wfn.org | Caring Ministries 2000 Care Journal

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      June 2, 1999
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Care Journal
The daily news sheet of Caring Ministries 2000
Wednesday, June 2

1) Two Hundred Fifty Registered For Entire Conference
     
Two hundred and fifty persons have registered as full-time
participants in this week’s Caring Ministries 2000 Conference. 
Another 19 were expected to attend just today’s activities, and
there will be 28 one-day registrants tomorrow and 50 on Friday.

There were nearly 350 participants in the first Caring Ministries
2000 Conference two years ago.  That conference was held in August
on the campus of Manchester College, North Manchester, Indiana, and
had more persons who were part-time than this week’s event.

2) Tonight's Speaker Directs National Program For 
     Disability Awareness
     
Ginny Thornburgh is making the religious community aware of how it
can show God’s love to all people, especially those with
disabilities.  For the past nine years, she has been director of
the Religion and Disability Program at the National Organization on
Disability, Washington, D.C.  

Ginny is married to Dick Thornburgh, former governor of
Pennsylvania.  The Thornburghs have a son, Peter, who is
developmentally disabled.  Mrs. Thornburgh has co-authored and
edited several very practical worship and facility guides that
churches can use in their ministry to the disabled.  Copies are
available in the conference bookstore, located in the M & M Mars
Room.

3) Video And Audio Tapes Of Keynote Speakers Are Available
     
Both video and audio tapes are being made of all worship and
plenary sessions this week.  The tapes are available on site at the
conference office.  Both video and audio tapes can be ordered via
the order blank in your registration packet.

(All tapes can also be ordered after the conference by calling
Association of Brethren Caregivers at 800 323-8039.) 

4) Mars Candy Company Shows Caring With Samples Of New Bar

Mars Inc., makers of several candy bars and the famous M & Ms,
provided conference registrants with samples of their wares,
including a new product, Milky Way Dark.  The company, which has a
factory in the Elizabethtown area, has long 
been a supporter of the college.  The room in which the conference
office and bookstore is located this week is named the M&M Mars
Room in recognition of the company’s donations,  in excess of $1
million according to the college’s Conference Services.

5) Check Out The Swan "Song"
 
You may have noticed a lot of fowl activity on the lake in front of
Leffler Chapel.  Included among the feathered residents is a pair
of royal swans, who have a nest on the College Avenue side, between
the walk and the water.  Be sure to see the huge eggs this week!

6) Impact Of Music On Healing Subject Of Tonight's 
     Prayer/Praise Meeting
     
Jan and John Long, co-pastors of Good Shepherd Church of the
Brethren, Blacksburg, Va., will lead tonight’s Prayer and Praise
Meeting at 9 p.m. in the Young Center of the Bucher Meeting House. 
Through the use of folk music and using guitar, dulcimer, and banjo
for accompaniment, the duo will present a program exploring music
and its relationship to healing.
     
Jan and John will discuss how music has an impact on a number of
areas of life.  "Music puts us in touch more closely with our inner
selves and feelings," they say.  Graduates of Bethany Theological
Seminary, the Longs have performed for 20 years before numerous
church and school groups.
 

7) Prolific Author And Health Care Advocate Thursday's 
     Plenary Speaker 
     
John J. (Jack) Shea has spent much of his illustrious career
studying how people integrate their deeper beliefs and values into
their work and personal lives.  He will speak further on the
spiritual dimension of healing when he addresses the Caring
Ministries Conference tomorrow morning, 10 a.m., in Leffler Chapel
auditorium.  

After serving on the faculties of several universities and
seminaries, including Mundelein, Notre Dame, and Loyola, he joined
the staff of the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health.   There
he is the Advocate Health Care Senior Scholar-in-Residence.  He
also has helped develop Advocate 2000, a not-for-profit health care
provider network that includes eight hospitals and more than 3,800
physicians.  

Shea has authored 11 books of theology, two books of poetry, and
several audio tapes for spiritual awareness.  The conference
bookstore has a good variety of his works.

8) Networking Groups Scheduled Tonight, Tomorrow Noon/Night
     
Several groups are getting together tonight and tomorrow for
networking and support --

Tonight 
     Cancer Support Group          
     Gays and Lesbians   
     Brethren Chaplains Network
Thursday
     Addictions Support Group
     Bereavement Support Group
     Men's Sexual Abuse Support Group
     Brethren Nurses Association
     HIV/AIDS Support Group

9) Bookstore Has Numerous Resources For Caregivers, Deacons,
     Pastors
     
The Association of Brethren Caregivers has set up a small bookstore
for this week's conference, but it is replete with numerous
resources related to caregiving, spirituality, pastoral ministry,
conflict management, and health care issues.  Among highlights are
a new large print, spiral bound edition of the Church of the
Brethren deacon manual; a Spanish version of the Annual Conference
statement on deacons; new deacon identification cards for
congregational use; a video of a case study of how a congregation
in Virlina District developed a ministry to people who have
developmental disabilities; and a book by Roy Oswald on "Finding a
Balance for Effective Ministry."

Also, there are books and resources from conference keynote
speakers Jack Shea, Philip Yancey, and Melva Wilson Costen;
resources on death and dying issues; two health care books by
Graydon F. Snyder; and resources referred to in several of this
week's workshops.  Another resource available is the “Collaboration
Handbook,” by Michael Winer and Karen Ray.  It outlines a process
to get people to work together in new ways.  Of interest is that
Winer currently is a consultant with the Fellowship of Brethren
Homes, helping that group develop a new program by which the Homes
will collaborate on ways and means for increasing the effectiveness
of their ministry.

10) On Earth Peace Has Resources For Sale
     
Peace Place, the bookstore of On Earth Peace Assembly, also has
resources and products for sale during this week's conference, in
the M&M Mars Room of Leffler Chapel.  Stop by and see their
inventory.

11) Workshop Notes
     
Workshop F9, Friday, 3:30 p.m., will have a panel presentation,
including Joanna Lippert, Thomas Leaman, Abram Hostetter, J. Wayne
Judd, and Thurman Grossnickle.