Upper Midwest Regional Prayer Calendar - may be viewed here
Important Dates
June 30 Newsletter Folding
July 1 Music in Plymouth 7 pm
PCCC, YBR, TW Picnic
July 4 Independence Day
July 8 Midsummer Night’s Gathering 7 pm
A Table Before Me: God's Open-Armed Adventure
Come Join the Adventure!
2009 Adventure in Mission– TABLE HOSPITALITY
Every month will include a different focus; every quarter will bring a new activity; every season will provide more challenge to increase your understanding of Mission, deepen your commitment to Mission, develop your capacity for Mission stewardship.
June Mission Focus: Guatemalan Scholarship Fund
July Mission Focus: Unbinding the Gospel
It is time for Food, Fun and Fireworks.
On July 1, members of Plymouth Creek Christian Church and Thy Word Worship Center as well as staff members of Yellow Brick Road are coming together to enjoy Music In Plymouth comfortably from PCCC. Sign up has already begun, and many have indicated that they are coming, will bring food and help with set-up and take down. If you have not already done so, please indicate on the sign up board if you will be attending, what food you will be bringing and how you will be able to assist this 1st annual event. See Chana Weaver for more details.
EQUIPPING CONGREGATIONS CONSULTATION - OUTGROWTH OF MACC - TAKES PLACE
About 40 church leaders met in Indianapolis recently to discuss ways to more effectively help congregations carry out mission. Their meeting was an outgrowth of work conducted by the Mission Alignment Coordinating Council (MACC), a 12-member group that has been meeting since 2008 to develop strategies to help the Church better organize its common life around the mission "to be and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8).
The Indianapolis gathering, informally known as the Equipping Congregations Consultation, took place from June 16-18 and was designed to broaden the conversation about mission alignment to include a broader group of ministry partners. To read more about the meeting, visit: www.disciples.org/
WHITE HOUSE TAPS DISCIPLES PREACHER FOR FELLOWSHIPS COMMISSION
Cynthia L. Hale, senior pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Decatur Ga., has been appointed to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships. Hale will serve on the commission along with such prominent citizens as former Sen. Thomas Daschle, special correspondent for NBC News Tom Brokaw, former NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark, and renowned artist Maya Lin.
The White House Fellowship is America's most prestigious program for leadership and public service, providing young individuals with experience at the highest levels of the federal government. The commission met in Washington, D.C. last week to recommend the 2009-2010 list of young men and women to the President for selection as fellows.
Hale has been involved with the Obama campaign and administration in a number of ways. She gave the invocation at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, read scripture at the National Prayer Service during the President's inauguration, and served as co-chair for Women in Ministry for Obama.
She will be the Wednesday, July 29 evening worship preacher at next month's General Assembly.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR RESOURCE GROUPS, LEARNING TRACKS AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Volunteers will be required to fulfill a three-hour commitment on the afternoon of either Thursday, July 30 or Friday July 31. To volunteer or get more information, contact Amelia Walker with the name of the session you have chosen to serve and the date you will attend, at: butterfly317@comcast.net or 317-507-7077. Volunteers are encouraged to help pass the word about this service opportunity at the Assembly. For more information about the 2009 General Assembly in Indianapolis, Ind., visit: www.disciples.org/ga
WoC at General Assembly
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Dear Friends,
Week of Compassion is celebrating 65 years of ministry at the 2009 General Assembly in Indianapolis!
The first official collection taken under the name Week of Compassion was February 20-27, 1944, with funds benefiting the Wartime Service Fund. In the intervening years, WoC has sent disaster and development aid to thousands upon thousands around the world, around the year.
We're looking forward to seeing many of you in July, and we have a great deal in store for those of you attending!
We are thrilled that Kathleen Norris will be the keynote speaker at the WoC dinner Friday evening, July 31, at the Marriott Hotel. "Kathleen is the award-winning poet, writer, and author of The New York Times bestsellers The Cloister Walk, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, and The Virgin of Bennington. Exploring the spiritual life, her work is at once intimate and historical, rich in poetry and meditations, brimming with exasperation and reverence, deeply grounded in both nature and spirit, sometimes funny, and often provocative."
We will also be honoring Johnny Wray for 16 phenomenal years of faithful service and dedication to Week of Compassion's ministry that evening. We hope you will join us as we celebrate and praise God for our ministry together! To make your reservation, go to www.weekofcompassion.org and click on “WoC at General Assembly”
There will be two opportunities to have copies of Kathleen's books signed on Friday, from 10:30-11:30 a.m. and again, from 1:00-2:00 p.m., in the WoC booth. A number of her books will be on sale in the Exhibit Hall bookstore.
Please be sure and stop by the WoC booth and visit with us, and also, with three of our valued partners who will be sharing the booth with us - Church World Service, Foods Resource Bank, and IMA World Health. There will be plenty of resources available and many opportunities for hands-on service presented. Stop by, and let's share new ideas for mission and outreach!
WoC is also sponsoring three exciting Resource Groups and co-sponsoring one of the Learning Tracks. For the full listing of WoC events at General Assembly and a description of the workshops and learning track, visit www.weekofcompassion.org.
For those of you not able to journey to Indianapolis, we will miss you. Please know that we rejoice in our ministry together. We count each and every one of you as our most valued partners as we reach out to the world in Christ's name through Week of Compassion.
Around the World, Around the Year: Where in the World Have We Responded This Week?
Disaster Responses:
Florida, long-term interfaith disaster recovery
Florida, flood recovery
Save the Date!
2009 School for Congregational Learning
August 29, 2009
Spirit
Past, Present, & Future
Valley Southwoods Freshman High School,
West Des Moines, Iowa
Inspiring Worship
Intuitive Keynote Speaker – Rev. Dr. Richard Hamm Executive Administrator, Christian Churches Together
Insightful Celebration
Invigorating Workshops (Including one led by Pastor Shane)
~Friday August 28th Kickoff~
6:00 PM Picnic ~West Des Moines Christian Church
Reenactment ~ Signing of the Declaration & Address
by Rev. John Bolen
Unbinding the Gospel Update
A few months back, the congregation voted to explore the Unbinding the Gospel process that Rev. Isaac and the Board laid out in a series of meetings and newsletter articles. The purpose was to encourage the congregation to learn together, understanding more deeply and courageously the topics of faith sharing and prayer. It’s an exciting idea, and we look forward to where God will lead us in that venture.
Since that vote, it has become clear that the timeline proposed to the church was a bit too ambitious, given current demands on people’s time and the plans we’d made already regarding this year of “Open-Armed Adventure.” So we’ve listened to people’s ideas and concerns, prayed for clearer discernment, and have come to a new conclusion about a more empowering ‘way forward.’
This Summer, beginning on July 12th, Rev. Isaac will lead an Adult Sunday School on the book Unbinding the Gospel. Through July and August, we invite people who are intrigued by the study to join us as we read and reflect together. This is similar to our previous proposal, but with two significant changes. 1) If you chose to join us this summer, we are not asking that you commit to leading another small group sometime in the future. We are still looking forward to a congregation-wide study of these resources (perhaps next Lent), but we’ve learned that some are hesitant about committing to leadership at this time. We don’t want that, however, to get in the way of your experiencing some good fruits, so come just prepared to learn and to share. 2) Because the timing of the study and our current situation, we feel it would be unwise to force a congregation-wide study before we’re ready. So we will not plan for a Fall E-vent, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going forward. Instead, we want to take a little more time for the ideas to sink in and work their way through the congregation, and be carefully attentive to the reality of who we are at this time. Look for further announcements as the process moves forward, in a more organic fashion.
So what do you think? Will you attend Summer School, and open yourself to learning more about your faith, and sharing that faith? Living in deeper intimacy with God through prayer? If you can’t make every session because of summer schedules, that’s just fine, don’t let that stop you. Because this could very well be an unforgettable summer adventure!
2009 Honeywell Concert Band Schedule
Jeremae Francis, Director
Jul. 26 – Sun. 7 PM – Centennial Lakes, 7701 France Ave. S, Edina, MN
Aug. 9 – Sun. 7 PM – Como Park Pavilion, St. Paul, MN
Aug. 11 – Tue. 7:30 PM – Lake Harriet Band Shell, 4135 W. Lake Harriet Pkwy, Minneapolis, MN
Pastor's Pen - Click here to read Pastor Shane's latest letter
