Monday, July 14
Highlights of the Day

[Business | Feature | Photo | Worship]

Organist Jonathan Emmons accompanied the Conference Choir for the worship anthem. Photo by Ken Wenger

Ken Medema sang for morning worship, and gives a concert this evening. Photo by Ken Wenger

A rainy morning did not put a damper on the Brethren rush to morning worship. Photo by Glenn Riegel

QUOTES OF THE DAY

“I open this meeting so that we may together be the body of Christ.”
-- Annual Conference moderator James Beckwith, opening the first business session of the Conference

“For some of us the fruit is just forming, and some of us are going to seed.... But that’s a good thing. Be mindful that we are of different stages of life in the body.”
-- Beckwith in his opening remarks and instruction to the delegates

“It seems to me that if there were a tax on love we’d owe a bundle, more than we could ever hope to pay, because nowhere is God’s love made clear to us than in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
-- Mary Jo Flory-Steury, preaching for the Monday morning worship service

OVERVIEW OF THE DAY
Bible and theological studies began the day in Richmond. Today, the Church of the Brethren and the Brethren Church held separate worship services and business sessions. The Church of the Brethren worshiped with preacher Mary Jo Flory-Steury, and also held two business sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Work groups went out to continue service projects in Richmond, in the last day of the “Service Blitz.” Age group activities were held as well, along with a variety of meal events and insight sessions. Farm Labor Organizing Committee president Baldemar Velasquez spoke on immigration policy at the Global Mission Partnerships Dinner. A concert by Christian musician Ken Medema, who has performed at several National Youth Conferences, rounded out the evening.

A BIT OF BRETHREN HISTORY: THE ORIGINAL EIGHT--THE CAST OF CHARACTERS
Who were the original eight Brethren, who were baptized in 1708 in the Eder River in the village of Schwarzenau, Germany?

Andreas Boni (1673-1741) was a journeyman weaver and a native of Switzerland. After his first wife died in 1704 he got into trouble with Swiss authorities for his religious views. He refused military service, would not swear oaths, and refused communion at the Reformed Church. On at least one occasion he was punished by being placed in the pillory, and was expelled afterwards. By 1706 he had arrived in Schwarzenau, where he joined the others who would found the Brethren movement. He and his second wife, Johanna, took part in the first Brethren baptism.

Johanna Noethiger Boni married Andreas Boni following the death of her first husband, before the two of them were baptized in the Eder River in Schwarzenau, in 1708.

Georg Grebe of Kassel was a master gunsmith. He and his wife Juliana moved to Schwarzenau, and he was a co-author of a letter written with Alexander Mack asking Hochmann von Hochenau for his advice on the subject of baptism.

Johanna and Johannes Kipping of Oberstenfeld in Württemburg were Lutherans, unlike the rest of the first Brethren, who came from the Reformed Church. In 1706 Johannes Kipping was expelled from his city for refusing to allow his infant child to be baptized. The couple lost their children, at least temporarily. Johanna was forced to remain separated from her husband for a while in order to retain custody. By 1708 they had made their way to Schwarzenau to join the other religious dissenters.

Alexander Mack, Sr. (1679-1735) would become the first minister of the Brethren following their baptism. He was the son of a miller, and when his older brother died he would forgo higher education at Heidelberg University to take over the family business. His father and his grandfather had served as the mayor of Schriesheim, and he would probably have done so as well. Mack, however, and his wife Anna Margaretha became involved with the Pietist movement, forcing them to flee their hometown. Mack often went on illegal preaching trips with Hochmann von Hochenau. He eventually sold his part of the mill, and eventually spent all his money supporting the first Brethren believers.

Anna Margaretha Kling Mack (1680-1720) was the daughter of the innkeeper in Schriesheim. She married Alexander Mack on Jan. 18, 1701, and gave birth later that same year to her first son, Johann Valentin. Her second son, Johannes Mack, was born two years later. At great risk to herself she welcomed Bible study groups and evangelistic leaders such as Hochmann von Hochenau into her home. She and her young family were forced to flee her home town in 1706 to escape arrest and religious persecution, which resulted in her setting up housekeeping in Schwarzenau.

Lukas Vetter, who was born in 1676, came from Hesse, Germany, but it is not clear how he first came in contact with the Brethren. His wife was not one of those who took part in the first baptism.

-- Frank Ramirez’ “Tercentennial Minute” for July 27. Ramirez pastors Everett (Pa.) Church of the Brethren, which has offered the weekly Tercentennial Minutes through 2008 as a celebration of the 300th Anniversary of the Brethren.

The heads of two Brethren denominations on two different continents joined together at the podium: at left Filibus Gwama, president of Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigerian (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and at right James Beckwith, moderator of the Church of the Brethren in the United States. Photo by Ken Wenger	Delegates voted for the plan of merger of the Association of Brethren Caregivers and the General Board into a new organization, incorporating the Annual Conference Council. Photo by Glenn Riegel
After each agency's report, the moderator and moderator-elect held prayer for the executive and board chair. Here prayer is said for Brethren Benefit Trust. Photo by Regina Roberts	An evening concert by Ken Medema gathered thousands of Brethren in the Richmond Coliseum. Photo by Regina Roberts