January/February 2012 Memo

January/February 2012 Brethren Church National Office
Memo

 
General Conference & Engage Conference
General Conference and Engage Conference will both take place on the campus of Ashland University in July of 2012.

The General Conference of the Brethren Church will begin on Wednesday, July 18 and will conclude on Sunday July 22.

The Engage Conference will begin on Monday July 16 and will conclude on Friday July 20.
Be sure to save these dates for both your pastors, delegates, leaders & youth.

A block of rooms has been reserved for the week of conference. Book your room early at the Holiday Inn & Suites for $89/night. Mention the Brethren Church Conference.

Statistical Reports
Statistical report information (and the confidential Pastor Salary Survey) was mailed to each church the last week of December. Please note that those surveys are due back in our office on February 6, 2012. For your convenience this report may be completed on our website.
http://brethrenchurch.wufoo.com/forms/2011-statistical-report/
Please contact Stan Gentle with any questions.

Pastor's Conferences
Pastor’s Conference will be in Phoenix AZ March 2-4, 2012. Please discuss as a leadership board how you can bless your pastor by sending both pastor and spouse to this retreat. More information can be found on our website.
/leadership/pastorspouse-retreat. Remember there are also 3, $100 scholarships available; please contact Tim Garner for more information.

Ministry Transitions
Pastor Peter Roussakis recently announced that his ministry at Burlington will draw to a close this summer. Others also recently entering a season of transition from their ministry contexts are: Billy Hesketh, Bill Shipman, Ted Showengerdt, Jayne WIlcox and Brian Moore. Please join in praying that the good fruit from each of their ministries will remain and flourish, and that God will guide their steps as they enter a new season of serving Him.

Pastor Todd Ruggles has accepted a role at Pleasant View Brethren (PA) as their Intentional Interim Pastor. Todd, Tracy and the boys are already settling into their new surroundings. Their new address is: 1125 Forest Ave Vandergrift PA 15690.

Rev. Alan & Cheryl Schmiedt continue to serve Masontown (PA) as their Intentional Interim Pastor. Please pray for these leaders in this very specific role, and the congregations as together they prepare for new ministry adventures.

Congregations currently or soon to be in pastoral transition are: Hammond Ave (IA), College Corner (IN), Milford (IN), New Paris (IN), Warsaw (IN), Elkhart (IN), Burlington (IN), Highland Park Community (PA), and St. James (MD).

Several of these congregations are in the process of discerning how their ministry lives are changing and how the Lord might be calling them into think and act in different ways as they move forward. Please pray for the leaders in those congregations as they seek guidance for the tasks they face, and for each person in those congregations as they navigate the waters of change.

Ministry Equipping Event
For those anywhere near Akron, Ohio, take a team of your leaders to the annual Ohio Christian Education Association (OCEA) Christian Ministries Conference and Workshops on March 15-16-17. Hosted at The Chapel in Akron, you can hear featured speakers and attend various workshops designed to enhance your area of ministry. There will be some familiar faces from Ashland Theological Seminary, and our own Church Mobilization team will be presenting a workshop titled "Do What Leaders Do" on Thursday evening. Visit ocea.org on the web for more details. 

Coaching
Those of you who have been through the Coach Certification training will soon be getting some updates and new opportunities to share and sharpen your skills.
Stay tuned! Thanks again to each of you who continue to walk with others in that important intentional relationship! If you're ready to get started as a coach, contact Gary Diehl for more information.

PEACE:::::and:::::PATIENCE --- The CONNECTION
[A short word study for us Church Leaders]
So often we need patience when things are not “going right,” or “going well,” or “going as planned,” or “with the desired results,” or “successfully,” or “?????.”
So, when I recently came across these peace-related comments, they got me to thinking some helpful thoughts:
[By Thomas Cullinan, a Benedictine Catholic Priest – in PEACEMAKING: Day by Day]
I think that “staying power” is a quality we need very badly and that very few people have. They seem to lack long-term courage, that creative patience – not the sort of patience that is basically a sort of apathy, but the sort of patience that knows how to go on and on until the end appears – to hang on to the vision until it is possible to be creative with it, and not to give up one’s vision just because things seem to be hopeless.
The New Testament writers had a special word for this -- “hypomene.” It meant “patient endurance,” the ability to be poised to do what needed doing even though all the going seemed to be against you – staying power – desperately needed – and very few people have it. ...And that staying power calls on deep spiritual resources, on a deep peace within ourselves.
So often I write you Church Leaders about peace activities and peace programs and peace events. In addition, there are many valuable resources and coming activities mentioned by others in every MEMO we receive. But perhaps not all of them end up “going well” at first.
That’s when we may need some of Father Cullinan’s New Testament “hypomene.” My Strong’s Concordance helped me locate several verses where such “patience” or “perseverance” are used, primarily by Apostle Paul. Look them up sometime: Romans 5:3,4; 8:25; 15:4,5 – II Corinthians 6:4, 12:12; Colossians 1:11; I Thessalonians 1:3; II Thessalonians 1:4; I Timothy 6:11; II Timothy 3:10; Titus 2:2; Hebrews 10:36; 12:1; and many in the Book of Revelation.
And then recall Father Cullinan’s reminder that such patience or perseverance are achieved by a deep peace within ourselves --- a significant aspect of all that Brethren Peace Initiative promotes. I trust that these thoughts might strengthen your ministries with more “staying power.” And at some future time, we’ll plan to share helpful ideas about developing that deep peace within ourselves.
Phil Lersch, Facilitator