wfn.org | Newsline - Church of the Brethren news update

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      Aug. 7, 1998
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline                                          Aug. 7, 1998
News
1) Janelle Pheasant-Pennington is remembered.
2) One hundred twenty nine attend the 25th Brethren Bible
     Institute.
3) A $36,000 grant from Emergency Disaster Fund is made to cover
     the work of Brethren Volunteer Service workers in the former
     Yugoslavia.
4) A $10,000 grant from the Global Food Crisis Fund was made in
     July to assist with food relief work in Chiapas, Mexico.
5) Miller Davis, manager of Emergency Response/Service
     Ministries, will retire on Dec. 31.
6) Bonnie Grady has been named New Windsor (Md.) Conference
     Center conference coordinator.
7) Association of Brethren Caregivers is seeking a coordinator of
     Centralized Services.
8) Five members of Blue River Church of the Brethren, Columbia
     City, Ind., are in Ireland on a Youth for Christ mission
     trip.
9) Valerie Cole, a Juniata College student, is one of a few
     students from the United States who is participating in the
     World Youth Forum in Braga, Portugal. 
10) The September Source resource packet has been mailed.
11) Fifty-two meditations relating to the Family Pledge of
     Nonviolence are available.
12) Gospel singer Kirk Franklin donates $250,000 to the National
     Council of Churches’ Burned Churches Fund.
13) Patrick Mellerson and other members of Butler Chapel A.M.E.
     church, Orangeburg, S.C., will attend a reunion at Bremen
     (Ind.) Church of the Brethren on Aug. 30.
14) Brethren Revival Fellowship to hold its annual meeting 
     Sept. 12.

Features
15) A letter from the executive directors of Association of
     Brethren Caregivers, the General Board and On Earth Peace
     Assembly.
16) One hundred thirty attend the second Brethren World Assembly.
17) A special camp for traumatized children is held in Arkansas;
     the Church of the Brethren participates.

1) Janelle Pheasant-Pennington, a senior at Bethany Theological
Seminary, Richmond, Ind., died on Tuesday from injuries sustained
in a single-car auto accident on Monday morning. At the time of
the accident, Pennington was en route to The Brethren’s Home in
Greenville, Ohio, where she was serving as a summer chaplain. A
graduate of Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pa., Pennington was to
begin serving as pastor of Spring Run Church of the Brethren,
near McVeytown, Pa., in September.

Pennington will be buried Thursday morning following visitation
and funeral services at Stone Church of the Brethren, Huntingdon.
A 7 p.m. service of prayers will be held later that day at Stone
church. A memorial service will be held at Bethany Seminary on
Sept. 13. 

Memorial gifts may be made to Bethany Theological Seminary, 615
National Road West, Richmond, IN 47374-4019 or to Stone Church of
the Brethren, 1701 Moore Street, Huntingdon, PA 16652.

2) The 25th Brethren Bible Institute was held July 27-31 at
Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. The 129 people in attendance
represented 20 Brethren congregations in six districts from Maine
to Indiana. Eight other denominations were also represented.

BBI, which is sponsored by Brethren Revival Fellowship, is an
intensive one-week workshop that offers study of the Scriptures,
training in practical Christian living and fellowship for people
16 and older. 

Students selected three out of the nine courses offered — Bible
interpretation, the life of Solomon, New Testament survey, women
of the New Testament, 1 Peter and 2 Peter, Daniel, the origin and
development of the Bible, 2 Corinthians and teaching in the
church.

Ken Leininger, pastor of Cocalico Church of the Brethren, Denver,
Pa., served as principal. David Lehigh, an 89-year-old minister
from Pleasant Hill Church of the Brethren, Spring Grove, Pa., was
again the oldest attendee.   

A BBI reunion was held July 26 at Elizabethtown Church of the
Brethren. Harold Martin, who has taught at all but one BBI,
presented an overview of BBI’s history. He was also recognized
for his teaching tenure. Clarence Spangler, minister in the
Antietam (Pa.) congregation, and his wife, Ruth Ann, were
recognized for attending the most BBI’s — 20.

BBI originated in 1974 when the Brethren Revival Fellowship
“recognized a need for a conservative Bible training
opportunity,” according to Craig Alan Myers of Blue River Church
of the Brethren, Columbia City, Ind.

Next year’s BBI will be held July 26-30 at Elizabethtown College.
Information about BBI, as well as an 11-page pamphlet containing
Martin’s presentation, is available from Brethren Bible
Institute, 155 Denver Road, Denver, PA 17517.  

3) A grant of $36,000 from the Church of the Brethren Emergency
Disaster Fund was made in late July to cover the work of Brethren
Volunteer Service workers in the former Yugoslavia. There
currently are six BVSers in the region and openings in at least
four additional projects. The mission of these projects is to
assist local groups in the pursuit of peace and reconciliation.

4) A $10,000 grant from the Church of the Brethren Global Food
Crisis Fund was made in July for refugees in Chiapas, Mexico.
Civil conflict in areas populated by indigenous communities has
temporarily left citizens unable to plant or tend crops. This
grant will help provide corn and beans for displaced people,
feeding about 500 people in two displacement camps for the next
three months, until harvest season.

5) Miller Davis, manager of Emergency Response/Service Ministries
for the Church of the Brethren General Board, has announced his
retirement effective Dec. 31.

Throughout his tenure Davis has worked at the Brethren Service
Center in New Windsor, Md. After a two-year stint as a New
Windsor-based Brethren Volunteer Service worker, Davis joined the
General Board staff in 1971 as director of General Services in
New Windsor. In 1977 he became director of Center Operations,
duties he held until July 1997 when he became manager of
Emergency Response/Service Ministries.

Among his many ecumenical activities, Davis represents the Church
of the Brethren on the board of Heifer Project International.

6) Effective Sunday, Bonnie Grady will become conference
coordinator for the New Windsor (Md.) Conference Center, located
at the Brethren Service Center. Grady is a graduate of Western
Maryland College and has worked at Maryland Public Television. 

7) Association of Brethren Caregivers is looking for a full-time
coordinator of Centralized Services to assist the executive
director with programming and services to the association and to
the Fellowship of Brethren Homes, a ministry with Brethren
retirement communities. 

Candidates should be knowledgeable of the mechanisms and
processes that impact services to the aging, have experience in
retirement community management and have an understanding of
Church of the Brethren heritage. For more information, contact
ABC at 800 323-8039.

8) Four youth and one adult from Blue River Church of the
Brethren, Columbia City, Ind., are in Ireland for three weeks
participating in a mission trip in conjunction with Youth for
Christ’s Project Serve.

Rachel Frank, Jason Gipe, Jessica Kreider and Adam Shively, along
with Mark Ray, Blue River’s youth pastor, flew to Northern
Ireland on July 19 where they stayed in the homes of local
Christian leaders. From July 25 until Saturday, the group has
been based in Athy, about 40 miles south of Dublin in the Irish
Republic, assisting a local congregation and youth ministry.
According to Craig Alan Myers, Blue River pastor, this
congregation has been planning an evangelistic outreach in its
community that includes Children’s Bible clubs, coffee bars,
street evangelism and door-to-door witnessing. 

The mission team, which will return to the United States on
Monday, will present a special evening service on their trip at
Blue River on Aug. 23.

9) Valerie Cole of Centerport, N.Y., a junior at Juniata College,
Huntingdon, Pa., is one of a few students from the United States
who are participating in the World Youth Forum of the United
Nations. This event, held in Braga, Portugal, began July 30 and
will conclude Aug. 11.

Over 150 countries have sent up to three student representatives.
Other attendees include representatives of youth-related entities
of the United Nations system; other intergovernmental agencies;
and a number of national ministers responsible for youth affairs.

The purpose of the conference is to promote ways to get young
people throughout the world more interested, involved and active
in peace-related activities, in general, and in United Nations
activities, in particular.

Cole is a 20-year-old elementary education/French major who has
been active in peace-oriented nongovernment organizations
throughout her life.

10) The September Source resource packet has been mailed. This
month’s edition includes 10 categories of resources — 
     * Four brochures or fliers about General Board ministries.
     * a brochure from the Mission and Ministries Planning
          Council, in which the MMPC explains its purpose and
          process.
     * two enclosures that describe CoBCOA, a new cooperative
          recruiting venture of the six Church of the
          Brethren-affiliated colleges and university, Bethany
          Theological Seminary and the Brethren Colleges Abroad
          international exchange program.
     * a brochure and a worship resource for the upcoming Eighth
          Assembly of the World Council of Churches, to be held
          Dec. 4-14 in Harare, Zimbabwe.
     * a folder for next January’s Week of Prayer for Christian
          Unity.
     * a brochure on “Beyond Affluenza: Stewardship in a Post
          Consumerism World,” title of this year’s winter event
          of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center.
     * a flier on “Desires of your Heart,” a congregational
          stewardship resource that is available from Brethren
          Press.
     * four informational items from Bethany Theological
          Seminary, including the Spring 1998 “Seminarian,”
          future course offerings and a listing of special events
          and activities.
     * an information and registration booklet on “God’s People
          Transformed for the 21st Century,” an ecumenical church
          educators event scheduled for February in              
          Chicago. The Church of the Brethren is one of the
          sponsoring associations.
     * a flier on Ministry Summer Service ‘98, a summer ministry
          for young adults. Application deadline is Feb. 25.