Brethren bits: Personnel, October observances, and more.

• Steve Van Houten has accepted a call to assist as a workcamp coordinator for the General Board's Youth and Young Adult Ministries on a part-time, shared basis for the 2005 program year. He is lead pastor at Akron, Springfield Church of the Brethren in Ohio. He will begin in the position Jan. 2005, and will work with workcamp coordinators Cindy Laprade and Beth Rhodes.
  
  
  
  
• The Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) seeks a director of the Fellowship of Brethren Homes, a half-time position. Responsibilities include program implementation through the Fellowship of Brethren Homes and personal contact with homes. Qualifications are a Bachelor's degree; grounding in Church of the Brethren and ABC values, history, and policy; background and experience in longterm care; communication and interpersonal skills; administrative skills in a nonprofit, church-related organization. Resumes and letters of references will be accepted until Nov. 20. ABC hopes to fill the position by Jan. 2005 or earlier. A position description and application form are available at www.brethren.org/abc or call 800-323-8039. Qualified candidates are invited to submit a resume and cover letter of application, and to request three references to send letters of recommendation to Kathryn Reid, Executive Director, ABC, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
  
  
• The Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) is encouraging congregations to lift up October as Disabilities Awareness Month, and to observe National Children's Sabbath this weekend Oct. 15-17. Resources for Disabilities Awareness Month created by members of the Church and Persons with Disabilities Network, a ministry of ABC, are available at www.brethren.org/abc/. The theme for the National Children's Sabbath is "Say That I'm a Child of God: Assuring Justice and Care to Leave No Child Behind." For more information visit the Children's Defense Fund website, or order the 2004 Children's Sabbath Resource Manual from the Children's Defense Fund Religious Action Division for $7 by calling 202-662-3589.
  
  
• Brethren leaders have signed two letters related to the presidential debates: Stan Noffsinger, general secretary of the General Board, and Wil Nolen, president of Brethren Benefit Trust, were among 22 leaders of religion, labor, science, and government who signed a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates asking that issues of energy and environment be raised; and the General Board's Brethren Witness/Washington Office joined more than 20 Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic organizations including the National Council of Churches (NCC) posing questions on poverty and health care to the candidates. Noffsinger and Nolen signed the letter to the commission in response to Annual Conference's stated concern for care for creation and in support of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which BBT supports as a part of its focus on socially responsible investing. The letter to the candidates pointed to US Census Bureau data revealing an increase in poverty in the last two years, asking how the candidates plan to reduce poverty, particularly for children, and decrease the number of people without health insurance. For the letter to the debate commission, see "Announcements" at www.iccr.org. For the letter to the candidates see www.ncccusa.org, click on "NCC News."
  
  
• Fall meetings of the General Board will be held Oct. 15-18 in Elgin, Ill. The Executive Committee will meet the afternoon of Oct. 15, the Audit and Investment Committee will meet that evening, and the board will meet the morning of Oct. 16 through the morning of Oct. 18. On the agenda is the role of observers with the American Baptist Churches USA, financial reports and the 2005 budget, a report on the Stewardship of Property Committee, mission in Haiti, a report from the Cross Cultural Ministries Consultation, and polity revisions. The board also will receive several other reports and hold a recognition celebration for employees.
  
  
• The Annual Conference study committee that will answer the query "Doing Church Business" convened in Elgin, Ill., Sept. 30-Oct. 2. David Shetler, of Oakland Church of the Brethren, Bradford, Ohio, is chair. Matt Guynn, On Earth Peace staff from Richmond, Ind., is recorder. Other members of the committee are Joe Detrick, Verdena Lee, and Dale Posthumus. The study committee organized, identified research that needs to be carried out, identified individuals and groups to be interviewed, discussed ways of having dialogue with the denomination, and developed a general time schedule for its activities, reported Lerry Fogle, Conference executive director. Contact information for the committee will be available soon on the Conference website. The committee is to bring a report in 2005.
  
  
• Nov. 7 is National Junior High Sunday with "Maturing in Faith," Luke 2:52, as the theme. A Bible study, skit, worship resources, and other materials are available at www.brethren.org: click on General Board, search for key words Youth & Young Adults. For purposes of conservation, packets of these materials were not mailed out to each congregation, according to an announcement from Youth and Young Adult Ministries. Instead, junior high advisors received postcards directing them to the website, where all of the materials may be printed out.
  
  
• Registration forms for the Cross Cultural Consultation and Celebration April 21-24 in Richmond, Ind., are available from Duane Grady, Congregational Life Team staff for the General Board and coordinator of the event. There is no registration fee, but advance registration will help the host congregation plan meals. The board will provide travel assistance for one to two participants from each Church of the Brethren congregation. Grady encouraged participants to join travel caravans to share expenses. Housing costs of $59 per night at a motel will be covered by participants, with the option of staying in a private home on a first-come first-served basis. Donations will be "gladly accepted," Grady said, and should be made out to the General Board. Call 800-505-1596 or e-mail dgrady_gb@brethren.org.
  
  
• April 23-28, 2005, high school youth and advisors are invited to the 2005 Christian Citizenship Seminar in New York and Washington, D.C. The event will be open to 100 participants on a first-come first-served basis. The topic is "Conscientious Objection." Cost is $350. The seminar is sponsored by the General Board's Youth and Young Adult Ministry and Brethren Witness/Washington Office. "It is a unique opportunity to visit the United Nations and Capitol Hill, meet with senators and representatives, as we study the questions of how to make life choices based on our Christian discipleship," said Youth and Young Adult Ministry director Chris Douglas. Registration is available at www.brethren.org: click on General Board, keyword Youth & Young Adults. For brochures call 800-323-8039.
  
  
• Goshen City (Ind.) Church of the Brethren celebrates 105 years as a congregation during worship Oct. 17. The service will be followed by a hog roast and a concert by Ryan Hirschy and Brad Byerly. For more information call 574-533-1884.
  
  
• Selma (Va.) Church of the Brethren will have its 90th Anniversary Homecoming Celebration on Oct. 24 at 11 a.m., with a 2 p.m. Memorial Service. Enos Griffith, a former pastor, will be the guest speaker. A luncheon will be provided.
  
  
• Dedication of HIS Way Fellowship in Southeastern District will be Oct. 24 from 4-6 p.m. with a worship service and carry-in meal. Co-pastors Raul and Lidia Gonzalez will be installed. For more information contact the district at 423-378-6027.
  
  
• Franklin Grove (Ill.) Church of the Brethren will pray for peace in Iraq and for the safe return of US troops at a Candlelight Prayer Vigil 6-8 p.m. Oct. 17. The vigil will center on lighting over 1,000 luminaries, one for each US soldier killed. Participants will receive information on soldiers including pictures, ages, home states, and how they died. For information call 815-857-3719.
  
  
• Prince of Peace Church of the Brethren, Kettering, Ohio, is holding a homecoming on Oct. 23-24. The celebration will include a final "Wahsum Fall Festival" in memory of Leroy Wahsum, who unexpectedly passed away Aug. 29. A worship celebration will include the burning of the mortgage for the sanctuary, built 11 years ago. Guest speaker is Dean E. Wolfe, Episcopal bishop of Kansas, who grew up in the congregation. Call 937-294-0708.
  
  
• The 50-member sanctuary choir of La Verne (Calif.) Church of the Brethren will present a choral concert featuring the original music and choral arrangements of Shawn Kirchner, the church's minister of music, on Oct. 24 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 and proceeds will be placed in "A Fund for Healing and Rebuilding" to assist victims of the devastating fires in California a year ago. Several church family members and others in the region were affected. Choir director Susan Winckler will conduct, with Kirchner accompanying on organ and piano. The concert will include "Rain Come Down," composed the day after the Columbine High School tragedy in 1999 as Kirchner was driving through rain to his home in Chicago. In 2002 the song received top honors in the University of Oregon's "Waging Peace Through Singing" choral composition contest. Also featured will be excerpts from a Mass that Kirchner is in the process of composing. For more information contact the church at 909-593-1364.
  
  
• Two districts will gather for conferences this weekend and next: Western Pennsylvania will meet Oct. 16 at Meyersdale (Pa.) Church of the Brethren with Mildred Hartzell as moderator; Middle Pennsylvania will meet Oct. 22-23 at Dunnings Creek Church of the Brethren, New Paris, Pa., with Sarah Malone as moderator.
  
  
• Virlina District congregations continue to receive offerings to assist Brethren disaster work following the hurricanes. As of Oct. 14, the district has received $24,790.10 from 48 congregations and fellowships, including gifts from individual members.
  
  
• American participants in the Watu Wa Amani: People of Peace conference in Kenya in August will give a program at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30. The Historic Peace Church conference related to the Decade to Overcome Violence and addressed issues of peacemaking in Africa, hearing stories of violence, conflict, and reconciliation brought by African participants. Bethany's program will share the stories and give the perspectives of presenters Scott Holland, associate professor of Peace Studies and Cross-Cultural Studies; Donald Miller, emeritus professor of Christian Education and Ethics, who convened the Watu Wa Amani planning committee; Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, assistant professor of Preaching and Worship; Ben Richmond, director of North American Ministries of Friends United Meeting; and Aletha Stahl, professor of French at Earlham College. For more information call 765-983-1800.
  
  
• Camp Eder holds its 26th Annual Fall Festival Oct. 16, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. The event will include dedication of the Miller Meeting House at 3 p.m., as well as an auction, crafts, food, a climbing wall and zip line, and a Pig and Turkey Roast. For more information call 717-642-8256.
  
  
• The second annual Plowshares National Student Peace and Justice Conference will be Oct. 22-24 in Richmond, Ind., on the theme, "Bringing Our Pieces Together: Peacebuilding Through Intercultural Dialogue." Presenters include Aaron Miller, president of Seeds for Peace; Mental Notes, of the Movement in Motion arts collective of New York; Jennie Kiesling, professor of history at the US Military Academy; Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X; Funkdesi, a musical ensemble; and Saoud El Mawla, Earlham's Plowshares professor. Plowshares is a collaborative project of Manchester College, Earlham College, and Goshen College, and is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. For more information see www.plowsharesproject.org.

Source: 10/15/2004 Newsline
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