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

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Oct. 15, 2004
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline       Oct. 15, 2004

"...Looking to Jesus...." Hebrews 12:2a 

NEWS
1) Annual Conference theme, plans for 2005 announced.
2) Anti-racism training, positive financial report highlight On
Earth Peace meeting.
3) Believers church conference explores Christianity and politics.
4) Disaster Child Care opens two new centers in Florida.
5) Chiques congregation hosts evacuees of toxic fire.
6) Brethren bits: Personnel, October observances, and more.

PERSONNEL
7) Ralph McFadden retires from Association of Brethren Caregivers.

UPCOMING EVENTS
8) Bethany announces music and arts in worship conference.

***********************************************************

1) Annual Conference theme, plans for 2005 announced.

"Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus," based on Hebrews 12:1-4, is the theme
for Annual Conference in Peoria, Ill., July 2-6, 2005. The Program
and Arrangements Committee and Worship Committee met in Elgin,
Ill., Aug. 26-27 and Sept. 26-28 respectively, to choose preachers,
worship leaders, Bible study leaders, and themes and scriptures.

"The Church has always been in need of a call to remember Jesus,"
moderator Jim Hardenbrook wrote about the theme. "The book of
Hebrews calls a group of Christians to reconsider Jesus. In the
midst of their persecution and questions the writer asks them to
take another look at Jesus; to consider him. I'm convinced such an
exercise would be good for us."

Rosanna Eller McFadden, professional calligrapher and a member of
the committee, designed the logo using the theme words. "I wanted
Jesus to be central to this logo," she said. "I chose light as the
symbol which illustrates where we should fix our eyes.... Our
Christian lives depend on being able to see the Light in the
darkness. But this is not just any light, and it is not just for
Christians; it breaks the bounds of darkness and goes out into the
world in the form of the cross."

Hardenbrook will preach Saturday with moderator-elect Ron Beachley
leading worship. Galen Hackman, pastor of Ephrata (Pa.) Church of
the Brethren, will preach Sunday with Frances Townsend, pastor of
Onekama (Mich.) Church of the Brethren, as worship leader. Sandy
Bosserman, executive of Missouri and Arkansas District, will preach
Monday with worship leader Thomas Dowdy Jr., pastor of Imperial
Heights Church of the Brethren, Los Angeles, Calif. Gerald and
Rebecca Crouse, on the pastoral team at New Beginnings Church of
the Brethren, Warrensburg, Mo., will lead worship Tuesday with the
preacher to be announced. Chris Douglas, the General Board's
director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, will speak Wednesday
with a worship team of Matt Guynn, On Earth Peace program
coordinator for Peace Witness; Cindy Laprade and Beth Rhodes,
coordinators of youth and young adult workcamps; and Nate Polzin,
licensed minister from Mount Pleasant, Mich.

McFadden will serve as worship coordinator. Beth and Keith
Hollenberg, a pastor at First Church of the Brethren, York, Pa.,
will coordinate music with Marilyn Mason as organist, Rich Brode on
the piano/keyboard, and Joan Fyock Norris directing the choir.
Bible study leaders will be Bob Neff, Old Testament scholar; Ruben
DeOleo, director of Hispanic Ministry for Atlantic Northeast
District; Levi Ziegler, ordained minister from Manheim, Pa.; and
Pearl Rohrer, Bethany Theological Seminary student. Debbie
Eisenbise, pastor of Skyridge Church of the Brethren, Kalamazoo,
Mich., will lead theological studies.

The Program and Arrangements Committee includes the moderator,
moderator-elect, McFadden, Judy Epps, Joanna Wave Willoughby,
secretary Fred Swartz, treasurer Judy Keyser, and Lerry Fogle,
executive director. The Worship Committee comprises the Program and
Arrangements Committee plus music coordinators and choir director.
For more information and to view the logo, see the Annual
Conference web pages at www.brethren.org.

2) Anti-racism training, positive financial report highlight On
Earth Peace meeting.

The On Earth Peace Board of Directors and staff met Sept. 24-25 at
New Windsor, Md., with the theme "Living God's Peace--Together."
The agency's Advancement, Personnel, Finance, and Executive
Committees met Sept. 23. Led by chair Bev Weaver, the board
continued use of the "Formal Consensus" process for discussion and
decision-making.

"The group took time to reflect on bringing together our passionate
concern for all people, our covenant of service, our need to
forgive and be forgiven as a part of reconciliation, and our
recognition to remember and represent the Body of Christ in the
work that we do to answer Christ's call to peace," said
co-executive director Barb Sayler. Highlights of the meeting were
a training with the General Board's Anti-Racism Training Team, a
positive financial report, calling of new leaders, and a case
study.

Board and staff spent a morning and part of an afternoon with
Barbara Cuffie, Torin Eikler, and Sharon Reich of the Anti-Racism
Training Team. The training recognized the tendency to assign
privilege according to class, power, and ethnicity, and examined On
Earth Peace's institutional practices through the lens of race.
"The training allowed the group to see more clearly how On Earth
Peace, in its programs and projects, is affected by white
privilege," Sayler reported. Next steps include planning for
changing the effects of privilege and racism in the work of On
Earth Peace, and dialogue among board and staff to propose projects
not oriented to white, middle- and upper-middle-class people. Also
at the meeting was Orlando Redekopp, pastor of First Church of the
Brethren, Chicago, Ill, and a member of the Christian Peacemaker
Teams Steering Committee, who challenged On Earth Peace "to go
deeper in its peacemaking," she added.

The financial report, given just days before the end of the fiscal
year, showed a positive balance of income to expense, with a drop
in congregational giving and an increase in individual giving. A
budget of $440,000 was adopted, "reflecting the program expansion
anticipated in the coming year in response to requests and rising
expectations from the denomination," Sayler said. The Advancement
Committee is developing a program for the fundraising role of the
board and introduced "Talking Points" for board members.

It was announced that the next round of organizational evaluation
will be accomplished in a larger assessment of the Church of the
Brethren as a Living Peace Church. Time was spent on a case study
of how to respond in situations in which the peace testimony of the
church is not supported. After working in small groups, the board
shared ideas about dialogue, building relationships, and speaking
the truth in love.

The board welcomed new member Verdena Lee, who is filling an
unfinished term. Other new members are Henry Pierre, also filling
an unfinished term, and Robbie Miller, elected by Annual
Conference. Bev Weaver and David Jehnsen were re-elected by
constituents. 

The process of calling a new Executive Committee included naming
responsibilities and qualities needed for each position, a time of
silence and prayer, opportunity to name those who may be able to
serve well, and time to be in prayer about the decision overnight.
Executive Committee members are chair Bev Weaver, vice-chair Ken
Frantz, treasurer Phil Miller, secretary Lauree Hersch Meyer, and
at-large members Doris Abdullah and Dena Gilbert. Vice-chair Tom
Leard Longenecker, who led the process, was recognized for
completing a five-year term on the board.

3) Believers church conference explores Christianity and politics.

Questions about the response of Christians who live in a democracy
that is the world's only superpower resulted in an election-season
conference on "God, Democracy, and US Power." The 15th Believers
Church Conference, held Sept. 23-25, was co-hosted by Bridgewater
(Va.) College and Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), with sessions
divided between the two campuses.

Speakers from varying traditions discussed issues such as political
behavior, biblical pacifism, economic justice, and justice for
oppressed minorities. Traditions associated with the Believers
Church include Adventists, Baptists, Brethren, Discipleship of
Christ, Mennonites, Methodists, Pentecostals, Plymouth Brethren,
and Quakers--denominations that view membership in the church as a
voluntary act of faith.

A highlight of the conference was an address by Robert Edgar,
general secretary of the National Council of Churches. As the world
becomes more burdened with violence, hate, and injustice, Edgar
emphasized the active role Christians must play for change.
"Questioning our government and its leaders' actions doesn't mean
that we don't love our country," he said, "We live in a global
village. God transcends national boundaries, and God calls us to be
shapers, shakers, and remakers of this fragile planet Earth."

Echoing Edgar's themes, Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, assistant professor of
preaching and worship at Bethany Theological Seminary, gave a
sermon on the parable of the widow confronting the unjust judge in
Luke 18:2-8. She challenged the audience to call for justice in
America, "the largest single superpower the world now knows--and
resents."

Mwizenge Tembo, a Zambian native and associate professor of
sociology at Bridgewater, brought an international perspective.
Chatting with neighbors on a recent visit to Zambia, Tembo heard a
man praising Osama bin Laden for engineering the Sept. 11 attacks.
Friends were surprised to hear Tembo reply, "I could have been on
those planes. I live there. I saw the suffering." Tembo saw the
man's remark as a mirror image of the attitudes of many Americans
who are unaware of the effects of US government and business on
people across the world.

"Contrary to popular opinion, and we don't want to say it too
loudly, we are only as good and as precious as everyone else in
this world in God's eyes," said speaker David Radcliff of the New
Community Project in Elgin, Ill. Asked whether Christians should
seek persecution or hardship, Radcliff responded, "Those things
come naturally if you live out the heart of your faith."

J. Daryl Byler, director of the Mennonite Central Committee
Washington Office, spoke of Jeremiah's prophesy of a long, hard
exile in Babylon. Notwithstanding easier circumstances, he said
Christian pacifists in America face an exile in which pacifism
becomes less tolerated. "We must find ways to both love and resist
the empire," Byler said.

Conference planners are working with Pandora Press Canada for a
forthcoming book in the "Studies in the Believers Church Tradition"
series that will continue the conversation of the conference. Jim
Bishop, of EMU; Karen Doss Bowman, of Bridgewater College; and
freelance writer Chris Edwards contributed to this report.

4) Disaster Child Care opens two new centers in Florida.

Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne--Disaster Child Care
(DCC) volunteers will have responded to each of these disasters
with the opening of two new child care centers this week in Vero
Beach and Winter Haven, Fla. Two teams of volunteers and a project
manager from the General Board program are being deployed to these
locations at the request of the American Red Cross, reported
coordinator Helen Stonesifer.

Volunteers continue to meet the needs of children in two locations
in Pensacola and at the Osceola Square Mall in Kissimmee, Fla.
Centers in Gulf Breeze, Wauchula, and Englewood, Fla., have closed,
as have those in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Claysburgh, Pa., and
in Salem, Va. Since DCC began its response to the hurricanes, some
86 volunteers have made contact with over 1,900 children.

Parents, as well as the Red Cross and emergency staff, have been
very appreciative of the service, Stonesifer said. She passed along
the comment of a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency director,
that the DCC volunteers' "gift goes far beyond just watching over
a child while the parent(s) goes through the tedious application
process essential to assisting the family in their recovery....
This contact is often the first real attention many of the children
have been able to receive from an adult, and it has served to
remind the parents that the children are in need of assistance in
this recovery process as well."

An article about the work of DCC at an American Red Cross center in
Pensacola, "In Panhandle, a miserable wait," by Susan Kim, can be
found at www.disasternews.net/news/news.php?articleid=2442.

A team of three child care volunteers--Laurene Holsinger, John
Surr, and Brenda Palsgrove--will serve at the 10th Annual National
Air Disaster Alliance/Foundation in Arlington, Va., Oct. 16-17.
Care will be provided for children of victims' families from the
tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001. The foundation was incorporated in 1995
by air crash survivors and family members of victims. "Disaster
Child Care is very honored to have been requested to participate in
this event again this year," said Stonesifer.

In other disaster-related news, the General Board's Emergency
Disaster Fund has provided $20,000 for food relief in Kenya, where
a tenth of the people are at risk of famine, reported Roy Winter,
director of Emergency Response. "Kenya is suffering a massive crop
failure due to irregular rainfall patterns and contamination of
grain reserves by afllatoxin, a toxin created by grain mold," he
wrote in the grant application. "It is estimated that 3.3 million
people need emergency assistance." The grant will support efforts
at food relief for 18,722 families.

5) Chiques congregation hosts evacuees of toxic fire.

Chiques Church of the Brethren, Manheim, Pa., hosted evacuees of a
toxic fire that closed 19 miles of Pennsylvania turnpike for nearly
11 hours on Oct. 7. The truck fire involved the toxic chemical
potassium cyanide, which was spread by the wind forcing the
evacuation of 12 square miles near Mount Gretna and Mastersonville.
The evacuation included at least 100 homes, an RV park, an
elementary school, and a retirement center.

More than 50 evacuees were sent to the church for shelter. The call
to the deacons came very early that morning, with some homes
evacuated as early as 5:30 a.m. A deacon's wife--who preferred not
to be named in order to give credit to the whole congregation for
its hospitable response--happened to have the day off from work.
She also had taken Disaster Child Care training and was familiar
with emergency response and the needs of those in disaster
situations.

She and five other church members opened the building and made the
education wing and the library available to the evacuees, as well
as toys for the children. "We just tried to make people feel at
home," she said, adding that those who sheltered at the church were
of all types and ages ranging from an elderly couple to a young
mother with three children. As soon the hosts realized that
evacuees had not had time to eat, and would need lunch, they also
arranged meals.

She gave high marks to firefighters from Lititz who came to the
church to give an update on the situation--filling a need for
information that the hosts could not provide--and gave credit to
Lancaster Church of the Brethren for an offer of help and the
Salvation Army for sending a food truck, that unfortunately arrived
too late.

The evacuation was covered by local media, with television crews at
the church doors asking for access to the evacuees and a call from
a radio station. "I'm not used to managing an evacuation center,"
the deacon's wife said. She struggled with the decision to let the
media in, agreeing only after reporters said they would get
individuals' permission before filming.

The Chiques church had agreed some time ago to be an emergency
shelter, "not thinking it would be necessary," she said. "It was
necessary."

     
6) Brethren bits: Personnel, October observances, and more.

*Steve Van Houten has accepted a call to assist as a workcamp
coordinator for the General Board's Youth and Young Adult
Ministries on a part-time, shared basis for the 2005 program year.
He is lead pastor at Akron, Springfield Church of the Brethren in
Ohio. He will begin in the position Jan. 2005, and will work with
workcamp coordinators Cindy Laprade and Beth Rhodes.

*The Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) seeks a director of
the Fellowship of Brethren Homes, a half-time position.
Responsibilities include program implementation through the
Fellowship of Brethren Homes and personal contact with homes.
Qualifications are a Bachelor's degree; grounding in Church of the
Brethren and ABC values, history, and policy; background and
experience in longterm care; communication and interpersonal
skills; administrative skills in a nonprofit, church-related
organization. Resumes and letters of references will be accepted
until Nov. 20. ABC hopes to fill the position by Jan. 2005 or
earlier. A position description and application form are available
at www.brethren.org/abc or call 800-323-8039. Qualified candidates
are invited to submit a resume and cover letter of application, and
to request three references to send letters of recommendation to
Kathryn Reid, Executive Director, ABC, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL
60120.

*The Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) is encouraging
congregations to lift up October as Disabilities Awareness Month,
and to observe National Children's Sabbath this weekend Oct. 15-17.
Resources for Disabilities Awareness Month created by members of
the Church and Persons with Disabilities Network, a ministry of
ABC, are available at www.brethren.org/abc/. The theme for the
National Children's Sabbath is "Say That I'm a Child of God:
Assuring Justice and Care to Leave No Child Behind." For more
information visit the Children's Defense Fund website, or order the
2004 Children's Sabbath Resource Manual from the Children's Defense
Fund Religious Action Division for $7 by calling 202-662-3589.

*Brethren leaders have signed two letters related to the
presidential debates: Stan Noffsinger, general secretary of the
General Board, and Wil Nolen, president of Brethren Benefit Trust,
were among 22 leaders of religion, labor, science, and government
who signed a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates
asking that issues of energy and environment be raised; and the
General Board's Brethren Witness/Washington Office joined more than
20 Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic organizations including the
National Council of Churches (NCC) posing questions on poverty and
health care to the candidates. Noffsinger and Nolen signed the
letter to the commission in response to Annual Conference's stated
concern for care for creation and in support of the Interfaith
Center on Corporate Responsibility, which BBT supports as a part of
its focus on socially responsible investing. The letter to the
candidates pointed to US Census Bureau data revealing an increase
in poverty in the last two years, asking how the candidates plan to
reduce poverty, particularly for children, and decrease the number
of people without health insurance. For the letter to the debate
commission, see "Announcements" at www.iccr.org. For the letter to
the candidates see www.ncccusa.org, click on "NCC News."

*Fall meetings of the General Board will be held Oct. 15-18 in
Elgin, Ill. The Executive Committee will meet the afternoon of Oct.
15, the Audit and Investment Committee will meet that evening, and
the board will meet the morning of Oct. 16 through the morning of
Oct. 18. On the agenda is the role of observers with the American
Baptist Churches USA, financial reports and the 2005 budget, a
report on the Stewardship of Property Committee, mission in Haiti,
a report from the Cross Cultural Ministries Consultation, and
polity revisions. The board also will receive several other reports
and hold a recognition celebration for employees.

*The Annual Conference study committee that will answer the query
"Doing Church Business" convened in Elgin, Ill., Sept. 30-Oct. 2.
David Shetler, of Oakland Church of the Brethren, Bradford, Ohio,
is chair. Matt Guynn, On Earth Peace staff from Richmond, Ind., is
recorder. Other members of the committee are Joe Detrick, Verdena
Lee, and Dale Posthumus. The study committee organized, identified
research that needs to be carried out, identified individuals and
groups to be interviewed, discussed ways of having dialogue with
the denomination, and developed a general time schedule for its
activities, reported Lerry Fogle, Conference executive director.
Contact information for the committee will be available soon on the
Conference website. The committee is to bring a report in 2005.

*Nov. 7 is National Junior High Sunday with "Maturing in Faith,"
Luke 2:52, as the theme. A Bible study, skit, worship resources,
and other materials are available at www.brethren.org: click on
General Board, search for key words Youth & Young Adults. For
purposes of conservation, packets of these materials were not
mailed out to each congregation, according to an announcement from
Youth and Young Adult Ministries. Instead, junior high advisors
received postcards directing them to the website, where all of the
materials may be printed out.

*Registration forms for the Cross Cultural Consultation and
Celebration April 21-24 in Richmond, Ind., are available from Duane
Grady, Congregational Life Team staff for the General Board and
coordinator of the event. There is no registration fee, but advance
registration will help the host congregation plan meals. The board
will provide travel assistance for one to two participants from
each Church of the Brethren congregation. Grady encouraged
participants to join travel caravans to share expenses. Housing
costs of $59 per night at a motel will be covered by participants,
with the option of staying in a private home on a first-come
first-served basis. Donations will be "gladly accepted," Grady
said, and should be made out to the General Board. Call
800-505-1596 or e-mail dgrady_gb@brethren.org.

*April 23-28, 2005, high school youth and advisors are invited to
the 2005 Christian Citizenship Seminar in New York and Washington,
D.C. The event will be open to 100 participants on a first-come
first-served basis. The topic is "Conscientious Objection." Cost is
$350. The seminar is sponsored by the General Board's Youth and
Young Adult Ministry and Brethren Witness/Washington Office. "It is
a unique opportunity to visit the United Nations and Capitol Hill,
meet with senators and representatives, as we study the questions
of how to make life choices based on our Christian discipleship,"
said Youth and Young Adult Ministry director Chris Douglas.
Registration is available at www.brethren.org: click on General
Board, keyword Youth & Young Adults. For brochures call
800-323-8039.

*Goshen City (Ind.) Church of the Brethren celebrates 105 years as
a congregation during worship Oct. 17. The service will be followed
by a hog roast and a concert by Ryan Hirschy and Brad Byerly. For
more information call 574-533-1884.

*Selma (Va.) Church of the Brethren will have its 90th Anniversary
Homecoming Celebration on Oct. 24 at 11 a.m., with a 2 p.m.
Memorial Service. Enos Griffith, a former pastor, will be the guest
speaker. A luncheon will be provided.

*Dedication of HIS Way Fellowship in Southeastern District will be
Oct. 24 from 4-6 p.m. with a worship service and carry-in meal.
Co-pastors Raul and Lidia Gonzalez will be installed. For more
information contact the district at 423-378-6027.

*Franklin Grove (Ill.) Church of the Brethren will pray for peace
in Iraq and for the safe return of US troops at a Candlelight
Prayer Vigil 6-8 p.m. Oct. 17. The vigil will center on lighting
over 1,000 luminaries, one for each US soldier killed. Participants
will receive information on soldiers including pictures, ages, home
states, and how they died. For information call 815-857-3719.

*Prince of Peace Church of the Brethren, Kettering, Ohio, is
holding a homecoming on Oct. 23-24. The celebration will include a
final "Wahsum Fall Festival" in memory of Leroy Wahsum, who
unexpectedly passed away Aug. 29. A worship celebration will
include the burning of the mortgage for the sanctuary, built 11
years ago. Guest speaker is Dean E. Wolfe, Episcopal bishop of
Kansas, who grew up in the congregation. Call 937-294-0708.

*The 50-member sanctuary choir of La Verne (Calif.) Church of the
Brethren will present a choral concert featuring the original music
and choral arrangements of Shawn Kirchner, the church's minister of
music, on Oct. 24 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 and proceeds will be
placed in "A Fund for Healing and Rebuilding" to assist victims of
the devastating fires in California a year ago. Several church
family members and others in the region were affected. Choir
director Susan Winckler will conduct, with Kirchner accompanying on
organ and piano. The concert will include "Rain Come Down,"
composed the day after the Columbine High School tragedy in 1999 as
Kirchner was driving through rain to his home in Chicago. In 2002
the song received top honors in the University of Oregon's "Waging
Peace Through Singing" choral composition contest. Also featured
will be excerpts from a Mass that Kirchner is in the process of
composing. For more information contact the church at 909-593-1364.

*Two districts will gather for conferences this weekend and next:
Western Pennsylvania will meet Oct. 16 at Meyersdale (Pa.) Church
of the Brethren with Mildred Hartzell as moderator; Middle
Pennsylvania will meet Oct. 22-23 at Dunnings Creek Church of the
Brethren, New Paris, Pa., with Sarah Malone as moderator.

*Virlina District congregations continue to receive offerings to
assist Brethren disaster work following the hurricanes. As of Oct.
14, the district has received $24,790.10 from 48 congregations and
fellowships, including gifts from individual members.

*American participants in the Watu Wa Amani: People of Peace
conference in Kenya in August will give a program at Bethany
Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30. The
Historic Peace Church conference related to the Decade to Overcome
Violence and addressed issues of peacemaking in Africa, hearing
stories of violence, conflict, and reconciliation brought by
African participants. Bethany's program will share the stories and
give the perspectives of presenters Scott Holland, associate
professor of Peace Studies and Cross-Cultural Studies; Donald
Miller, emeritus professor of Christian Education and Ethics, who
convened the Watu Wa Amani planning committee; Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm,
assistant professor of Preaching and Worship; Ben Richmond,
director of North American Ministries of Friends United Meeting;
and Aletha Stahl, professor of French at Earlham College. For more
information call 765-983-1800.

*Camp Eder holds its 26th Annual Fall Festival Oct. 16, 9 a.m.-5
p.m. The event will include dedication of the Miller Meeting House
at 3 p.m., as well as an auction, crafts, food, a climbing wall and
zip line, and a Pig and Turkey Roast. For more information call
717-642-8256.

*The second annual Plowshares National Student Peace and Justice
Conference will be Oct. 22-24 in Richmond, Ind., on the theme,
"Bringing Our Pieces Together: Peacebuilding Through Intercultural
Dialogue." Presenters include Aaron Miller, president of Seeds for
Peace; Mental Notes, of the Movement in Motion arts collective of
New York; Jennie Kiesling, professor of history at the US Military
Academy; Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X; Funkdesi, a
musical ensemble; and Saoud El Mawla, Earlham's Plowshares
professor. Plowshares is a collaborative project of Manchester
College, Earlham College, and Goshen College, and is funded by
Lilly Endowment Inc. For more information see
www.plowsharesproject.org.

7) Ralph McFadden to retire from the Association of Brethren
Caregivers.

Ralph McFadden will retire Dec. 31 from the Association of Brethren
Caregivers (ABC) as director of the Fellowship of Brethren Homes,
a position he has held since 2001. 

McFadden has worked to strengthen the relationship between Brethren
retirement centers and districts and congregations, increased the
homes' presence at Annual Conference, and led development of a
paper on uncompensated care in Brethren retirement centers. He
represented the denomination in ecumenical endeavors including the
Peace Church Purchasing Group, Center for Faith-Based Leadership,
and American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

McFadden has served in the Church of the Brethren as a pastor, a
district executive, and executive for the Parish Ministries
Commission of the General Board. McFadden also has been chaplain
and bereavement counselor at Hospice of Metro Denver, Colo. He is
a member of Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren, Elgin, Ill.

8) Bethany announces music and arts in worship conference.

"Hebrews 12:28--Brimming with Worship" is the title of a conference
celebrating music and the arts in worship April 8-10, 2005. The
conference is funded by the Rosenberger Memorial Recital Series and
the Stephen I. Katonah Endowment for Faith and the Arts and is part
of Bethany Theological Seminary's centennial. It will take place at
Richmond (Ind.) Church of the Brethren.

Keynote addresses will be given by Sally Morgenthaler, founder of
Sacramentis.com; James Abbington, professor of Music at Morgan
State University, Baltimore, Md.; and Nadine Pence Frantz,
professor of Theological Studies at Bethany. Morgenthaler works to
move worship beyond presentation to an interactive, sacred
experience involving all the arts. Abbington is executive editor of
the African American Church Music Series published by GIA
Publications, Inc. Frantz is developing a set of reflections around
images of Jesus as the Christ, and a book using visual art to
engage with theology.

The conference will include workshops and worship. Nancy Faus,
professor emerita at Bethany, will preach Friday. The Saturday
service in the style of emergent worship will be coordinated by
Brian Messler, associate pastor at Frederick (Md.) Church of the
Brethren. Abbington will lead worship Sunday.

Cost is $199 for the first person from a congregation, $129 for
others from the same congregation, and includes lunches and
lodging. Cost for commuters is $99/$69. Participants qualify for
1.5 continuing education units. Registration forms will be
available in January.

*****************************************************************
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. Chris Douglas, Mary Dulabaum, Lerry Fogle,
Stan Noffsinger, Marcia Shetler, and Helen Stonesifer contributed
to this report. Newsline is a free service sent only to those
requesting a subscription. To receive it by e-mail, or to
unsubscribe, write cobnews@aol.com or call 800-323-8039, ext. 260.
Newsline is available and archived at www.brethren.org. For
additional news and features, subscribe to the Church of the
Brethren magazine "Messenger." Call 800-323-8039.