Local Baháʼí Communities

Kevin Locke: Personal Reflection

Local Baháʼí Communities, News from Around the Region -

A Reminiscence of Kevin Locke

I have known Kevin Locke since the early 1980’s, when we both lived on Standing Rock and taught the Faith either directly or through various activities. He was a patient and kind man, full of good will, and always giving respect and honor to the various groups of Indigenous and other peoples. Kevin would use his platform to highlight the other tribes, especially under-represented ones, other performers, and even the participants. He didn’t like the spotlight to be on him alone. That wasn’t what he was about. And He was always careful to acknowledge the Indigenous lands we were on.

In the spring of 2021, Kevin contacted me, wondering if I would help him find a place where he could give a fireside near Austin, as he was driving through on his way back to Standing Rock from Florida. When I contacted a few people, it turned out that the best place to have the fireside was in Killeen, which would be a treat for the small hard-working group there. Kevin decided to talk about the Lakota Messenger of God, the White Buffalo Calf Woman, and tied her existence to the coming of Bahá’u’lláh. It went over well.

In October 2021, Kevin came down from South Dakota to help a group of us celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, held on the grounds of the State Capitol in Austin, TX. Although he was the main attraction, in true Kevin fashion he highlighted everyone else and brought out the best in them. His granddaughters, of course, stole the show as they danced with him. The Spiritual Assembly of Austin provided support to the Indigenous People’s Day Committee, which included a wonderful dinner for all the performers. The event helped us gauge what the Indigenous people thought of the Bahá’í Faith. We are happy to report that several people made positive comments about knowing the Bahá’ís in Texas, especially in the area of San Antonio.

The most recent project I had with Kevin was in writing a book for youth about his mother, Patricia Locke. My book, “Warrior Grandma: The Story of Patricia Locke,” is now in print. Kevin encouraged me, helped me to accent the Lakota words, ensured that I explained Lakota culture correctly, took photos for me, and approved the final manuscript. He was very excited about this book and its goals: to teach about his mother, the Indigenous messengers, the beginnings of institutional racism, and, of course, the Bahá’í Faith. He and his mother were instrumental in researching Indigenous religion and Indigenous Messengers of God.

As we go forward in a world without Kevin on this plane, let us remember him in the manner that he honored us. Remember to be humble, to put others before ourselves, and to bring to the forefront the best in each other and in everyone we meet. 

Please pray for the Patricia Locke Foundation and all the work it does for children on the Standing Rock Reservation:  https://patricialockefoundation.org/

Littlebrave Beaston, Killeen/Austin, TX 

South Montgomery County, TX Bahá’i Community Celebrations for the Birth of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh

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South Montgomery County, TX Bahá’i Community Celebrations
for the Birth of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh

On Wednesday (10/26/22) about 25 sincere souls, including several friends of the Faith, met in Ridgewood Park in The Woodlands along the road which is aptly named Interfaith Way, where we communed with nature, engaged in many meaningful conversations, enjoyed refreshments, and learned about the writings and teachings of the blessed Báb. Conversations were held in Spanish and English.

People came together from as far away as Bolivia, Canada, and Mexico. One couplewill soon leave for Qatar. We are far-flung citizens of the world, who were magnetized to come together and celebrate the birth of the Báb.   As Bahá’u’lláh said on this precious day in 1891 when He hosted a similar celebration, “This is the day on which His Holiness the Báb was born and shed illumination upon the world. Hence, let there be joy and gladness a thousand-fold.”(As recounted by Mírzá Habíbu’lláh Afnán. See Rev. of Bahá’u’lláh, Vol. 4, p. 334.)

On Thursday (10/27/22) we again gathered, this time in a room at the South Regional Library to celebrate Bahá’u’lláh’s birthday. As we sat together in a circle of friends, we heard the story of the life of the Blessed Beauty. To cast some light upon such an exalted Figure can merely touch upon aspects of a momentous life. The chosen readings called upon the metaphor of trees to turn our focus on Bahá’u’lláh’s ardent love of nature.

After our devotions, we went outside to walk across the lawn of the park next to the library, where the Bahá’is of Montgomery County South planted two trees to commemorate the bicentennial births of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb in 2017 and 2019, respectively, with beautiful plaques placed below the trees to identify them. These two trees flower in the spring, and they flank a statue to honor veterans of war and those who have died in the fruitless conflicts that the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh have beensent by God to end forever.

These twin Luminaries call us to universal peace and brotherhood. “He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind itscitizens.” (Tablet of Maqṣúd, Bahá’u’lláh.)

Wave 1: August Training Institute Seminar

Local Baháʼí Communities -

Wave 1: August Training Institute Seminar

We gathered – some 45 from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana – for a heart and spirit-filling institute seminar in an intensive five day format. It was August 2022 at the dawning of a new series of Plans mapping our path for the next twenty-five years. Building on the significant advance in the process of entry by troops pursued by the Baha’i world since 1996, the new Plans focus on expressing the society-building power inherent in the Cause in an ever-greater measure. We learned to welcome all comers into an understanding of Baha’u’llah’s vision for community building, social action and participation in the discourses of society.

The seminar kicked off a collective endeavor of tutors throughout the Region to generate experience and learning around the following two questions:

  1. How do we increase the flow of new human resources into the institute cycle after cycle?
  2. How do we support participants to become protagonists in the context of an expanding nucleus?

The seminar returned to the roots of the Institute Process, looking carefully at the new Book 1 together with our own experience to gain insights into how we can tutor it to advance these objectives. The five-day format brought back an intensity some of us experienced in the very first Ruhí courses in Texas in the early 90’s but had not experienced since. Songs, drums, prayers and art were intermixed throughout – it was awesome!

We returned home in teams committed to carry out a second wave of seminars in our respective sub-regions: Arkansas & Oklahoma, Austin & San Antonio, Houston & Louisiana, and North Texas. Subsequent waves will follow until all South Central tutors have an opportunity to engage. We are thrilled at the prospect of carrying this new process forward with waves of seminars 2 or 3 times each year, building on accumulated learning each time!

wave 1 dallas

Wave 2 Seminar in Harris Cluster Grouping/Louisiana Houston Baha’i Center, October 6 to 9, 2022

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The goals of the seminar were to increase the quality of the institute and disseminate learning. This was accomplished by studying the contents of the new version of Reflections on the Life of the Spirit, especially the “A Few Thoughts for the Tutor” introduction, and through rich practical experience of applying the themes in the three parts of Book One during home visits in the greater Houston community.
“A culture of regular home visits needs to be strengthened to support the development of true friendship.”


An expanding series of seminars organized in Waves
The Training Institute for the South Central region has embarked on a series of seminars, grouped into “Waves.” These seminars have the objective to strengthen the quality of the training institute in the South Central region.

  • Wave 1: 5-1/2 day regional training seminar hosted in Dallas in August.
  • Wave 2: 3 -day sub-regional training seminar hosted in San Antonio, Arlington, Fort Smith, Houston, and Austin during the months of September through October.
  • Wave 3: Many local seminars to be hosted in clusters across the South Central region over the coming months.

Houston Wave 2 seminar activities
The three-day seminar in Houston included morning devotions and study sessions focused on the three parts of Book One Reflections on the Life of the Spirit: Understanding the Baha’i Writings; Prayer; and Life and Death. These sessions analyzed the material in each part of Book One as it relates to the corresponding paragraphs in the “A Few Thoughts for the Tutor” introduction. Attendees discussed how the tutor endeavors to walk with participants through the development of insights that can lead to advancing their understanding of our twofold moral purpose: “to attend to one’s own spiritual and intellectual growth and to contribute to the transformation of society.”
After these study sessions, the seminar attendees were assigned to teams, who then went out into the community to make home visits. They were encouraged to share their learning and enthusiasm from the seminar space, to practice the capacities built in Book One, and to be flexible in listening to the needs and interests of the people they would visit. They also were encouraged to invite the people they visited to join in walking the path of service, to connect with the transforming power of the Revelation, to grow in capacity, to find joy in service, and to learn to assist others in a widening circle of unity.

Many kinds of home visit encounters

The spiritual intentions for all home visits were a humble posture of learning, connecting hearts; showing love, concern and support; taking insights into our local communities; serving; and relying on the Word of God. The field component of seminars also serve as a way to prepare tutors so when they facilitate their own Book One  they can accompany their participants based on their practical experience from the seminar.

  • Visits to Baha’is to invite them to take part in a community service that they would be most interested in
  • Visits with parents of children and Jr. youth who are engaged in children’s classes and Jr. youth programs
  • Visits with friends of the Faith who are already in a study circle or who might be invited to join a Book One study circle
  • Visits with families in neighborhoods where Baha’is are involved in reaching a receptive population

A few home visit stories

One team visited a couple with one Baha’i and one Christian:

  • “We engaged in a discussion of many topics, often with different perspectives presented. Our challenge was to ‘agree to disagree’ while maintaining a loving and tactful discussion with multiple perspectives  having a hearing, and listening with respect if not agreement. We had been assigned to address the themes in Part 1 of Book One, which is ‘Understanding the Baha’i Writings.’ To address our assignment, we read several passages from The Hidden Words, and we talked about the prophecy of Christ regarding, ‘Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ We felt privileged to have this experience, and were pleased when we departed from the visit as joyful friends.”

Another visit was to a family, all of whom have been Baha’is all their lives:

  • “The sons are in the Jr. youth program. They served us water and shared the cupcakes that we had brought for them. Our assignment was to discuss the obligatory prayers, so we asked the boys if they had started to memorize this prayer in the Jr. youth sessions. When they shook their heads ‘no’, we invited them to say one of the prayers that they were working on. They each complied, and then we said the short obligatory prayer together. We talked about the timing, which is to say the prayer between noon and sundown. We mentioned that we wash our hands and face first, and turn to the east. Their father asked them, ‘Where is east?’ We looked around to find the sun in the late afternoon, and then realized that east is on the front side of their house. After an admiring examination of their micro-Lego architecture project, we said goodbye and headed to our car with joy in our hearts.”

Another team visit included a lively discussion with a Hindu couple in their gracious living room:

  • “We sat down with this radiant couple and asked them about their life since they moved to Houston from India, after a stay as students in Haifa, Israel. They told us that they had visited the Baha’i gardens in Haifa several times, but learned that the gardens are a Baha’i holy place only after they had come to Houston. They are involved in a Book One study circle currently, and they complimented the Baha’is who have included them warmly into their lives. They were very clear that they prefer to spend their time in meaningful conversations, and do not like ‘small talk.’ They shared some of their Hindu beliefs, which they agree align with Baha’i beliefs in many ways. Our assigned task for the visit was to focus on the third part of Book One, which is ‘Life and Death.’ This topic fit very naturally into our discussion and all enjoyed the sharing of knowledge and insights. At the end of the visit, the wife shared a Hindu prayer in her language, and we said the beautiful Baha’i prayer that opens with the line, ‘From the sweet-scented streams of Thine eternity give me to drink, O my God…’ As we were leaving, the wife told us that her study circle would convene again during the coming week, and they would be starting Part 3 of Book One, which is ‘Life and Death.’ The synergy of this moment was truly beautiful.”

Home Visit Learnings

  • Some tutors are waiting until the end of Book One to introduce the practice of home visits and devotional meetings, but introducing them near the beginning of the study circle experience may be more effective.
  • Home visits themselves are just the beginning of deeper relationships. Key to their success will be to arrange follow-on activities to meet the needs of the people who were visited, and to invite them to step closer to becoming an active participant in the community building efforts.
  • An important aspect of the visit is to listen mindfully, and to encourage and support everyone.
  • When youth and children are at home, music, prayers, art, playing a game, and meaningful conversations can enhance the visits.
  • The visits are best undertaken in teams of at least two, but usually not more than three, so as not to overpower the people being visited.
  • When possible, bring a small attractive gift such as a prayer book, flowers, or a snack to share. Think about whom you will visit, and tailor the gift to them, if possible. For example, in a home with children, perhaps a coloring page and crayons. For Jr. youth, a game or healthy snack.
  • After several home visits have taken place, getting back together to share the experiences can provide a valuable evaluation of what we are learning.

Wave 3 – Expanding the learning to local communities

Seminar attendees will be returning to their local communities, where they can offer seminars to widely share the seminar experience with other tutors and those who want to tutor, and to stimulate establishing a growing number of Book One and Book Two study circles throughout the South Central region. Home visits will become an important practical component of these grassroots endeavors to advance the development of vibrant community life.

A few quotations for further study
“The Book of God is wide open, and His Word is summoning mankind unto Him. No more than a mere handful, however, hath been found willing to cleave to His Cause, or to become the instruments for its promotion. These few have been endued with the Divine Elixir that can, alone, transmute into purest gold the dross of the world, and have been empowered to administer the infallible remedy for all the ills that afflict the children of men. No man can obtain everlasting life, unless he embraceth the truth of this inestimable, this wondrous, and sublime Revelation.”
Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 183
“… A critical requirement is to enable all those contributing to the work of the institute to progressively advance their understanding of the educational content: its objectives, its structure, its pedagogical principles, its methodology, its central concepts, its interconnections. … Counsellors have arranged for institutes to be organized into groupings of varying sizes to enable the lessons that are being learned by the most experienced institutes to be shared more widely, increasingly through the means of formal seminars. All these arrangements will need to be strengthened during the next Plan. …”
Paragraph 23 of the 30 December letter 

Global Conferences News And Pictures From Around Our South Central Region

Local Baháʼí Communities -

       From these conferences also emerged a new unity of vision around the Nine Year Plan. They focused on protagonism and the development of nuclei at the grassroots. They are helping teams of friends read their reality and make plans together. Many people gained a new insight  for how we can engage the whole community and our neighborhoods. What is key, we are realizing, is the need for systematic follow up on all the new plans as we move forward.

     The conversation on spiritual and material development of the population has advanced through engagement in the materials of the conference and many post-conference discussions have been using vibrant communities and community building concepts as ways to discuss further ideas at Feast and with their friends by using a common language and vision.  When the local population is regularly engaged in such a conversation, opportunities naturally arise to identify challenges and opportunities for positive change in our communities, as well as to appreciate the aspects we love about our communities. The training institute then provides us with an instrument through which we can transform ourselves and contribute to the betterment of our communities.

     The use of the arts was truly essential to exploring the themes of the conference and providing different outlets for expression of the advancement of understanding.The arts activities, children’s classes, and Junior Youth groups contributed to the joy and liveliness of the conference. Across the region, there was a rich exploration of music, visual arts, poetry, theater, cooperative games and dancing in the conferences. These different artistic expressions helped the participants to deepen their understanding of the themes, as well as share their understanding with one another. 

Ponder and  recall daily the purpose of the conferences:

  • Transcending differences – What is the commonality needed to rebuild our communities together?
  • Harmonizing perspectives – How do we build a unified vision among diverse beliefs and backgrounds?
  • Developing qualities for service – What human characteristics and values are building blocks for a stable social order?
  • Promoting consultation – How do we navigate a pathway to decision making through inclusivity, understanding and detachment?
  • Recognizing our oneness as a single human family – How is our understanding of the inherent oneness of humanity a means for social progress?

children in a row at conference

Impressive Social Action

Local Baháʼí Communities, News from Around the Region -

Impressive Social Action As A Result of a Junior Youth Group

Here is a wonderful story from New Braunsfels describing their involvement in the community resulting in a social action activity fruit from their junior youth group.

“We started our junior youth group about three years ago and used a room at the local community center for our gatherings. Our Bahá’í community is quite small with no youth but we decided to go ahead and start a group with the hope of raising capacity with the junior youth to become future animators. Friends from the Learning Site came to help us with outreach and we were able to get a Junior Youth group started within three visits to the focused neighborhood. During these three years we developed a good relationship with the Education Director at the community center. She was slowly allowing us to do more activities.

Some of our JY group service activities involved partnering with the Martin Luther King Association. We made posters for MLK day and displayed them at the community center and the main library. Junior youth and kids from our children’s class participated in the local MLK March.

Due to a racial incident that occurred within the city, the mayor decided to bring the community together to consult about ways to make sure similar incidents did not occur again. The mayor reached out to local organizations to participate in a community forum that would help promote unity in diversity. Because of our connections with MLK, three Bahá’í were invited to join this forum. This group of about 60 community members came up with the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Awareness forum, (IDEA forum). Since we were involved in the formation of this group, we were able to contribute in the design of the organizational structure. We decided that it would have a horizontal structure within circles, instead of the traditional top down leadership. We came up with a steering committee and four subcommittees that each had a liaison that would join the steering committee to make sure all the subcommittees were equally represented. Our Bahá’í team members joined the awareness subcommittee and recruited the Education Director at the local community center to join in. The awareness committee is about education and appreciation of our diversity.

We partnered with the ED and the IDEA Forum to host a mini camp for kids. The camp was on fostering friendships with the theme of unity. It included arts, crafts, and games. The focus was on developing their strengths in showing cooperation and teamwork, making friends, appreciating diversity, making sure everyone is included, listening and trying to understand, and working to make things better for all. The participants learned the quotation “So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole world.”

We involved our junior youth in planning the activities and they helped facilitate it. We had 10 lovely children of diverse backgrounds participate. We did an art project that showed them the qualities of being a true friend. We discussed the power of unity and did a skit at the end of the camp for the parents that was about unity and disunity. By the end of the camp bonds of friendship had started and they learned about how essential it is for cooperation and reciprocity in order for us to achieve growth and to realize we all benefit and are stronger when we work together.

The Education Director asked us to offer this mini camp again as he had a waiting list so we will repeat the lessons again in August.

Here is the structure from the committee:

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Louisiana’s Global Conference

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Louisiana’s Global Conference- Themes and Follow Up Ideas

Leading with this quote from the Regional Training Institute, the Louisiana Conference planning committee reiterated:

“It is important to note that the conferences are not an event only, rather a single moment in a continuous process to widen the circle of contributors to this global enterprise of learning to advance society.” (March, 2022), we hope that the conference had a rippling effect in your life and your local community.

They then shared the addition to their website on the takeaways for each theme reviewed. Highly recommended! Here is the picture of the page and the link located here.

Theme1

VIEW

Theme3

VIEW

Theme4

VIEW

Theme5

VIEW

Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP)

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A series of annual seminars for university students offered by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP) will be held for the first time in our region, July 20-30, 2022 at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. This special offering is intended specifically for the youth of our region and provides a unique opportunity for participants to study alongside friends who live and serve in a similar context. It is hoped that every Baha’i youth who is entering or currently enrolled in their undergraduate studies will take this opportunity. We look to families and Local Spiritual Assemblies to support youth in overcoming obstacles that may prevent their participation, including support, where needed, with the $440 seminar fee and/or travel costs associated with attending. The Council will also assist as needed. The coordinating team stands ready to support conversations with youth and families, and can be reached at isgp.sc@gmail.com.

The purpose of these intensive seminars is to raise the consciousness of youth about the importance of engaging in action and discourse directed towards social change; to develop their capacity to reflect, to analyze, and to learn from action; to explore elements of a conceptual framework for contributing to the advancement of civilization; to provide them with tools to understand and analyze the culture in which they are immersed as well as the content of the university courses they are studying; to help them assume ownership of their education; and to assist them in their efforts to acquire the kind of knowledge that will enable them to live productive and meaningful lives.

Your Local Spiritual Assemblies or registered group can also assist you. The deadline for applying for the seminar is June 3, 2022.

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Bahá’í Club at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith

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The Bahá’í Club at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith was founded in 2016 and there has been loads of learning in the last 6 years. The club started with the knowledge of the need to be outward-looking, with no Bahá’í students, a seeker, and a Bahá’í professor serving as advisor. It has met regularly and systematically — despite the dip in activities and participation that happened during the worst of the COVID epidemic. During the last 6 years, the club has contributed to a campus environment where the word “Bahá’í” has become familiar.

At Riḍván 2022, the new Local Spiritual Assembly of Fort Smith was elected. Three of the new Assembly members are Bahá’ís today because of the Bahá’í Club. One was a staff member who saw the flyers on the “Spiritual Readings from World Religions” event at the start of a semester and decided to attend. This was the first time she had ever heard of the Bahá’í Faith, and by the end of the semester, she knew her heart had found its home.

One was a nursing student on campus who was drawn to the club through campus announcements and a campus fireside event on race unity. It took her about six months of seeing flyers before she attended the race unity event; but once she did, her life changed. The third new Assembly member is the husband of the nursing student, who declared when she did — and he is the sweetest, gentlest soul on the Assembly.

The latest learning the club is experiencing involves training interested college youth to be junior youth animators. In previous semesters, club members were invited to participate in Reflections on the Life of the Spirit — and certainly the context of the Ruhi study circle spoke to hearts and enabled declarations. One club member became a junior youth animator, and a number of club members finished Ruhi Books  1, 2, and 3. However, previous to this Spring semester, the club had not placed much emphasis on the specific goal of raising up mentors for the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program. That is changing.

On May 14 and 15th, the club will sponsor its first Ruhi Books 1 and 5 Intensive with a group of college youth who are new to the institute courses. The goal is to begin the junior youth groups this summer, working in conjunction with the team in the focus neighborhood, where there are currently a thriving devotional and two study circles – but as of yet, no junior youth groups. In this way, our community is striving to release the society-building power of the Faith in ever greater measures and answer the call of our Beloved House of Justice.

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Praying for Assistance, Receptivity, and Protection

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Teaching, we have come to realize, has to be a way of life and not just a campaign or serving in a focus neighborhood which is a center of activity in community building. We are trying to pray to be guided to the waiting souls. I would like to share a recent teaching story that happened about a month ago in Fort Smith.

I was out with a friend who needed to buy a dress. We went to Target and as we approached the dressing room, we encountered a lovely, young lady that was smiling, kind, and very friendly. She was telling everyone to have a Blessed Day. I observed her for about 10 minutes and then said to her “Do you really want to make the world a better place?” She said no one has ever said that to me. I said I have observed you and you are friendly, kind, and encouraging to everyone. I then told her my name was Sandy and she told me her name was Leo. We then talked a bit about how long she has worked there and other things. I told her that I was a Bahá’í and that we had a program called the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program and that we were looking for mentors that could help us with young people 11 to15 years of age, and would she be interested. She said yes and then gave me her phone number. I told her we needed her positivity and encouragement and that with her spirit she would be an awesome mentor!

It was time to leave the Target and she said to me “Please come and see me before you leave the store, I have something I need to tell you.”’ I said ok. So my friend and I were getting ready to leave and we went to look for Leo. We found her and she said to me “I don’t know why I did not tell you this when I first saw you, but when you walked up to the counter you reminded me of my grandmother. She died two weeks ago and her name was Sandy. I believe I was supposed to meet you today as my grandmother was here.” We were both a bit surprised and delighted. Once again this is the power of being connected to Baháʼu’lláh’s power and being conscious of His presence at every stage of our teaching.

Another activity centered on the need to find a focus neighborhood so that we could learn how to build community. We found a focus neighborhood in March of 2020 but because of COVID we had constraints. So, we decided to go to the neighborhood in our cars and pray for assistance, receptivity, and protection. We did that for one year.

Our prayers were answered in just a few short months as a home-front pioneer from Texarkana moved to the neighborhood in May of 2021.  We have been working in the neighborhood since August 2021 and now have bi-weekly devotions and two ongoing Ruhi Book 1 (Reflections on the Life of the Spirit) study circles.

We are still learning about building community and capacities.  We know that success in teaching depends on our ability and readiness to draw on Baháʼu’lláh’s power. There is no other way. We know we need to pray, serve, and love so that we will receive the Divine Confirmations needed to learn how to make the world a better place.  We currently have five devotionals, five Ruhi Book 1’s (Reflection on the Life of the Spirit), and one Ruhi Book 4 (Twin Manifestations) in Fort Smith. Three of our Ruhi Book 1’s are made up of members of the wider community.

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