Today in Cincinnati – Sunday, July 8, 2018

Church of the Brethren Newsline
July 8, 2018

Today’s worship theme: Called to Share the Good News

“Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” (Matthew 13:8-9).

The consecration of new leadership for the church in the next year: Donita Keister is consecrated as moderator of Annual Conference, and Paul Mundey is consecrated as moderator-elect. Photo by Glenn Riegel.

Quotes of the day:

“We’ve got to get off our seats and on our feet and go…. We have a missional Jesus who is on a mission and sends us out on mission…. The MRI mission statement that Jesus gave us: Missional Relational, Incarnational.”
— Leonard Sweet speaking for the closing Sunday morning worship service. He is a United Methodist minister, best-selling author and popular preacher, the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, Madison, N.J., and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University, Portland, Ore.

Leonard Sweet, the preacher for the Sunday morning worship service at the 2018 Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren. Photo by Regina Holmes.

“God, here are the leaders that you’ve called for this time…. Donita, God has called you to this position knowing well your love for Christ and the gifts God has nurtured in you… I believe your gift of listening will play so well in the Compelling Vision Process.”

— Moderator Samuel Sarpiya praying for Donita Keister, who begins her service as the 2019 moderator with the consecration that took place this morning.“The theme will be ‘Proclaim Christ, Reclaim Passion.’ I invite us to proclaim the one in whom we live and move and have our being…returning to our first love as his bride, the church.”
— Donita Keister, moderator for the 2019 Annual Conference, announcing the theme for the Church of the Brethren annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C., next year. The scripture theme will be 2 Corinthians 5:17-18.

By the numbers:

Final registration for the 2018 Annual Conference: 2,233 including 673 delegates (667 onsite) and 1,560 nondelegates

Sunday’s offering received during worship helps fund the Spanish translation at Annual Conference–both written translation of documents and the live, verbal translation that takes place onsite: $8,764.25

Quilt auction: $8,100 was raised for world hunger by the Association for the Arts in the Church of the Brethren (AACB), with the sale of 8 quilts and/or quilted wall hangings.

See you in Greensboro!

Don’t forget! Head east, not west for Annual Conference next year at Koury Conventrion Center and Sheraton Hotel in Greensboro, N.C. Dates are July 3-7, 2019.

The Sunday morning bulletin with two of the stirrer sticks that were handed out to the congregation, as symbols of the encouragement to “stir up” the church for healing given by preacher Leonard Sweet. He referred to the New Testament story of the waters being stirred up for healing in the Pool of Bethesda as a call for the church to allow itself to be stirred up in the Holy Spirit today. Photo by Laura Brown

A participant in the junior high activities experiences one of the prayer stations offered on Saturday evening. Photo by Keith Hollenberg.

For more onsite coverage of Annual Conference go to www.brethren.org/ac/2018/coverage .

The news coverage of Annual Conference 2018 is made possible through the work of communications staff and a volunteer news team: Frank Ramirez, Conference Journal editor; photographers Glenn Riegel, Regina Holmes, Keith Hollenberg, Donna Parcell, Laura Brown; writers Frances Townsend, Karen Garrett, Alyssa Parker; youth team member Allie Dulabaum; web staff Jan Fischer Bachman, Russ Otto; Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of News Services; Wendy McFadden, publisher. Contact cobnews@brethren.org.

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