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Friends,

Having recently finished a momentous first year and while catching our breath for another season of work at the Buechner Institute, we wanted to pause for a moment and update you on our plans and progress.

First, congratulations to Fred on the release of his new book, Yellow Leaves: A Miscellany. (If you were with us for the inauguration, you heard some of the wonderful material from this new book.) June also marks the 50th anniversary of Fred's ordination to the ministry, and in July he will celebrate his 82nd birthday. Any well wishes sent here will find their way to Fred (buechnerinstitute@king.edu).

And while we are in the congratulatory mode, we should note some of the new work by members of our Advisory Board:

• Paul Willis' new poetry collection is Visiting Home (Pecan Grove Press).
• Ron Hansen's new novel is Exiles, the story of Gerard Manly Hopkins'The Wreck of the Deutschland” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).  My review of the novel is due soon in Sojourners.
• Carrie Newcomer's new CD is "The Geography of Light" (Rounder Records).
• Phil Gulley's new book is Porch Talk: Stories of Decency, Common Sense, and Other Endangered Species (Harpers). Phil also has recently won an Emmy Award for his PBS series, "Porch Talk with Phil Gulley." By the way, we are excited to announce that Phil and Carrie will be joining us here at King College in the spring of 2009.

If you would like to have DVDs of our January 28 inaugural events, please send requests to mcfagan@king.edu. You may also view a photo gallery of the day's events here.

We continue to seek your support of this new enterprise, of course. We welcome gifts large and small to help with our program and proposed building. Do get in touch with me if you'd like to discuss partnering with us in this work, or you can make an online donation anytime.

Also, please be sure that you are on our mailing list by sending your contact information to buechnerinstitute@king.edu. We continue to solicit your ideas and involvement as we move forward.

Finally, I am pleased by the news that Tom Lynch will be returning to kick off the new semester at King College as the first speaker in a new roster of presentations in the Buechner Institute Lecture Series. Mark Edmundson and Phyllis Tickle will be here in September. Daniel Taylor and Philip Jenkins will be featured in October. In November we will host James Autry, Ken Wiley, and Sarah Gordon. And we will conclude the fall series with Morten Lauridsen in early December. Watch this space for details on why you want to meet these people and the timetable of their respective appearances.

I have been speaking here and there on topics relating to faith and art and my new book, Conversations with American Writers: The Doubt, The Faith, and the In-Between: Ann Arbor and Nashville recently and Memphis in the fall. Let us know if you have an event at which the Buechner Institute should be represented.

It has been a busy and rewarding first year, and I am grateful that most of the boxes are now finally unpacked. Above all, I am grateful to you for your many encouraging words as we have set about this work. It is gratifying to have so many join us in this endeavor. I am greatly pleased too by the outstanding Advisory Board members who are assisting us. Stay in touch, and follow our plans by checking back here as we look at culture through the eyes of faith in as many ways as we can.

As Ever,
Dale