Proclaim Christ as Peace
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Quotes of the day:
— Joel Peña preaching for the morning worship service.
“The place of peace is actually a person of peace. The only lasting source of peace is God.”
“I assure you that this [compelling vision] work is happening around our division on a parallel track. We are not kicking the can down the road…. Leadership is aware of the elephants all around us.”
— A comment from moderator Donita Keister responding to anxiety that the compelling vision process does not address deep concerns about division in the denomination. Her use of the “elephant in the room” image was picked up several times during the afternoon, and at one point became a vision of elephants dancing all around the room. The Conference body responded to the elephants imagery with sympathetic laughter.
“Jesus wants us to realize that we cannot separate worship of God from worship in community. How can we love God…if we cannot love people in all their familiarity and familiality?”
— Audrey and Tim Hollenberg-Duffey, preaching for the Friday evening worship service on the theme, “Did I Choose This Family?”
“When this book comes out I’d ask you to prayerfully hold it…. Take every photo and every story and pray over them…. Even those Boko Haram soldiers have lost souls.”
— Carol Mason speaking at the Brethren Press and Messenger Dinner about an upcoming book of stories of the suffering of Nigerian Brethren affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. The book with photos by Donna Parcell has taken the photos of those telling their stories.
Conference approves 2020 scale increase
The Conference on Thursday, July 4, approved the annual increase in the minimum cash salary table for pastors. An increase of two percent was approved for 2020. The recommendation for the increase was made by the Pastoral Compensation and Benefits Advisory Committee.
Annual Conference location announced for 2022
Conference director Chris Douglas announced the location for the 2022 annual meeting of the Church of the Brethren during the report of the Program and Arrangements Committee on Thursday, July 4. Omaha, Neb., will host the Conference to be held on July 10-13, 2022. Douglas noted that the Conference will return to a Sunday through Wednesday schedule in 2022, in order to take advantage of a discount in hotel room prices for meeting over a Sunday night.
Next year, in 2020, the Annual Conference will meeting again in Grand Rapids, Mich., a location where the Conference has met a few times in recent years.
By the numbers:
$7,886.35 was received in this evening’s offering to support the expenses for childcare and children’s activities at Annual Conference.
893 views of the Thursday morning webcast as of Thursday end of the day, including 138 peak number of live views. The count of views of the afternoon business session was 746, including 154 peace number of live views. There were 550 views of the Thursday evening worship service, including 225 peak number of live views.
2,146 total attendance as of 5 p.m. this evening, Friday, July 5, including 677 delegates and 1,469 nondelegates.
The children’s choir sang for Friday evening’s service. Photo by Keith Hollenberg 
Audrey and Tim Hollenberg-Duffey preach for Friday evening’s service. Photo by Keith Hollenberg 
A choir of Nigerian Brethren visiting from EYN sang before the evening worship service. Photo by Glenn Riegel
For more onsite coverage of Annual Conference go to www.brethren.org/ac/2019/coverage . #cobac19
Coverage of Annual Conference 2019 is made possible through the work of news team volunteers and communications staff: Frank Ramirez, Conference Journal editor; photographers Glenn Riegel, Keith Hollenberg, Donna Parcell, and Laura Brown; writers Frances Townsend and Tyler Roebuck; Press Room office manager Alane Riegel; Jan Fischer Bachman and Russ Otto, website; Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Services; Wendy McFadden, publisher. Contact cobnews@brethren.org .