Brethren bits: Personnel, Brazil trip, and more.

• Beth Rhodes and Cindy Laprade have been selected as two of the three National Youth Conference coordinators for 2006. A third position is still available and applicants are being sought. Rhodes is a graduate of Georgetown University and a member of Central Church of the Brethren, Roanoke, Va. Laprade is a graduate of Mary Washington College and a member of Antioch Church of the Brethren, Rocky Mount, Va. For the past year, Rhodes and Laprade have served as workcamp coordinators for the Youth and Young Adult Ministry Office of the General Board, through Brethren Volunteer Service.
  
  
• Bill Bennett began July 19 as accounts payable and payroll specialist for the General Board, working at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill. A native of Elgin, he coincidentally lives in the J.H. Moore house, which was built by the former "Messenger" editor in the late 1890s. Bennett, who has worked in accounting for his entire professional career, attends the Vineyard congregation in Elgin.
  
  
• Elizabeth Waas Smith started July 26 as assistant to the director of Brethren Volunteer Service, a volunteer position at the General Offices in Elgin. She is a member of Shalom Community Church of the Brethren in Ann Arbor, Mich., and is in her second year of BVS. Previously she served at Camp Myrtlewood, a Church of the Brethren camp in Myrtle Point, Ore.
  
  
• The Youth and Young Adult Office of the General Board seeks applicants for a coordinator position for National Youth Conference in 2006. The position is a 15‑month Brethren Volunteer Service placement for a college graduate, beginning the end of May 2005 through August 2006. For an application form or more information, please contact Chris Douglas, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, by e‑mail at cdouglas_gb@brethren.org. Applications are due no later than Sept. 30.
  
  
• Hillcrest Homes seeks a vice president of Health Services. Hillcrest is a 400‑resident Church of the Brethren retirement facility in La Verne, Calif. The position includes assisted living, Alzheimers, skilled nursing, and residential living areas. Hillcrest's master plan includes significant and positive changes for Health Services. Candidates must have excellent communication skills, leadership abilities, and collaborative abilities. NHA required, RCFE preferred. Resumes will be accepted until Sept. 17. Contact Ralph McFadden, e‑mail rmcfadden_abc@brethren.org or fax 847‑742‑5160.
  
  
• A study trip to Brazil, "Worship in the Church's Life: A Cross Cultural Learning Opportunity," will depart Sept. 12. Participants will spend nine days in Brazil experiencing worship, studying liturgy alongside Brazilian pastors, learning about Brazilian history and culture, and visiting historical sites‑‑and beaches, the brochure for the event notes. The trip is sponsored by the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership, the General Board's Global Mission Partnerships office, and Igreja da Irmandade (the Church of the Brethren in Brazil). Participants may take the course for credit. Deadline for registrations is Aug. 9. Cost is $1,600 with a $1,000 deposit due Aug. 9. A passport is required. For a registration form contact the Brethren Academy at 765‑983‑1824 or e‑mail academy@bethanyseminary.edu.
  
  
• The General Board's Emergency Response program seeks new disaster project directors for a training that will take place at the New Windsor (Md.) Conference Center Nov. 7‑9. "Qualified candidates for this important calling will first of all be committed servant leaders, and also have excellent interpersonal skills and some construction or handyman skills," said an announcement about the event. Contact Jane Yount at 800‑451‑4407 or e‑mail jyount_gb@brethren.org.
  
  
• The next Church of the Brethren Cross Cultural Consultation and Celebration will be held in Richmond, Ind., April 21‑24, 2005. Events will be held at Bethany Theological Seminary and Richmond Church of the Brethren. Speakers and preachers will include Bethany's academic dean Steve Reid, and Fumitaka Matsuoka, a former dean at the school. For more information contact Duane Grady, the General Board's Congregational Life Team coordinator for Areas 2 and 4, at 800‑505‑1596 or e‑mail dgrady_gb@brethren.org.
  
  
• The "season" of the church year for district conferences has begun, with Missouri‑Arkansas and Oregon‑Washington already having held their annual meetings: Missouri‑Arkansas met July 23‑25 at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., and Oregon‑Washington met July 23‑25 at Camp Myrtlewood in Oregon, with Carol Mason Page as moderator. This weekend, three districts hold conferences: Southeastern on July 30‑Aug. 1 at Mars Hill (N.C.) College, with Tim Coulthard as moderator; Southern Plains on July 29‑31 at Nocona, Texas, with Joan Lowry as moderator; and Western Plains on July 30‑Aug. 1 at McPherson (Kan.) Church of the Brethren, with Irven Stern as moderator. The Western Plains conference on the theme, "Called to Be and Make Disciples," includes a workshop on "Basic Elements of Estate Planning."
  
  
• Western Regional Youth Conference takes place Aug. 4‑8 at the University of San Francisco on the theme, "Living in God's Hands Together," John 8:12. Speakers include Annual Conference moderator Jim Hardenbrook. The Jubilee Troupe, a Brethren‑related performance art group, will help lead worship. Brethren youth from five states are expected to attend. For more information see the Pacific Southwest District website www.pswdcob.org/youth.
  
  
• A one‑day workshop Oct. 8 on "Authentic Preaching" featuring renowned preaching authority Fred Craddock, Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament Emeritus at Candler School of Theology, is sponsored by the Continuing Education Committee of Mid‑Atlantic District. The theme of the pre‑district conference event is "Overhearing the Gospel," with a theme verse of Matthew 7:29. The event will be held at Easton (Md.) Church of the Brethren and is open to all licensed and ordained clergy. Brethren clergy may earn .4 continuing education units. Cost is $35, $50 after Sept. 8. For more information or for a registration brochure, contact Mid‑Atlantic District at 410‑635‑8790.
  
  
• A 14‑person learning tour recently completed a July 10‑20 visit to Honduras. The group lived and worked in the poor village of Los Ranchos, assisting the community in the construction of a water tank. While there, the group met with women from the community, local teachers, subsistence farmers, and with Noemi de Espinoza, director of the host organization the Christian Commission for Development. Participants came from nine Church of the Brethren districts. The delegation was sponsored by the New Community Project, a Brethren‑related nonprofit organization, and led by director David Radcliff. For information about up‑coming learning tours go to www.newcommunityproject.org/learning_tours.htm.
  
  
• "Hunger No More: Faces Behind the Facts," to be broadcast nationwide on ABC beginning Oct. 24 as part of the network's "Vision and Values" series, features interviews with major figures in the fight to end hunger including National Council of Churches (NCC) general secretary Bob Edgar and Bread for the World CEO David Beckman. The interviews were conducted by an NCC film crew at a 30th anniversary celebration of Bread for the World. The documentary is one of eight prepared for ABC through the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission. Also featured in the documentary are George McGovern, Elizabeth Dole, ethicist Jeffrey Sachs, and John McCullough, CEO of Church World Service. For more information contact Pat Pattillo at 212‑870‑2048 or e‑mail wpattillo@ncccusa.org.
  
  
• The World Council of Churches' plenary commission on Faith and Order is meeting in Malaysia July 28‑Aug. 6, the commission's first meeting in a Muslim‑majority country. The commission promotes Christian unity by studying questions that have given rise to church division. Among issues to be considered at this meeting are the nature of the human person from a Christian point of view and consequences when it comes to issues like community identity, human sexuality, disabilities, and bio‑ethics; relations between ethnic and national identities and the search for the unity of the church; churches' mutual recognition of baptism; different understandings of the nature and mission of the church; and the way texts, symbols, and practices of different churches may be interpreted, communicated, and received. Commissioners also will discuss the Decade to Overcome Violence and interreligious dialogue. The theme of the meeting is "Receive one another, as Christ has received you, for the glory of God" (Rom. 15:7).

Source: Newsline 7/30/2004
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