UPDATE

February 24, 2010

Haiti Relief Tops $400,000:
"We will exceed the $400k mark today. (Feb 18) And, the donations are still coming..." says LeAnn Wine, assistant treasurer for the Church of the Brethren. Thanks be to God for generous hearts! This giving for earthquake relief in Haiti is paying for two feeding programs for children, with a third in the works; temporary shelters for Brethren families who are homeless; food relief for communities around the three congregations of Eglise des Freres Haitiens (Haitian Church of the Brethren) in Port-au-Prince; preparations to build more permanent homes outside the earthquake zone; and shipments of Family Household Kits, Water Filtration Buckets, Hygiene Kits, Baby Care Kits, and other relief materials. Brethren grants also have aided the Church World Service response in Haiti. A select team of doctors, nurses, and trauma counselors are scheduled to leave for Haiti soon to provide holistic care to the Brethren congregations and surrounding neighborhoods. Click here for more about the church’s earthquake relief effort. Click here to contribute. (from the eBrethren Newsletter.)

Conference Registration Has Begun:
The information packet for the Church of the Brethren’s 2010 Annual Conference is now available at www.cobannualconference.org/pittsburgh/infopacket.html. Annual Conference is in Pittsburgh, Pa., on July 3-7. The information packet offers schedule and fee information, lodging options, details on age-group activities, meal events, fliers about speakers, opportunities to earn continuing education credit, and more. Have the packet handy when registering for Annual Conference! Online registration began Mond Monday, Feb. 22, at noon (central time) at www.brethren.org.

News From the Congregations:

Jacob Crouse Wins NYC Song Contest:
Jacob Crouse wrote a song to enter in the National Youth Conference (NYC) song contest. His song was chosen as the WINNNER and will be used at NYC this summer. You can find the song on the web. The song is entitled “More Tan Meets the Eye”. Jacob has also been selected to play in the NYC praise band. Congratulations, Jacob. Well done!

Bethany COB News:
In November, we enjoyed a visit from Pastor Ethmer Erisman from the Warrensburg Church who preached a wonderful message for us. The following Sunday we held our "Bring A Friend To Church" where over 60 persons were in attendance! On Nov. 29th, we had a "Special Sunday Talents" service, where members of the congregation showcased their gifts. The Finley's sang a medley together; Tara and Taylor Finley sang a duet and then Tara sang a solo; the O'Dell family sang a gospel song together; and I sang the hymn, "His Name Is Wonderful." There was also a reading presented by Pauline Amery and Fran Hays said the opening prayer. It was great to see all the participation from so many and we hope to do this again in the future.

Around the holidays, we held a Christmas gathering at the church for food and fellowship. Lynn Rogers came one Sunday during the month of December to bring us the message of God's hope and forgiveness. As the New Year dawned, we saw the need to help out several families w/in our community who suffered house fires (one in the Braymer area and the other near Hardin). In addition, the congregation voted to give $500 to the Brethren Disaster Relief Fund in Elgin for the assistance of aid to those in grief stricken Haiti after the earthquake that hit their region.

We continue in prayer for our small rural school at Stet, which has faced some hard financial times due to the economy and our gradual decline in students. We lift up especially the staff/faculty members, parents and students that we all would look to God’s leading and future. May we know that no matter what happens, God will take care of us and He will provide a hope and a future for our kids. We praise God for our community here and the people that make it truly a special place to live.
Grace and peace to all,
Jason Frazer

Springfield:
Calvin Hlavaty’s memorial will be February 27, 2010 at 11:30 A.M. at Adams Funeral Home, Ozark MO.

Charles Sell will be celebrating his 80th birthday in March. Plans are for all of those that wish to do so, meet at the Golden Corral, Primrose on March 6, 2010 at approx 8:00 A.M. to help him celebrate. Charlie served many years as usher for Good Shepherd. Plans are being made for some of the women to Attend the Women’s Retreat in March.
Shalom, Margaret Keltner

Don Findley Passes On:
Former Pastor of the Spring Branch church, Don Findley passed away on Thursday, February 18. His funeral service was held Saturday, February 20 at the Gamy Community Church in Gamy, Mo with Pastor Warren Campbell officiating. Burial was at the Spring Branch Cemetery with a meal at the Spring Branch Church following.

Don and Elizabeth have been spending the winter near their daughter and family in Bethany, Oklahoma near Oklahoma City. Condolences can be sent to:

Elizabeth Findley
8121 Bridgeport Lane
Bethany, OK 73008

Nathan Hubbard:
Nathan Hubbard came through the surgery in fine shape. They only had to remove pat of the 7TH rib on the right side. He will come home on Saturday the 27. Cards can be sent to Nathan Hubbard at 4955 Hwy Y Hartville, Mo. 65667. Thanks for all the prayers. Love, The Hubbards and the Gasses

Young Adult Conference 2010:
All young adults in the Church of the Brethren are invited to gather at Camp Blue Diamond (near Petersburg, PA) May 29-31. Romans 12:4-8 will guide us as we think about defining, seeking, building and maintaining community.

There is a strange phenomenon in the world today. We are more connected than ever before through technology, the economy, and the environment; yet we are more disconnected (from each other and from God) than ever before. We struggle to find ife-giving relationships. We often feel alienated from “the church”, whether we define church as the congregation/denomination in which we grew up and or our current faith community. Our deepest yearnings tell us that God is active in our lives, but seeing and feeling that process can elude even the most spiritually aware among us. What does Romans 12:4-8 mean to us today? What is community? How do we find, build, and nurture it? Come, share with us.

Leadership will incude the Young Adult Steering Committee, Matt McKimmy, and several other Brethren young adults. The cost is $90 prior to April 20. The Youth/Young Adult Ministry Office will send a letter to the home church of young adults who wish to request a $50 scholarship from their church family. (The cost for registration goes up to $115 after April 20 and no scholarship letter will be provided.)

Register online today at www.brethren.org/yac.

Warrensburg Church of the Brethren Energy Assessment
Tom Benevento of the New Community Project visited the Warrensburg Church of the Brethren for several days in the fall of 2009. One of his activities was to join members of the congregation for a walk-through energy assessment to explore additional ideas and techniques for energy conservation and carbon emissions reductions. The walk-through included tours of the parsonage and church buildings.

Benevento followed up his on-site visit by putting a complete energy assessment in writing. This written assessment incorporated suggestions for immediate action such as buying new, energy efficient refrigerators and setting them on energy efficient settings or covering north windows with insulated covers or with cloth hung from the ceiling. He offered longer term suggestions like installing a solar hot water system; planting climbing, edible trellis such as hardy kiwi, grapes or figs on south facing thermal walls; installing bike racks and water free urinals. Benevento reminded congregation members of the significant energy conservation they could make through adjustments to family transportation and food consumption habits. Some suggestions: walking or biking whenever possible, purchase and use of grass fed meats and buying local produce. Tom also provided an extensive list of websites, resources, and contacts for the congregation to utilize in our development of a more energy efficient lifestyle.

In response to Benevento’s suggestions, the congregation has budgeted funds for the purchase of 2 energy efficient refrigerators in 2010 (parsonage and church building). The Leadership Team is entrusted with the responsibility of recommending additional actions that will promote greater energy efficiency in the months and years to come. -Jerry Crouse on behalf of the Warrensburg Church of the Brethren

District to Sponsor Work Project:
As announced at the District Conference last September we were scheduled for a work project in Hammond, IN on April 25 thru May 1. Recently it has come to our attention that there is going to be a 6 – week blitz build in Cedar Rapids, IA from April 11 thru May 22. Since that would be a shorter distance for us to travel we asked if we could change our schedule to Cedar Rapids. Jane Yount said we could and changed us to the Cedar Rapids schedule for the April 25 thru May 1 slot. Both Hammond, IN and Cedar Rapids, IA are flood area’s.

They want 10 volunteers per week for the Cedar Rapids project. At this time they have not put out any information on the project except for the dates and it will not be like a “typical” BDM project, because it’s ecumenical. We will be housed with our BEM project leaders, though (Alan and Denise Oneal). This will be a new experience.

Could you please make this information known to your church and ask for volunteers.Please let us know of those interested and we will send them information on the work project as we receive it. Thank you for promoting this work project. We really appreciate it. If you have any questions let us know.
In His Service,
Jim and Pat Dennison

Registration is Underway for AC:
Your congregation should be registering it’s delegate to Annual Conference to be held July 3-7 in Pittsburg, PA. Go to www.brethren.org/ac to find further information.