Palanca Rector & Rectora Notes
Hear from 2026 Cursillo Palanca Rector Dave DeLong and Palanca Rectora Julie Haugen as they share their themes, verses, and excitement for Palanca.
A message from your Palanca Rector: Dave DeLong
Fear Not 365!
Are y’all ready for Cursillo 2026?! I’m not quite ready yet either. But I am ready and excited to see all of you!
It is time to really start thinking and praying about this year’s Cursillo.
We are excited to see all of you come back to serve Palanca. Especially the first timers!
Serving with Palanca truly is the second half of Cursillo. I have heard many stories of people being more fulfilled and uplifted when they come back to serve than when they went through as candidates. For me, God has shown me something new every year. He keeps surprising me! Come back and let Him surprise you as well! We always have room for one more!
This year’s Palance theme is “Fear Not, 365!” This is in reference to “fear not” being in the Bible 365 times. I’m not great at math, but we have 365 days in a year, so that is one “fear not” for each day. I learned this from two different people on the same day who have zero connections to each other. Yes, two different people, two different times, both on the same day! I think God wanted to get His point across. How do we fear not? Well, this is where this year’s verse comes in.
John 1:5 “His light shines through the darkness and darkness has not overcome it.”
When you walk into a dark unfamiliar house you have three options. You can stand in the doorway and be afraid. You can walk through the dark house tripping on the obstacles hidden in the dark which also causes fear. Or you can turn on the light, letting you see everything in your way and showing you the safe path to walk through. Same with your life, God’s light shines through the darkness revealing everything that we might fear and showing us the path He wants us to take.
Our song this year is “No Longer Slaves.” One line in the sone is “I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.” This has reminded me many times that God knows each one of us personally. He created each of you individually and calls each of us His child! So, with the Creator of the universe as our Father, we truly have nothing to fear! So, Fear Not 365!
God’s blessings to all of you!
Dave Delong, 2026 Palance Rector
A message from your Palanca Rectora: Julie Haugen
I’m honored to be given the opportunity to lead Palanca for the upcoming Cursillo year. I can’t wait to see how God uses us to be a blessing to the candidates and each other.
As you may have heard, this year Conference team and Palanca team will share the same theme and bible verse. Our theme is Faith over Fear and our verse is Isaiah 41:10 “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
I am so thankful for that promise. They are certainly words to live by since we live in a world full of things that can cause fear and anxiety. It can be easy to become disillusioned BUT we have that promise and command from God not to fear and not to be dismayed. He is with us. What a beautiful gift!
