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Messenger Online<\/strong> is a new website from Messenger<\/em>, the Church of the Brethren magazine. The new website features articles that have been published in the print magazine, plus other online-only content. It is designed to be a web-based addition to the print magazine, which continues to be mailed to subscribers 10 times a year. Find the new Messenger Online<\/strong> at www.brethren.org\/messenger<\/span><\/span><\/a> .<\/p>\n Shown above: the cover of the April issue of Messenger<\/em>, which was mailed to subscribers this week. The cover photo is by Ralph Miner.<\/p>\n — The 2016 Annual Conference theme is \u201cCarry the Light.\u201d The Program and Arrangements Committee is inviting all congregations to send creative pictures of different ministries<\/strong>–such as the choir, youth activities, mission work, fundraising events, fellowship–that show how each congregation carries the light of Christ. The planners will be creating a \u201ccongregational collage\u201d that will be displayed on the video screens in the main hall before and after gatherings for worship and business. Brethren videographer David Sollenberger will help develop the collage. The committee requests no more than 10 pictures in jpg format from each congregation, including one of the church building. The pictures may be e-mailed as jpg attachments to accob2016@gmail.com<\/a> with the subject \u201cCollage and [name of congregation].\u201d Pictures are due by May 15.<\/p>\n — Karen Hodges has been appointed to the role of program coordinator for the Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center.<\/strong> She brings a wide range of skills to the ministry and holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in business administration from Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. She most recently served as administrative support assistant to the director of Undergraduate Studies, School of Business Administration, at Penn State University in Harrisburg, Pa. Prior to that role, she was coordinator of Campus Events and Scheduling at Elizabethtown College. She is an active member of Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren.<\/p>\n — The Youth and Young Adult Office of the Church of the Brethren is seeking a young adult to serve through Brethren Volunteer Service as an assistant<\/strong> to director Becky Ullom Naugle. This position, while giving a BVSer the chance to work with youth, young adults, and their advocates, will also provide opportunity to live out Christian values and consider ministry as a vocation. Ideally, the volunteer would begin in June 2016 and serve through July 2017. The volunteer\u2019s primary responsibilities include helping to coordinate Christian Citizenship Seminar 2017, National Junior High Conference 2017, and Young Adult Conference 2017. Additional responsibilities include helping to host the National Youth Cabinet and the Young Adult Steering Committee during their meetings, as well as helping to coordinate resources for National Junior High Sunday and National Youth Sunday. Volunteers who have graduated from college and are at least 21 are the most prepared to serve in this role. Are you interested in serving or know someone who might be? For more information and\/or an application, please be in touch with Becky Ullom Naugle at 847-429-4385 or bullomnaugle@brethren.org<\/a> .<\/p>\n — The Office of Public Witness invites congregations to celebrate Earth Day Sunday on April 22 by reflecting on the importance of animals<\/strong> as a part of God\u2019s Creation, and our relationships with them. \u201cFurry, feathered, finned, four-legged, and winged, the diversity of God\u2019s creatures inspires wonder and awe,\u201d said the announcement. \u201cFrom Noah\u2019s Ark, to barn animals surrounding baby Jesus, to Isaiah\u2019s vision of the lion dwelling with the lamb, God\u2019s creatures play an important role in the Bible. In the Psalms, creatures give praise to God, having their own relationship with God separate from humanity. Thus, knowing and loving God\u2019s creatures helps us better know our Creator.\u201d The Creation Justice Ministries of the former National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program, has put together a collection of materials for use on Earth Day Sunday including biblical reflections, worship resources, suggested hymns, ideas for action, and more on the theme \u201cCare for God\u2019s Creatures.\u201d To download the guide and other worship resources, visit www.creationjustice.org\/creatures.html<\/a> .<\/p>\n — Jones Chapel Church of the Brethren in Figsboro, Va., celebrates its 75th anniversary on April 10.<\/strong> The morning worship speaker will be former pastor Tom Fralin. The worship service will be followed by a fellowship meal.<\/p>\n — Staunton (Va.) Church of the Brethren is issuing an invitation to a Spiritual Renewal Weekend on April 16-17,<\/strong> led by Annual Conference moderator-elect Carol Scheppard. She serves as vice president and academic dean of Bridgewater (Va.) College. The weekend will begin with a Dessert Social on Saturday evening at 6 p.m., followed by a Service of Lessons and Hymns with Dr. Scheppard and the Bridgewater College Chorale on the theme is “In Whom Shall We Trust?\u00a0 Lessons from the Exile.\u201d On Sunday morning, a light breakfast begins at 9:30 a.m., followed by a Town Hall Meeting with Dr. Scheppard at 10 a.m., and worship at 11 a.m. with Dr. Scheppard preaching and Dr. David Bushman, president of Bridgewater College, bringing greetings.<\/p>\n — For nearly two years, members of two congregations in Wenatchee, Wash., have been praying for those harmed by terrorism in Nigeria<\/strong>–Brethren Baptist Church United and Sunnyslope Church of the Brethren. The group started meeting for prayer after the nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from Chibok by Boko Haram. A large inter-church group came together to pray, sing, read the names of the kidnapped girls, and create cards to send love and prayers to the girls\u2019 families and communities. A smaller group, some of whom were raised in Nigeria in missionary families, kept meeting weekly on the church lawn for prayer, sometimes joined by those passing by on the sidewalk. \u201cWe pray for the concerns sent to us by members of Ekklesiyar Yan\u2019uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria),\u201d reports Merry Roy. Prayers have gone up for peace in the country of Nigeria, provision to the displaced, condolence for those who have lost relatives, the insurgents to change their hearts and minds, the government to be just, comfort for parents who have lost children, and release of the abducted. \u201cWhen a year went by and most of the girls were still captive, we continued sharing news from Nigeria, singing and praying together monthly,\u201d Roy adds. \u201cWe are still doing that, and we invite others to join us on the third Wednesday of each month, at 7 p.m., in the library of the Brethren Baptist Church.\u201d<\/p>\n — Beavercreek Church of the Brethren in Ohio has shared \u201ca big thank you to the attendees of the Mutual Kumquat concert.\u201d<\/strong> The concert on March 12 was a benefit for the Nigerian Nkeki family of seven with three hearing-impaired children. A report from the church said that the concert\u2019s free-will offering, along with other donations, brought the total for the girls\u2019 medical costs to $4,597 of the $6,500 needed for the cochlear implants and hearing aids. \u201cThe surgery needs to be accomplished quickly,\u201d the report noted. \u201cWomen with disabilities, in Nigeria, have been observed to be more vulnerable to exploitations of various kinds such as domestic violence, workplace discrimination and sexual harassment. Providing the surgery to these girls increases their opportunities for education and higher quality of life while decreasing their chances of exploitation.\u201d The church continues to receive donations for the girls\u2019 medical costs, with a goal of receiving the total needed by May 1.<\/p>\n — \u201cSecond Acts: A Garden Grows in Champaign\u201d is the title of a Wall Street Journal article about Dawn Blackman<\/strong> and her work as steward of the Randolph Street Community Garden in Champaign, Ill. Blackman is a member of the Champaign Church of the Brethren, which helps finance the community garden\u2019s upkeep and runs a food pantry that helps distribute the garden\u2019s produce to families in the community. The article written by Kristi Essick was published on March 20. \u201cBack in 2004, when\u00a0 Dawn Blackman became the steward of the Randolph Street Community Garden in Champaign, Ill., she knew almost nothing about plants,\u201d it reports, in part. \u201cShe just wanted the garden to remain open to the neighborhood\u2019s mostly low-income residents.\u201d By 2015, she told the reporter, \u201cthe garden provided free fresh produce for more than 2,000 people.\u201d Read the full story at http:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/second-acts-a-garden-grows-in-champaign-1458525868<\/a><\/p>\n — Bridgewater (Va.) Church of the Brethren hosts a Choral Tribute to John Barr<\/strong> presented by the Shenandoah Valley Choral Society in concerts at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 15, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 17. Barr, who is professor of organ emeritus at Bridgewater College and organist at the Bridgewater Church, is a prolific composer of organ music. The concerts will feature his choral music compositions. Tickets will be available at the door, in advance at Red Front Supermarket and Bridgewater Foods, and online at www.singshenandoah.org<\/a> .<\/p>\n — Jeffrey W. Carter, president of Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., will lead a seminar<\/strong> at Bridgewater (Va.) College on April 5, at 3:30 p.m., speaking on the topic \u201cWhy a Seminary During Institutional Decline?\u201d The seminar, which is free and open to the public, will take place in Bowman Hall, Room 109, and will utilize a discussion and question-and-answer format. Carter is a 1992 graduate of Bridgewater. Ordained in the Church of the Brethren, he became the 10th president of Bethany Seminary in 2013. The event is sponsored by Bridgewater\u2019s Forum for Brethren Studies. For information contact Steve Longenecker at slongene@bridgewater.edu<\/a> .<\/p>\n — Bridgewater (Va.) College will celebrate 136 years of its founding on April 5,<\/strong> presenting three awards during a 9:30 a.m. convocation in Nininger Hall. President David W. Bushman will recognize three faculty members for excellence in teaching and scholarship: Robyn A. Puffenbarger, associate professor of biology, will receive the Ben and Janice Wade Outstanding Teacher Award; Stephen F. Baron, the Harry G.M. Jopson Professor of Biology, will receive the Martha B. Thornton Faculty Recognition Award; and Scott D. Jost, associate professor of art, will receive the Faculty Scholarship Award.<\/p>\n — Jo Young Switzer, president emerita of Manchester Universityin Indiana, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Juniata College<\/strong> in Huntingdon, Pa. The ceremony will take place prior to her lecture on \u201cWomen and Leadership: Where Has Progress Gotten Us?\u201d at 7:30 p.m. on April 5 in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science at Juniata College. Switzer, who was Manchester\u2019s president from 2004-14, will speak on the effective characteristics for leadership, focusing on women in leadership roles. She has published scholarly articles on women in leadership roles, such as TV anchors, college presidents, and women at the top levels of the federal government. During her presidency at Manchester, she proposed a doctoral-level pharmacy school and secured a $35 million grant for its implementation, among other achievements. She has received numerous awards, including a 2014 Sagamore of the Wabash, the highest honor the governor can bestow on a citizen of Indiana, and the 2013 Chief Executive Leadership Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.<\/p>\n — Irene and John Dale, of Moorestown, N.J., who are 1958 and 1954 graduates of Juniata College respectively, have donated $3.2 million<\/strong> to provide funding for a new $4.9 million Integrated Media and Studio Arts Building on the college campus in Huntingdon, Pa. The construction is scheduled to start in mid-summer. \u201cAdding an art building has been on the agenda for every master plan the college has produced for nearly a century, but it always would get bumped by something else of higher priority,\u201d said John Dale, in a release. He is a retired telecommunications executive who has played a significant role in the growth of Juniata\u2019s technology curriculum. The new building will be located on the site where the college\u2019s Raffensberger Tennis Courts now stand. This summer, the tennis facilities will move to the Winton Hill Athletic Complex. The building, which will be named during the dedication ceremony planned for Fall 2017, is a two-story instruction space featuring studios for all types of artistic media, classrooms, and faculty offices.<\/p>\n — Children and their parents are invited to the 14th Annual Open Door Recital at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 2, in the Elizabethtown (Pa.) College Zug Recital Hall.<\/strong> This year, the event features \u201ca whole zoo of animals joining performers on the stage,\u201d said Gene Ann Behrens, professor of music and director of music therapy, who organizes the recital each year. \u201cA lion, an elephant, a zebra, a dolphin, a grasshopper, a lobster, a swan and a bird\u201d will entertain children, acted out by music therapy students who perform the interactive program for children with and without special needs. A release noted that the recital, open to all families, is a unique concert in which the participation and expressions of joy by children is encouraged. A reception follows the concert so children can meet the performers. Reserve free tickets by calling 717-361-1991 or 717-361-1212.<\/p>\n
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