Communiqué 343 – July 21, 2010

From Ronald Williams, Bishop’s Round-up for Hunger Committee vice chairperson:

Health kits being assembled for the Bishop’s Round-Up should include toothpaste.

Recently, there were some calls for health kits with no toothpaste in them but to add money for the toothpaste. This has caused some confusion.
For the round-up and other Kansas East Conference calls for health kits that are not going to Sager-Brown, we are asking that toothpaste be included in the health kits.

Also remember that the critical item for this and every year’s round-up is food.

There are 15 or more food banks that depend upon the Round-Up for Hunger for food supplies, including Ogden Friendship House of Hope, Wesley House and Amistad y Fe.

News

‘Facebook farewells’
Thousands of United Methodist churches are saying goodbye to leaders they have come to love and depend on and welcoming new pastors—it is the United Methodist way.
As the season of itineration progresses, a growing number of pastors will need to find a way to disconnect in cyberspace.

Find out more at http://www.interpretermagazine.org/interior.asp?ptid=43&mid=14259.

‘On being re-wired’
Rev. Larry Hollon has resisted the idea that people are being “re-wired” by new media.

“I was skeptical about the claim that superficial media could actually change the way our brains work. I'm less sure today,” Hollon writes.

“Recently, while doing a search online for articles about social media and their effects on human communities, it occurred to me that the act of searching online is a different way of thinking about research.”

Read more at http://churchcultureandmedia.blogspot.com/2010/06/on-being-re-wired.html.

NCC’s EcuLink tabloid returns
EcuLink, the National Council of Churches’ award-winning tabloid that has been on hiatus since 2006, has re-emerged in electronic form. EcuLink was launched in 1985.

The mission of the newsletter, which was reformatted as a tabloid in 2000, was to report the wide-ranging ministries of the 36 communions that compose the National Council of Churches.

You can read the ecumenical publication at http://eculink.org.

Featured events

Episcopal area transition listening events
There will be a series of listening events to give people an opportunity to share their thoughts on the upcoming transition to a Nebraska-Kansas Area under one bishop. The listening events in the Kansas East Conference will be:

• July 24 at Manhattan First UMC, Flint Hills District
• Aug. 28 at Topeka Countryside UMC, Topeka District
• Aug. 28 at Parsons Wesley UMC, Parsons District
• Sept. 18 at Shawnee UMC, Kansas City District
• Sept. 18 at Ottawa First UMC, Five Rivers District

For more information, see the event descriptions on the conference calendar at www.kansaseast.org/calendar.asp or contact your district superintendent’s office.

Safe and Sacred Space training, July 29 & 30
There will be Safe and Sacred Space training:

• July 29 at Leawood UMC
• July 31 at Topeka Lowman UMC

For more information, see the event descriptions on the conference calendar at www.kansaseast.org/calendar.asp.

Mission and fellowship event for young adults, July 31
The Young Adult Council on Ministries will host a mission and fellowship in Ottawa Saturday, July 31. Mission projects will include working with the developing homeless shelter, Habitat for Humanity and the Ottawa schools.

Free childcare will be provided, as well as free barbeque and live music by the band, Cloverton, in the evening.

Registration begins at 1 p.m. at Ottawa Trinity UMC.

Find out more at http://www.kansaseast.org/events/detail/3337.

Or register on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123141921061467&ref=ts.

Removing Barriers of Race, Gender and Culture, Aug. 8
Prepare your church for creating a new vision for living into the diversity of God’s kingdom. Plan to attend sensitivity awareness and training for clergy, staff-parish relations committee members and other lay leadership Aug. 8 at Ottawa First UMC.

The registration deadline is July 30.

For an informational registration form, go to http://www.kansaseast.org/events/detail/3355.

Renewing Our Preaching, Renewing Ourselves, Nov. 7-8
The registration deadline for the pastors’ retreat, Renewing Our Preaching, Renewing Ourselves, is July 31.

The event will be Nov. 7-8 at the Tall Oaks Retreat Center in Linwood, Kan., and will feature workshops led by Dr. Mike Graves, professor of Preaching and Director of Continuing Education at Saint Paul School of Theology.

Get more information and a registration flier at http://www.kansaseast.org/events/detail/3343.

Visit the conference calendar at www.kansaseast.org/calendar.asp for additional events.