Brethren bits: Correction, remembrances, and more.

• In a correction to the Sept. 17 story on the National Older Adult Conference, the potter for the opening worship service was Joyce Parker, not Joyce Person as reported.
  
  
• Lyle C. Albright, 84, died July 16 in McPherson, Kan. He was executive of Northern Plains District for 10 years and pastored churches in Missouri, Texas, Iowa, and Kansas. He was an ecumenical leader in Kansas, helping found Churches United for Peacemaking, serving on the Holocaust Committee for the Kansas Region of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and helping plan the "North American Assisi: A Multi-Religious Meeting" in Wichita in 1988. He was a graduate of Bethany Theological Seminary and McPherson (Kan.) College, and was a missionary in Nigeria for a year in the mid-1940s.
  
  
• Caleb Hoffer Frantz, 89, who served in several capacities in Puerto Rico, died Sept. 1. He was a graduate of Manchester College, North Manchester, Ind., and attended Bethany Biblical Seminary before working at Castaner Hospital in Puerto Rico through Civilian Public Service. He went on to teach public school in Puerto Rico, then became project director and hospital administrator at Castaner from 1960-64. He was a member of Little Swatara Church of the Brethren, Bethel, Pa.
  
  
• Former India missionary, teacher, and registered nurse Betty Rogers Blickenstaff, 90, died Sept. 13 at Brethren Hillcrest Homes in La Verne, Calif. She and her late husband Leonard Blickenstaff were mission workers in India 1940-70. She served at the Brethren hospital in Bulsar, the Dahanu Mission Hospital, the Woodstock School, and the Rural Service Center at Anklesvar. According to her staff citation from the General Board, Blickenstaff "played a significant role in working with village women in the fields of nutrition and child and mother care." Blickenstaff also worked as a nurse and medical records librarian at Hillcrest. She was a graduate of Manchester College, North Manchester, Ind., and a member of La Verne Church of the Brethren.
  
  
• Peter Rudolf, a former missionary in Nigeria with Mission 21, passed away Sept. 9 after a short but severe sickness. Mission 21, formerly Basel Mission, is a partner with Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria (EYN--the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and the General Board's Global Mission Partnerships. Mission 21 reported that Rudolf fell sick after returning from a five-week assignment at the Mobile Bible School in Kakuma, Kenya, a camp of 70,000 Sudanese refugees. He had recently retired. Rudolf is survived by his wife Regula and children Matthias, David, and Susanne. "We ask you to pray for the family," wrote Albrecht Hieber, head of international relations for the mission. "Mission 21 and all the friends are very sad and shocked about this sudden death, which means a big loss to all of us."
  
  
• The Brethren Home Community, New Oxford, Pa., seeks a director of Pastoral Care/chaplain to provide leadership for the spiritual development and well being of the total organization, provide spiritual support for residents, supervise pastoral care staff, and promote holistic care. Requirements are college and seminary training with a Master of Divinity graduate degree, ordination in the Church of the Brethren. Certification in Clinical Pastoral Education is preferred. Contact the Brethren Home Community, Attn: Christine Daoularis, Human Resources, 2990 Carlisle Pike, P.O. Box 128, New Oxford, PA 17350.
  
  
• The Mission and Ministries Planning Council met Sept. 12-13 at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., to continue its work of receiving and reviewing ideas for new ministries and missions for the denomination. The council heard a proposal for a "New Life Initiative" brought by David Young, updates on General Board mission work, and plans for the Mission Alive 2005 conference. The group also worked on an action item to go to the General Board's October meeting related to church planting and mission in Haiti. The council is a committee of the General Board including wider church representation. General secretary Stan Noffsinger and executive director of Global Mission Partnerships Merv Keeney represent board staff; chair Donna Shumate and Doug Diamond represent the board; moderator Jim Hardenbrook and moderator-elect Ron Beachley represent Annual Conference; Don Booz of Mid-Atlantic and Steven Abe of West Marva represent districts.
  
  
• Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) is having a potluck Oct. 11 at 6:30 p.m. for former BVS workers, Civilian Public Service (CPS) workers, and anyone who has a special connection to either program. The meal at Union Bridge (Md.) Church of the Brethren will also be a gathering with the volunteers in orientation Unit 262.
  
  
• Districts holding conferences Oct. 8-9 include Atlantic Southeast, Atlantic Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern Ohio. Because of storm damage to utilities around the Lorida area, the Atlantic Southeast conference will be held instead at Sebring (Fla.) Church of the Brethren, with Berwyn Oltman as moderator. Atlantic Northeast delegates will meet at Leffler Chapel on the campus of Elizabethtown (Pa.) College, with Herb High as moderator. Mid-Atlantic will meet in Easton, Md., with Charlotte Bear as moderator. Southern Ohio will meet at Salem Church of the Brethren in Englewood, Ohio, with Sheila Shumaker as moderator.
  
  
• Camp Bethel, Fincastle, Va., is still planning its 20th Annual Heritage Festival for Oct. 2 despite flooding because of heavy rains earlier this week. "No buildings were washed away, but the water's toll on our ground is great. Our foot bridges, roads, ponds, streams, fences, and landscaping suffered severe damage," wrote manager Barry LeNoir in an email asking for assistance to clean up for the festival. The festival is a fundraising event for the camp and features crafts, baked goods, food, and displays from many of congregations in Virlina District. The theme for this year is "Brethren Heritage" and "old ways." For more information call 540-992-2940 or see www.campbethelvirginia.org.
  
  
• The 6th Annual Camp Mack Festival is scheduled for Oct. 2 at Camp Alexander Mack, Milford, Ind. A craft sale, food booths, auctions of "baskets full of goodies" prepared by congregations, and a harvest market will raise funds for camper scholarships and rope course activities. For more information contact Mike Kauffman at 574-658-4831.
  
  
• Bridgewater (Va.) College holds its Homecoming Oct. 2-3. Events include a Jennifer Harris Organ Donation Walk, Homecoming Festival and Parade, class reunions, football and soccer games, an alumni softball game, a chorale and jazz band concert, and celebrations for the classes of 1969, 1974, and 1979. Preceding Homecoming is an Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet Oct. 1 in which Robert E. Baker, Melody Derrow Hinkle, Martin T. Smith Jr., M. Terry Westhafer, N. Paige Will, and Deborah West Windett will be inducted. Call 800-759-8328 or see www.bridgewater.edu.
  
  
• Manchester College, North Manchester, Ind., holds its 80th annual Homecoming Oct. 8-9. An estimated 500 alumni and visitors are expected. Highlights will be the dedication of Wine Recital Hall; progress on the new Science Center; a fall play; golf, baseball, football, and soccer games; class photos; breakfast with the president; a college and alumni choir; and an Alumni 5K Run and Walk. Education students will provide activities for children ages 4-12. Contact the Office of Alumni Affairs at 260-982-5223 or 888-257-ALUM or e-mail alumnioffice@manchester.edu.
  
  
• An inaugural Harvest Day Celebration is sponsored by Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center on Oct. 16. Sorghum molasses, as it was made in the Brethren-Mennonite community, will be a signature product of the day, with Kenton Brubaker, retired biology professor at Eastern Mennonite University, overseeing the production of half an acre of sorghum at the center site. There will also be stories and activities for children, hayrides and a barnyard petting area, an exhibit of old farm machinery; crosscut log sawing, the making of apple cider, and a variety of music. Soup, corn bread, country ham sandwiches, sorghum molasses cookies, and cold and hot drinks will be served. "We hope this first-ever event will be the start of a long-lasting tradition," said director Steve Shenk. Cost will be $5 per car. Call 540-438-1275 or see www.vbmhc.org.
  
  
• Jeff Carter, pastor of Manassas (Va.) Church of the Brethren, is representing the denomination at the US Conference of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Oct. 5-6 in Atlanta, Ga. "The Power and Promise of Peace" is the theme for the meeting, focused on the Decade to Overcome Violence. Speakers include WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia, former US ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, and WCC North America president Bernice Powell Jackson. The aim of the event is to "expose and inspire" the US churches' peace witness. The meeting will close with a "Blessed Are the Peacemakers" award to individuals and organizations "responsible for creative and courageous peace and justice efforts in their communities," a WCC release said. For more information see www.wcc-usa.org.
  
  
• Needed: a few peacemakers. The Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), an initiative of the World Council of Churches, accompanies Palestinians and Israelis in nonviolent actions and advocacy efforts to end the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories and to bring about a just and durable solution to the conflict, with two viable and secure nations living side by side in peace. Minimum commitment is three months. For more information see www.eappi.org. Persons wishing to explore this area of service are invited to contact the General Board's Global Mission Partnerships Office at mission_gb@brethren.org.
  
  
• Two Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) members were attacked and beaten by Israeli settlers Sept. 29, according to a release from CPT. Kim Lamberty, of Washington D.C., and Christopher Brown, of San Francisco, Calif., were accompanying Palestinian children walking to school in the Southern Hebron District of the West Bank. The children escaped uninjured. Lamberty and Brown were taken by ambulance to hospital. Lamberty has been released. Brown sustained broken ribs, one of which punctured his lung, and has undergone surgery. CPT, an initiative of Mennonite and Brethren congregations and Friends meetings, is present in the area of the attack at the request of Palestinian villagers who are suffering repeated harassment from Israeli settlers while Israeli authorities have failed to intervene, the release said. For more visit www.cpt.org.

Source: Newsline 10/01/2004
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