Brethren bits: Mission nurse remembered, National Press Club, and more

• Former Church of the Brethren missionary to Ecuador, Leanna Faye Koontz Benalcazar, passed away May 10 in Ecuador. She was 86. She worked as a nurse for the General Board's mission in Ecuador for close to a decade beginning in the early 1950s, running a clinic and serving the Quechua Indians of the high Andes as a rural health nurse. Achievements during her time with the mission included setting up family planning clinics with mission doctor John Horning, training of community nursing aides, and a first-ever vaccination of school children. Following her employment with the mission, she continued nursing in Ecuador for almost four more decades. She attended Bethany Bible College and was a graduate of Elizabethtown (Pa.) College as well as the Windber Hospital School of Nursing. She is survived by her husband, Hector Benalcazar, who taught in the mission's primary schools in Ecuador for many years.
  
  
• The appearance by Scott Holland and Ann Riggs at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., has been moved to June, with no firm date yet set. Holland, assistant professor of Peace Studies and Cross Cultural Studies at Bethany Theological Seminary, and Riggs, National Council of Churches associate general secretary for Faith and Order, are members of an organizing committee for the "Watu Kwa Amani" conference in August in Kenya, the next in a series of Historic Peace Church conferences engaging with the World Council of Churches' Decade to Overcome Violence.
  
  
• Don Vermilyea has taken his 20 millionth step in his Walk Across America. The Brethren Volunteer Service worker is walking across the nation, with the goal of visiting every Church of the Brethren congregation. He took the historic step in Minnesota on May 12, and has now walked 9,689 miles. For more information on Vermilyea's quest, which began in Feb. 2002 in Arizona, go to www.brethren.org and click on keyword box to find the Walk Across America.
  
  
• Wanted: experienced writers for Sunday school curriculum. The Church of the Brethren, Mennonite Church Canada, and Mennonite Church USA are producing a new Sunday school curriculum with units for children ages 2-4, kindergarten to grade 2, grades 3-5, and grades 6-8. Two additional units will be a multi-age unit for children of a variety of ages or for intergenerational use, and a unit for parents and other adult caregivers. First use of the curriculum will be Fall 2006. For information on how to apply, please contact Anna Speicher, Project Director, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; 847-742-5100 ext. 209; e-mail aspeicher_gb@brethren.org. The application deadline is June 15.
  
  
• A Faith Expedition to Guatemala is planned for Oct. 23-Nov. 2, jointly sponsored by the General Board's Brethren Witness/Washington Office and Global Mission Partnerships Office. Participants will see Brethren workers in action and participate in colorful cultural events surrounding the Day of the Dead. The expedition will be led by longtime Guatemala worker, Tom Benevento, General Board Latin America specialist. Projected cost is $850. Contact the Brethren Witness/Washington Office at 800-785-3246 or email washington_office_gb@brethren.org.
  
  
• Nigeria workcamp coordinator Jeff Mummau has announced dates for the next annual workcamp to Nigeria, Jan. 16-Feb. 12, 2005. Projected cost will be $2,100. For more information, see the workcamp section of the Global Mission Partnerships page on www.brethren.org, or call Mary Munson, at 800-323-8039.
  
  
• The General Board's Brethren Witness/Washington Office has a new resource packet on conscientious objection that includes education resources along with a tool to help youth groups, congregations, or individuals record their personal beliefs and convictions. Among many other resources available from the office are information and updates on pending draft legislation, background information on conscientious objection, and workshops on what it is to be a conscientious objector and how to claim conscientious objector status. The office also extends an invitation to anyone wanting to explore the issue more to call or arrange for a visit. Call 800-785-3246 or e-mail washington_office_gb@brethren.org.
  
  
• Jane Yount, the General Board's disaster response coordinator, was a presenter at the annual Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) conference in Louisville, Ken., on May 19. Yount joined other representatives of faith-based disaster response groups speaking on rebuilding homes with volunteer labor after a disaster. She was quoted extensively in an article on the presentation, "Rebuilding: what's involved?" by Susan Kim, which can be found on the Disaster News Network website, www.disasternews.net.
  
  
• Barb Sayler, co-executive director of On Earth Peace, and Kathleen Campanella, manager of communications at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., attended a Heifer International (HI) event on Capitol Hill, May 12. Campanella is the Church of the Brethren representative on the HI board. A briefing on the role of livestock in community development, economic growth, and childhood nutrition was followed by a reception honoring HI's global partners at the Russell Senate office building. Guests included Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. One of the highlights of the day was Beatrice, the young girl from Uganda featured in the children's book "Beatrice's Goat," sharing her story of how an animal from Heifer International transformed her life.
  
  
• Church World Service (CWS) staff including executive director John McCullough, Disaster Response director Rick Augsburger, and Ann Walle, director of Marketing and Communications, were at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., May 8 to work with youth volunteers from the Park United Methodist Church in Bloomfield, N.J., filming footage for a new CWS video. The volunteers, working with General Board Service Ministries staff, unloaded a large trailer, packed 600 health kits brought from their church, and assembled a new type of Gift of the Heart kit that will be introduced in the Fall by CWS. This new children's kit has school supplies, health care items, and culturally neutral toys. A tour of the center and a visit to the SERRV International Gift shop were part of the weekend activities.
  
  
• The Ministers of Music, a male quartet from the Lancaster, Pa., area, presented a concert celebrating their 25th year on May 2 at Florin Church of the Brethren in Mount Joy, Pa. The group sang together for the first time at Florin in 1979, and over the years since have sung at Lititz (Pa.) Church of the Brethren and provided concerts throughout central Pennsylvania and in Florida, New England, and Indiana, according to the Lititz newsletter. The quartet includes Lititz pastor Bob Kettering, Lamar Dourte, Dale Engle, and Ron Ludwick.
  
  
• The Central, Ninth Street, and First Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, Va., are jointly sponsoring a Lafiya Weekend May 21-22, which is scheduled to be led by Kathy Reid, executive of the Association of Brethren Caregivers. The event begins 7 p.m. today at First Church and continues through early afternoon May 22. Emphasis is on preparing to be a more hospitable people in Jesus' name.
  
  
• The Southern Ohio District Disaster Response Auction is scheduled for May 22 beginning at 8 a.m. at the Preble County Fairgrounds. Furniture and items for the home, as well as artwork and other pieces will be auctioned. Also for sale will be food and theme baskets.
  
  
• This fall Middle Pennsylvania District will present "Angels Everywhere," a new musical by Frank Ramirez and Steve Engle, as part of a fundraiser to benefit the district's ministry education fund. The musical is about "one of the most intriguing incidents in colonial Brethren history," said Ramirez, the story of Catharine Hummer of the White Oak congregation in Manheim, Pa., who in 1762 claimed to see angels. She also was the first woman to preach among the Brethren. The play will be presented as a dinner theater on Oct. 9 at First Church of the Brethren in Roaring Spring, Nov. 20 at Everett Church of the Brethren, and Dec. 4 at Hollidaysburg Church of the Brethren. Ramirez is author of "The Love Feast" and the Out of Context feature in "Guide to Biblical Studies"; Engle is composer of "The Saint Judas Passion" and "A Rumor of Angels." For more information call Ramirez at 814-652-2634.
  
  
• Shenandoah District is planning a "Celebrating Our Connections" event 3-7 p.m. June 6 at the Brethren Woods camp in Keezletown, Va. The afternoon will include fun and fellowship, and opportunities for swimming, fishing, boating, and hiking, as well as a carry-in meal.
  
  
• The Brethren Revival Fellowship presents a Brethren Bible Institute on the campus of Elizabethtown (Pa.) College July 26-30. Courses will be offered on church history, contemporary issues, church leadership and administration, missions and outreach, pastoral care and counseling, and "A Gallery of Heroes." Other courses will study the books of Revelation, Mark, and Acts. Cost is $150. For an application form, which must be completed by June 25, write to the Brethren Bible Institute, 155 Denver Rd., Denver, PA 17517. Continuing education units are available for pastors who attend.
  
  
• Manchester College, in North Manchester, Ind., will honor Robert C. Johansen, at commencement May 23. Johansen, a member of Crest Manor Church of the Brethren in South Bend, Ind., and a Manchester graduate who played an important part in developing the college's pioneering program in Peace Studies, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. He is conducting research on enhancing UN peacekeeping and enforcement as senior fellow in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The college will deliver 223 bachelor's degrees, 16 master's degrees, and 7 associate's degrees at the ceremony. The college's first three graduates of its Master of Arts in Contemporary Leadership program will collect their diplomas, and 37 seniors will graduate with honor. For more information about the college, visit www.manchester.edu.
  
  
• The National Council of Churches' Eco-Justice Program is seeking clergy to help support the Climate Stewardship Act, coming to the US Senate in early June. "Protecting our climate is a religious duty," said Cassandra Carmichael, director of the program, in a letter seeking contact with religious leaders interested in the issue. For more information call 202-544-2350 ext. 27 or e-mail cassandra@toad.net or visit www.nccecojustice.org.
  
  
• Doug Archer, ordained in the Church of the Brethren and peace studies librarian at the Hesburgh Library at the University of Notre Dame, has received the 2004 Intellectual Freedom Award from the Indiana Library Foundation. The award recognizes his longtime advocacy for intellectual freedom and support for local control of library policies, in opposition to last year's Supreme Court ruling that public libraries must have filters on their computers to block out potentially offensive websites. Archer is a member of Mount Pleasant Church of the Brethren in Bourbon, Ind. An article about the award can be found at www.SouthBendTribune.com.
  
  
• The Lombard (Ill.) Mennonite Peace Center is searching for a full-time staff member to serve in the organization's conciliation ministry and assist other aspects of its ministry. Qualifications include a personal faith commitment to Christ and Christ's way of peace and discipleship as understood within the Anabaptist tradition; training and experience in Christian conciliation and mediation; skills in oral and written communication, marketing, organizing, and computer use; interpersonal skills; and an entrepreneurial spirit. Experience in teaching and training preferred. To request a full job description and application information, contact Richard Blackburn, Executive Director, Lombard Mennonite Peace Center, 1263 S. Highland Ave., Suite IN, Lombard, IL 60148; 630-627-0507, fax 630-627-0519.
  
  
• Midwest Peacemakers announces its 2004 conference, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 14 at the Church of the Brethren Mill Ridge Village Community Center in Union, Ohio, on the theme, "Love or Die." The meeting will focus on the high costs of war, which a statement from the group says cannot be maintained. Speakers will include Wilson "Woody" Powell, executive director of Veterans for Peace; Michael Elzinga, Navy submarine veteran and research physicist; and Sam Hine, of the Bruderhof communities. Nine of the ten members of the Midwest Peacemakers' 2004 committee are members of the Church of the Brethren. For more information contact Charles Cooley at 614-794-2745 or e-mail cfcooley@wmconnect.com.