220th Annual Conference Des Moines, Iowa July 1-5, 2006

Index	Theme	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Wrap Up

Dan McFadden, director of Brethren Volunteer Service (left), presented a Partners in Service award to Ed Switzer, representing Community Church of the Brethren in Hutchinson, Kan. - photo by Regina Roberts

Brethren processed along the streets of Des Moines this afternoon in a protest against the war in Iraq. photo by Jesse Reid

The top finishers of the Brethren Benefit Trust Fitness Challenge were Corinne Lipscomb and Jerry Crouse. - photo by Nevin Dulabaum

Brethren Volunteer Service worker Sandy Kitzel chatted at an insight session on disaster response about her service with the Emergency Response ministry of the General Board. - photo by Genelle Wine

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Let them come home. We want our children back home.” --The mother of a soldier recently returned from Iraq, pleading on behalf of his friends who are still fighting the war, during discussion of “Resolution: An End to the War in Iraq”

“There is pain when you do aerobics of the heart, but that’s how we gain an abundant life.” -- Myrna Long Wheeler, preaching at Monday evening’s worship service

“It is the spirit of our age that we must contend with, and it is from that challenge that our conversation arises.” -- Brian Maguire, leading the first session of Together conversations for the delegate body

“I believe that the policies that are destructive to Palestinians are also destructive to Israelis.” -- Vera Elwood of First Central Church of the Brethren in Kansas City, Kan., during debate of “Resolution: Divestment from Companies Selling Products Used as Weapons in Israel and Palestine”

“Nothing’s level in Iowa.” -- Overheard on the skywalk ramp as Conference-goers trudged up the slope to the Veterans Auditorium

OVERVIEW OF THE DAY
The Brethren Benefit Trust Fitness Challenge, a 5K race for runners and walkers of all ages, started off the day. Other breakfast-time events included the Brethren Press Breakfast, the Chaplains’ Breakfast, and study groups.

Business sessions included small-group sessions for Together: Conversations on Being the Church. New business item, “Resolution: Divestment from Companies Selling Products Used as Weapons in Israel and Palestine,” was addressed along with the Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT) Articles of Organization. Delegates also received reports including the report of On Earth Peace, the annual Living Peace Church report, the report of BBT, and an interim report from the Brethren Medical Plan Study Committee. A Memorial Observance closed the day’s business.

Meal events included the Denominational Deacon Luncheon, the Brethren Life and Thought Luncheon, the Brethren Volunteer Service luncheon, the Cross Cultural Luncheon, the Womaen’s Caucus Luncheon, the Brethren Revival Fellowship Luncheon, and the Congregational Life Ministries Dinner. The Association of Brethren Caregivers held a Recognition Reception.

Evening worship featured Myrna Long Wheeler preaching on “Aerobics for the Soul...No Pain, No Gain,” with Kathryn Ludwick as worship leader.

Insight sessions dealt with a number of topics including “How the Church of the Brethren Can Become a More Disciplined Church” sponsored by the Brethren Revival Fellowship, and “Domestic Violence--Spiritual and Holistic Responses as a Living Peace Church.”

Field trips were offered for children and junior high youth. The senior high youth held an outreach activity. The young adults gathered for an evening of live music. The single adults served a meal at a local homeless shelter.

Small group meetings included mutual help and networking groups, Bible studies, pastors of emergent churches, and the annual members’ meeting of the Mutual Aid Association.

An ice cream social closed out the day.

WHEELER PREACHES REPENTANCE, FORGIVENESS, AND TRANSFORMATION AS SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES
No one is so lost that repentance, forgiveness, and transformation is not possible through the love of God, related Myrna Long Wheeler, chaplain at Brethren Hillcrest Homes in La Verne, Calif. She preached Monday evening using scripture, story, and an illustration from her own life.

Calling to mind the saying of all who enter exercise programs, “No pain, no gain,” she told the Conference that until we stretch ourselves spiritually and physically we will not grow in Christ. Quoting the words to the Romans by the Apostle Paul, “Let love be genuine. Hate what is evil. Hold fast to what is good,” she shared a personal story of pain, forgiveness, and hope. “It is also a story of ‘aerobics of the heart,’” she said.

Wheeler related her father’s judgmental nature that caused him to cut off all his relations in response to their imperfections, and finally ended his relationship with the church. However, he faced his ultimate challenge when his beloved and only granddaughter married an African American. For 15 years she never saw her grandfather, even after her husband died.

“Thank God my father experienced a resurrection,” Wheeler said. Realizing that he was cold, bitter, and unhappy, he became open to the will of God. “He began to live life abundantly at the age of 90.” A tearful reunion with his daughter and his grandchildren, whom he met for the first time at the ages of 10 and 13, proved that forgiveness, resurrection, and new life can be lived out, Wheeler said. Her father also eventually reunited with his brother after a separation of 55 years.

“After a lot of spiritual pain, he gained a truly abundant life.”

She concluded, “It doesn’t matter how many Sundays you’ve attended church. It doesn’t matter how many Bible studies you’ve attended. Nor does it matter how many prayers or hours of retreat that you’ve experienced. Without the spiritual discipline of love and forgiveness, without acknowledging that we as individuals and as churches do not have all the answers, that...our interpretations of Scriptures are only our opinions, they are not God’s truth--without doing all of this we do not follow Christ.”

--Frank Ramirez is pastor of Everett (Pa.) Church of the Brethren

BRETHREN BITS
The Annual Conference Office is saying goodbye and thank you to Conference assistant Rose Ingold with this meeting. Ingold is resigning from the position after several years of service. The office is welcoming Dana Weaver of Westminster, Md., as the new Conference assistant.

Top finishers at this morning’s Brethren Benefit Trust Fitness Challenge 5K walk/run: runner, male: Jerry Crouse (19:09); runner, female: Corinne Lipscomb (23:14); walker, male: Don Shankster (31:20); walker, female: Bev Anspaugh (34:10). Three generations of the Crouse family participated including grandparents Jean and Merle, and family members Jerry, Becky, Jacob, Stephen, and Christy.

Brethren Volunteer Service gave its first annual “Partners in Service” award at the BVS luncheon today. Community Church of the Brethren in Hutchinson, Kan., is the first recipient, in recognition of many years of dedicated support of BVS volunteers serving at the Friendship Day Care in Hutchinson.

The historic home and farmland of Elder John Kline will be for sale within the next six months by the Mennonite owners, according to Paul Roth, pastor of Linville Creek Church of the Brethren, who is seeking people within the Brethren bodies who can help plan for the purchase of the property and plan a design for its use. The owners wish to give the Brethren first right of refusal on the property. Local developers are eager to buy the 10-acre property and place townhouses on it, Roth said. “It is important that we act quickly,” he said. Contact Roth at the Linville Creek church, 540-896-5001.

Members of the 2006 Annual Conference news team, a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board, contributed to the Annual Conference web pages: Jake Blouch, Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, Kathleen Campanella, Eddie Edmonds, Karen Garrett, Clara Glover, Amy Heckert, Keith Hollenberg, Jill Kline, Sarah Kovacs, Frank Ramirez, Jesse Reid, Regina Roberts, Frances Townsend, and Becky Ullom.