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Date: March 5, 2004
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline       March 5, 2004

"It is you who light my lamp; the Lord, my God, lights up my
darkness." Ps. 18:28

NEWS
1) Haitian crisis raises concern among Brethren, prompts ecumenical
relief efforts.
2) Church of the Brethren Credit Union is now open to all
denominational members.
3) Annual Conference 2004 ballot is announced.
4) Relationship with the American Baptist Churches is rekindled.
5) Global Food Crisis Fund supports cow breeding, potable water,
trees, and stoves.
6) Emergency Disaster Fund sends aid to Nicaraguan children.
7) Brethren Volunteer Service Unit 258 completes orientation,
enters into service.
8) Brethren bits: Denominational positions, and more.

PERSONNEL
9) Becky Ullom to become the General Board's director of identity
and relations.
10) Robert Krouse to serve as Church of the Brethren mission
coordinator in Nigeria.
11) Carol Davis is chosen as CEO of Pinecrest Community.

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1) Haitian crisis raises concern among Brethren, prompts ecumenical
relief efforts.

"Haiti is of great concern for many of us," said Stan Noffsinger,
general secretary of the Church of the Brethren General Board, in
reference to a political and humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean
island nation. "We must be unceasing in our prayer that the killing
and warfare cease so peace, God's peace, reigns on earth."

Haiti is in chaos following weeks of killings, the overtaking by
rebel forces of a third of the country including the capital city
Port-au-Prince, violence by pro-government forces, and the exit of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to asylum in central Africa. The
United Nations Security Council approved an international military
force from the US, Canada, and France, in an effort to stabilize
the country.

Noffsinger shared the denomination's concerns and prayers with
Ludovic St. Fleur, pastor of Eglise des Freres Haitiens, a Church
of the Brethren congregation in Miami, Fla., and overseer of the
Orlando Haitian Fellowship. "The situation (in Haiti) is extremely
difficult for everyone," said St. Fleur, who has family there. "The
schools and businesses are all closed. People are staying off the
streets as it is very dangerous." The St. Fleur family in Haiti,
and those worshipping with them, are safe but they have asked the
Church of the Brethren to be in prayer for their continued safety
and for the killing and violence to end. St. Fleur said the
conversation with Noffsinger would be "a source of great comfort
and encouragement, to know sisters and brothers will be praying for
the Haitian people."

Noffsinger encouraged awareness of churches that have Haitian
members and that minister with communities of Haitian immigrants.
Atlantic Southeast District, which includes two congregations with
Haitian members, is "urging all of our people to keep the Haitians
in prayer," said Martha Beach, district executive minister. Some
Brethren congregations in the Dominican Republic, which shares a
border with Haiti, are composed primarily of Haitian immigrants.

The General Board's Emergency Response/Service Ministries is
actively preparing to respond to the crisis by supporting the
efforts of Church World Service (CWS), said Roy Winter, director of
Emergency Response. On Thursday, staff at the Brethren Service
Center in New Windsor, Md., were busy packing 30 Interchurch
Medical Assistance medicine boxes and eight Bristol-Myers Squibb
disaster relief boxes scheduled for air shipment Mar. 8. These
supplies, along with an air shipment of dehydrated food, will be
received in the Dominican Republic and transported to Haiti.

An outpouring of refugees was anticipated, but currently Haiti is
relatively calm with the arrival of the international force. The
calm has slowed the exodus, reported CWS staff Donna Derr, but
continued calm may depend on how quickly rebels are disarmed and a
new government established. CWS is making contingency plans with
government and ecumenical partners to address humanitarian needs in
Haiti, the US, the Dominican Republic, and other countries. In the
Dominican Republic, services to refuge seekers could include
temporary shelter, food, water, and health care. The CWS
Immigration and Refugee Program also has identified services it can
provide to Haitians interdicted at sea and taken to the US
military's Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba. In addition, CWS is
advocating on behalf of refugees with the US government, foreign
ambassadors to Haiti, and ecumenical partners in Haiti. The
organization is urging the US to provide protection to those
fleeing Haiti, and to grant temporary protective status to Haitians
in the US who fear for their safety if deported.

2) Church of the Brethren Credit Union is now open to all
denominational members.

The Brethren Employees Credit Union took a historic step Feb. 23,
as it changed its name and charter to make it possible for all
Church of the Brethren members and their families to join. Now
congregations can join as institutional members. The credit union
also approved a new 12-member national board.

These were the final steps needed for Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT)
to become the credit union's administrator and sponsoring agency.
The new name, Church of the Brethren Credit Union, reflects the
change in charter expanding membership eligibility. Previously, the
credit union was open only to church members and their family
members in Illinois and Wisconsin, Brethren pastors and their
family members, and staff of denominational agencies and
organizations and their family members.

"The approval of these changes voted on by the credit union's
owners--its members--sets in place the foundation on which new
services to more people within the Church of the Brethren can be
built," said Wil Nolen, BBT president. A vote by the membership was
the last step in a process that started two years ago when the
credit union began exploring partnership with BBT. In addition to
ratification by the membership and approval by both boards, the
proposed changes also needed approval by the Illinois Department of
Financial Institutions.

The changes are milestones in the history of the credit union,
which traces its origins to both the Brethren Employee Credit Union
(BECU) and the Brethren Parish Credit Union. BECU was organized and
chartered as an Illinois corporation in 1938 by the employees of
the Brethren Publishing House. The Brethren Parish Credit Union was
organized in 1941 by the members of Highland Avenue Church of the
Brethren in Elgin, Ill.

BBT will assume staffing and administrative functions for the
credit union Apr. 1. Dennis Kingery will be director of Credit
Union Operations. Other BBT staff will assist with customer
service, financial operations, marketing, and promotions. Telephone
and fax numbers for the credit union will remain the same. However,
e-mail and website addresses will change to cobcu@brethren.org and
www.cobcu.org respectively. The credit union will unveil its new
website Apr. 1.

3) Annual Conference 2004 ballot is announced.

The ballot for the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, July
3-7 in Charleston, W.Va., is headed by nominees Ronald D. Beachley
and Myrna Long Wheeler, for the position of moderator-elect.

Beachley, of Maple Spring Church of the Brethren, Hollsopple, Pa.,
is district executive minister of Western Pennsylvania District.
Myrna Long Wheeler, of Pomona (Calif.) Fellowship, serves as
chaplain at Brethren Hillcrest Homes in La Verne, Calif.

On the ballot for Conference-related committees are Joan Lawrence
Daggett, of Sangerville Church of the Brethren, Bridgewater, Va.,
and Martha Roudebush, Trinity Church of the Brethren, Blountville,
Tenn., for the Annual Conference Council; June Ellen (Forsyth)
Switzer, Community Church of the Brethren, Hutchinson, Kan., and
Joanna Wave Willoughby, Hope Church of the Brethren, Freeport,
Mich., for the Program and Arrangements Committee; Joe A. Detrick,
Codorus Church of the Brethren, Loganville, Pa., and Herman
Kauffman, Union Center Church of the Brethren, Nappanee, Ind., for
the Pastoral Compensation and Benefits Advisory Committee; and
James O. Eikenberry, Wilmington (Del.) Church of the Brethren, and
Robert C. Johansen, Crest Manor Church of the Brethren, South Bend,
Ind., for the Committee on Interchurch Relations.

Nominees to boards of Conference-related agencies include General
Board at-large nominees Michael Benner, of the yoked Waterside and
Koontz congregations in Pennsylvania, and J. Colleen Michael,
Wenatchee (Wash.) Brethren-Baptist Church United.

John A. Braun, Olympic View Community Church of the Brethren,
Seattle, Wash., and J. Kenneth Kreider, Elizabethtown (Pa.) Church
of the Brethren, are nominated to the board of Brethren Benefit
Trust; Diane Harden, Miami (Fla.) First Church of the Brethren, and
Allegra Hess, York Center Church of the Brethren, Lombard, Ill., to
the Association of Brethren Caregivers board; David B. Eller,
Elizabethtown (Pa.) Church of the Brethren, and Jonathan Frye,
Monitor Church of the Brethren, McPherson, Kan., for Bethany
Theological Seminary trustee representing the colleges; and David
Hendricks, Prince of Peace Church of the Brethren, South Bend,
Ind., and Robbie Miller, Bridgewater (Va.) Church of the Brethren,
to the On Earth Peace board.

4) Relationship with the American Baptist Churches is rekindled.

When leaders from the American Baptist Churches (ABC) and the
Church of the Brethren met to review a 30-year "associated
relationship" between the two denominations, they found plenty of
reasons to continue.

The denominations created the relationship in 1973, following
conversations between Norman J. Baugher, general secretary of the
General Board, and Edwin H. Tuller, his counterpart in the American
Baptist Convention. As fruits of that endeavor, today seven
congregations are dually affiliated. Each denomination also has
sent an "observer/consultant" to the other's general board.
Occasionally the Church of the Brethren's Committee on Interchurch
Relations has met with the ABC Committee on Christian Unity.

As time has gone by, however, fewer people in each denomination
remember that there is an associated relationship and how it began.
Both groups began to sense that it was time to review the
relationship and to ask whether it was being fulfilled in the best
way possible.

Through a day-long meeting in Valley Forge, Pa., where the American
Baptist Churches are headquartered, leaders from both churches met
to become better acquainted with each other's ministries and to
discuss ways to enhance the relationship. The American Baptists
were represented by Roy Medley, general secretary, and the ABC
executive leadership council. The Church of the Brethren was
represented by Stan Noffsinger, general secretary of the General
Board, and the General Board's leadership team.

In addition to sharing congregations, the denominations relate
through ecumenical involvements in areas such as stewardship and
publishing. Participants in the meeting identified additional areas
where the churches could learn from each other, including disaster
response, peace, new church development, and how to become more
multi-cultural. The group recommended that the
"observer/consultant" connection move out of the board setting and
directly into the ecumenical committees, where it can be more
fruitful. The group also plans to invite the counsel of dually
affiliated congregations regarding the associated relationship. The
two leadership teams will meet again in February 2005.

"I rejoice in this day," said Roy Medley, as he brought the meeting
to a close. "I look forward to the way God will bless this
relationship."

5) Global Food Crisis Fund supports cow breeding, potable water,
trees, and stoves.

More than $64,000 worth of grants from the Global Food Crisis Fund
have been allocated for use in Eritrea and Guatemala.

A grant of $50,000 has been made to support a multi-million dollar,
multi-faceted humanitarian appeal for the needs of repatriated
Eritreans. Agricultural activity in the south of Eritrea, along the
Ethiopian border, is hampered by drought and land mines. Cattle
were looted or slaughtered during the border war, and families are
left with no source of income. The grant will provide 100 breeding
cows for 100 households predominantly headed by women. The funds
are part of an ecumenical response led by the Lutheran World
Federation and sent through Church World Service.

In the Ixtahuacan region of Guatemala, $11,000 will extend projects
providing trees, cisterns, and stoves. A grant of $5,000 has been
made for reforestation and fruit tree propagation; $5,000 to build
water systems for ten families; and $1,000 to build 20
fuel-efficient wood stoves. The reforestation program is directed
by Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) worker Todd Bauer, and the
cistern and stove project by Jorge Garcia. The work is supervised
by Tom Benevento, General Board Global Mission Partnerships staff.

Another $3,040 supports projects in Union Victoria, Guatemala, a
Mayan village of resettled refugees from the country's brutal
36-year civil war. Primarily used to help develop a potable water
system, the money also will fund scholarships, a dental clinic,
medical kits and training, and agriculture teaching. The projects
were taken on through BVS workers Anthony Banout and Julie Kult.

6) Emergency Disaster Fund sends aid to Nicaraguan children.

The Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund has distributed
funds to meet health concerns in Nicaragua.

A grant of $12,500 will support an Interchurch Medical Assistance
(IMA) appeal to provide de-worming medication to more than one
million children ages 6-12. The growth, nutrition, and school
performance of these children is greatly harmed by chronic
intestinal parasites. "We hope that this will also give an
opportunity for people in the rural communities to have some hope
and to keep going forward in difficult times," said Laura Parajon,
a physician and director of Provadenic (Providing Vaccines to Rural
Communities in Nicaragua), IMA's partner agency in the country.

7) Brethren Volunteer Service Unit 258 completes orientation,
enters into service.

Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) Unit 258 held its orientation Jan.
18-Feb. 6 at Camp Ithiel in Gotha, Fla., near Orlando. The
orientation included a long-weekend visit to the Eglise des Freres
Haitiens congregation in Miami and a potluck for people in the area
connected to BVS and Civilian Public Service.

Volunteers, their home towns, and their project assignments are
Olga Berscheminski, of Schifferstadt, Germany, assigned to Step 2,
Reno, Nev.; Cherie George, Gainesville, Fla., to L'Arche Community,
Ireland; Christoph Hillejan, Ochtrup, Germany, to MedShare
International, Lithonia, Ga.; Christian Junker, Nauheim, Germany,
to Trees for Life, Wichita, Kan.; Madaline Keros, Concord, N.H., to
L'Arche Community, Ireland; Molly Knobbe, Cimarron, Kan., to Camp
Bethel, Fincastle, Va.; Sarah Lockhart, Vacaville, Calif., to The
Junction, Derry/Londonderry, N. Ireland; Jim Malin, Bridgeport,
Conn., to Samaritan House, Atlanta, Ga.; Kylee North, Tacoma,
Wash., to Quaker Cottage, Belfast, N. Ireland; Jonas Schonfelder,
Berlin, Germany, to Cafe 458, Atlanta; Michelle Storey,
Minneapolis, Minn., to ASONOG, Copan, Honduras; Anne Volk,
Regenburg, Germany, to Casa de Esperanza de los Ninos, Houston,
Texas; Michelle Williams, Bloomfield, Mich., to Center on
Conscience and War, Washington, D.C.; and Georges Zemanek, Houston,
to Brother David Darst Center, Chicago, Ill.

8) Brethren bits: Brethren Benefit Trust and General Board
positions, and more.

*Connie Sandman will be moving from the Communications and
Information Services department of Brethren Benefit Trust to the
newly established Church of the Brethren Credit Union, where she
will be the member services representative. Sandman joined BBT in
1982 as a medical claims processor. In 1999, she moved to BBT's
Information Services department as a customer service
representative and computer technician, and in 2000 became
administrative assistant to BBT's newly combined Communications and
Information Services departments. She will become the primary
contact for the credit union Apr. 1.

*The Annual Conference Office has a new website that is designed to
be user friendly and informative. The site will provide access to
all of the information found on the old site and, starting Mar. 17,
will feature online registration and information for the 2004
Annual Conference in Charleston, W.Va. The new site can be accessed
at www.brethren.org/ac/.

*A series of six Disaster Child Care Level 1 Volunteer Training
Workshops begins today at the Elizabethtown (Pa.) Church of the
Brethren. The Church of the Brethren program prepares volunteers to
care for children affected by disasters. Trainings continue Mar.
26-27 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Frederick, Md.; Apr. 16-17
at Tearcoat Church of the Brethren, Augusta, W.Va.; Apr. 24-25 at
Beacon Heights Church of the Brethren, Fort Wayne, Ind.; Apr.
30-May 1 at Christ United Methodist Church, Amherst, N.Y.; and May
21-22 at Lanark (Ill.) Church of the Brethren.

*A 16-person delegation from six Church of the Brethren districts
will join other international visitors to serve as monitors for the
Mar. 21 presidential elections in El Salvador. The trip is
organized by the New Community Project, a Brethren-related
nonprofit organization. The election, in which a former rebel
leader is on the ballot, may be critical to the country's continued
emergence from decades-long civil conflict. The team will be hosted
by long-time Brethren partner Emmanuel Baptist Church. A number of
participants are from Manchester Church of the Brethren, North
Manchester, Ind., which has had a sister-church relationship with
Emmanuel Baptist.

9) Becky Ullom to become the General Board's director of identity
and relations.

Becky Ullom has accepted the position of director of identity and
relations for the General Board, as of July. In the meantime, she
will complete her current responsibilities as coordinator of
National Young Adult Conference.

Ullom will have responsibility for connecting individuals and
congregations to the mission and ministry of the board, a
communication task that will involve personal contact and a variety
of media as well as administration of the Church of the Brethren
website.

A native of Wiley, Colo., she has a bachelor of arts degree in
English and Spanish from McPherson (Kan.) College. Prior to her
current position she taught high school English and has teaching
certifications for Spanish and English as a second language. She
has served the denomination as coordinator of National Youth
Conference in 2001-2002.

10) Robert Krouse to serve as Church of the Brethren mission
coordinator in Nigeria.

Robert Krouse, of Lebanon, Pa., has accepted the position of
mission coordinator in Nigeria, to begin in July this year.

Krouse is the founding pastor of the Cornerstone Christian Church
in Lebanon, where he is currently serving as pastor. He and his
wife Carol served previously in Nigeria from 1985-87, as they
worked to open a new mission point for Ekklesiyar Yanuwa a Nigeria
(EYN--the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). He is a graduate of
Temple University and Bethany Theological Seminary.

In Nigeria, Krouse will be working under the Global Mission
Partnerships Office of the General Board.

11) Carol Davis is chosen as CEO of Pinecrest Community.

Carol A. Davis, of Celina, Ohio, has been chosen as chief executive
officer of Pinecrest Community, a Brethren retirement center in
Mount Morris, Ill. Vernon Showalter, who has served as Pinecrest's
CEO since April 1988, has announced plans to retire.

Davis is vice-president of Marketing, Independent Living, and
Development at the Brethren Retirement Community in Greenville,
Ohio, where she previously served as director of Major and Planned
Giving. She also has been an adjunct professor of sociology at
Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Pinecrest Community is made up of Pinecrest Village, which offers
independent living and congregate living apartments, and Pinecrest
Manor and Pinecrest Terrace offering intermediate care, skilled
care, and Alzheimer care.

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Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of news
services for the Church of the Brethren General Board, on the
first, third, and fifth Friday of each month, with other editions
as needed. Newsline stories may be reprinted provided that Newsline
is cited as the source. Wendy McFadden, Walt Wiltschek, Jane Yount,
Mary Dulabaum, Nevin Dulabaum, and Larry Elliott contributed to
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