear back, please don't despair - I'm working on it!

ADDING ORDINATION OPTION TO YOUR OWN SITE - Another thing you can add to your own site, along with the affiliate program, is the ability to ordain others through your site. I've created a form that you can copy and paste into the body of a page of your website and your visitors can ordain themselves using YOUR website. It's something great you can offer people at no cost and little effort for you.

I put the code at http://www.ulcseminary.org/ordinationform.php You can put it in a column, like I did at http://ulcceremonies.com or you can put it on its own page. I think it is a great way to spread the word of ULC and you're giving people the convenience of doing it right from your own site. There are also instructions to add a line to the code (cut and paste) so you will be notified whenever someone is ordained through your site. If you put the form on your site, send me a link and I'll check it out. :) Let me know if you have any problems and I can try to help. Please run a test on it to be sure it works properly.

HEADER - I have managed to fix the header on the site after I 'fixed' it. lol. I changed the drop-down menu to being just one menu for the whole site. I may have missed a few pages, but I'll be working on it.

SPAM - INCLUDE A SUBJECT LINE PLEASE - The latest spam thing going out is to get emails from familiar addresses, but with no subject line. What that means is that if an email doesn't have a subject line, it will be deleted without being read. I'm sure I'm missing a few real ones that way, but to open all of them is very time-consuming, so please include a descriptive subject.

If you're new to the Seminary, check out announcements from previous months at ULC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Warmly,

Rev. Amy Long

President of ULC Seminary

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

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 21:02:00 +0000

This announcement will be going out in the November 2010 Monthly announcement, but I thought I'd mention here until it can get out.

I am implementing an Affiliate Program through the ULC Seminary.

The direct page is: http://www.ulcseminary.org/idevaffiliate/index.php

This is an opportunity for you to earn money for your ministry. I'm just getting it started, so there may be a few bugs, but it's up and running and ready for action.

You can choose from a variety of banners to put on your site, so you can focus on either a specific category of products or on the whole catalog.

When people come through your link and make a purchase, you will get a percentage of every sale. Check it out and let me know what you think.

--Amy

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

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 23:22:00 +0000

Rumors

Hello All!

Kevin and I have received numerous emails recently about people who have had the misfortune of being involved with Michael Cauley, who runs a tiny little website, the 'ulcnetwork'.

His members seem to have come from the ministers who were signed up with the monastery's social networking site, while he worked there.

Cauley has sent numerous emails to those members and has posted all over the web that those who don't give him money to be ordained through his little site will be permanently removed from ULC, since he plans on taking it over. His latest thing is to say that we are a Satanist church. I'm sure that for all but perhaps a few of you out there, you will find that insulting. Or at least amusing.

His taking over the ULC is completely untrue. He has zero affect on anyone's ordinations with anyone but whoever has decided to send him the $39.95 that he requires.

In other words -- relax. Nobody is taking over the ULC. He is one minister, with one tiny little website, and way too much time on his hands.

If you have any questions about it, contact me, Kevin, or Andre. We'd be happy to answer any of your questions.

--Amy

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

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:50:00 +0000

Call to Action!
All Hands, Heads Up! What would make your Seminary experience,

your ULC experience REAL!

What would compel you to active participation in your

ULC experience? Regular participation.

What do you want/need to aid in you in your Spiritual growth,

and experience completeness in, that which is the Creator?

Multifaith/Nondenominational, is a wide berth-what are you

seeking, what are you searching-for?

Some are solitary practitioners', some are not,

Amy needs your help-this is a call to action.

You are hurting, there is a Great Physician-waiting to

help, you have but to ask.

Sometimes people get caught up in Life,

sometimes they become-caught in a Spiritual suspended

animation. Sometimes time just isn't right, "it is a timing thing".

Please help Amy, she needs the Seminary to

Stand UP. Amy has a lot on her plate, but dedicated and committed

To the Seminary she is. Emotional Life, Spiritual Support- Urgent Care Unit,

We are the Resident on-duty, we are the Technicians, and Artificers of our Systems

Of belief.

Please do not ignore this Call to Action, we need a Healthy Active Church.

Do what is right, Harm none. We harm Amy, by not counseling with her.

She is a Superwoman, but her Dark Matter Energy is folding in upon her.

The Cosmic Microwave Background has found

uncertain density! SOA, SOA, SOA-Save Our AMY!

Thank you for this opportunity and service -- Rev. Lee Banfield

(Thanks Lee)

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:26:00 +0000

Universal Life Church October 2010 Announcements
Hello!

SPECIAL THIS MONTH - For the month of October, you will receive a free ULC pin for any order (not counting shipping) that exceeds $75.

LATEST LESSONS - Over the last couple of months, I seem to keep finding myself in the position to talk with people about self-perception, which makes me think I must be working on it myself. Those of us who tend to counsel others (and you all know who you are), do it because we can. Simple as that. As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Counseling isn't so much power as it is ability. And those who can, do. So I seem to find myself talking to some of the most amazing people I've ever met, helping them to discover that they don't need to keep feeling like there's something wrong with them. I have always found it odd that those who are the most capable and competent, question themselves the most.

The recurring theme I keep bumping into is about lies. Or should I say 'half-truths'. For instance, those who were told at a young age that abuse was love, and that they have no control over their world, other than to take the blame for the bad things that happen. It breaks my heart to see these amazing people feeling awful for the craziness around them, thinking the craziness is them. Or caused by them. Mostly, it's not.

I've also found, on a separate note, that it's frightfully easy to commit welfare fraud. I've not done this myself, of course, but it is being done by someone I know. A fraud investigation was promptly launched and we shall see if truth prevails. That kind of thing (another lie/half-truth) makes me crazy.

On a personal level, I was promoted to third degree black belt in American Kenpo last weekend. It has been years since my last promotion and, thanks to my wonderful instructor (who I got after my previous promotion) I have learned an enormous amount about the art. I know it's not ULC related, but it feels really good.

EVENT DIRECTORY - I've had a lot of people ask me how to record their ceremonies and events with the church. I have created a place for you to do that. http://www.ulcseminary.org/eventdirectory.php

Go to this page and you can input any and all of your weddings, funerals, handfastings, baby blessings/namings, etc. It will be recorded in our database for future reference. It won't be visible, but it can be retrieved if you ask. Check it out and let me know what you think.

NEW COURSES - I've had people ask me if I had a course planned on Life Coaching, spiritual counseling, and I believe the other was Humanism. I don't currently have anyone who has offered to write such a course, but if you or someone you know is interested, please review the page www.ulcseminary.org/coursesubmission.php and get back to me.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SOME OF THE LATEST ULC DRAMA - Hopefully, most of you have been kept out of the loop when it comes to some recent drama within the various sites of the ULC, but Kevin, Andre and I have all been receiving emails and phone calls about it for months, so it does bear addressing. If you have been spared the drama, then this may be of little interest.

As many of you know, there was a split between headquarters (ulchq.com) and the monastery (ulc.org) in August of 2006. This was due to an internal problem within the monastery, which is still under legal debate. Daniel Zimmerman (who owned it) closed the site, but not before it was 're-appropriated' by its current owner. Soon after, the monastery changed its domain name to themonastery.org, redirecting traffic, and call themselves the monastery storehouse. Neither headquarters, Kevin (ulc.net), nor I have anything to do with them. Their ordinations are separate and they are not part of the long-standing, international Universal Life Church, whose president is Andre Hensley. The monastery has since bought up over 200 domain names (including ulchq.net and .org) to confuse people into thinking they are the original and real ULC Headquarters. They are merely ministers, doing their own church, just like many of you.

This is not news. The thing that has happened more recently is the emergence of a man named, Michael Cauley. He began working for the monastery, managing their social networking site. While using their resources and collecting the information from ministers on that site, he decided to open his own church. He calls it the ulcnetwork and it's a Christian-only site. What he has been telling people is that, basically, if they are not ordained with him, they are helping Satan. Most people, I suspect, recognize the ridiculousness of his claims. Unfortunately, some people have been subjected to personal phone calls from him and insulting email rants. He has zero affiliation with the ULC, other than being a regular minister with his own little ministry and apparently a database of ministers from his association with the monastery. His 'school sign' is a computer generated one, making it appear he has a building. Even the monastery dismissed him from their employ. Your ordinations are valid if done through the Seminary, ulc.net or ulchq.com. I don't know about how the ones through the monastery are viewed. I can't say one way or another.

As for Cauley, yes he is the one with the long rap sheet for fraud. I find it too much of a coincidence that he be anyone but the same person with the same name, living in the same town. Florida doesn't seem to recognize supposed corporation. He promises employment for anyone who goes through his little academy at large salaries. He claims victimhood at the hands of George Freeman (Br. Martin, at the monastery). He's no victim. And he claims that all that attacks he made on me, Andre and Kevin, were part of the monastery's plan. "Just following orders" -- does that sound familiar? I believe we are responsible for our own actions and blaming others doesn't work for me.

ADDING ORDINATION OPTION TO YOUR OWN SITE - I had a cool thought last month. I thought it would be great if I offered to you the option of ordaining others through your own site. If you want to give people the opportunity to become ordained, I've provided the code to put on your site which will create a form that people can fill out to have their ordinations sent directly to headquarters. (It's free for you to do this, of course.)

I put the code at http://www.ulcseminary.org/ordinationform.php You can put it in a column, like I did at http://www.ulcceremonies.com or you can put it on its own page. I think it is a great way to spread the word of ULC and you're giving people the convenience of doing it right from your own site. There are also instructions to add a line to the code (cut and paste) so you will be notified whenever someone is ordained through your site. If you put the form on your site, send me a link and I'll check it out. :) Let me know if you have any problems and I can try to help. Please run a test on it to be sure it works properly.

NEW COURSES - The master of Spiritual Leadership course was sent out recently as a sample. For those who got a partial one first, I apologize. Weirdness with the mailing program. The new course can be viewed at http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=214

HEADER - On a side note: Somehow I messed up the header of our site. It looks fine on my side until I publish it. Suggestions for fixing it would be appreciated.

TESTIMONIALS - I know I keep talking about adding video to the site and I haven't done it yet, but I promise that it's on its way. I'd like to add more video to the website. I have a camera and I'm going to get started adding video sections with blurbs and such to talk about different things. What I would love is to have you all do the same thing, if you would. If you have access to a video camera of any sort, videotape yourself talking briefly about weddings you've done, any of the books or products that you've used, classes you've taken, the church you started, etc. I'd love to get a montage of these and put them throughout the site. A short .mwv file (2 min. or less) would be great. Something I can play on windows. I'll edit them together into a few clips to post. Cool, huh? It would also be great to put a face/voice with so many of your familiar names.

SPAM - The latest spam thing going out is to get emails from familiar addresses, but with no subject line. What that means is that if an email doesn't have a subject line, it will be deleted without being read. I'm sure I'm missing a few real ones that way, but to open all of them is very time-consuming.

I've also had a suggestion/reminder from one of our ministers to please be mindful of the elderly and disabled. If you live in an apt., be aware that they may appreciate some help from time to time. If there is an emergency, keep in mind to help them and check on them. There, but for the grace of God, go I.

If you're new to the Seminary, check out announcements from previous months at http://www.ulcseminary.org/announcements.php

Warmly,

Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:33:00 +0000

  The prize doesn't always go to the most deserving....

Irena Sendler
There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto,
as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.)
Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids..)
She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted
nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out
and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names
of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed.
Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Recently, Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.

However, Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming and Barack Obama won for a speech on peace.

Powerful message, especially the "cartoon." Let us never forget!

63 years later



In   MEMORIUM - 63 YEARS LATER

Please read the little cartoon carefully, it's powerful.

Then read the comments at the end.
I'm doing my small part by forwarding this message.

I hope you'll consider doing the same.

In Memoriam


It is now more than 60 years after World War II in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, 6 million Jews and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned and starved with many of the world's people looking the other way!

Now, more than ever, with extremist Muslims claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because Muslim extremists are trying to do it again.

This e-mail is intended to reach 40 million people worldwide!

Join us and be a link in the memorial chain and help us distribute it around the world.

Please send this e-mail to people you know and ask them to continue the memorial chain.

Please don't just delete it.

It will only take you a minute to pass this along. Thanks

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive and affordable online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, a beginning course on Wicca, as well as a beginning course on Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more.

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is a free and lifetime ordination, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. We also make available many free wedding ceremonies for your use, as well as funeral ceremonies and other types of ceremonies.

The ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program where you can earn the coveted title of Chaplain. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church materials to help you with your professionalism and confidence. I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and an amazed by the frequent upgrades and new functions of the seminary.

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:52:00 +0000

A Fundraiser from one of our minister's church

Safe Haven of Change Ministry's

Presents

Fundraiser Rally

"Why Can't We Be Friends"

Safe Haven of Change is putting on a rally/fundraiser to support our program: "Why Can't We Be Friends." This is a program for youths, teens, and young adults that are having problems with domestic, social violence in the community, society and neighborhood. The ongoing violent death, murders and brutal violence among each other needs to stop. You are killing future mentor, leaders and business successors of the present and future. "Why"? A pair of customs glasses, coats, shoes, and drugs is just plain stupid. You young people have a better choice to live, instead of dying so young, without meaning or purpose. I can think or know a thousand different things to do or be instead of "Dead"!

You have places to go, careers to better your life and standards. You have to try or you may be next. We are not going to tell you, what to do, but what can be done to make us better. Join Us!

In addition: Safe Haven of Change Ministry is a nonprofit 501c3 organization that will be sponsoring a program "Why Can't We be Friends" for domestic and social violence youth, teens and young adults. On September 25, 2010 12noon-4pm @ 4438 Rosa Parks Blvd Detroit off W. Canfield in the field. Also Safe Haven of Change Ministry's will be sponsoring a program for young adults, and adults that want to start their own enterprise or business. We know sometimes working with or for someone else can be stressful and painful, so "Why not do you." You are the boss or your own boss. People with good ideas, courage and belief in self, do it everyday. You should feel confident in yourself and ideas. Let's go for it. Stand up young adults of the future. Time is passing, are you? Join us!

"Our Goal is to raise $10,000 or more, to buy uniforms and school supply for the first 200 hundred children and young adults with parent or guardian. Remember! "In order for the Fruit to be ripe and successful, the "Tree" must produce, good and ripe Fruit also. Safe Haven of Change will be grateful for all contributions, donations, and charity funds will be deeply appreciated. Thank you

Safe Haven of Change Ministry

Detroit Young Adult

Entrepreneurship Program

(Time, 12noon – 4pm, Date September 25,2010 and Place 4438 Rosa Parks Blvd Detroit MI off W. Canfield)

*I can't guarantee the particulars, but if you're in the area, plan to stop by. --Amy

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:08:00 +0000

The Directory seems to be down
For reasons unknown to me, our directory seems to be down. I just got back from a two-week vacation, so I don't know how long it has been down. I came back from vacation and promptly got some sort of flu bug. Hard to say exactly, but I feel like crud.

Also, it has come to my attention that when some people are trying to go to the ulc.net site, they are being re-directed to the monastery site. I'm sure that this is some sort of amazing coincidence. However it happened, I would strongly suggest that you all run a virus/spyware/malware scan on your site to remove any possible defective programing.

If you've sent me any emails in the last few weeks, please be assured that I'm not ignoring you. I just took a much-needed break. I came back home to 1800 emails. That'll teach me to take a vacation.

I'll get to you as soon as I can. :)

--Amy

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ULC Headquarters

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:46:00 +0000

Hi all!

I've heard some bizarre rumors lately going around that the headquarters of the Universal Life Church has moved to Seattle, Washington. This is absolutely NOT the case. The Universal Life Church headquarters is now, and has always been, in Modesto, CA.

I think some people have been misinformed. The monastery storehouse is in Seattle and from what I have been told by people trying to serve process, the address posted is a mail drop. They are in no way related to the Universal Life Church headquarters and the vote of their board has absolutely zero impact on anything related to the Universal Life Church. It was never their decision as to whether the Seminary site could be created.

The ULC Headquarters is alive and well in Modesto, under the leadership of Andre Hensley. The bookstore (ulc.net) is run by Kevin Andrews in Folsom, CA and we are the Universal Life Church Seminary.

The only board vote that affects the actions of the Universal Life Church International Headquarters, is that which is presided over by Andre Hensley. Their site is not abandoned -- they just aren't very computer savvy.

I hope this clears up any misconceptions or confusion.

--Amy

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:34:00 +0000

I am sad to report that I didn't make it into round 3 of the book-writing contest.

I'm disappointed because I'd really hoped to be able to publish the book and get it out to the masses, but they must've had their reasons. Thank you to those who have supported me and voted for me.

As with all things, there's a reason this happened and didn't go the way I wanted it to. I look forward to finding out what it is.

--Amy

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Online Ordination

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:07:00 +0000

ADDING ORDINATION OPTION TO YOUR OWN SITE - I had a cool thought the other day. I thought it would be great if I offered to you the option of ordaining others through your own site. If you want to give people the opportunity to become ordained, I've provided the code to put on your site which will create a form that people can fill out to have their ordinations sent directly to headquarters. (It's free for you to do this, of course.)

I put the code at www.ulcseminary.org/ordinationform.php You can put it in a column, like I did at ulcceremonies.com or you can put it on its own page. I think it is a great way to spread the word of ULC and you're giving people the convenience of doing it right from your own site. There are also instructions to add a line to the code (cut and paste) so you will be notified whenever someone is ordained through your site. If you put the form on your site, send me a link and I'll check it out. :) Let me know if you have any problems and I can try to help.

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:34:00 +0000

Universal Life Church Announcements - April 2010
Happy Easter!

Hello!

This last month has been an interesting month. Site-wise, I've had the worst time with my mailing program. For those of you who received the flurry of emails (some of you got 14 of them all at once), I sincerely apologize. The tech guy working on them thought the only way to fix it was to re-send all of the mailings to all of the people on the list.

On the plus side, some people got mailings who had missed them before, but on the downside, I really don't think anyone wants to hear from me that much. lol! Especially when there are 3 or 4 of each one. I was told it was fixed, but no subscriptions are still not starting as they should. We'll have to see. I may end up moving them all to a new program and if so, there may be some interruption or overlap. If so, I apologize in advance.

This month we are releasing another new program, called the Dr. of Christian Ethics program. It gives a lot of interesting background and information about the Christian religion and would be of great interest to many Christians out there.

Please check out our Seminary Graduates page. We have quite a few graduates of both the Master of Ministry and the Dr. of Ministry. This is a great accomplishment. These ministers have worked for several years to go through and complete between 10 and 15 courses each and we're very proud of each and every one of them.

A Big Giant Favor

I have a big giant favor to ask. This is a pretty easy one, but would mean a lot to me. I have entered a contest for Spiritual Writers. One of our ministers told me about it and I've entered it using the text from the SpiritQuest, Master of Metaphysics course. There are 4 rounds and the first two of them are based heavily on popular vote. If you would do me the honor of voting for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Some of you already have, which I am very grateful for, and anyone else who does, you have my gratitude as well.

The whole thing is done online, so it's a matter of following the link and voting for me. Once you've voted, you'll be notified of the voting for the following rounds as well. The winner of the contest get a publishing contract with Hampton Roads. I'd love to get the SpiritQuest book in print for the general population. If it wins, I'll likely have to pull the course and replace it, but on the other hand, those of you who haven't taken it will get the opportunity to get it in book form.

As for now, only the people who are taking the course can get it in book form. They are print on demand, which means they are made one at a time. After the contest, I hope to have them done by the thousands. :) By going to this link, you also get to see a video of me pitching the book idea. Some people have said it was good to put a voice and face with the name. :) Thanks again.

http://www.nexttopauthor.com/profile.cfm?aid=432

New Course

We have another new course this month called the Dr. of Christian Ethics. There's more about it below and to the left.

Astral Projection

Last month's new course is called the Master of Astral Projection. This is a great course for learning how to get out of your body when you sleep and to be in control of what happens there.

Canadian Recognition

I have some news about this. I was working on the paperwork for it, when I saw that I need to be working with the 'head of the denomination', which is Andre Hensley. I have emailed him about working with me on it and I've mostly gotten a 'I'll check on it' response, or none at all. Since there are quite a few hoops that need jumping through to make it happen, it would be great if he would work with me on it. I'm still waiting.

Computer Crash

I have had multiple computer crashes recently, so I apologize for any delays in getting back to you. I'm seriously considering changing to a Mac. I hear they are much more reliable.

Seminary Credential Pkg

I re-did the Seminary Credential Package. It's currently on sale for $79. The Bachelor and Master of Divinity are so popular, that I now have all three degrees listed in the package, along with a credential, patch, decal, parking placard and more. It's a great deal and I think you're really gong to like it.

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:23:00 +0000

Negative Bombardment from Mikey Cauley
Hi All,

Recently, I have been bombarded with negativity by a guy named Michael Cauley. He's part of the ulc monastery and has made his own little website 'seminary'. He has been slamming me on every forum he can find, including Facebook and (probably) MySpace as well. I already posted this on Facebook, but feel free to re-post it anywhere you think is appropriate.

Instead of following the tenets of ULC, he has decided to go on a smear campaign of both me (personally) and the ULC Seminary in general, Headquarters in Modesto, and a few occasional swipes at ulc.net. He is saying all sorts of untrue things, as well as some technically 'true' things, but taken out of context and misrepresented.

I'd like to believe that somewhere in his heart, he thinks he is doing something that's right. He keeps referencing a site that the monastery themselves put up, and assuming it's correct. Perhaps he is merely a pawn in a bigger game. Either way, I've chosen to keep my distance because ugliness and poison has a way of hurting everyone it touches. However, good information is always helpful.

Sigh. Okay. Here we go.

The ULC was started by Kirby Hensley in 1959 in Modesto, CA. Kirby fought very hard for people to have the right to be ordained. Without him and his struggles, none of us would be where we are, as far as being ordained. If there was ever anything he did that was legally inappropriate, I don't know anything about it and it would have had to have been a long time ago.

Daniel Zimmerman started the ulc.org site, originally with the intention of doing it for headquarters. At one point, their ideas separated, so HQ made their own site (www.ulchq.com) They chugged along for several years, with Daniel accepting ordinations, which he forwarded to headquarters. About 7 years ago or so, I started helping Daniel with the site. I was not employed there, but did it to help and to sell my first book.

Yes, Daniel had talked to me about selling me the site. We had no formal agreement of any kind. We had just talked about it as something to happen in the future. I found out that he had been lying the whole time in order to get me to do more work for him for free. He kept telling me it was 'sweat equity', while having no intention of ever selling the site to me or anyone. He wrote emails to someone on his board saying what a fool I was to keep working for him and was very pleased at how he was taking advantage of me. This, on top of the growing unease with how he thought of and referred to our ULC ministers, made me decide it was time to leave.

I had been trying for some time to convince Daniel to add a seminary aspect to the site and he was resistant. He wanted to do his monk program, which I found offensive (due to the nature of the materials he presented, not monks in general.) I wanted a seminary to add credibility to people's ordination and to give them more training. I also wanted to increase the feeling of community. He didn't care about any of that.

So I left and started my own site. When I was working with Daniel, I had urged him to re-design the site. He was resistant, but agreed if I was willing to pay to have it done. I agreed to pay for half, knowing it would help everything in the long run. I hired a programmer, who did it at a reduce price and worked with me to come up with the improved design. When I left to start my own site, I hired the same programmer (and paid him for the information) to create a similar template framework. There's nothing wrong with that. I re-wrote all of the text throughout the site and it has been evolving ever since.

I have been accepting ordination requests and forwarding them to headquarters from the first day I went online. I have asked for authorization, but headquarters has denied it. Due to the legal issues going on, I believe they don't want to authorize anyone or step outside of what they are comfortable with. Perhaps, when the legal issues are resolved, Andre (Kirby's son) will talk to the board about authorizing me. I am fully in support of HQ in Modesto and will continue to remain so.

Two years later, George Freeman (aka 'Br. Martin') used Daniel's poor behavior (and yes, it appears it was really odd behavior) as an excuse to stage a coup and take the site from Daniel. He claims it was all done legally, but that is in dispute. On my website, I made references to the ongoing legal battles and made outside references to them.

When the site was taken, Daniel did what he could to take it down, but George had control over it the domain name. At that time, headquarters withdrew their authorization and support. George has since been buying up every domain name he can think of to spam the search engines and to mislead people into thinking that they are the 'real' ULC.

Michael keeps 'pointing out' that I started the Seminary without the permission of the monastery board. He is absolutely correct. I also did it without the permission of the Baptists, the Catholics, the president of the United States, Taco Bell or anyone else. I believe this is also true of most of the websites on the internet. I did not need their permission. No ULC minister needs permission to start a ULC website.

As for claims about my courses all being free on the internet. That's too ridiculous to address.

The degrees are not accredited, nor have I claimed they were. They were, however, approved by the California Bureau of Post Secondary Education under the Religious Exemption Clause. Each course was reviewed and approved. That dept. closed a couple of years ago, but the approval still stands.

Also, the Seminary is most definitely a church. We incorporated as a church in Aug. of 2004. Our paperwork is posted on the site. I'm not sure why he is saying we're not, when it's so clearly posted that we are. We incorporated two years before the 'monastery storehouse' did.

Let's see, what else. Oh yeah, someone else said he's been talking about his poverty and my wealth. When it comes to great friends, a loving partner, fantastic kids, a vocation I love, and spiritual connection -- I am one of the wealthiest people I know. As for money -- I don't recall reviewing my taxes with him. Yes, I do get paid for the products we sell, but I'd hardly say I'm wealthy. As a matter of fact, in addition to doing the website 40hrs. a week, I teach karate, officiate at weddings, work as a mobile DJ, occasionally do mystery shopping, and get child support in order to make ends meet. I'm like the rest of you in that I do what I do because I love it.

I'm trying to remember what other silly things he has said. I didn't read much of what he wrote, but I did get a lot of phone calls and emails about it.

As far as Kevin at ulc.net. He's an honest and kind man. His site is a bookstore. He has never claimed otherwise. He and I have a good relationship and we refer people back and forth as appropriate. I always wish him good things.

Headquarters (the real one in Modesto) is run by Andre Hensley. As far as I have ever seen, he does a great job and is an honest man. They get a ton of ordinations that they have to put in by hand every day. They do letters of authorization and hand-type the credentials and other items. They aren't perfect, but none of us are. I haven't seen any dishonesty from them and they've always been fair with me.

Someone must have hurt or neglected Mr. Cauley badly when he was a child. Physically or emotionally. I don't know what. He has made it a habit of calling our ministers and yelling at them, calling them names and more. He does this with anyone who disagrees with him. I find people like that to be exhausting to be around and I choose to stay away from them.

Many of you have already 'unfriended' him and have found that he continues to pester you for a friend-add. Consider what kind of energy you want in your life before deciding how you wish to proceed.

I greatly appreciate all the loving support I've received from so many of you. This is why I love what I do. :)

Hugs,

--Amy

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:29:00 +0000

This is the ULC Seminary Newsletter Announcement. To unsubscribe, click the link on the bottom of the page.

"Doing That Which is Right"

Happy Almost-My-Birthday!

I...mean....Happy Father's Day!

Hello!

What an outstanding and busy month! - June is upon us and I'd like to talk about some of the crazed activities that I've been doing. Did you ever have one of those days-weeks-months when you get an idea to do something (aka. 'a bug up your butt') and you just have to get it done while you have the momentum? That's how my last month or so has been. The results of my efforts are discussed below.

BOOK CONTEST - The second round of the book-writing contest has started and I'd like to ask you all again to vote for me. Some of you already have and I appreciate it tremendously. Time for round 2. If you voted in round 1, you'll likely also get an email from the contest itself, but I'd like to beat them to the punch and ask here. Please follow the link and cast your vote. You'll find a book outline and a sample of Chapter 1 about Setting Spiritual Goals, as well as the video of me that's still posted, pitching the book. When I win the contest, the book will be published by Hampton Roads and will then be made available to the general public.

http://www.nexttopauthor.com/profile.cfm?aid=432

NEW COURSES - I mentioned these last month, but I thought I'd mention them again. The Master of Astral Projection and the Dr. of Christian Ethics are both underway. Both can be ordered through the church store. We have another course in the works, but I haven't had a chance to get them all formatted yet. Not enough hours in the day.

Master of Astral Projection: http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=29&products_id=210

Dr. of Christian Ethics:

http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=29&products_id=211

UPDATED SITES - I've been spending some time working on updating some of our satellite sites. www.onlineseminary.org has had a complete makeover. If you want a different way to look through the Seminary Courses, review the course descriptions and look at samples, check out the new look. I also reworked www.ulcseminary.net. This has lots of sermons listed, both from our own sermon blog and from elsewhere on the internet. Also, if you have any sermons you'd like to share, please email them to me and I'll post them on the site and send them out via the sermon emails. I have a new way of keeping updated that will speed everything up, which includes poems, stories, sermons and ceremonies that you'd like to send. Please send me as many of each as you'd like and I'll get them up on the site.

TESTIMONIALS - I'd like to add more video to the website. I have a camera and I'm going to get started adding video sections with blurbs and such to talk about different things. What I would love is to have you all do the same thing, if you would. If you have access to a videocamera of any sort, videotape yourself talking briefly about weddings you've done, any of the books or products that you've used, classes you've taken, the church you started, etc. I'd love to get a montage of these and put them throughout the site. A short .mwv file (2 min. or less) would be great. Something I can play on windows. I'll edit them together into a few clips to post. Cool, huh? It would also be great to put a face/voice with so many of your names.

FORUM - For those of you who have been posting on the forum over the last year or two (or more), but stopped in the last few months, I'd like to welcome you back. There had been a problem with posting due to that dratted upgrade I did on the server 7 or 8 months ago. It was cutting off people's posts. Well, the forum is back in working order and we have a number of additional areas to post in. You can also post your lessons on the forum as well. www.ulcseminary.org/forum.

CANADA - New stuff for Canada. One of our wonderful Canadian Ministers, Denise La Rochelle, has sent me some info for a new way to go about getting accepted in Canada. This is a much shorter route, but there are definitely a bunch of hoops I need to jump through. There are two things I need from you: I need a list of 25 ministers in Ontario who are requesting ordination and acceptance. A pen and ink signed list of 25 names, address, and signatures.

The second thing I need from all Canadian ministers. We're doing Ontario first, but the rest will follow if this works out. What I need is a short essay from you, with your full name and province, letting me know why you were ordained (or want to be), what's your interest in ordination, and what do you plan on doing with it. These essays will be posted on a blog so I can tell them that we have record of everyone who wants to be accepted. In order to be approved by Ontario, you need to have that essay posted. Please send your essays to amy@ulcseminary.org and put CANADA ESSAY in the subject line.

SEMINARY STUDENT LISTING - In a similar vein, I'm going to be re-doing the seminary student listings. When I changed programs a year or so ago, it stopped automatically adding Seminary Students to the website. I was getting a lot of spam too, so that contributed to the decision. Also, when I upgraded my server, a lot of content was lost. Upgrades seldom happen without casualties. To solve this, I would like it if any and all seminary students would please re-send me your information, as you would like it to appear, to amy@ulcseminary.org. Please put SEMINARY STUDENT INFO in the subject line. All of this will be re-done and put into the site. The existing information will be removed, so if you want your listing to appear, you need to send me your bio.

SEMINARY STUDENT ID CARDS

If you are a seminary student and you'd like to have a card stating that you are a student in good standing, we have made them available to you. This one is done on a purple card with black ink, but if you have another preference, you can state that on your order. http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=213.

NEW UPDATING INFO ON SITE - I have found some new ways of keeping the site updated. The poetry page now has a lot more poetry all listed, the announcements page has all of the monthly announcements archived (in case you missed any), the spirit quest course page has a listing of many of the essays from our students, as well as a lot of other pages throughout the site that will have updating information.

Oh, and most importantly, my birthday is June 19th. :) Often, right on, before, or right after Father's Day. That makes my dad happy.

Thanks for everything!

Rev. Amy Long
Program Director

Visit Our Website
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

Please go to this link and vote for me:
http://www.nexttopauthor.com/profile.cfm?aid=432
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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:10:00 +0000

ULC Seminary Announcements - May 2010
Happy Mother's Day!

Hello!

Spring has Sprung and the Grass has Riz - May is always so beautiful. Warm enough to wear shorts, but not so hot that we long for air-conditioning. If it weren't for allergies, it would be absolutely perfect.

NEW COURSE - The Master of Astral Projection and the Dr. of Christian Ethics are both underway. Both can be ordered through the church store.

Master of Astral Projection: http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=29&products_id=210

Dr. of Christian Ethics:

http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=29&products_id=211

CURRENT GROWTH - The last month for me has been about computers. I'm not sure if a constantly breaking computer counts as a growth period, but it has been a struggle for sure. I now have a reliable laptop from one of our ministers, Gene Hughes (http://hhspcservices.com), who has set me up! This should reduce the drama for awhile.

I think part of my growth this month is about the concept of setting boundaries and knowing when the right time is to draw a line in the sand. This can be difficult for a lot of us. If you have a friend or loved one who is terrific in many ways, but not so good in others, the challenge is to determine which ones weight more importantly. Maybe someone is kind and loving, but not good with money and spends recklessly or doesn't bring much into the household. Or a friend who you've known forever -- Does your history with that person outweigh some truly inconsiderate and selfish behavior? Where do we draw the lines? At what point do we decide that the cons are more important than the pros? Tough decision. It changes with every situation. Even when you draw the line, it can be hard to let go.

TESIMONIALS - I'd like to add more video to the website. I have a camera and I'm going to get started adding video sections with blurbs and such to talk about different things. What I would love is to have you all do the same thing, if you would. If you have access to a videocamera of any sort, videotape yourself talking briefly about weddings you've done, any of the books or products that you've used, classes you've taken, the church you started, etc. I'd love to get a montage of these and put them throughout the site. A short .mwv file would be great. Something I can play on windows. I'll edit them together into a few clips to post. Cool, huh? It would also be great to put a face/voice with so many of your names.

MAILING PROGRAM - I have been moving my mailings to a new program to head off some of the problems we've been having. For those of you who got the kinds words sent multiple times, I do apologize. If you unsubscribed because of it and want to sign up again, you can at www.ulcseminary.org/kindwords.php. One of the new things I have going on with the mailings is that on the forms, you can sign up for everything at once. I'm still making adjustments, but when you sign up for one, you should see the options for adding yourself to all the mailings that interest you. Some people have already taken advantage of it. I think it'll streamline things. I've also been getting some wonderful assistance from my beau, Ron, who has been adding a ton of new sermons and Sunday School lessons to the cue. If you sign up for those, you'll be getting them weekly for a year, at least, without interruption.

CANADA - Unfortunately, the drive to get Canada approved was abruptly halted when I found that I have to have the cooperation of the 'head of the denomination', which is Andre Hensley. So, I'm at his mercy right now. Sorry about that. I'll keep doing what I can though. The other thing I'm reading is that even if they accept all the paperwork, it'll still take 2 years for them to approve a new denomination.

CONTEST - I'd like to thank all of you who took the time to vote for me in the book contest I'm in. Round one has ended and I do believe I'm heading off to round two. If you didn't get a chance to vote the first time around, please check in for round two and place your vote for me. http://www.NextTopAuthor.com/?aid=432 I'd greatly appreciate it. I believe I'll be posting the book outline and a sample chapter or two for this round.

ROBES AND STOLES - I did an oops on the newsletter that just went out. I had re-done my newsletters and inadvertently left in a line about robes and stoles being added to the store. They aren't. Our distributor went out of business, but I do have a line on a new one just recently. I have an email out to them about terms and if it is favorable, I'll be putting robes and stoles back in the store. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

http://twitter.com/ulcseminary
http://www.myspace.com/ulcseminary
http://www.facebook.com/ulc.seminary

Thanks for everything!

Rev. Amy Long
Program Director

Visit Our Website |
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

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

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Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:09:00 +0000

ULC Seminary Announcements March 2010
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello!

MAILINGS LAST MONTH! - Oh, the joys of technology! I'd like to sincerely apologize to those of you who got a flurry of emails from the seminary all in one day. Most of you, (I hope) realized it was a mailing program glitch and not some bizarre spamming technique. My program apparently hadn't been working properly for a little while now because when it was 'fixed', EVERYTHING that had been backlogged went out at once. Ugh with a capital U. Once I realized how many were going out, I had a bunch deleted from the cue, but a lot still went out. Please accept my apologies and know that it wasn't on purpose. If it ever happens that you get a flurry of emails from the Seminary, please know that it is NEVER on purpose and generally a glitch in either the mailing program or my use of the mailing program. Thanks.

NEW COURSE - A New Course is available. The course is called, the Master of Astral Projection. It's a 24 week course which talks about the techniques for increasing your ability to astrally project. There is information posted about it at www.ulcseminary.org/seminaryProgram.php, as well as a sample. Within a few weeks, we'll also have one called the Dr. of Christian Ethics. It'll be high-lighted in next month's announcement, but you can keep an eye out for it.

HELP FOR THE SEMINARY - I have been asked before how people can be of service to the seminary. I do have a request, for those who would be interested. As many of you know, we have mailings for two kinds of sermons, Sunday school, newsletters, seminary student mailings and Chaplaincy mailings. Oh, and the kind words. I have a little trouble keeping up on some of them. What I'm looking for is some help on the sermons and the Sunday School lessons. If you have an html program (I've found that there are free html programs available online -- shareware and such), I could use some help finding/formatting the lessons to be ready to go out. I've put up a page outlining my request/need with a place to download the lesson templates. www.ulcseminary.org/mailingshelp.php. If any of you could help with that, I'd be ever so grateful. There's no min. or max number you can do. If you sent something to me once or decided to do a few every couple of months, etc. it would all help.

CONTEST - Another request: I'm hoping that I'll be able to enlist your help next month. I'm entering a book writing contest that depends on people going online to vote. I'll let you know when it gets closer, but I do hope I can count on you to cast a vote in my direction.

KIND WORDS - I'd like to thank all of you who have been giving me such great responses to the kind words campaign. I think it has become my favorite thing to do for the Seminary. I am finding how big a difference it makes for people to get a few words of encouragement. I'd like all of you to try it. At least one day a week, if not more, say at least one encouraging thing to someone who needs it. Say something uplifting, positive and true. Say it without expectation, but with the intention of spreading good in the world. Mean what you say. Notice the difference.

It's available at www.ulcseminary.org/kindwords.php.

RADIO SHOW - I was on Cynthia Vickers' radio blog show last week. She did a great job. If you're interested, here's the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/vickers_tree/2010/02/21/shamanism If anyone else has a ULC-related radio show and would like a guest, I'm happy to do it.

CANADA - I've been working on the application for becoming a charity in Canada. It seems to be the first step. The universe seems to be putting things in my path because the email I was sent with the numbers to call/fax seem to have disappeared out of my email box. If the person who has those numbers to fax and call would re-send them to me, I'd appreciate it. It seems to all have disappeared.

GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE - We have great interest in this idea. Now that I know people want it, I'll start doing some research for the best deal and the best way to do it, given that there are so many different states involved. When I know something, I'll post it, announce it, put it on facebook, etc. I currently have a few people who have offered to look into it for us.

SALE ITEMS - There are still a lot of items on sale right now. Wedding Workbooks by the case are currently on sale. Buying the books in bulk are a great way to save money on the books. Giving the books to your couples enhances your professional image and makes your job much easier, by allowing the couples to select and customize their own ceremonies.

I found that by giving the couples a book, people comment frequently that the ceremony seemed so 'them' and wondered if the couple wrote the ceremony themselves. Give it a shot.

http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=204

The social networking sites that we've been using are below:

http://www.facebook.com/ulc.seminary
http://twitter.com/ulcseminary
http://www.myspace.com/ulcseminary

Thanks for everything!

Rev. Amy Long
Program Director

Visit Our Website |
ULC Seminary
http://www.ulcseminary.org
4714 Careyback Ave.
Elk Grove, CA 95758
916-690-1682

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

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Universal Life Church

noreply@blogger.com (Universal Life Church/ULC Seminary) — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:05:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hello!

FEBRUARY IS ALREADY HALF OVER! - I find it interesting every year that January always flies by before I even get a chance to get adjusted to the 'new year' status. This year is no different. I had some personal things that were resolved a few days before the end of January, so I got to start February with a relatively clean slate. .......................Then life happened. lol That's okay though, it's what keeps life interesting. (If I remember right, 'may you have an interesting life' is a Chinese curse.)

NEW COURSE - I'm working on putting some new courses together. I have one that has been submitted to me, a course on astral projection, that will be available in the very near future. Many of you will get a sample of it within a week or so, and some of you are not as far along on the newsletters/mailings and may not get it for awhile. It will be sent to the seminary students as well. The course will be the Master of Astral Projection.

CURRENT GROWTH - As with last month, I thought I'd share some of the things I've been working on. My focus of late has been about the question of agreements. We all have agreements with various people in our lives -- maybe it's an agreement to be married to someone, to be someone's parent or child, to help someone, teach someone, etc. Have you ever met someone and felt a particular need to help him/her? Not the general kind of 'let's make the world a better place' kind of feeling, but one more specific to that person? My question that I've been looking at is 'what triggers an agreement to kick in?' How is it you can know someone casually for a few months, then suddenly 'notice' them? Or feel the need to suddenly help them, ask for help, or be part of their lives in some way? What causes that? I have noticed it strongly a number of times in the last few years. Growing up, I've often had the ability to notice certain people as being people I want to be friends with, but I never thought about it much. In the last few years, however, I've had it happen several times in an uncomfortably obvious way. I know that when I was sick, I had to go get a bone marrow biopsy. At that point, the most painful thing I'd ever experienced in my life. My church had asked for volunteers to come and be with me (my family was not close by). Two people volunteered. One left after about 10 min. The other one stayed and held my hand and talked me through it. We ended up becoming friends. She said she didn't know what made her decide to come. She said she just knew she had to be there for me. I'd known her briefly as the former roommate of my new roommate (who turned out to be a nutbar). What triggered that need for her to be there? Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

MAIL - For those of you who have placed orders in January, rest-assured that everything has been sent. We've been having a terrible time with the USPS over the last few months. We do mail everything within days (usually), but I think someone in the post office has been really enjoying a whole bunch of ULC materials because the packages seem to not be arriving. If you have been sent a tracking number, that means we have packaged your order, gotten postage, and brought it to the post office. We can't get the tracking number without having bought the postage, which is a good indication that your package is in the mail. :) If you haven't received your package, please write to orders@ulcseminary.org and Monica can look into it. Sorry for the delay. It has been very frustrating on our end as well.

ASTROLOGY - I don't know if you are interested in Astrology, but I've found a really cool site that gives very in-depth astrology readings. http://www.astrologyzone.com/forecasts/. I don't live my life by them, but I do think that the readings are fun and interesting. It's a free site, so if you want to see it, you might be surprised.

KIND WORDS - I'd like to thank all of you who have been giving me such great responses to the kind words campaign. I think it has become my favorite thing to do for the Seminary. I am finding how big a difference it makes for people to get a few words of encouragement. I'd like all of you to try it. At least one day a week, if not more, say at least one encouraging thing to someone who needs it. Say something uplifting, positive and true. Say it without expectation, but with the intention of spreading good in the world. Mean what you say. Notice the difference.

It's available at www.ulcseminary.org/kindwords.php.

COMPUTER CRASH - If you've written to me in the last week and a half and I haven't responded, I'd like to apologize. My computer crashed and I had to wipe the hard drive. I had been using Norton Ghost, which was supposed to 'easily' restore my computer. Apparently, Norton's idea of 'easy' and mine are different. My dad spent about 12 hours on it yesterday and got everything restored. I do love my dad! At any rate, I'll be working to get things caught up and answer the many emails waiting for my attention.

CANADA - I just got some great information from one of our ministers about getting approved in Canada. If what she says turns out to be the case, we can be approved in Ontario in the next 6-8 weeks. I need to make a couple of phone calls and fill out a form. If I need help (members to sign), I'll let you know. I'm excited about the prospects.

GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE - I don't know if this is something that would be possible to do for ULC ministers, but I'm going to look into what would be involved in getting a group rate health plan for ULC ministers. Is this something anyone else would be interested in? If so and/or if you know anything about setting it up, let me know.

SALE ITEMS - There are still a lot of items on sale right now. Wedding Workbooks by the case are currently on sale. Buying the books in bulk are a great way to save money on the books. Giving the books to your couples enhances your professional image and makes your job much easier, by allowing the couples to select and customize their own ceremonies.

I found that by giving the couples a book, people comment frequently that the ceremony seemed so 'them' and wondered if the couple wrote the ceremony themselves. Give it a shot. HERE

The social networking sites that we've been using are below:

http://twitter.com/ulcseminary

http://www.myspace.com/ulcseminary

http://www.facebook.com/ulc.seminary

Thanks for everything!

Rev. Amy Long
Program Director

Warmly,

Amy Long
www.ulcseminary.org
916-690-1682
Wishing you all good things.......

Please go to this link and vote for me:
http://www.nexttopauthor.com/profile.cfm?aid=432
Try our new free toolbar at: http://ULCSeminary.OurToolbar.com/