Brethren bits: General Board and ABC positions, and much more.

• Gary Huffman, of Elgin, Ill., has accepted the position of accounts payable and payroll specialist with the General Board. He is retired from United Airlines, where he worked in professional development in the training department for information services. He also has taught office automation technology at Elgin Community College, has been a substitute teacher, and served for ten years as an ordained minister in the United Presbyterian Church USA, most recently at Meadowdale Presbyterian Church in Carpentersville, Ill. He began in the position at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin on March 22.
  
  
• Nancy Bailey Miner will become the next administrative assistant for the Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC), effective May 10. Miner moves to ABC from more than ten years at Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT), where she most recently was managing editor for the Communications and Information Services Department, and has served as production coordinator, medical claims support staff, and telephone services and claims processing assistant. She will continue to work at the Church of the Brethren General Offices, where she is accompanist for the weekly chapel service. She is a member of Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren in Elgin.
  
  
• Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks applicants to staff violence reduction projects in Colombia; Hebron, the West Bank; Iraq; Grassy Narrows, Ont., Canada; and new North American initiatives. Successful candidates will be committed to nonviolence, grounded in faith, and willing to risk working in settings of violence and oppression. Apply by May 1 for the Peacemaker Corps training July 16-Aug. 13. Participation in a short-term CPT delegation is recommended prior to training and space is still available in the following delegations: Colombia May 18-31; Iraq May 20-June 3; Israel/Palestine May 25-June 6; and Grassy Narrows May 28-June 6. For more information see www.cpt.org or contact Claire Evans, personnel and delegation coordinator, at 773-277-0253 or e-mail personnel@cpt.org. CPT is an initiative of Mennonites, Brethren, and Quakers, with support and membership from a range of other denominations.
  
  
• "The Final Journey of John Kline: A Drama with Music" by Lee Krahenbuhl will be presented by the New Millennium Players of Everett Church of the Brethren in four churches in Southern Ohio District: 7 p.m. April 23 at the New Carlisle church; 1:30 p.m. April 24 at the Greenville church; 7 p.m. April 24 at the Brookville church; and 10:45 a.m. April 25 at the Prince of Peace church in Kettering. The play follows John Kline during the final four years of his life, as he crossed the Mason-Dixon line to serve people in the North and South, and was written in 1997 for the bicentennial of his birth.
  
  
• The Western Pennsylvania District Youth Choir is touring April 23-25 and will sing in the following churches: Montgomery 7 p.m. April 23, Locust Grove 7 p.m. April 24, Sipesville 7 p.m. April 25, and tentatively at Scalp Level April 25. The group will sing at the Brethren Home 1:30 p.m. April 24.
  
  
• "Redefining Normal—Small and Rural Church Conference" will be held April 23-24 in Markle, Ind., sponsored by the denomination's Small Membership/Rural Church Leadership Team and the districts of Northern Indiana and South/Central Indiana. Cost is $50. For more information contact the Northern Indiana District office at 574-773-3149.
  
  
• A Net Results seminar sponsored by Middle Pennsylvania District will be held April 24 at Hollidaysburg (Pa.) Church of the Brethren on "Stewardship Adventures: Increasing the Harvest 15-30 Percent." The resource leader is Eugene Grimm, stewardship specialist for three Ohio synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
  
  Cost is $25 or $100 per church, and preregistration is required. Contact Deanna Ness at 814-643-0601.
  
  
• Pacific Southwest District held a series of prayer vigils in March and early April, in cooperation with Mennonite churches, entitled "Hands Lifted in Prayer." The vigils addressed God's future in the district as well as in Pacific Southwest Mennonite Council, and the world, according to the district newsletter. Vigils took place at Community Brethren Church in Fresno, Calif., March 12; First Mennonite Church in Phoenix, Ariz., April 2; and the Center for Anabaptist Leadership in Pasadena, Calif., April 10.
  
  
• Thirty pastors and deacons gathered April 3 for a Western Plains District training event at the Topeka (Kan.) Church of the Brethren. Scott Douglas, staff for the Association of Brethren Caregivers, led participants through a process that explored how a caregiver's spiritual life affects the way he or she serves as a caregiver in the congregation. The event also focused on how deacons can spiritually enliven their congregations. "We had very good participation and a lot of interest in the topic of spiritual development for deacons," Douglas said.
  
  
• Bridgewater (Va.) College celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Daniel Christian Flory, on April 6, with a convocation. Awards for excellence in teaching went to foreign languages chair Susan L. Piepke and psychology professor Donald R. Witters. Seniors Melissa Short and Jonathan Puvak received leadership awards. Retired professor C. Ray Smith received an honorary doctorate.
  
  
• Manchester College, North Manchester, Ind., has broken ground for a new recital hall. The $1.2 million project on the north end of Otho Winger Hall is expected to take just five months. To get construction underway, the community was invited to "dig in" at a March 30 groundbreaking accompanied by the A Cappella Choir, just returned from a peace tour of Italy.
  
  
• A Spring Fellowship Day April 24 will be held for friends of Timbercrest Senior Living Community, a Church of the Brethren retirement center in North Manchester, Ind. The event will feature a food market, a concert by the Mossburg Strings, hymn singing, a business session, volunteer recognitions, and installation of officers. Events begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue through the afternoon.
  
  
• Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has issued a call for recipes for a new "More-with-Less"-style cookbook. The advisory group for the project includes Church of the Brethren ordained minister Sue Wagner Fields. Recipes can be submitted at www.morewithless.org or request a recipe submission form by calling MCC at 888-563-4676.
  
  Priority will be given to recipes that use primarily ingredients that are ripe in one season. Recipes will be tested by volunteers who will give feedback, following the model of the MCC's World Community Cookbook series. Personal reflections on eating with the seasons also are invited. Target date for publication is April 2005. "This is something Brethren will be proud to be a part of, and it's a way of putting our faith and values into action in our daily lives," said Fields.
  
  
• "Life-Giving Breath of God," this year's Earth Day Sunday resource from the National Council of Churches' Eco-Justice Working Group, celebrates God's gift of air. According to a release from the NCC, Christian congregations across the nation are embracing Earth Day, an event once observed only in the secular arena. This year Earth Day Sunday falls on April 25. For a copy of the resource visit www.nccecojustice.org or call Cassandra Carmichael, director of Eco-Justice Programs, at 202-544-2350 ext. 27 or e-mail cassandra@toad.net.

Source: Newsline 4/16/2004 top