JOYS and
PRAYER CONCERNS
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 Helen Senteney, DW Ministry, FCC Weiner, AR
had back surgery.
Brad Fountain & Family in Jackson, MS.
Sonny has had to continue chemotherapy treatments in his battle with
cancer. Our prayers are for his family: Margaret, Christ and Brad
and of course their church family—Covenant Christian Church in Byram, MS.
Joy Lancaster Greer Roberts, Sheridan AR,
passed away Saturday morning Sept 13.
Joy was a member of Parkview CC prior to moving back to Sheridan, AR. Joy was the first woman to be elected as
Moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) while Ken Teegarden was General Minister and President. Her obituary is located at http://tinyurl.com/2l3jt7. Her funeral will be at Memorial
Gardens funeral home in Sheridan on Tuesday
morning, 10am. Visitation is Monday
night, 6-8pm.
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NEWS
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On
September 21st, Rev. Steve Willis,
Pastor of Broadmoor CC in Shreveport,
LA was reviewed by the state board and
earned his license as a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Louisiana.
Arkansas Disciples Women Cabinet met on September 28-29 at the
Regional Office. This planning team reviewed their
events for 2007 and begin making plans for 2008.
The Arkansas State Fellowship met on Sunday, September 30, 2007 at Cross
Street Christian Church in Little
Rock, AR. The
Fellowship is comprised of all five African-American Disciples congregations
in Arkansas.
The President is Rev. Robert Palmer, Pastor of Cross Street CC.
Dedication
Service for Westside CC, New Orleans, LA
was held on October 7,
2007
Pulaski Heights Christian Church,
Little Rock, AR celebrated
their 80th Anniversary on Sunday Oct.7, 2007. Special guests
for the occasion were Betty Adams, daughter of Dr. Joe and Mary Hunter (first
pastor and wife) and Will Feland, Pastor of Sherwood Christian Church in Little Rock, AR.
Christian Church Foundation hosted its “Understanding Black
Philanthropy” conference in Greensboro,
NC on Oct. 8-10, 2007. The
conference offered insights into how African-American churches can provide a
legacy for their heirs and congregation through planned giving. The
speakers were Rev. Marilyn Fiddmont, Assistant Vice-President of Christian
Church Foundation and keynoter Rev. Dr. Frank Thomas of Mississippi Boulevard
Christian Church in Memphis,
TN.
Rev. Steve Wallace, Little Rock AR,
is the recipient of a grant to enable him to spend this program year
(9/1/07-8/31/08) serving our region as a consultant and resource
specialist. His hope is to create a ministry
of coaching and resourcing congregations beyond the
GRR after this year, and the grant allows him time to explore this new kind
of ministry and gives us another valuable resource for congregations, which
is in addition to our usual ministry with congregations. Look for a mailing from him and a link from
our webpage to his in the near future.
If you want to find out more call Steve Wallace at 501-217-9129 or
email at swallacegs@aol.com. You can also check out some of the
possibilities at www.wallaceresources.us.
Welcome
to Lonnie Graves, Program
Associate for the Office of Disciples Women in Indianapolis, IN.
Lonnie will be the guest of GRRCC this week. She will attend the retirement
celebration of Bettie Duhon at the LA Women’s Retreat this coming weekend—Oct
20-21, 2007.
Rev. Rebecca Frankford, Pastor of
FCC Searcy, AR is
the Director of “Jacob’s Place Homeless Mission, Inc.” This great
ministry is a collaborative effort of Pastor Frankford and other church
communities in Searcy, AR. The home is located at 300 E.
Market in Searcy AR. You can visit their website at www.jacobsplace.org.
Pastor Frankford’s email address is reba70@cablelynx.com.
Disciples Women New Day Curriculum and materials for
2008-2009 are now available. Download your order form now! (click
on link)
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EVENTS
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Disciples Institute is sponsoring a Grant Writing
class to be held on Oct.
20, 2007 at FCC in Searcy,
AR. Registration and
information is available through Disciples Institute. Brochure is attached.
Highland Christian Church, Bella Vista, AR will dedicate their new addition Sunday, Oct. 21.
First Christian Church, West
Memphis, AR hosted
their first Loyalty Banquet on Saturday October 13, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. at the
church. Vivian Bryant was the event keynoter. Rev. Dr. Jim
Mattson is the host pastor.
Louisiana Disciples Women’s
Retreat will be
October 20-21, 2007 at Tall Timbers Conference
Center in Woodworth, LA. Keynote speaker for the Louisiana Retreat
is Rev. Lucy Meier, former minister at FCC, Lake Charles. Registration forms and Pickering scholarship
application may be downloaded at www.grrcc.org.
There
will also be a Retirement Celebration
for Bettie Duhon, Disciples Women Coordinator for Louisiana
to be held during the DW LA retreat October 20-21, 2007 at Tall
Timbers Retreat
Center in Woodworth, LA.
Parkview CC in Little Rock, AR.
Rev. Steve Wallace will be our guest preacher on Sunday, November 4, 2007.
Pastor Dan Thornhill and his wife, Deborah, will be in Bedford, Texas to
celebrate their grandson's (Brennan) first birthday. On Sunday morning, November 11, 2007, Kathy
Sanders, who lost her only two grandchildren, Chase and Colton Smith, in the
1995 Oklahoma City
bombing, will share her struggle to overcome grief and her faith in God.
The Office of
Disciples Women
is sponsoring the first ever Women’s Blitz Build. Partnering with the
Office of Disciples Volunteering and Habitat for Humanity the women of CCDOC
will help build a house in Beaumont
Texas. Click here for Flyer
and application.
The dates for this event are January
20-24, 2008 in Beaumont,
TX. The event is open to
any woman interested in attending.
Disciples
Men Retreat is
being planned for January
25-26, 2008 at Duncan
Gray Conference
Center, more
information later. Also, the SESSIONS 2008 brochure can be downloaded.
SESSIONS 2008.
Disciples Men…don’t forget
to plan now for next year’s SESSIONS 2008 event
to be held July 17-20,
2008 in Oklahoma City,
OK. Our General Minister
and President, Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, Rev. Dr. Rick Lowery, Mark Briley and Rev. Bill Lee will be the featured
speakers. What a wonderful Christmas/birthday gift for the man in your
life. There is also a discounted registration fee for young adult men.
INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS SEMINAR: Now is the time to begin fundraising for IAS 2008. The
weeklong trip to Washington D.C.
and New York City
will take place March 15-22 and will cost approximately $1500. The trip
is open to High School Juniors and Seniors and is a powerful way to help
older teenagers connect their faith with major issues in the world. If
you are interested, know of a youth who should attend, need fundraising ideas
or would like more information, please contact IAS Director Ronny Nowell (ronny@arkansas.net) or visit the
website: www.iasdisciples.com
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STAFF UPDATES
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From
Barbara Jones: It’s been a kind of wild last few
weeks. I’m off this weekend and am
grateful for the brief break. I’ve
worked with both congregations in Hot Springs, been to Shreveport to deal
with property issues there four times, and have been to Rogers, Bentonville,
and Fort Smith since I last “reported in”!
I’ll be officiating at Joy Robert’s funeral service Tuesday morning in
Sheridan, and
join the LA Disciples Women in their retreat and celebration of Bettie Duhon’s retirement next weekend.
From
Vivian Bryant: I
would like to thank God and the Mississippi Women for our Retreat held at Duncan Gray
Retreat Center
in Canton, MS. My prayers were certainly
answered with the events, the fellowship and the
sharing that took place at this event. It was good to see
everyone! Thank you for your patience as well as your candor as we
together plan and implement this great ministry. Blessings to all of
you!
Sunday I
preached at St. Elmo Christian Church in Hermanville, MS where Rev. Percy Terrell Sr. is the
Pastor.
I was so
blessed to be able to attend Christian Church Foundation’s “Black
Philanthropy Conference” held in Greensboro,
North Carolina this past
week. Rev. Marilyn Fiddmont, Assistant Vice President of Christian
Church Foundation and Rev. Dr. Frank Thomas, Pastor of Mississippi Blvd
Christian Church inspired us with ideas and resources for how to challenge
all of our churches to become good stewards of our gifts and talents through
planning giving, estate planning and sound financial planning
throughout life. Gary Kidwell, President of Christian Church Foundation also
presented sessions on making wise investments, We were advised by Jim Cullumber, Vice-President of Communication for of
Christian Church foundation and Randy Johnson, Vice-President for Christian
Church Foundation. I can hardly wait to share with our congregations the
challenge of becoming a philanthropic church. It was time for reflection,
introspection, rededication and recommitment to serve God with our
gifts. This event was truly spiritually inspiring and uplifting while
transformational in walking into the next level of what God would have us to
do. This workshop would benefit everyone one of our congregations! This
one is a “must attend” whenever it is offered again!!
From
Michael Elmore: I enjoyed a couple of weeks of vacation and
I am back at work again. Last Sunday I
was at Westside CC for the dedication of their sanctuary. It was a wonderful time. Rev. Vance Moore is
Pastor. This Sunday I will be
preaching at FCC Gulfport, Rev. Nic Nickerson is Pastor.
From
Lara Blackwood Pickrel: October 6-7 was the GRR's Fall Fandango event for Chi Rho
aged youth. We had a group of seventy-nine youth and adults who came
together to worship, play, pray, and study ways to bear good fruit in the
world! This event took place at Camp Couchdale
and involved a significant amount of travel for many of our participants.
Opportunity For Ministry-Minded Youth. If
you have high school youth in your congregations who are interested in
serving the church through ordained ministry (or youth who show gifts and graces
that might lead them to ordained ministry), please encourage them to attend
TRANSY & TEAM (T.otally E.xcited
A.bout M.inistry) at
Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. This weekend event will
take place November 9-11 and, aside from transportation, is completely
FREE!! General Minister and President Sharon E. Watkins will keynote
the event. For more information, please call 1-800-487-2679.
Rick
Hamilton is on
Sabbatical through October.
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