Southwest Conference UCC

From The Good Shepherd United Church of Christ:

This evening at 5:30pm, Wednesday, June 24th the Good Shepherd UCC will host a Community Forum to Discuss Potential Data Center Developments in Sahuarita.

If you are in town, it would be great to have you physically present in our sanctuary to hear the speakers and the conversation. If you are unable to attend in person--we will live stream the Forum on our Good Shepherd page: https://www.facebook.com/thegoodshepherdsahuarita

Interest in data center development has grown rapidly across the country as demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure increases. In southern Arizona, data center development has become a growing topic of public discussion. In September 2025, the Green Valley News/Sahuarita Sun reported that the developer of Rancho Sahuarita requested and received confirmation from the Town of Sahuarita that a data center would be a permitted use on the privately owned 200-acre site west of I-19 on Sahuarita Road (Which is just 2 miles from the Good Shepherd.)

The forum will explore questions and potential impacts a data center could have on the Sahuarita community and surrounding area, including increased demands on water and electrical resources, potential air and noise pollution, and public safety concerns related to large-scale lithium-ion battery storage.

Our speakers will include:

Anna Casadei, Community Development Director for The Town of Sahuarita

Melanie Cooley, The Watershed Management Group

Speaker from Trico Electric Coop.

Reed Spurling and Glenda Avalos, No Desert Data Center

Pima County District 3 Supervisor, Jennifer Allen

The Good Shepherd United Church of Christ Welcome to The Good Shepherd! So come, just as you are, we are expecting you!

“One way that I would look at this is through the words of the UCC itself: God is still speaking,” she said. “Is this one way that God is still speaking to us? That God is making themselves known among us? I definitely think so. I know that several of my colleagues also think so. And if so, it behooves us to understand how we might access ways that God might be making themselves known in this moment, in this time. It’s also on us as folks with lineages of Christianity and carceral logic. How might we have participated in the criminalization of medicines that, for millennia, were used in sacred rituals? Medicines that our ancestors in the Christian church then demonized, marginalized, and took away the sacred use of for so many peoples all around the country and the world?

“It matters that we have a conversation about the impact of criminalization. And what decriminalizing some of these medicines might actually look like. I think that’s on us. I think that is our work to do.” - Rev. Molli Mitchell

New toolkit on psychedelic medicines in the UCC offers resources, invites conversation - United Church of Christ The Rev. Molly Baskette recalls a conversation with a mother who shared that her young adult child’s life was saved by treatment with a psychedelic

Southwest Conference time zones:
12:30 pm AZ / 1:30 pm NM & El Paso

📲 In this digital age, how do we find meaningful connections with each other and our wider communities?

Join Brooke Canada, UCC's Social Media Specialist, as we explore ways to support each other, amplify our messages of love, and encourage growth across ever-changing digital landscapes.

We’ll share tips and tricks for quick content creation, our favorite progressive Christian influencers, resources, and more! Bring your questions!

👉🏾 Register to join us live, or to receive the recording later:https://ow.ly/qVQI50ZeTQw