The Great River Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

July 30, 2010

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156^th Weekly Edition 2010 GRR CURRENTS

JOYS AND PRAYER CONCERNS

UPDATE and THANK YOU:

It has been almost two months since the tragic flood in Arkansas. Family members returned to the area last weekend and meet at the Pilgrim's Rest Missionary Baptist Church that had welcomed them and ministered to them following the flood. I was able to attend the funeral service for the Smith family at Kings Highway CC. The Pastor of Pilgrim's Rest, Rev. Grig Court participated. Rev. David Brice, Senior Pastor of Kings Highway, lead the service and the church was packed. It was a very moving service for everyone there.

I have known this family for several years and know how thankful they are for all of your prayers and support. Continue to pray for them as their journey of healing has just begun.

Rev. Michael Elmore.

From Barb: The regional office has received a Thank You card from the family for the many expressions of kindness, support, prayers and financial gifts that have come through the region.

NEWS and

EVENTS

From FCC Greater New Orleans: Word arrived regarding the filing of claims with BP. If you are affected, and need to file a claim, the link is:

http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9033791&contentId=7062345

Disciples Women. RETREAT Schedule.

AR Retreat August 6-8 at AR 4H Center, Ferndale

MS Retreat September 25-26 at Lake Tiak-O’Khata

LA Retreat October 2-3 at Tall Timbers

Registration forms can be downloaded from the Disciples Women’s page at www.grrcc.org.

From Jean Smith - MCMC, District IV. District IV of the MCMC is having a get together for MCMC District IV Youth on September 10-11! Additional information? Click here (this will take them to the flyer). Youth, please fill out the information sheet (this will be a link to the flyer) and return to me no later than August 10th if you plan to attend. If you can't make it to this event, please fill out the information sheet and send to us for future communications.

This will be the first of more gatherings to come that we have implemented to afford our youth an opportunity to get to know one another with more time allotted than is normal during our District IV meetings. Our prayer is that God will bless this venture and those that will follow.

REGIONAL ASSEMBLY:

MANY FACES OF MINISTRY – NOVEMBER 5-7, 2010 in McCOMB, MS

Download registration form

Download flyer

Keynoters: Johnny Wray, former director of Week of Compassion (Friday night) and Bob Shebeck director of Global Mission Partners from Division of Overseas Ministries (Saturday morning). Worship Sunday featuring Revs. Donald Dick and Barbara Jones.

Check your church office for registration forms.

Do you know any students headed to Louisiana State University (LSU) in the fall? First Christian Church of Baton Rouge, LA is the only Disciples church near LSU. We have a growing and vibrant Young Adult Disciples (YADS) group and would love to welcome any students or young people in the Baton Rouge area. If you know of anyone between the ages of 18 – 30 that will soon be living in the Baton Rouge area, especially LSU students, please pass on their name and email or phone number to Rev. Laura Phillips, Associate Minister of FCCBRLA (laura@fccbrla.org or 225-205-7169). FCC would love to welcome them to the Baton Rouge area and to our Young Adult Disciples (YADS) group!

Anyone living in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area and attending Southeastern Louisiana University or career people between ages 18-30, we would welcome them at First Christian Church in Hammond, 305 East Charles Street, Hammond LA 70401. We are the only FCC (DOC) in Hammond. Please send name, telephone number, email address to Rev. Bill Eubanks, 985-345-0374, email fcchammond@bellsouth.net. We would love to begin a college/career class.

Do you know a student headed off to the University of Arkansas? Get him or her connected to a Disciples church in the area. All of the following churches are less than a 25 minute drive from the U of A campus:

First Christian Church, 220 N College Ave, Fayetteville (479) 442-4674

Millwood Christian Church, 3450 W Pleasant Grove Rd, Rogers (479) 621-0021

First Christian Church, 905 S 13^th St, Rogers (479) 636-2230

First Christian Church, 807 SE 14th St, Bentonville (479) 273-2596

Waterway Christian Church, 4074 SW H Street, Bentonville, AR (479) 273-2596

Position Opening for Executive Director. Division of Homeland Ministries. The Executive Director of the Office of Disciples Women will be a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); and, as a woman who draws on a deep personal faith, she will articulate and exhibit a passion for women's ministries. She will be responsible for:

· the development of general planning for the life and ministry of women in congregations and regions of the CC (DOC) in the United States and Canada;

· related laity emphases and program;

· general program planning and implementation of Disciple Women's Ministries in the United States and Canada; and, the relating and representation of women to the priorities, mission and ministries of the CC (DOC).

Rev. Warren Lynn, Director of the Office of Search and Call of the CC (DOC), at the toll free number (888) 346-2631.

More complete details about this executive position opening, including job responsibilities and duties, can be found on line at: www.discipleshomemissions.org and clicking “about DHM.”

The Louisiana Behavioral Health Summit is hosted by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals/Office of Behavioral Health and local partners in the Gulf Coast Oil Spill impacted communities. This 1 day event is scheduled for Thursday, August 12th from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm at the St. Bernard Civic Center, 8245 West Judge Perez in Chalmette, Louisiana. This summit will focus on best practice service delivery models of mental health and addiction interventions to persons affected by the oil spill. The registration form and logistical details are attached for you to share. We look forward to your participation. Thank you, Cassandra Wilson, Program Manager, 225-342-3889.

Want to check your congregation’s giving? Disciples Mission Fund has a new look online! The link below will take you to Disciples Mission Fund's website to view Comparative reports of offerings. www.disciplesmissionfund.org.

The Association of Disciples Intentional Interim Ministers will be hosting The Intentional Interim Minister training the week of September 20th - September 24th at Christmount Christian Assembly. This training is being provided by the Interim Ministry Network, Inc. (www.imnedu.org) utilizing two Disciples trainers and is for those who have already completed the Fundamentals of Transitional Ministry training or its equivalent. Applicants must also apply through the IMN prior to attending. The registration cost, at a significant discount, includes lodging, meals and training fees and will be $1000 for ADIIM members and $1100 for Non-Members. (A $100 deposit will be requested to hold your place.) There are grants for up to $1000 available for Disciples Ordained Ministers through DHM.

For more information please contact James Cotten at pastorjamesc@gmail.com. To request an application packet please call the Ozarks Lakes Area Office at 417.865.0850.

Thanks to you and all of the other QA attendees, the 14th Quadrennial was an outstanding event! We wanted to share some statistics with you and also show you how generous Disciples Women have been.

QA Numbers:

1,887 registrants
648 first time attendees
8 every time attendees
76 husbands
40 Tweeners
44 states and 15 countries represented

$36,761.71 Total Offerings:

Blessing Box	$12,388.95
Week of Compassion / Women’s Empowerment Fund	$8,236.40
Bras for a Cause	$4,452.50
Triad Ladder of Hope	$4,377.80
Church World Service Hygiene Kits	$3,595.46
Human Trafficking Project	$1,537.50
International Disciples Womens Ministries	$1,442.50
Disciples Mission Fund	$320.70
Global Ministries	$285.00
Office of Disciples Women	$50.00
Just Women magazine	$25.00

Contributions:
Disciples Women not only gave from their checkbooks, they also gave time and effort!

Everyone was amazed at the resounding success of the Books & Purses collection where women donated over 5,000 books and 5,000 purses!
Women made, knitted or crocheted 250 blankets for Project Linus!
3,240 hygiene kits and 39 baby layettes were collected and sent to Church World Service
Over 60 units of blood was donated to the Red Cross
293 men, women, and Tweener Mission Trip volunteers

We look foward to seeing you in 2014 for the 15th Quadrennial Assembly. Stay tuned for details in your inbox!

STAFF UPDATES

From Barbara Jones: I am catching up on correspondence and projects in the office after a very busy June and July. MCMC was wonderful last week – and next weekend will be the AR Disciples Women Retreat, so I’m taking advantage of as much office time as I can. Many clergy and congregations in my prayers these days. I put together some pictures of Mom’s 80^th Birthday, our Reunion, and “the grandbaby’s” first get-together. I never seem to have pictures when I’m with people, so here they are!

From Rick Hamilton: This weekend I will be in Rogers at First Christian Church to celebrate the beginning of Ronny Nowell's Sabbatical and the inauguration of Johnie Sousa's internship ministry with the congregation.

From Michael Elmore: This past Sunday I worshiped with FCC McComb. The folks there are preparing for our Assembly I November 5-7, they have new carpet, painted, done work on the outside of their building and are making plans for a wonderful celebration. Hope all of you will make plan to be there.

Juliette Fowler Homes in Dallas is hosting a golf tournament on October 28, if you would like to sponsor a hole the cost is $250.00; fee for the tournament is $150.00 for individual or $500.00 for a foursome. This is to raise funds for their Memory Loss Unit. If interested or want more information please let me know. Michael@grrcc.org.

Search Committees I am currently supporting:

FCC Gulfport, MS

From Vance Moore: July is coming to an end and we’re getting ready for the “summer break” at Westside. We’ll start up again in September.

We continue to work with the Outreach Workshop. Let us know if you’re interested. We’ll begin with the workshops sometimes in August/September.

Search Committees I am currently supporting:

FCC Newport, AR

Community CC, Hardy, AR

Westside Mission: Hillside CC from Kansas adults and youth spent the week working on jobsites in Gentilly. Lots of hard work and fun!!

WHERE DID YOU SEE GOD TODAY?

From Sara Rozzell and Jesse Lane: Check out the youth page at www.grrcc.org.

Upcoming Youth Dates:

Summer Celebratn – 8/6-8, 2010

Fall Fandango – 10/15-17, 2010

MidWinter Mission – 1/14-17, 2011

Snoasis – 2/25-27, 2011

CYF Conference – 6/19-25, 2011

Discovery Camp – 6/25-26, 2011

JYF Camp – 6/26-29, 2011

ChiRho Camp – 6/29-7/3, 2011

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July 30, 2010