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

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      July 7, 2000
Contact:  Walt Wiltschek
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

"Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul." Prov.
16:24a

NEWS
 1) Twenty-seven students gather to enter ministry education.
 2) Western Regional Youth Conference kicks off in California.
 3) Emergency Disaster Fund helps Hurricane Floyd cleanup.
 4) Brethren Colleges Abroad announces Deeter scholarship winners.
 5) Brethren bits: Membership video, Nigeria workcamp, and more. 

PERSONNEL
 6) Michael Addison resigns as director of information systems for
BBT.
 7) Coordinators are sought for the 2002 National Youth Conference.

COMING EVENTS
 8) Contributions are welcomed for a 2001 event on Amish, Old
Olders, and Media.

RESOURCES
 9) The denomination's website has a new look and new features.

FEATURES
10) Two Brethren set the world's record for oldest set of twins.
11) Northern Indiana District women take time to "lend a hand."

*Please note: The next edition of Newsline will be a special Annual
Conference edition July 20. Also check www.brethren.org July 14-19
for regular updates during Conference.

****************************************************************
 
 1) An interest in ministry recently brought together 27 students
for four days of worship and study, fellowship and fun at Bethany
Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind. The students were at the
June 17-21 event to enter two of the ministry training programs
endorsed by the Church of the Brethren. Three are
ministers-in-training through Education for a Shared Ministry
(EFSM); three are laypersons-in-training; and 21 are Training in
Ministry (TRiM) students.

This orientation event, an annual occurrence for new students, was
planned and coordinated by Harriet and Ron Finney, co-coordinators
for the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership. Additional
leadership included Susquehanna Valley Satellite director of
graduate studies Warren Eshbach, a number of Bethany faculty,
experienced pastors and chaplains, and district-appointed TRiM
coordinators and EFSM supervisors.

Students were led in daily worship and Bible study, and in the
study of topics which included "Servant Leadership," "Living with
Differences," "Spiritual Life of the Pastor," and "Ministry
Formation." By the time the closing worship service ended, students
had developed individual learning contracts to guide their ministry
education during the next few years.

The participants, who came together from 11 districts throughout
the Church of the Brethren and who have served in a wide variety of
vocations before responding to their present call to ministry,
arrived at Bethany mostly strangers. They said they left feeling
friendship and community with brothers and sisters in Christ. As
one student wrote on the evaluation form, "The closeness shared by
those in the program is a very powerful force."

 2) More than 100 youth, advisors, and leaders have gathered on the
University of La Verne (Calif.) campus this week for the Western
Regional Youth Conference, an event held only once every four
years. It draws youth from the Pacific Southwest,
Oregon/Washington, and Idaho districts, an area covering thousands
of miles.

The five-day event features worship, workshops, small groups,
service projects, and even vespers on the beach. A team of youth
and advisors from the participating districts planned the program.

David Radcliff, director of Brethren Witness for the Church of the
Brethren General Board, kicked off the exploration of the theme,
"Peace Together a Future with Love," with a message during Thursday
night's opening worship. Touching on poverty, inequality,
pollution, racism, prejudice, and other dangers in the world, he
challenged youth to allow Jesus to take them and make a difference.

"There will be a danger if you go, but there will be more danger if
you stay," Radcliff said. "Young people, somebody has to do it, and
that somebody just might be you."

Other keynote speakers for the event include Cid Penedo, Andy
Loomis, Greg Laszakovits, Chris Douglas, and youth from the
planning committee. The conference concludes July 10.

 3) Additional grants will be going toward continued Hurricane
Floyd cleanup efforts courtesy of a $20,000 allocation from the
Emergency Disaster Fund, the 15th allocation of 2000.

The funds will go to support Emergency Response/Service Ministries
long-term hurricane recovery efforts in North Carolina. Among those
areas are ongoing work in the Vanceboro area and a new project
opening in Rocky Mount.

 4) Brethren Colleges Abroad has announced the 2000-01 recipients
of the Allen C. Deeter Scholarships, named for a longtime former
BCA executive. All three will be spending a year abroad at one of
BCA's 11 international study centers.

Lindsay Briggs of Juniata College (Huntingdon, Pa.) will study in
Dalian, China; Robyn Thompson of Manchester College (North
Manchester, Ind.) and Stephanie Adams of the University of La Verne
(Calif.) will both study in Strasbourg, France. They will receive
money from the scholarship fund to offset the costs of living
overseas. Students were chosen by personal essays written as part
of the application process.

The scholarship will be offered on an annual basis to students at
one of the six Church of the Brethren-affiliated
colleges/universities.

In other BCA news, director LuAnn Harley and assistant director
Brian Kruschwitz have resigned from the center in Xalapa, Mexico,
as of mid-July and will be replaced by Dr. Robert Kruger. Pat
Oppor, meanwhile, recently began as BCA's chief financial officer.

 5) Brethren bits: Other brief news notes from around the
denomination and elsewhere.
 *An additional resource will be available for use with Brethren
Press' new membership curriculum, called "Heart, Soul, and Mind:
Becoming a Member of the Church of the Brethren." A video, prepared
by David Sollenberger, will offer related clips and stories for
youth. It will also be available at Annual Conference and will sell
for $19.95.

 *The General Board's Nigeria Workcamp 2001 will take place Jan.
13-Feb. 12. Applications are now available from the Global Mission
Partnerships office by calling 800 323-8039 ext. 230 or by e-mail
at mission_gb@brethren.org.

 *The youth magazine "With," published by Faith & Life Press and
offered by Brethren Press for use in Church of the Brethren
congregations, received an Award of Merit from the Evangelical
Press Association, the third time in four years it won the award in
the youth category.

 *Messenger has issued a correction to its July "In Touch" article
on Bill Puffenberger's efforts to collect typewriters for the
needy. Puffenberger's correct e-mail is Puffenwv@etown.edu.

 *Nine Church of the Brethren district administrative assistants
and secretaries and their Council of District Executives liaison,
Georgia Markey of Southern Pennsylvania District, held their
biennial professional growth event at Hillcrest Home in La Verne,
Calif., this spring. Ten of the denomination's 23 districts were
represented. Topics included publication design, conversations with
the General Board’s Ministry Office, tours of the University of La
Verne and Hillcrest Home, computer forms, and sharing of
experiences.

 *Manchester College's (North Manchester, Ind.) Hawthorne Program,
funded by a Lilly Endowment grant, is allowing 48 middle-school
students to study at the school for two weeks this month. The
program seeks to strengthen the academic skills and increase
understanding of educational possibilities for African-American and
Hispanic students who show academic promise but have limited
economic resources.

 *The Greenville (Ohio) Daily Advocate recently ran an article on
the efforts of the Oakland Church of the Brethren (Gettysburg,
Ohio) in providing food service for the area's annual conference of
Old German Baptist Brethren. About 5,000 people were expected to
attend. Oakland last provided the service in 1998, when it served
7,418 meals, according to the article.

 6) Michael Addison has announced his resignation as director of
information systems for Brethren Benefit Trust effective Aug. 11.
Addison has worked with a variety of programs for BBT and effected
numerous upgrades and new services, particularly related to the
Internet and websites.

Addison, along with his wife, Donna, and son, Nicholas, plan to
move back to their home state of Ohio.

 7) Coordinators are now being sought for the 2002 National Youth
Conference, which will be held at Colorado State University in Fort
Collins, Colo. Two positions are currently available. 

They are Brethren Volunteer Service positions based at the General
Board's Youth/Young Adult Office in Elgin, Ill., and will start in
May or June 2001, continuing through the following summer.
Coordinators work with the National Youth Cabinet to oversee
planning and implementation of the conference, which draws
thousands of youth from across the denomination.

For more details or an application form, contact Chris Douglas,
coordinator of Youth/Young Adult Ministry, at 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120 or call 800 323-8039 or e-mail
cdouglas_gb@brethren.org. Applications are due by Sept. 15.

 8) An interdisciplinary, international study conference on "The
Amish, Old Orders, and the Media," sponsored by the Young Center
for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, will be held June 14-16, 2001,
at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College.

The conference will explore professional, ethical, and academic
issues in depicting and reporting about plain-dress Anabaptist and
Pietist groups. Proposals for papers or for thematic sessions from
media professionals and academic researchers are encouraged. The
deadline is Oct. 20. For more information, contact David Eller, The
Young Center, One Alpha Drive, Elizabethtown College,
Elizabethtown, PA 17022; or e-mail youngctr@etown.edu; or call 717
361-1470. 

 9) The denomination's official website, www.brethren.org, is
featuring a newly designed home page and other features. The new
look and some new tools went on-line June 30. Seven Church of the
Brethren agencies are partners in the site.

Updates include a faster-downloading main page, a search function
for the site, user-friendly background information on the Church of
the Brethren, an enhanced calendar, and more options on links. A
church search tool will be available soon, allowing people to
quickly find a congregation in any state, with all congregations
listed on-line.

Same-day coverage of the 2000 Annual Conference will be available
on the site beginning July 14.

 10) June 20 marked the105th birthday of Glen and Dale Moyer, who
were declared the world's oldest set of twins by the Guinness
organization. The brothers were born and raised in Williams County,
Ohio, where they first attended the Walnut Grove Church of the
Brethren and then the Silver Creek church.

An ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren, Glen attended
Manchester College (North Manchester, Ind.) and Bethany Theological
Seminary after his marriage to Mabel Rasor in 1921. Glen pastored
the Cincinnati (Ohio) Church of the Brethren for three years and
spent the rest of his career in education as a school principal.

Glen now lives at the Brethren Retirement Community in Greenville,
Ohio, and is a member of the Greenville Church of the Brethren.
Glen and Mabel, who died in June, have one daughter, two
grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

A retired farmer, Dale continues to live near Alvordon, Ohio, in
the house where he spent his farming years, and Dale's church
membership is still at his childhood congregation of the Silver
Creek Church of the Brethren. He and his wife Mary Bosserman, who
died in 1996, have three daughters.

Glen's daughter, LaVon Mark, said Glen and Dale sound alike and
looked very much alike when they were younger. "Mother always knew
which one was which," she said, "but others had a hard time telling
them apart."

Glen and Dale grew up with five other siblings, four of whom also
lived into their 90s.

"I was closer to Uncle Dale and his kids than I was to the others,"
Mark said. "One of my cousins would say (to Dale) 'This is daddy'
and (to Glen) 'This is more daddy.' "

 11) The Northern Indiana District Women's Cabinet tried a new idea
this spring: sponsoring a workcamp for women in the district. They
decided to gather a group to work at Lend-a-Hand Mission near
Walker, Ky., in early May, and 11 women ranging from age 40 to 69
answered the call.

"We had an active few days work," said Jolene Bollinger of Goshen,
one of the participants. She said tasks included cement work,
sewing curtains, planting gardens, making butter, sweeping fields,
doing carpentry work, washing windows, visiting persons in home
care, helping feed the animals, and even throwing a carnival for
children in the community. They also visited an area Baptist church
for a service.

Lend-a-Hand provides service to the Appalachian community by
offering day camps, Sunday school programs, and medical services to
shut-ins among its ministries.

Bollinger called the week a "good experience" and said the District
Women's Cabinet will likely sponsor another workcamp in the future.

      

Newsline is produced by Walt Wiltschek, manager of news services
for the Church of the Brethren General Board, 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. Kendra Flory contributed to this report.

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.