"Come Listen, Go Serve,
   God is still speaking,"

2005 Rocky Mountain Conference
            Annual Meeting

Bernie Bliss is the Church Person of the Year
By Gretchen Hazelwood

At the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference; Bernie Bliss received the 'Church Person of the Year' award. Bernie Bliss has served God and the UCC tirelessly and faithfully all of her life.She has been involved in a wide variety of capacities, not only in her local church, but also at the conference level and the national level.

Bernie's national UCC involvement began in 1973, when she served on the Board of Directors for A.D. magazine, a joint publication with the Presbyterian Church. She has attended General Synod both as a delegate from the Rocky Mountain Conference and as a member of the Executive Council for the Office of General Ministries. She is currently the vice chair of the 50th anniversary planning committee of the United Church of Christ.

On the conference level, Bernie served as the president of the Women's Core Group, the structure for Women's ministries after the formation of the Rocky Mountain Conference and for over 12 years, was the administrative assistant for the conference. Her efforts were recognized in 1993, when she received the Gifted Lay Woman award with recognition at the conference annual meeting and the General Synod.

At the local level, Bernie has always volunteered her time freely. As a member of Lakewood UCC, she served in many ways. A few of these ways include: serving as a delegate to annual meetings, working in the clothing bank, serving on countless committees and editing the newsletter. She has continued working behind the scenes in support of her husband's ministry in at Northglenn UCC and St. John's UCC in Greeley.
Bernie is currently the administrative secretary to the district superintendent in the regional office of the United Methodist Church. As part of the Greeley community, she is also serving as the president of the Weld County National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

Bernie Bliss truly embodies what being a "Church Person" is all about.