Brethren bits: Correction, job opening, and much more.

• Correction: Mary Hooker Weybright, one of the recipients of the Ripples Society award from Bridgewater (Va.) College, attends Nokesville Church of the Brethren in Virginia, rather than in Maryland as was incorrectly reported in the Newsline of April 12.
  
  
• Pacific Southwest District of the Church of the Brethren seeks a director of Missions. The district is looking for a visionary leader who has a passionate desire to plant and revitalize Church of the Brethren congregations. The preferred candidate will be an entrepreneur who can recruit, coach, mentor, train, and provide support for church planters, and continue the development and oversight of a comprehensive church planting and revitalization program. This individual must be a person of faith who is knowledgeable and accepting of denominational polity and authority, values the principles of the Church of the Brethren, and is skillful at adapting to the needs of the district and local situations. The candidate must have strong communication skills in both English and Spanish. A minimum of a bachelor's degree and additional ministry training is required. The position may be fulltime, or divided into two half-time positions. The position is not housed in the district office in La Verne, Calif., but the individual must reside within the district and is reportable to the district executive minister. Contact the Pacific Southwest District Office with a cover letter and resume testifying to personal faith, history, and competency in church planting and revitalization. Pacific Southwest District, P.O. Box 219, La Verne, CA 91750-0219; 909-392-4049; districtexecutive@pswdcob.org.
  
  
• The upcoming week marks "Cover the Uninsured Week," an national campaign of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that has been promoted by the Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) to raise awareness of the nearly 46 million American who lack healthcare insurance. ABC encourages Church of the Brethren congregations to participate in events planned for their areas during the week of May 1-7. This year, the campaign has plans for 2,240 events coast-to-coast, and offers many resources including information for people without health insurance at its website, www.covertheuninsured.org. Activities include press conferences, health and enrollment fairs, business leader summits, interfaith activities, small business seminars, campus outreach, and more. ABC has posted a "Call to Prayer" at http://www.brethren.org/abc/advocacy/uninsured.html.
  
  
• On Earth Peace has started a new blog, "Nonviolence News," at http://nonviolencenews.blogspot.com. It includes all current postings from On Earth Peace's Peace Witness Action List, and links to devotions and resources for Christians exploring radical discipleship and Jesus' call to peacemaking. "For those seeking examples and inspiration for creative and spiritually-rooted peacemaking, this is it," said Matt Guynn, coordinator of peace witness for On Earth Peace. For more information go to www.onearthpeace.org.
  
  
• Antioch Church of the Brethren in Woodstock, Va., collected about $10,000 worth of donated garden seeds from many different companies and individuals this past winter to send to families in Haiti. The seeds were counted, bagged, labeled, and packaged with 18 vegetable varieties in each packet to provide seeds for a garden for the average size Haitian family. Some 1,200 packets of the seeds were assembled and mailed to a pastor in Haiti, for distribution in Haitian churches this spring. "There were 38 boxes of seeds in all," reported Antioch pastor George Bowers, "and many, many folks in the congregation helped including children's church, youth Bible study, older folks." With the seeds, planting instructions were included and a Haitian Creole Bible verse.
  
  
• West Goshen (Ind.) Church of the Brethren will celebrate 175 years in ministry with an Anniversary Sunday on June 4 beginning at 10 a.m. In 1830, the congregation became the first organized church in northern Indiana, according to an invitation letter from the church, which has "given life" to 31 Church of the Brethren congregations in five northern Indiana counties. The Anniversary Sunday will include a "plain dress" worship service. Please RSVP to Jerry Miller at 574-831-6522.
  
  
• Members of Oakley Brick Church of the Brethren in Cerro Gordo, Ill., "were among those helping get roads cleared and debris picked up" following tornados and storms on Easter Sunday in central Illinois, according to the "Herald and Review Newspaper" of Decatur, Ill. Severe weather damaged several homes and outbuildings and flooded roads, according to the newspaper report, as well as knocked down power lines and trees, and dropped large hail and heavy downpours of rain. The worst damage occurred near Oakley, the paper said.
  
  
• A women's group at Downsville Church of the Brethren in Williamsport, Md., have finished a quilt described as "exquisite" by Williamsport's "Herald Mail" newspaper. The quilt will be sold at the Mid-Atlantic Resource Auction May 6 at Westminster (Md.) Ag Center. Proceeds will help provide disaster relief. The piece is called "The Baltimore Quilt" and is hand-appliqued. It will be on display at the church along with other pieces during morning worship on Sunday, April 30, at 10:35 a.m. The newspaper reported that the mission of the women's group is "Hands to Quilt, Hearts to God!"
  
  
• Mill Creek Church of the Brethren in Port Republic, Va., is one of the stops on the annual Home and Garden Tour of the Spotswood Garden Club today, April 26, according to the "Daily News-Record" of Shenandoah Valley. The church, which is on the tour list with four historic homes, will host refreshments and musical entertainment. "Visitors may also enjoy touring the historic church, which was organized in 1840 and was used as a hospital during the Battle of Cross Keys in June 1862," the newspaper said.
  
  
• Regional Youth Conference at Manchester College in North Manchester, Ind., will be held April 29-30. Chris Douglas, director of youth and young adult ministry for the Church of the Brethren General Board, is the keynote speaker. The weekend includes worship, workshops, a coffee house, free time for recreation, and opportunities for fellowship. Cost is $50 for youth, $30 for advisors. For more information contact Wendi Hutchinson at wahutchinson@manchester.edu or 260-982-5232.
  
  
• Anabaptist spirituality will be the topic of this year's Durnbaugh Lectures April 27 at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. C. Arnold Snyder, professor of history at Conrad Grebel University College in Ontario, Canada, will discuss "The 'Catholic' Roots of Anabaptist Spirituality" at 7:30 p.m. in Myer Hall's Susquehanna Room. Snyder's talk is open to the public free of charge and is presented as part of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies' annual banquet. A reception for Snyder begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by the banquet at 6 p.m. Snyder will also present a seminar titled "Contemporary Anabaptist Spirituality" 9 a.m.-3 p.m., April 28, at the Young Center. For more information call 717-361-1470 or go to www.etown.edu.
  
  
• Juniata College dedicated its new Marlene and Barry Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts on April 21 in Huntingdon, Pa. The center is an $8.3 million renovation and construction project that has renovated the college's performance hall, Rosenberger Auditorium, and added a new theater space and classroom facilities. For more information go to www.juniata.edu.
  
  
• The 7th annual C.A.R.S. (College Automotive Restoration Students) Club Car Show takes place at McPherson College 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 6. More than 150 cars are expected to be on display. There is no charge to attend the show. "Two cars will be featured on display for this year's show: a 1911 Stanley Steamer race car, and a 1950 Ford Woody Wagon," according to Ross Barton, president of C.A.R.S. There will also be three Lamborghinis and a 1922 Stanley Steamer on display. According to Jonathan Klinger, director of automotive restoration development, "A tremendous amount of work goes into the annual car show. The students work very hard and do a great job of putting on a first-class show." Tours of Templeton Hall, the home of the automotive restoration program, will be open to the public from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. For more go to www.mcpherson.edu.
  
  
• Two teams of Manchester College students spent spring break in the sunny South--but they were not tanning on the beaches or partying hearty through the night. The students worked in Mississippi and New Orleans, helping with Hurricane Katrina cleanup, joining an estimated 10,000 college students who mucked out houses and helped the area rebuild. The college Habitat for Humanity chapter has spent its last 19 spring breaks in the South, building homes. This year, 17 Manchester students and two faculty members were in Meridian, Miss., building two to four homes. At the same time, 17 Manchester students, four staff members, and a spouse were helping New Orleans residents clear muck and mold, gutting houses for restoration and picking up neighborhoods. The team worked with Operation Helping Hands, a volunteer program of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans. For more go to www.manchester.edu.
  
  
• Camp Bethel in Fincastle, Va., is holding its annual Sounds of the Mountains Festival on April 28-29 featuring Syd Lieberman, Barbara McBryde-Smith, Willy Claflin, Joseph Helfrich, and Marshall Brothers. Performance schedule, performer biographies, and ticket information is at www.soundsofthemountains.org. The camp also has announced the theme for its summer camping program, "Peace by Peace" from Colossians 3:15.
  
  
• Art Gish, a Church of the Brethren member from Athens, Ohio, who has been working with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in the Middle Eastern city of Hebron, called in to the Rush Limbaugh show on March 23 to offer his perspective. In an e-mail from the "Peace Witness Action List" of On Earth Peace giving the transcript of Gish's call, it was noted that "Limbaugh has been quite critical of CPT through the captivity of CPTers in Iraq." The call included the following exchange: Gish: "...If we want peace and are opposed to war, then we ought to be willing to take the same risks that soldiers take and go into violent situations and be a nonviolent presence in the middle of...." Limbaugh: "Yeah, but, you know, peacemakers have never won wars with peace. They do it with guns and soldiers and...." Gish: "Well, we have another idea...." Limbaugh: "You win wars by killing people and breaking things, and then you institute the peace." Gish: "We believe that the only way to overcome evil is through nonviolent suffering love, the way of the cross...." A full transcript can be obtained from On Earth peace, contact mattguynn@earthlink.net. For more about On Earth Peace go to www.brethren.org/oepa.
  
  
• A reunion of graduates of Hillcrest School in Jos, Nigeria, is planned for July 1-4 in Westlake, Texas, in the Dallas area. Hillcrest is an ecumenical international school that originally was begun by the Church of the Brethren. Reunion planners are in search of contact information for Hillcrest graduates and former teachers, staff, and house parents from the Church of the Brethren. Contact Holly (Strauss) Plank at dudebub@comcast.net. For more about the reunion go to www.hillcrest.myevent.com.

Source: 4/26/2006 Newsline
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