Annual Conference preachers and other leaders are announced.

Preachers and other leaders for the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference to be held June 26-30 in San Diego, Calif., have been announced by the Annual Conference Office. Coordinating the worship services will be Scott Duffey of Westminster, Md. Preachers will address the Conference theme for 2009, "The old has gone! The new has come! All this is from God!" (2 Corinthians 5:16-21).

Annual Conference moderator David K. Shumate, who is district executive minister for Virlina District, will preach for the opening worship service on the evening of Friday, June 26. Moderator-elect Shawn Flory Replogle, pastor of McPherson (Kan.) Church of the Brethren, will be worship leader for the Friday evening service.

For the Saturday evening worship service, the preacher will be Richard F. Shreckhise, of the pastoral team at Lancaster (Pa.) Church of the Brethren. The worship leader will be Susan R. Daniel, administrative executive of Idaho District.

Eric H. F. Law will bring the Sunday morning message for the Conference. He is an ordained Episcopal priest and consultant in the area of multicultural ministry, and author of a number of books including "The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb: A Spirituality for Leadership in a Multicultural Community" and "Finding Intimacy in a World of Fear" among others. Leading worship Sunday morning will be Jonathan Shively, executive director of the Church of the Brethren’s Congregational Life Ministries.

Preaching on Monday evening will be Nancy Heishman, co-coordinator of the Church of the Brethren mission in the Dominican Republic along with her husband, Irvin Heishman. Leading worship will be Joseph V. Vecchio of the Pacific Southwest District office staff.

The closing worship service for the Conference, on Tuesday morning, June 30, will receive the message from Jaime Diaz, pastor of Castañer Iglesia de los Hermanos (Castañer Church of the Brethren) in Puerto Rico. The worship leader will be Valentina Satvedi, an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren and director of the Anti-Racism Program of Mennonite Central Committee US.

Music for the Annual Conference worship services will be coordinated by Eric Matteson, co-pastor of Modesto (Calif.) Church of the Brethren. Music leaders will include Conference Choir director Stephen Reddy, also of Modesto; Children’s Choir director Linda Williams of San Diego; organist Anna Grady of Goshen, Ind.; and at the piano/keyboard Dan Masterson of Lindsborg, Kan.

Bible study leaders include Julie Hostetter, director of the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership, who will serve as leader of evening Bible study sessions; Nick Corrall, pastor of Iglesia de Cristo Genesis, a Church of the Brethren congregation in Los Angeles, who will coordinate Hispanic Bible studies; Gene Hagenberger, pastor of Easton (Md.) Church of the Brethren, and Noel Naff, pastor of Mount Hermon Church of the Brethren in Bassett, Va., who will lead morning Bible study sessions; and Estella Horning, an ordained Church of the Brethren minister and retired seminary teacher from Goshen, Ind., who will lead the theological studies.

Go to www.cobannualconference.org for more information about the Annual Conference and to register online.

Source: 3/11/2009 Newsline