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

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Sept. 5, 2003
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

NEWS
 1) Emergency Disaster Fund sends aid to Asia, West Virginia.
 2) New disaster response project prepares to open in Illinois.
 3) Highlights from district conferences in Ohio, Michigan.
 4) BVS Unit 255 participants head to assignments.
 5) Southern Ohio votes to lease its financially struggling camp.
 6) Vandals cause damage at Pennsylvania's Camp Swatara.
 7) Brethren bits: Workcamps, anniversaries, peacemaking, and more.

PERSONNEL
 8) Jewel McNary is called as director of marketing and sales for
Brethren Press.
 9) Association of Brethren Caregivers seeks an executive director.
10) Pinecrest Community retirement center seeks CEO-elect.
11) Lebanon Valley Brethren Home seeks CEO.

RESOURCES
12) New IMA video tells story of National Youth Conference clinic
boxes.

****************************************************************
 
 1) The General Board made three new grants from its Emergency
Disaster Fund this week, sending a combined $35,000 to locations in
the United States and Asia.

The largest of the three, for $15,000, will support a Church World
Service (CWS) project in Pakistan. Heavy rain and flooding in late
July destroyed more than 47,000 homes in the central Asian nation
and resulted in more than 160 deaths. CWS, which has had a
long-term presence in Pakistan, will use the funds to assist 2,000
families living in temporary camps with food packages, cooking
utensils, and health kits.

A $10,000 grant will go to the Philippines, where a series of
typhoons and tropical storms this spring and summer destroyed more
than 10,000 homes and damaged nearly 35,000 others. An estimated
172,000-plus families were affected. Action by Churches Together
(ACT) is working with local partner the National Council of
Churches in the Philippines to provide aid. Funds will assist
families with immediate needs including food, clothing, sleeping
mats, blankets, and medical assistance.

The final allocation, also for $10,000, will deliver additional aid
to long-term flood recovery work in West Virginia. The money will
help to cover unmet needs for an estimated 1,040 families who have
exhausted available public assistance.

Eighteen grants have been made from the Emergency Disaster Fund in
2003.

 2) The Church of the Brethren General Board's Emergency
Response/Service Ministries (ER/SM) office will open a new disaster
response project later this month in southern Illinois.

The project is located in rural Massac County, at Illinois'
southern tip near Paducah, Ky. The area was struck by several
tornadoes on May 6, killing one person, destroying dozens of homes,
and damaging many others. Work will include repairing several of
these homes and completely rebuilding others.

Noble Brown will serve as the initial site director when the
project opens Sept. 14, followed by Bob and Marianne Pittman in
October.

A current disaster response project in Columbus, Miss., is expected
to finish in late September.

 3) Highlights from two recent district conferences:
 *Michigan: Held Aug. 14-17 in Hastings, beginning with a full love
feast Thursday evening. Dan Joseph of the Onekama congregation
served as moderator, and former Bethany Theological Seminary
professor Grady Snyder of Chicago was the featured speaker on the
theme "Our Faith Heritage, a Faith for the Future." Annual
Conference Council representatives Earl Ziegler and Chris Bowman
presented the answer to Michigan's "Clarification of Confusion"
query, as noted in the Aug. 22 issue of Newsline. After an hour of
speeches from the floor, delegates voted 38-34 to approve a
petition suspended in 2002. The petition 1) calls on the district
board "to affirm and adopt the decision of the 2002 Annual
Conference, which includes the following statement: 'Therefore, we
consider it inappropriate to license or ordain to the Christian
ministry any persons who are known to be engaging in homosexual
practices, and will not recognize the licensing and ordination of
such persons in the Church of the Brethren.' and 2) directs the
district board "to comply with this action by ceasing to license or
ordain to the Christian ministry any such persons from this time
forward, and to discontinue recognition of any previous licensing
or ordination of such persons from this time forward." Other
business included elections, approval of budgets, and hearing
reports from district and denominational programs and groups. Seven
new people were elected to the 17-member district board, including
Bill Sumner of the Midland congregation who will assume the duties
of chair this winter. Bill Raymor of Crystal was installed as
moderator for the coming year; Gary Copenhaver of Detroit Trinity
was called as moderator-elect.

 *Northern Ohio: Held Aug. 8-10 on the campus of Ashland
University. Pastor Reid Firestone of the Mount Pleasant
congregation served as moderator with the theme "So Joshua . . . So
Us" taken from Joshua 24:14-15. More than 300 delegates and other
participants heard musical presentations by junior high and senior
high performing arts camps and preaching by Firestone and Brethren
Revival Fellowship chair Craig Alan Myers of Northern Indiana
District. Business items included adoption of the 2004 district
budget, election of district board members and other officers, and
review and acceptance of reports from six district committees and
five district staff members. Denominational agency representatives
provided reports and insight sessions. Bruce Jacobsen of the Bethel
congregation will serve as moderator for the coming year; Terry
Baldwin of Silver Creek was called as moderator-elect. An
installation service for district executive minister John
Ballinger, led by District Ministries coordinator Nancy Knepper,
was held during the closing worship service.

 4) Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) Unit 255 held orientation July
27-Aug. 15 at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. The
unit spent a long weekend in Baltimore, staying at the I Can Inc.
homeless shelter.

There were 15 volunteers in the unit, nine of them from the Church
of the Brethren. Volunteers, their hometown and home congregation
where applicable, and project assignments are as follows:

Elizabeth Rhodes, Lancashire, England, to Pesticide Action Network,
San Francisco; Adam Hass, Elkton, Va./Mill Creek (Port Republic,
Va.), to Brethren Nutrition Program, Washington, D.C.; Tome Micin,
Reinbach, Germany, to Pesticide Action Network, San Francisco;
Florian Wallenwein, Weilheim/Teck, Germany, to Camp Stevens,
Julian, Calif.; Anna Emrick, Mason, Mich./Lansing (Mich.), to
District IV Human Resources, Havre, Mont.; Sarah Jones, North
Platte, Neb., to Jubilee Network, Washington, D.C., and CEPA,
Slovakia; Nancy Steedle, Lititz (Pa.), to ZME Women's Development,
Mubi, Nigeria; Kirsten Crosby, Lancaster, Pa./Lititz (Pa.), to Step
2, Reno, Nev.;

Jessica Winkleman, Monroe, Iowa/Prairie City (Iowa) to Sports4Kids,
Oakland, Calif.; Erin Azar, Washington, D.C., to ASONOG, Copan,
Honduras; Erin Karn, Medway, Ohio/West Charleston (Tipp City,
Ohio), to Casa de Esperanza de los Ninos, Houston; Ellen Thilo,
Elizabethtown, Pa./East Fairview (Manheim, Pa.), to La Puente Home,
Alamosa, Colo.; Amelia Sumpter, Goshen, Ind./Goshen City, to
Tri-City Homeless Coalition, Fremont, Calif.; Heather Dean,
Washington, D.C., to Copal AA, Guatemala; Brenda Simler, Freeport
(Ill.), to La Puente Home, Alamosa, Colo.

The fall BVS orientation will be held Sept. 28-Oct. 17 at the
Kindy/Gross' Joyfield Farm near North Manchester, Ind. About 25 to
30 volunteers are expected to participate, staying in tents or
straw lofts for two weeks. The final week of the orientation will
take place in Chicago.

 5) A new chapter is beginning for Woodland Altars in Southern Ohio
District after the district board voted this summer to lease the
outdoor ministry center and its facilities for a 10-year period.

The lease is to local businessman Robin Waddell, who will operate
the outdoor education programs, chalet and lodge rentals, and other
public uses, with possible expansion of the Woodland Altars'
recreational camping area and campsites. Southern Ohio District's
Outdoor Ministries Commission will continue to plan and operate a
summer camping program there.

Southern Ohio District executive Mark Flory Steury said in a letter
to the district that the move came after years of financial
struggles. "We knew that status quo was not an option," Flory
Steury wrote. Woodland Altars, located near Peebles in the
southwestern part of the state, is one of the oldest camps in the
denomination.

The board voted to enter into negotiations with Waddell on July 26,
then held a series of public meetings in the district before taking
final action on the lease on Aug. 27. The lease will go into effect
Oct. 1. It will provide quarterly income to the district, which
will continue to own the property.

 6) Vandals caused significant damage at Camp Swatara in Atlantic
Northeast District late last month, emptying 11 fire extinguishers
in three buildings and breaking two windows in a camp van.

The Brethren Revival Fellowship/Brethren Volunteer Service unit
holding orientation at the camp that week was also affected, with
extinguishers sprayed in three of the group's cars. The camp's safe
was taken from the office, but the thieves were unable to open it,
and it was recovered with no money lost.

"It's the biggest mess I've seen since I've been here," Camp
Swatara administrator Marlin Houff said. He said the total
insurance loss would reach five figures, but most of it should be
covered.

The camp, located in Bethel, Pa., lost only one retreat group over
Labor Day weekend as a result of the vandalism, as volunteers
quickly responded to clean up the mess. Houff said he made a few
phone calls the day after the incident and soon had 27 people from
five area congregations working to put things back to normal.

"People just came out of the woodwork," Houff said. "That's the
Brethren for you. When there is a need, they really come. They
really respond."

 7) Brethren bits: Other brief news notes from around the
denomination and elsewhere.
 *The 2003 workcamp season ended in mid-August after more than 500
youth, youth advisors, and young adults participated in 26
workcamps across the US, in the Caribbean, and in Northern Ireland
and Ecuador. The workcamps are organized annually by the General
Board's Youth/Young Adult Ministries office. Details on the 2004
workcamps, with the theme "Voices That Challenge," will be
available later this fall.

 *An Aug. 7 article in the Cumberland (Md.) Times-News featured the
youth workcamp in Keyser, W.Va., sponsored by the General Board's
Youth/Young Adult Ministries office. "Service is a big part of my
life," youth advisor Brenda Hedrick said in the article. "If we can
just give a little bit of our time and energy to help someone who
can't get out and do it themselves, that's what it's all about." .
. . An Aug. 8 Carroll County (Md.) Times cluster of articles
featured Brethren Volunteer Service, which held orientation for a
new unit in New Windsor, Md., July 27 to Aug. 15. 

 *Members and friends of Newton (Kan.) Church of the Brethren will
celebrate their centennial on Sept. 28. The guest speaker for a
special Sunday worship service will be Paul Hoffman, former
president of McPherson College. For details, call
316-283-0354.

 *The Midwest Peacemakers Conference 2003 took place Aug. 16 in
Union, Ohio, with Church of the Brethren member Art Gish of
Christian Peacemaker Teams among the featured speakers. Others
presenting were Ohio State University political science professor
emeritus Chad Alger and Every Church a Peace Church regional
coordinator Rick Judy. A larger Christian Peacemaker Congress is
scheduled for Sept. 25-28 in Youngstown, Ohio.

 8) Jewel McNary has been called as director of marketing and sales
for Brethren Press, effective on or about Sept. 22.

McNary comes to the position bringing familiarity with both
Brethren Press and Messenger. She is currently serving in a special
assignment in Messenger promotions and has provided temporary
assistance in Brethren Press customer service over the past four
years.

A paralegal, McNary's earlier work experience included management
of the closing department of a title insurance company. She is a
University of Illinois graduate, with a bachelor's degree in
political science and minor in business.

McNary lives in Aurora, Ill., and attends the Boulder Hill
(Montgomery, Ill.) and Faith (Batavia, Ill.) congregations. She is
a district youth advisor for Illinois/Wisconsin District and serves
on the Camp Emmaus board.

 9) The Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) is seeking an
executive director to lead the Elgin, Ill.-based agency. The
full-time position is reportable to the ABC board through its
executive committee. Starting date is negotiable, with January 2004
or earlier preferred.

Responsibilities include serving as the chief executive officer for
ABC, being responsible for program implementation of selected ABC
ministries, and providing leadership within the Church of the
Brethren and ecumenically. 

Applicants should have a minimum of a bachelor's degree; be
well-grounded in Church of the Brethren and ABC values, history,
and policy; possess strong oral and written communication and
interpersonal skills; and have demonstrated administrative skills
within a nonprofit, church-related organization.

Applications are now being received, with a deadline of Oct. 15. A
fuller position description and application form are available on
request. Qualified candidates are invited to submit a resume' and
cover letter of application, and to request three references to
send letters of recommendation, to: Connie Burk Davis, 133 East
Main Street, Suite 1E, Westminster, MD 21157, or via e-mail at
daviscon@qis.net.

 10) Pinecrest Community, a Church of the Brethren retirement
center with more than 200 residents in Mount Morris, Ill., is
seeking a chief executive officer. The CEO-elect candidate will
work with the current CEO in a transition of less than 6 months. 

The board of directors is seeking a person with home administration
credentials and appreciation for the Church of the Brethren
heritage and faith. The person should also have experience and
skills in strategic planning, fund development, marketing, public
relations, and innovative program development. NHA is preferred. 

Resumes will be accepted until Oct. 15. For more details, or to
apply, contact Ralph McFadden, Fellowship of Brethren Homes, 1451
Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; phone 847-742-5100, ext. 305, e-mail
rmcfadden_abc@brethren.org, or fax 847-742-5160.

 11) The Lebanon (Pa.) Valley Brethren Home is seeking a chief
executive officer. The home serves more than 550 residents and has
more than 325 employees. 

Requirements include a current Pennsylvania NHA license and at
least 3 years experience (preferably 5-plus years), as a CEO. Other
expectations include a proven record of successful financial and
operational turnaround, demonstrated leadership skills, and
productive communication skills. 

For more details, or to apply, contact Ralph McFadden, Fellowship
of Brethren Homes, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; phone
847-742-5100, ext. 305, e-mail rmcfadden_abc@brethren.org, or fax
847-742-5160.

 12) Interchurch Medical Assistance Inc. (IMA) has produced a video
to tell the story of the 380 Church of the Brethren Clinic Boxes
collected at the 2002 National Youth Conference in Colorado. The
boxes, gathered during an evening worship service at the
conference, were distributed in Latin America and Africa.

As a thank-you for the effort, IMA is sending a free copy of the
video to each Church of the Brethren congregation that had youth
attending National Youth Conference. Churches can expect to receive
the video later this month or in early October (copies can be
expedited if needed).

DVD format is also available for congregations that request it.
Extra copies for others are available for a nominal cost to cover
duplication and mailing. For the DVD option or for extra video
copies, contact Vickie Johnson at 410-635-8720 or
vickiejohnson@interchurch.org. 

Newsline is produced by Walt Wiltschek, 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. John Ballinger and Marie Willoughby contributed to
this report.

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