Brethren bits: Corrections, personnel, Nigeria love offering, more.

• Correction: In an addition to the short list of people related to the Church of the Brethren who are working in Antarctica (see the Newsline of Dec. 20, 2006), David Haney also is "on the ice." Haney’s membership is at Goshen (Ind.) City Church of the Brethren.
  
  
• Correction: In the Dec. 20 issue of Newsline, the publisher of "A Passion for Victory," a book about Sam Hornish Jr., was incorrect. The book was not published by the "Bryan Times," but by Hornish’s hometown newspaper the "Crescent-News," in Defiance, Ohio. The book can be ordered at www.crescent-news.com.
  
  
• The New Windsor (Md.) Conference Center is saying farewell to Maria Capusan, a member of the food service staff for 20 years, who retired at the end of 2006. The conference center is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board. "On behalf of the Brethren Service Center employees and volunteers we extend our appreciation for her hard work and commitment to the New Windsor Conference Center," said an announcement from director Kathleen Campanella.
  
  
• Walter Trail began fulltime employment with the Food Service Department of the New Windsor (Md.) Conference Center on Dec. 13. He has extensive professional food service experience after working for CI Foodservice, Eurest Dining Services, and Sbarro, Inc.
  
  
• Amy Waldron began with the Church of the Brethren General Board on Dec. 18, joining the Global Mission Partnerships team in Nigeria though Brethren Volunteer Service. She will teach at the Comprehensive Secondary School of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN--the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). She is from Lima, Ohio, and previously worked at Quest Academy.
  
  
• In a year-end update on the love offering for Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria following the destruction of churches in interfaith violence in Maiduguri earlier this year, a total of $43,652.63 has been sent to the Nigerian church. EYN president Filibus Gwama responded to communications of concern from Merv Keeney, executive director of the board’s Global Mission Partnerships, with this note: "Many greetings and thanks for your prayers and help for EYN. Maiduguri churches appreciated your love very much. May God bless you and the entire members of Church of the Brethren." The love offering was initiated by the Church of the Brethren General Board at its March meeting. Keeney observed that "this generous and caring response to sisters and brothers in Nigeria reflects our sense of community as members of the global Church of the Brethren."
  
  
• Mission workers Brandy and Paul Liepelt will visit churches and camps in Pennsylvania to share about their work in Nigeria with the Global Mission Partnerships of the Church of the Brethren General Board. The Liepelts teach Bible and Christian doctrine at Kulp Bible College in Mubi, where they help train pastors for Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN--the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). On Jan. 7 they will speak at New Enterprise Church of the Brethren, and Cherry Lane Church of the Brethren in Clearville; on Jan. 9-10 at Woodbury Church of the Brethren; on Jan. 14 at Holsinger Church of the Brethren in New Enterprise, and Yellow Creek Church of the Brethren in Hopewell; on Jan. 17 at Hollidaysburg Church of the Brethren; on Jan. 18 at Stone Church of the Brethren in Huntingdon; on Jan. 20 at Camp Blue Diamond for a Senior High Retreat; and on Jan. 21 at Dunnings Creek Church of the Brethren in New Paris. For more information about these speaking engagements, please contact the host congregations.
  
  
• A March on Washington to End the Iraq War is scheduled for Jan. 27. Brethren are invited to join in the march by the Brethren Witness/Washington Office of the Church of the Brethren General Board. The event is organized by United for Peace and Justice. An action alert from the office said, "This march will call for the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and demand that Congress pass legislation that will put an end to the Iraq war." Several Chicago-area peace organizations are co-sponsoring a Chicago area mobilization and bus trip to the march, leaving in the late afternoon of Friday, Jan. 26 (for more information send an e-mail with "DC Bus" subject line to wsfpc@comcast.net). For more information about Brethren participation in the march contact the Brethren Witness/Washington Office, 800-785-3246, washington_office_gb@brethren.org. For more about the event go to www.unitedforpeace.org.
  
  
• The Cross Cultural Ministries Steering Committee has set a date for the Church of the Brethren’s annual Cross Cultural Consultation and Celebration in 2008: April 24-27, in Elgin, Ill. This year’s consultation is planned for New Windsor, Md., on April 19-22; for registration information go to www.brethren.org/genbd/clm/clt/CrossCultural.html.
  
  
• Hammond Avenue Brethren Church of Waterloo, Iowa, collected a ton of food--literally--for the local Salvation Army in Nov. 2006. The congregation is jointly affiliated with the Church of the Brethren and the Brethren Church. Through the "Together We Can Bag Hunger" project members and friends invited their neighbors to join them in providing food by distributing bright yellow bags identified with the phrase, "Small things done with great love will change the world." The church also held a food drive at a local grocery. A total of 2,725 pounds of food was collected. Pastor Ronald W. Waters said an additional goal of the project was to provide an easy way for members of the church to meet and connect with neighbors. "As they collected the food, they also offered to pray for their neighbors about any needs in their family." --Ronald W Waters
  
  
• The Steering Committee for the John Kline Homestead Preservation project is planning a meeting for pastors of congregations in Shenandoah District and surrounding districts on Jan. 11 at 2 p.m. at Bridgewater (Va.) Church of the Brethren. Elder John Kline was a Brethren leader and martyr during the Civil War; his historic home has recently become available for purchase. The meeting will provide information about the homestead and efforts to preserve this Brethren heritage site.
  
  
• Indianapolis Peace House’s new executive director Kim Overdyck began work on Jan. 2. Laura J. Harms begins as associate director on Jan. 8. The Indianapolis Peace House is an undergraduate residency in peace studies sponsored by the Plowshares consortium of the historic peace church colleges in Indiana: Manchester, Goshen, and Earlham. Overdyck has been leading the University of Notre Dame’s Take Ten program that serves more than 1,200 inner-city children to break the cycle of violence and promote nonviolent conflict resolution in schools in South Bend; previously she spent 13 years investigating crimes against children for the South African Police Service. Harms has been resident services manager of AHC Inc, a private nonprofit developer of housing communities; she is a 1995 peace and global studies graduate of Earlham. For more go to www.plowsharesproject.org/php/peacehouse.
  
  
• McPherson (Kan.) College Department of Music is presenting a concert of music for organ and brass on Sunday, Jan. 14, at 3 p.m. in Brown Auditorium. Participating in the program are the adult choirs of McPherson Church of the Brethren and Trinity Lutheran Church. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. There is no admission charge.
  
  
• A major campus expansion including a second Harmony Ridge apartment building, a wellness center, and a community center addition has been approved for construction at Cross Keys Village, at the Brethren Home Community in New Oxford, Pa. The Wellness Center will be named in honor of Harvey S. Kline, who was administrator and then president of the Brethren Home from 1971-89.
  
  
• Camp Bethel was represented among dozens of "green" vendors and information booths at the 7th Annual Green Living and Energy Expo in Roanoke, Va., Dec. 1-2, 2006. The camp presented its Master Site Plan as a case study in "green" thinking and "green" planning. More at www.campbethelvirginia.org.
  
  
• Clarence Priser spent his 100th birthday preaching at New Haven Church of the Brethren in Sparta, N.C., on Nov. 12, 2006, according to a front page article in "The Alleghany News." The article said New Haven was the first congregation in the county in which Priser began preaching about 20 years ago--he served the church as pastor for about 10 years. Priser is an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren, and also has worked as a teacher and photographer. Of reaching the century mark he said, "I want to be ready when God calls whether it’s tonight or tomorrow or whatever. As long as I can do something for Him in this world, I’ll stay and do it."
  
  
• Jodi Johnson was honored as "Citizen of the Year" for 2006 by the Cambridge City (Ind.) Kiwanis Club. She has been a member of Nettle Creek Church of the Brethren in Hagerstown, Ind., for 48 years.
  
  
• For the first time, a Greater Gift/SERRV sales exceeded $2 million in one month, reported president Bob Chase. "Preliminary November (2006) sales were approximately $2,040,000, compared with $1,836,000 last November (2005), for an increase of $204,000 or 11 percent," he said. As of Dec. 1, 2006, sales for the year had exceeded total sales for all of 2005, Chase said. The overall increase included sales of more than $112,000 for November at the store at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., and an increase in sales of 55 percent at the Greater Gift shop in Madison, Wis. "The staff, particularly the New Windsor crew, worked very, very hard to achieve this goal," Chase said. For more go to www.agreatergift.org.
  
  
• The 2007 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be celebrated from Jan. 18-25, on the theme "Break the Silence" from Mark 7:37. The observance is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Roman Catholic Church. This year’s theme has its origins in the experience of Christian communities in the South African region of Umlazi, near Durban, a region affected by unemployment, poverty, and HIV/AIDS, with an estimated 50 percent of residents infected with the virus. Resources include an introduction to the theme, suggested ecumenical worship service, biblical reflections, prayers, and an overview of the situation in South Africa. Go to http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop-index.html.
  
  
• A $150,000 grant by the Arcus Foundation of Kalamazoo, Mich., has been awarded to the Brethren Mennonite Council for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Interests (BMC) and its three collaborative partners, the Association of Affirming and Welcoming Baptists, Gay and Lesbian Affirming Disciples (Christian Church, Disciples of Christ), and the Welcoming Community Network (Community of Christ). A release from BMC said the grant will fund a three-year project to increase the number of congregations that are publicly affirming of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people through the work of a faith-based community organizer. For more information contact BMC at 612-343-2060 or bmc@bmclgbt.org.

Source: 1/3/2007 Newsline