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June 1^st, 2007	20^th  Weekly Edition                                                      2007 GRR CURRENTS
PRAYER CONCERNS	Jeannie Moore, wife of Rev. Vance Moore was readmitted to Hospice this week. Cards can be sent to PO Box 740423, New Orleans LA 70174. DisciplesWorld may not make it through the summer. Click here for details and what you can do to help. The GRR camping program is beginning as interns begin their work at the regional office. Please pray for spiritual growth and physical well-being for all of our volunteers, campers and staff this summer!
EVENTS	Pulaski Heights Christian Church, Little Rock, AR, is hosting an Adult Spelling Bee on June 16. Click here for the flyer, and if you are in central Arkansas, send a team! =============================================================== There will be a house dedication and blessing of the campus of Westside Christian Church in New Orleans, LA on June 14 at 1pm. =============================================================== SUMMER CAMP AND CONFERENCE (click for details)  Completed K thru 2 — Discovery Camp June 16-17 at Camp Couchdale in Hot Springs, AR (For Discovery Camp, all churches are required to send adult sponsors with campers.  If a church sends both male & female Discovery Campers, both male and female adult sponsors are required.) Completed 3 thru 5 — Junior Youth Fellowship (JYF) Camp June 17-20 at Camp Couchdale in Hot Springs, AR Completed 6 thru 8 — Chi-Rho Camp  June 20-24 at Camp Couchdale in Hot Springs, AR  Completed 9^thGrade – F.I.S2H. Camp  (Fundamental Intro to Spiritual & Sexual Health) F.I.S2H. Camp June 24-30 at Camp Couchdale in Hot Springs, AR Completed 10 thru 12 — Christian Youth Fellowship (CYF) Conference July 1-7 at Camp Couchdale in Hot Springs, AR ALL AGES - Magnolia Conference  June 25-30 at Roosevelt State Park in Morton, MS =============================================================== WOMEN’S RETREATS: The Great River Region is now accepting registrations for Fall Retreats.  The registration form is available here, as is an application for the Pickering Scholarship Fund. PLEASE NOTE DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATIONS. NEW 07 This year's NEW will be a joint venture of the NEA, The Columbia Partnership and the New Church Ministry Team of Church Extension.  It has some top-notch speakers and presenters in three tracks...church growth, coaching, and new church establishment.  Dick Hamm is the coordinator for the event as the President of The Columbia Partnership. The website www.new07.org is the best place for registration information. GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2007 Share the Feast:  Dear Friends, I am writing to invite your congregation to be a part of General Assembly in a unique way.  I hope you have already heard about this - if not – Attached is a letter from the group organizing the Chapel for General Assembly.  They have come up with a great way for every Disciple congregation to be 'present' at Assembly, even if you can't physically come.  I know you get a lot of mail about Assembly - and I hope you will take time to read this and send a chalice.  It is another means for us to connect as part of the Body of Christ and the CC(DoC). Thanks for your attention - I hope you can come to Assembly and send a Chalice. Please share this with any congregation - the more that participate – the more we have to share.  Peace, Dottie Cook General Assembly Bible Study: This is the link to the GA Bible Study and I am hearing lots of good comments about it. www.disciples.org/ga/biblestudy
NEWS	A reminder to congregations who send their Disciples Mission Fund checks to Little Rock first: Please make sure your DMF checks are made out to Great River Region and not CFC. Thank you so much for your cooperation. Chaplaincy Positions in Mississippi Just FYI - We have several positions for clinically trained chaplains (4 units of CPE) now open in Mississippi - in the Jackson area, in Hattiesburg, and in Gulfport.  Descriptions and contact info are on our website - www.mschaplains.org Most of these are newly created or re-created positions. There are several very good chaplain candidates looking at coming to Mississippi, but I want to make sure that the info reaches any qualified Disciple folks who might be interested. Thanks, Jeffery Murphy General Youth Council: Click here for a flier to promote the need for new members of the General Youth Council.  The applications are due July 1, 2007.  The candidates will be elected at General Assembly in Fort Worth, TX.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact Tod Iseminger at tiseming@dhm.disciples.org
STAFF UPDATES	From Barbara Jones: I’ve been in the office most of the week and the summer interns arrived today. Lara, Wendy and I are working through orientation with them and next week they will be working hard to prepare for camp. From Vivian Bryant:  Vacation From Rick Hamilton:  Last week I preached at First Christian Church in Little Rock. Sunday I will be at FCC Ozark, Arkansas. I have spent the short week in preparation for Discovery camp, and meeting with Bobby Hawley of the Christian Church Foundation. Search Committees I am working with:  Berryville First Jackson First Little Rock First Ozark First West Point First  All inquiries should be directed to me in confidence: rick@grrcc.org From Michael Elmore: FCC BATON ROUGE has hired Andrew Packman to Work as Ministerial Assistant. As such, he will work with the Senior Minister, Rev. Michael Karunas, to develop and implement programming including (but not limited to) youth Sunday School, Sunday Night Youth Group, Children’s Church and college-aged youth. Andrew recently graduated from Loyola University in Chicago and is a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He received his BA in History with minors in Theology and Philosophy. His future plans include seminary, ordination and congregational ministry.  Southern District Ministry Committee met this week at FCC Slidell, Frank Johnson, Chair. Southern District Ministers will hold a lunch meeting on June 12th at the counseling office of Rev. Dr. Steve Thompson in Hammond, LA. I will be preaching at FCC Lake Charles this Sunday. Search Committees I am working with: FCC Lake Charles and FCC Sulphur From Lara Blackwood: Currently we have over 260 registrations turned in for the 2007 Camp and Conference season!!  Please note that although the deadline has passed, you can still register children/youth for camp. If you have any questions or a special situation that needs to be addressed, please do not hesitate to contact me at lara@grrcc.org or the regional office. Finally, it is not too early to begin thinking about International Affairs Seminar 2008.  If you have a youth who will be in 11th or 12th grade next year and you think they would benefit from this amazing experience, encourage them to begin fundraising now.  IAS will occur in March and will cost roughly $1500 per youth.  Exact dates and costs will be announced at a later date.