The third to fifth grade children’s group at Annual Conference, led by Angi and Scott Harney of Elkhart, Ind., on Friday, July 5, delivered 103 blankets to the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids.
The Calling Denominational Leadership Study Committee, created in response to a 2022 query, presented an interim report to this year’s Annual Conference. The original query was brought by the Nominating Committee of Standing Committee, which is the group responsible for the ballot to be voted on at Annual Conference by the delegate body.
The featured speaker at Thursday evening’s Discipleship and Leadership Formation Dinner paused a second, as if taking special enjoyment from his introduction as executive director of the Christian Community Development Association. “That was my first time being introduced as Dr. Lorenzo Watson,” he said.
The Annual Conference approved two recommendations brought by the Pastoral Compensation and Benefits Advisory Committee today, Saturday, July 6: revisions to the pastor’s Housing Equity Fund, and the annual cost of living adjustment to the minimum cash salary table for pastors.
The 2024 Annual Conference today, Saturday, July 6, acted on “Query: A New Model of Denominational Structure,” which was brought by Miami (Fla.) Haitian Church of the Brethren and Atlantic Southeast District.
Today, Saturday, July 6, the delegate body of Annual Conference amended and adopted a mandate for the work of the next Review and Evaluation Committee and approved an extension of the committee’s term of service from two years to up to four years.
–– Registration as of 4:45 p.m. Friday, July 5: 410 delegates, 1,022 nondelegates both in-person and virtual (45 people attended virtually), for a total of 1,432 participants. –– Worship attendance in-person on Friday evening: 935. — The worship offering for the Core Ministries of the Church of the Brethren, with a focus on the Discipleship
“What do we do if there’s a mouse in the cabin?” asked one of the 31 youth who traveled to Camp Brethren Heights, around an hour north of the Annual Conference in Grand Rapids, for a service project, lunch, and swimming in the lake.
On July 4, I attended the Womaen’s Caucus Dinner to hear Heidi Ramer share about her mother’s experience of sexual assault and trauma within the Church of the Brethren. If you’re not familiar with the story, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Her Words, My Voice by Heidi Ramer, which includes excerpts from her mother Karen’s personal diaries.
Galen Jay, a lifelong camper, volunteer, and employee at Camp Mack in Milford, Ind., was asked at the Outdoor Ministries Association (OMA) breakfast just when he had last been to a Church of the Brethren Annual Conference. Without hesitation he answered, “1962, Ocean Grove, New Jersey.”