“Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth!” — Isaiah 42:10a
NEWS
1) Church’s disaster response programs are renamed.
2) Children’s Disaster Services responds to Greensburg tornado.
3) Nine denominations meet to discuss evangelism.
4) Church of the Brethren in Nigeria holds 60th Majalisa.
5) Brethren bits: Remembrance, personnel, job openings, and more.
PERSONNEL
6) On Earth Peace reassigns co-director responsibilities.
7) Cindy Bravos to serve as BBT congregational contact coordinator.
UPCOMING EVENTS
8) Churches encouraged to respond to ‘Mother’s Day Call to Action.’
9) Peacemakers work against depleted uranium weapons.
10) 300th anniversary update: Youth receive training to tell the Brethren story.
Go to http://www.cobwebcast.bethanyseminary.edu/ for the latest Church of the Brethren webcast: the Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) offers a five-part interview about mental illness, violence, and the Virginia Tech tragedy, with John Wenger, a psychologist and Church of the Brethren member from Anderson, Ind. The tragic shootings have generated debate on several issues, including how to help deeply troubled individuals who do not pursue mental health treatment and cannot be mandated to receive treatment as an adult. In a series of short webcasts, Wenger offers a deeper understanding of mental illness, and opportunities for individuals and congregations to support those who live with it.
Para ver la traducción en español de este artículo, “La moderadora de la Conferencia Anual hará historia,” vaya a www.brethren.org/genbd/newsline/2007/apr1207.htm#1a. Para ver la traducción en español de este artículo, “La Conferencia Anual de 2007 ‘Proclamará el Poder de Dios,’” vaya a www.brethren.org/genbd/newsline/2007/apr1207.htm#2a. (For a Spanish translation of sections of the 2007 Annual Conference preview from the Newline of April 12, go to www.brethren.org/genbd/newsline/2007/apr1207.htm#1a and www.brethren.org/genbd/newsline/2007/apr1207.htm#2a.)
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1) Church’s disaster response programs are renamed.
New names have been chosen for three disaster response programs of the Church of the Brethren General Board: Emergency Response, Disaster Child Care, and Service Ministries.
“Brethren Disaster Ministries” is the new name for the Emergency Response program that encompasses the Brethren Disaster Response rebuilding ministry. Disaster Child Care is being renamed “Children’s Disaster Services.” Service Ministries is returning to a former name, “Material Resources.”
For some time, staff of the General Board have been discussing changing the names of the programs for several reasons. The names have not readily identify the programs as Brethren, and have not accurately identified what the programs do, staff said. The new names more adequately reflect the identity and mission of the church’s disaster response work.
The name of Disaster Child Care, for example, seemed “to carry the connotation of a babysitting service rather than helping children cope following disasters,” said a memo that has been distributed to announce the name change to child care volunteers. The new name, “Children’s Disaster Services,” encompasses the program’s expanding services.
New logos have also been created for the programs, and will be displayed at Annual Conference.
2) Children’s Disaster Services responds to Greensburg tornado.
Children’s Disaster Services (formerly Disaster Child Care) is sending a team of volunteers to respond to needs of young children affected by the tornado in Greensburg, Kan. The storm demolished 95 percent of the town on the evening of May 4. The seven volunteers are scheduled to arrive on May 10. Roy Winter, director of Brethren Disaster Ministries (formerly Emergency Response), also will make a visit to the area to assess needs and offer support.
This is the first storm to be classified a category F-5, the highest on a scale of intensity, since 1999, according to a report from Children’s Disaster Services. The tornado completely wiped structures off of their foundations, leaving an unrecognizable pile of rubble. It claimed nine lives and was part of an outbreak of tornados that plowed through the state and caused at least two other deaths.
Brethren who wish to help with the response are invited to contribute to the General Board’s Emergency Disaster Fund, and not to send unsolicited material donations. “There simply is no place to store unsolicited donated goods,” said Jane Yount of the Brethren Disaster Ministries staff. “The most effective way to respond is to give a financial contribution to programs that are providing necessary goods and services. This ensures that the survivors will receive what they actually need.”
“As always, please keep the survivors and their families lifted up in prayer,” Yount said.
Children’s Disaster Services also is responding to needs in New Jersey following flooding in mid-April. The American Red Cross requested Children’s Disaster Services for a shelter at Raritan Valley Community College in North Branch. From April 23-28, four volunteers cared for some 80 children in that location. On April 29, a second wave of 14 caregivers left for another two weeks of service, with some continuing to work at the community college and others providing care at a shelter at Bound Brook Presbyterian Church.
Donations to support Children’s Disaster Services and Brethren Disaster Ministries can be made payable to the Emergency Disaster Fund and mailed to 1451 Dundee Avenue, Elgin, IL 60120. For more information, go to www.brethren.org/genbd/ersm/DisasterResponse.htm.
3) Nine denominations meet to discuss evangelism.
Evangelism Connections met in Nashville, Tenn., on March 26-27 to discuss how different denominations can work ecumenically on evangelism, share resources, inform each other about what they are doing, and to dream about joint future projects.
Jeff Glass, a member of the General Board’s Congregational Life Teams staff, represented the Church of the Brethren. Other participants came from a variety of denominations including African Methodist Episcopal Zion, American Baptists, Disciples of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ, United Church of Canada, and United Methodist Church.
Currently, the group supports a website found at http://www.evangelismconnections.org/. The site offers an Evangelism Toolkit, articles, links to each denomination’s evangelism resources, and other resources.
The Evangelism Connections group is planning an evangelism conference for 2008 to focus on questions related to facilitating change in congregations made up mostly of elderly members, and how to help those congregations appeal to other generations. More information about the conference will be available following the group’s September planning meeting.
Also, the group is planning to produce a book in 2008 that will focus on motivations for congregations to do evangelism, changes that need to occur within congregations, and evangelism ministry connections or bridges between congregations and their communities. Each denomination will have a chapter in the book to highlight ways that they do evangelism well.
Glass will be hosting the next Evangelism Connections meeting in San Diego in September. For more information contact him at 888-826-4951.
4) Church of the Brethren in Nigeria holds 60th Majalisa.
Under a canvas canopy in the partially constructed EYN Conference Center, in temperatures in excess of 110 degrees fahrenheit, with church business conducted in the Hausa language, Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN–the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) held its 60th Majalisa or annual conference. The event took place March 27-30.
Along with the usual reports from programs and committees, the highlight of the conference was the election of church officers. Up for election this year were the offices of president, general secretary, administrative secretary, director of finance, director of education, and director of the Integrated Community Based Development Program (ICBDP). Other than the office of the president, the other offices are applied for and then selected by the National Executive Committee and approved by the Majalisa.
The conference gathered expecting the office of the vice-president to be up for election, but a clause in the by-laws of the constitution states that a person assuming a vacated office has a right to a full four-year term. The current term of vice-president Abraham Wuta Tizhe, who filled the vacated office of Toma Ragnjiya, expires in November 2007.
Filibus Gwama enters his second term as president of EYN. Jinatu Libira will come in as general secretary. The other offices remain the same except for the office of the director of education, with the Majalisa approving Patrick Bugu as its director.
Church of the Brethren mission staff Paul Liepelt, Brandy Fix, Amy Waldron, and David Whitten served as the electoral committee, along with the EYN legal advisors, barristers Sunama and Silas, and the EYN spiritual advisor Blama Hena.
–David A. Whitten is the Church of the Brethren mission coordinator for Nigeria.
5) Brethren bits: Remembrance, personnel, job openings, and more.
- Herbert Dale Zeiler Sr. passed away at his home in Loveland, Colo., on April 18. He served as executive minister for Southern Plains District in 1987-88, where he also managed the district’s Camp Spring Lake. An ordained minister for more than 50 years, he served pastorates in Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Colorado, and was a charter member of Northern Colorado Church of the Brethren in Windsor, Colo. Zeiler was born in Osceola, Mo., where he grew up and graduated from high school. He married his high school sweetheart, Helen Eunice Simmons, in 1950. The couple then moved to Kansas where Zeiler graduated from McPherson (Kan.) College. He later attended Bethany Theological Seminary in Chicago, and was ordained by Middle Missouri District. His career spanned several professions in addition to ministry, including mechanics, maintenance, technical work, and counseling. He retired from Hewlett-Packard in 1986. He is survived by his wife, Helen Eunice; their children, Dale Zeiler and Kathy Brungardt; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by daughter Cheryl K. Watson. Memorial services were held at the Northern Colorado church on April 28, and at Osceola (Mo.) Church of the Brethren on May 5. Memorial gifts may be made to Northern Colorado Church of the Brethren.
- The Church of the Brethren General Board has welcomed new staff members Aaron and Becky Johnston, a husband and wife team from Salisbury, Md., who are serving with Global Mission Partnerships through Brethren Volunteer Service. They began an assignment as human rights observers at Union Victoria CPR, Guatemala, on April 1.
- Rebekah Houff, a 2006 graduate of Bridgewater (Va.) College and member of Palmyra (Pa.) Church of the Brethren, has been called as coordinator of the 2008 National Young Adult Conference. She will begin this Brethren Volunteer Service position on May 21, and continue through August 2008. The conference will take place Aug. 11-15, 2008, at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colo., and is open to all young adults ages 18-35.
- The Church of the Brethren General Board is seeking an associate director of Children’s Disaster Services (formerly Disaster Child Care). This newly created, fulltime salaried position provides oversight and administration of Children’s Disaster Services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. Located in New Windsor, Md., this individual will be responsible for ensuring program growth, while expanding Church of the Brethren, ecumenical, and secular relationships that enhance responding to children affected by disaster. This position works closely with the director of Brethren Disaster Ministries on program development, volunteer deployment, and training. Required experience includes disaster response; making effective presentations or adult education; management of staff or volunteers; working directly with at-risk children (i.e. teaching, counseling, providing programs). A related undergraduate degree is required, advanced degree preferred. Some travel is required. Application deadline is July 15. Candidates should send a cover letter and resume to: Office of Human Resources, Brethren Service Center, 500 Main St., P.O. Box 188, New Windsor, MD 21776; fax 410-635-8789; jmcgrath_gb@brethren.org.
- The Church of the Brethren General Board is seeking a teacher of Bible and theology for Kulp Bible College in Nigeria, as a part of the denominational mission effort led by Global Mission Partnerships. Candidates should bring a seminary degree and the ability to articulate Brethren beliefs and practices. This is a salaried position for a two-year term, open to renewal. An August start date is preferred. The deadline for applications is June 15. Further information is at www.brethren.org/genbd/GeneralSecretary/Elgin.htm#ToB or call Karin Krog at 800-323-8039 ext. 258.
- Annual Conference this year will include two new options for worship and music, responding to calls for more worship opportunities and for more ethnic diversity. On Sunday and Monday nights, July 1 and 2, from 9-10:30 p.m., there will be Extended Worship and Music in the main auditorium. On July 1 the host will be Gilbert Romero, pastor of Bella Vista Church of the Brethren in Los Angeles, and the focus will be Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and contemporary Christian music, utilizing the services of the “Bittersweet Gospel Band.” On July 2 the host will be Thomas Dowdy, pastor of Imperial Heights Church of the Brethren in Los Angeles, and the focus will be on African-American music, utilizing the services of “Best Friends,” as well as African and Haitian music. “There is a hope to stretch the offerings even broader, but it depends on who attends Conference,” reported coordinator Scott Duffey. “Everyone is welcome to gather and praise God together!” Church musicians who will be attending and who can contribute to this musical diversity are asked to be in touch with Duffey at scottduffey@westminstercob.org or 410-848-8090.
- The 27th annual Mid-Atlantic Disaster Response Auction sponsored by Mid-Atlantic District was held at the Carroll County (Md.) Agricultural Center and Arena on April 28, a cooperative venture joining more than 60 Church of the Brethren congregations from five states and Washington, D.C., according to a report in the Frederick (Md.) “News Post.” Three separate auctions featured antiques, handmade quilts, collectibles, and many more items, with more than 1,000 items up for bid. The proceeds support disaster relief work of the church. Last year, the district raised some $73,000, and has raised more than $1 million over the past 26 years. It is one of three major fundraisers for the denomination’s Emergency Disaster Fund.
- *Mid-Atlantic District is holding a men’s retreat on the theme, “Sharing the Living Water,” from John 4:5-14. The event will take place June 15-16 at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. Organizers hope that it will offer an opportunity for men “to come together and honestly get to know one another without the facades that we have built up,” and will be a place to get in touch with God, refresh spirits, and pave the way for future men’s events in the district. Guest speaker is Bill Caputo, the district disaster coordinator. The schedule also includes worship, small groups, guided meditation, and free time. Closing worship will include a service of anointing. The retreat is sponsored by the Spirituality and Congregational Life Team of the district. Cost is $70 per person including overnight stay, or $47 for commuters. For further information, contact Andrew Sampson at 410-284-7081 or dundalkcob@hotmail.com.
- The McPherson (Kan.) College campus responded to the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech by holding a special chapel service and by sending a letter of condolence from the campus community signed by college president Ron Hovis, and Tom Hurst, director of campus ministries. The college also sent a scroll with comments by dozens of McPherson students. A thorough review of campus safety issues was undertaken as well, and encouragement was given for the rapid completion of a Campus-Wide Crisis Plan that is currently underway, Hurst reported.
- Manchester College’s 53-member A Cappella Choir will sing in Martinsburg, Pa., en route to an encore performance in Carnegie Hall. On May 22 the choir will perform at Memorial Church of the Brethren in Martinsburg. The choir will then perform at Carnegie Hall on May 23. The performance will be directed Debra Lynn, director of choral music at the college. The program will include two compositions of Manchester College faculty: “Prayer for Peace” by Debora DeWitt, chair of the music department, and “Earth and All Stars” by Lynn.
- McDonalds USA and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), an organization of agricultural workers, has come to an agreement similar to one made two years ago with Yum Brands, owners of Taco Bell. Both agreements call for an increase of pay of one penny per pound of picked tomatoes. The Yum Brands-CIW agreement was the first of its kind between a retail food company and a group representing the men and women who pick the food sold in retail restaurants, according to the National Council of Churches. Representatives of the Immokalee workers visited a meeting of the Church of the Brethren General Board in Oct. last year, where they received the blessing of a laying on of hands. The representatives were visiting faith organizations and other groups in the Chicago area to call attention to the wages paid by McDonald’s to farmworkers for its vegetables.
- SERRV/A Greater Gift will hold its Annual International Fair Trade Festival on Saturday, May 19, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. A Greater Gift organizes the event as part of World Fair Trade Day to show how buying fair trade foods and crafts contributes to peace building and justice. Entertainment will include Amerabic Magic, a Middle Eastern dance group; the Rock Candy Cloggers performing Appalachian clogging; Westminster Drum and Dance; and Nada Brahma world music, among others. For the children, storytellers will be in the children’s area, along with alpacas, and face painting, and a kite presentation will take place at New Windsor Middle School. Contact Missy Marlin, festival coordinator, at 410-635-8711.
- The New Community Project, a Brethren-related nonprofit organization, reports recent program developments: A Partner Community program is linking US congregations with communities in a half dozen countries, for increasing understanding, mutual sharing, and seeking solidarity. A young adult resource has been created to invite this age group to “get organized” around issues of poverty, care for creation, and standing by the marginalized (go to http://newcommunityproject.org/ya.shtml). “Anna and the General,” the story of Anna Mow’s encounter with General Lewis Hershey, is one of several new dramatic readings offered at http://newcommunityproject.org/creativearts.shtml. A Nepal Learning Tour has been set for Jan. 2008, to focus on women’s issues along with poverty, Hindu culture, civil conflict, and the ecological wonders and challenges of this Himalayan country. Director David Radcliff recently represented the organization at the launching of the Religious Environmental Leaders Group, an interreligious association working at collaboration and mutual support related to care for creation. The gathering was held in Manhasset, N.Y.
- Roy D. Unruh, of South Waterloo (Iowa) Church of the Brethren and a former member of the Church of the Brethren General Board, has been named by the Awards Committee of the Bethel College Alumni Association as winner of the 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award. He is a 1957 graduate, and has served as a science and mathematics educator at the secondary and university levels. He taught science and mathematics at Pretty Prairie and McPherson (Kan.) High Schools from 1957-67. While at the University of Northern Iowa, 1967-2001, he taught physics and was involved in science education. Over the years he was awarded more than 20 grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Education for improving science instruction at the elementary and secondary school levels. Unruh will receive the Bethel award on May 19 at an annual alumni banquet. Bethel College is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA.
6) On Earth Peace reassigns co-director responsibilities.
On Earth Peace has announced a staff change related to the responsibilities of co-directors Barb Sayler and Bob Gross. The agency’s Executive Committee approved a request from Sayler for reassignment of job responsibilities, dropping her role as co-director and reducing her work to half-time. She will continue as coordinator of Communications. Gross will move from a shared co-director’s role to that of a solo director. This change was effective May 1.
“On Earth Peace is blessed by the many talents that Barb Sayler brings to this peacemaking ministry,” said board chair Bev Weaver. “We appreciate Barb’s desire to balance her various roles including being a mother as she makes this adjustment from fulltime to part-time.”
Sayler has moved with her family to the Bay area in northern California, where her husband, Mark, has accepted the call to be CEO of Seva in Berkeley. She can be reached at her home office: 5192 Carriage Dr., El Sobrante, CA 94803; 510-275-9960; bsayler_oepa@brethren.org.
7) Cindy Bravos to serve as BBT congregational contact coordinator.
Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT) has hired Cindy Bravos of St. Charles, Ill., to serve as Congregational Contact Network coordinator beginning May 14. She will work to foster stronger relationships among BBT and the denomination’s congregations, will assist in development and maintenance of BBT’s denominational database, and as a Communications Team member, also will help shape and create BBT’s interpretive resources.
She joins BBT with extensive marketing and promotion experience. She is owner of Bravo! Media, a digital studio that specializes in commercial voiceover and narrative services. Bravos served as narrator of “Without Fear or Hesitation,” a Brethren heritage CD-ROM produced in 2001. She also is host of “Community Connection,” a 30-minute bimonthly program aired on Comcast cable television networks throughout northern Illinois, and for 11 years served as media director for the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce.
Bravos has a broadcast journalism degree from Northern Illinois University. She and her family are members of Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Elgin, Ill.
8) Churches encouraged to respond to ‘Mother’s Day Call to Action.’
The Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) is encouraging Church of the Brethren congregations and members to support a “Mother’s Day Call to Action” of the Children’s Defense Fund by contacting their congressional representatives the week of May 6-12 and asking them to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
In 1997, Congress created SCHIP to provide insurance for children whose parents work but cannot afford health insurance of their own. SCHIP comes before Congress again this year to be reauthorized to continue. The Children’s Defense Fund is initiating this call to action to encourage elected officials to provide comprehensive health and mental health coverage to every child in America.
“Children are dying in America because they lack health coverage and adequate access to doctors and dentists,” states a bulletin insert from the Children’s Defense Fund. The insert includes the stories of three children who died in 2007 due to lack of adequate health care. The bulletin also notes that of the 9 million children without health insurance, 90 percent are living in working households, and the majority are in two-parent families. (Download the bulletin insert from the ABC website at www.brethren.org/abc/advocacy/kids%20family.html.)
In April, both ABC and the Church of the Brethren General Board signed up to support the All Healthy Children Act with the Children’s Defense Fund.
“Many families in the US today are struggling to provide their children with adequate health care,” said Kim Ebersole, director of Family and Older Adult Ministry for ABC. “This Mother’s Day, when we traditionally honor our mothers, we have the opportunity to ‘do for the least of these’ (Matthew 25:40). Let us put our faith into action by contacting our senators and representatives and urging them to reauthorize SCHIP. The gift of healthy children, and healthy families, would be a present mothers (and fathers) would cherish.”
Contact senators and representative by calling 888-226-0627, visiting www.childrensdefense.org/MothersDayCall, or e-mailing www.childrensdefense.org/MothersDayEmail. The Children’s Defense Fund 39-page “Toolkit for Faith Communities” is downloadable from www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=healthy_child_takeaction#toolkit. Additional resources are at ABC’s website under its advocacy materials for “Cover the Uninsured.”
9) Peacemakers work against depleted uranium weapons.
On Saturday, May 19, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is sponsoring a conference at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn., on issues related to the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons. The conference titled, “DU–from Appalachia to Afghanistan to Iraq” is part of a CPT campaign including Church of the Brethren members, that has begun work to end the use of depleted uranium weapons.
Originally a violence-reduction initiative of the historic peace churches (Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, and Quaker), CPT now enjoys support and membership from a wide range of Christian denominations.
In two related events, CPT is sponsoring a “DU delegation” May 18-27 that will attend the conference and visit sites related to the production of depleted uranium weapons. A tent camp also will be set up from May 18-27, as a witness across the road from a DU weapons factory, the Aerojet Ordnance plant in Jonesborough, Tenn. CPT said the factory is “one of the primary manufacturers of depleted uranium penetrator cores for the 120 mm Abrams tank shells.”
Those organizing the campaign include Cliff Kindy, a Church of the Brethren member and longtime CPT worker. He reported that as of May 4 the delegation numbered 16 people, and will be hosted by Jackson Park Church of the Brethren in Jonesborough.
The DU campaign expresses concern that depleted uranium is causing serious birth defects and cancer in civilian and military populations in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, and is affecting families of military here in the US as well as plant workers and surrounding communities. Campaigners emphasize that the United Nations has condemned depleted uranium weapons, and the European Union has banned the use of depleted uranium munitions.
In September 2006, a small group from the “Stop DU Campaign” held a six-day swing through seven states including stops at Beaver Run Church of the Brethren near Burlington, W.Va., and the Jackson Park Church. In November, a 10-day CPT delegation held prayer vigils and meetings with community groups and churches in the areas of the Aerojet Ordnance plant, and the Alliant Tech plant in Rocket Center, W.Va.
The May 19 conference will take place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in Room 102 of Rogers Stout Hall at East Tennessee State University. Presenters are Doug Rokke, a Pentagon expert on depleted uranium; Cathy Garger, who has written about depleted uranium munitions; and Mohammad Daud Miraki, author of “Afghanistan After Democracy.” Sales of Miraki’s book support the medical care of DU victims in Afghanistan. Participants also will meet in small groups to grapple with next steps in the nonviolent campaign to stop the production of DU weapons.
CPT is encouraging attendance at the conference and in the delegation, in particular welcoming “the participation of military personnel, especially those who have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, to help delegates strategize next steps.”
Cost for the conference is $7 to cover the expense of registration and lunch; mail to First Tennessee Progressives, Anthony Pittman, Secretary, 712 Wilson Ave., Johnson City, TN 37604. To join the delegation, go to cpt.org and check links to delegations and registrations. To participate in the tent camp, contact Pittman at apittman2002@yahoo.com. For more information about the campaign against depleted uranium weapons, visit http://www.stop-du.org/ or contact Cliff Kindy at kindy@cpt.org.
10) 300th anniversary update: Youth receive training to tell the Brethren story.
How do you inject new life and energy into telling a 300-year-old-story? How do you put a forward-looking emphasis on the study of Brethren history and heritage? Why not invite youth to tell the story? That’s what the 300th Anniversary Committee decided to do, in partnership with the Youth and Young Adult Ministry office of the Church of the Brethren General Board.
Each district was asked to nominate two youth to come to the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill., for an intensive weekend of Youth Heritage Teams training. Twenty-one of the 23 districts accepted that invitation, and on April 13-15 that original vision of the anniversary organizers became reality.
“We thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have a group of youth steeped in Brethren history and able to go out and share their passion?” said anniversary committee member Rhonda Pittman Gingrich, addressing the 42 youth before leading get-acquainted activities. Chris Douglas, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries, noted that the event was the fruit of two-and-a-half years of planning.
The energetic group that came together was a microcosm of the church, representing a great deal of diversity in geographic areas, gender, and ethnic backgrounds. They came together quickly, however, and a rich spirit filled the weekend. Highlights of the training included presentations on Brethren history and theology by author Jim Lehman and Bethany Theological Seminary faculty member Jeff Bach; music leadership by anniversary committee member Leslie Lake; workshops on drama, storytelling, music, and public presentation; and several periods of worship, including feetwashing.
Each youth also composed a one-minute speech that he or she delivered in front of a video camera. Small groups then reviewed the videos, offering ideas and suggestions to each other with abundant affirmation of each youth’s particular gifts.
Youth will be employing their learnings as they return to their respective districts. The two-person teams will do Brethren heritage presentations at congregations and other district events as they are invited in the coming year.
“We prepare now to send each of you out as new seeds,” Lake told the group. “Tell the church of today who we were, who we are, and who we yet will be.”
–Walt Wiltschek is editor of the Church of the Brethren’s “Messenger” magazine.