The End of WATCH???

Dearest Members, Fellow Homeschoolers, and Friends of WATCH:

Hello from the WATCH Board. We hope and pray the new year finds you walking in the rich treasures of the Lord and in the power of His might!

Our first order of business is to announce the departure of Bill and Diana Waring and Patrick and Vicki Nurre from the Board. Our prayers and best wishes go out to the Warings and Nurres – the Lord has done many wonderful things through their selfless and constant labors on behalf of WATCH and Washington home educators, and we are grateful for the time they spent in service on the Board.

The result of these resignations means that effective January 31, 2011, the WATCH Board is comprised of Scot Bailey as President and Lisa Bailey as Secretary/Treasurer.

These announcements come at an important season in the life of WATCH as an organization. Scot and Lisa too have expressed a need to move into the next season of their lives and leave the Board. In early January of this year, the Board sent an announcement to our key volunteers and supporters asking them to pray about participating in the next generation of WATCH leadership, and none have felt the call to step forward at this time. Most key volunteers are still willing to serve at future events, but cannot commit to serving on the Board at this time. So we are addressing this to a wider audience in hopes the Lord will call someone from your ranks to fill this gap.

On the practical side, just to be explicit, WATCH’s main focus is the annual homeschool conference in August. We also host a homeschool graduation event in May and have in recent years hosted special speaker events between conferences as well as a leader’s summit in the first part of the year. WATCH also owns a web site and produces a regular email newsletter. Diana Waring also hosted WATCHTalk, semi-regular (monthly) interviews conducted online with homeschool notables.

WATCH is people—the Board, wonderful volunteers, members, and others in the homeschooling community who love coming to the conference and being with other people on the same journey. As we have continued to pray and seek the Lord regarding the future of WATCH, we wondered if there were other homeschoolers in our community grateful for the fruit of this organization and ready to lay their hands to the plow. Perhaps your children have graduated and you’re wondering what God has for you in your next season; maybe your children are older and you want to give back to others coming up after you; or maybe you are right in the midst of all of it and want to be more involved in helping others. Does the Lord have a place for you in homeschool leadership? We might not know you, but we believe He may call some of you to serve home educators in this state.

Please let us know immediately by email to info@watchhome.org if you feel there may be a chance of your answering this call to service. Without some feedback in the next few weeks, we will begin the work of winding down the affairs of the corporation and bringing to a close the labor of love that has been WATCH. Thank you, and bless you all.

The WATCH Board
3/14/11

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