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

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      Dec. 17, 1999
Contact:  Walt Wiltschek
V:  410/871-0516   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

NEWS
 1) The church mourns the loss of long-time leaders Bill Powers and
Harold Mohler.
 2) Brethren Colleges Abroad celebrates continuing strong
enrollment.
 3) Two Church of the Brethren leaders who died this year are among
those honored for "significant contributions to the Anabaptist
Christian community."
 4) Allocations continue to flow from the Emergency Disaster Fund.
 5) A Global Food Crisis Fund grant will support development of
Earth Day resources.
 6) Juniata and Elizabethtown sports teams experience competition
at the national level. 
 7) Brethren bits: Other brief news notes from around the
denomination and elsewhere.

PERSONNEL
 8) On Earth Peace Assembly hires a new office manager.
 9) The Church of the Brethren General Board seeks a website
designer.
10) Patty and John Crumley accept a call to serve in Nigeria.

FEATURES
11) A small Missouri congregation works at having a big impact in
its neighborhood.

*****MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM NEWSLINE!!*****

 1) The Church of the Brethren is mourning the loss of two former
leaders in the past 10 days. Harold Mohler of Warrensburg, Ohio,
passed away on Dec. 7, and F. Willard "Bill" Powers of Mount
Morris, Ill., died two days later at the age of 90, on Dec. 9.

Mohler twice served as a member of the Church of the Brethren
General Board and was a long-time chair of the Board of Trustees
for McPherson (Kans.) College. His memorial service was held Dec.
11 at the Warrensburg (Ohio) Church of the Brethren.

Powers also served on the General Board, was the first moderator of
the Illinois-Wisconsin District, and was chairperson for the
denomination's 250th anniversary celebration. He also served on the
Board of Trustees for Manchester College (North Manchester, Ind.)
and was active in membership and leadership with numerous community
organizations and with Camp Emmaus.

 2) Brethren Colleges Abroad has more individual students
pre-registered than ever before this year, with nearly 400 signed
up for international study. The total semester-equivalents is equal
to the previous year, however, as only one in eight students are
staying for a full academic year.

Of those enrolled, the largest number registered for Barcelona,
Spain, with 114 students. Second is Athens, Greece, with 62. The
remaining students are scattered over nine other sites in eight
countries.

Many international students are also being placed to study in the
US through BCA, with 70 students from 10 countries at 12 American
campuses this year. Mexico leads the way with 16, followed by Japan
with 10. Host colleges include Bethel (Kans.), Bridgewater (Va.),
DePauw (Ind.), Eastern Mennonite (Va.), Elizabethtown (Pa.), Fresno
Pacific (Calif.), Goshen (Ind.), Juniata (Pa.), La Verne (Calif.),
Manchester (Ind.), McPherson (Kans.), and Messiah (Pa.).

 3) The Mennonite magazine "Christian Living" annually recognizes
people who have died in the past year after having made
"significant contributions to the Anabaptist Christian community."
This year's list, compiled by Steven M. Nolt, appears in the
magazine's December edition and includes two prominent Brethren.

Listed are Dale Aukerman, a peace activist, writer, and speaker who
died on Sept. 4, and Kenneth I. Morse, a hymn-writer, author, and
minister who died on March 23. Among their works, the article lifts
up Aukerman's book, "Darkening Valley: Facing Nuclear War" and
Morse's hymns including "Move in Our Midst," which the article
calls "something of a Brethren anthem."

Others named in the list of 10 are Margaret G. Suter Brunk, B.
Snavely Garber, Freeman Burkhalter, Charlotte Holsopple Glick,
Arthur Jost, Juan Pulinario, Ora C. Wyse, and Katie E. Yoder,
highlighting a wide variety of ministries.

 4) Two more allocations from the Emergency Disaster Fund have gone
out this month, bringing the total number of grants this year to
almost three dozen.

The first will send $37,500 from the fund to support the ongoing
post-war work of Brethren Volunteer Service in the Balkans. 

The second will give an allocation of $15,000 to support a
hurricane recovery and mitigation project on the Puerto Rican
island of Culebra. This project will be a joint effort between the
General Board's Emergency Response/Service Ministries and McPherson
(Kans.) College, with additional volunteers from Chiques Church of
the Brethren (Pa.), plus two experienced project directors.

The project will be carried out in collaboration with Project
Impact, a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that works to
build disaster-resistant communities to ensure the safety of homes
and families during future disasters.  ER/SM will provide a portion
of the volunteers' travel to Puerto Rico, ground/ferry
transportation, meals, and lodging.  The Culebra Project Impact
Committee will provide the necessary construction materials.

 5) An allocation of $2,500 from the Global Food Crisis Fund was
recently approved to meet a request for the Eco-Justice Working
Group of the National Council of Churches. The funds will support
an Earth Day resource mailing about the effects of energy
consumption, global warming, and climate changes on food security.

 6) The Juniata (Pa.) College women's volleyball team finished
fourth in the nation after yet another trip to the sport's NCAA
Division III Championships, held at Juniata this year. The
fourth-seeded Eagles lost 11-15, 15-12, 12-15, 5-15 to defending
champion Central of Iowa in the semifinals, then fell 15-11, 15-2,
6-15, 14-16, 9-15 in a hard-fought third-place match against
Muskingum (Ohio). Central went on to repeat as national champions
with a three-game win over Trinity (Tex.) in the finals.

Meanwhile, another Brethren college team also contended nationally.
The Elizabethtown (Pa.) College men's cross country team made its
first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III championship meet in
Wisconsin and finished 24th overall. Senior Larry Bullock of Rome,
Pa., led the Blue Jays with a time of 25:12 on the 8-kilometer
course.

 7) Brethren bits: Other brief news notes from around the
denomination and elsewhere.
  *Emergency Response/Service Ministries received more attention
from Disaster News Network recently, with an article about ER/SM's
Disaster Child Care program. The full story can be viewed at
http://www.disasternews.net/disasters/12-7-99_brethrendcc.shtml. 
  *Harold S. Martin, editor of the Brethren Revival Fellowship
publication "Witness," will be speaking on a radio program called
"Sunday School Meditations" each weekend in December, January, and
February.
  *One hundred students are enrolled in the Brethren Academy's
Training in Ministry and Education for a Shared Ministry training
programs this year, with 75 in TRIM and 25 in EFSM. Mid-Atlantic
District has the most students enrolled, with 11 total, followed by
Western Plains with 10. Eighteen districts have at least one person
enrolled.
  *The Michigan District is holding a recognition luncheon for
district executive Jim Kinsey, who is resigning to take a full-time
Congregational Life Team position with the General Board. The
luncheon will be Jan. 29 at 12:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in
Grand Rapids. Anyone interested in attending (cost $10) should
contact Dan McRoberts by Dec. 22 at (616) 698-8265.
  *The Virlina District held a reception to honor Doris Quarles,
who retired after 15 years as associate district executive, on Dec.
11 in Roanoke, Va.
  *The Christian Peacemaker Congress 5 will be held Dec. 27-30 at
Luther Place Memorial Church in Washington, D.C. Events will
include addresses by Kathy Kelly and Anne Montgomery, a public
witness, workshops, a celebration, and worship. Call (202) 232-0323
for more details.

 8) On Earth Peace Assembly in New Windsor, Md., has announced the
hiring of Kristen Jenkins as the agency's new office manager.
Jenkins, who grew up in the Sam's Creek Church of the Brethren near
New Windsor, began in this capacity on Dec. 13.

Jenkins holds a bachelor of science degree from Georgia State
University and has worked for companies including Morgan Stanley
Dean Witter in Aspen, Colo., and a doctor's office in St.
Augustine, Fla. She brings experience with accounting and
bookkeeping procedures, and proficiency with computers and computer
systems.

 9) The Church of the Brethren General Board is seeking a full-time
website designer, to work at the offices in Elgin, Ill.

The person in this position will coordinate the General Board’s
presence on the Church of the Brethren website, provide design
services and web expertise to Brethren Press and to all other
departments of the General Board, work closely with the Manager of
Marketing and Sales to provide for online shopping services and to
assist with other electronic marketing efforts, and give input into
Brethren Press’ development of electronic resources.

Candidates should be proficient in web technology, use of an HTML
editor, computer-image editing, and web page layout, and have
knowledge of e-commerce. A high school degree or equivalent is
required, and an associate's degree or equivalent experience is
preferred. Experience within a church organization is a plus.

Additional information and application forms are available upon
request. Interested and qualified persons are invited to mail or
fax a letter of introduction and resume by Dec. 31 to: Elsie
Holderread, Church of the Brethren General Board, 1451 Dundee
Avenue, Elgin, IL 60120-1694. Or phone 1-800-323-8039, x 259 or
(847) 742-5100; fax at (847)-742-8212; or e-mail
eholderread_gb@brethren.org.

10) Patty and John Crumley of Polo, Ill., have accepted a call to
serve in Nigeria through the Church of the Brethren General Board’s
office of Global Mission Partnerships. Their employment began  Dec.
13, and they will leave for Nigeria in January. Patty will be
teaching music at Hillcrest School in Jos, and John’s assignment is
yet to be defined.  

Patty is currently the assistant activity director at Polo
Continental Manor. Prior to that she was the chorus teacher for the
Winnebago School District. She has a bachelor of music degree from
Northern Illinois University and has done graduate study at Bethany
Theological Seminary and at Southern Illinois University in flute
performance.

John participated in Education for a Shared Ministry, and has a
Certificate of Achievement in Theological Studies from Bethany
Theological Seminary. He is currently employed as a maintenance
mechanic for the Ogle County Housing Authority.  He has been active
at the district level in Southeastern District and has served in
BVS.

11) In a season that uplifts peace on earth, one congregation is
preparing to do something to work toward that goal.

Pastor Lorene Moore of the Good Shepherd Church of the Brethren in
Springfield, Mo., wanted the congregation to be involved in the
surrounding neighborhood. Some people at the Weller Elementary
School next to the church who worked with a program called Caring
Communities wanted to see the church do something, too. And so a
partnership was born.

They applied for and received a Caring Communities grant from the
governor's office of Missouri. The $631 grant will fund a series of
workshops called "Parenting for Peace," which Moore called a
conflict resolution training for use in the home. She'll be working
with neighborhood children in grades K-5 while Colleen Appel, a
recent member of the congregation and a teacher in a nearby town,
will work with their parents.

The program will cover six sessions in January and February and be
held at the church. Moore said she had thought about a workshop
series like this before, but didn't know how to get the word out or
cover the cost for materials until the grant came along.

"I'm excited about it," said Moore, who came to Good Shepherd five
years ago to work at congregational renewal. "We keep trying new
things to see what will work."

Other projects have included a Christmas party for the neighborhood
and a neighborhood garden in the summer. 
 

Newsline is produced by Walt Wiltschek, interim Newsline editor for
the Church of the Brethren General Board's News Services, on the
first, third and fifth Friday of each month. Newsline stories may
be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited as the source and the
publication date is included. PLEASE NOTE: Due to the holidays, the
next edition of Newsline will be published on Dec. 30. Deadline for
story submission will be Dec. 28.

To receive Newsline by e-mail or fax, call 1-800-323-8039, ext.
263, or write CoBNews@AOL.Com. Newsline is available at
www.brethren.org and is archived with an index at
http://www.wfn.org.