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	Letter and Explanation
	Information Station – Q and A
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For more Disciples Network Gathering info, you can also check out: http://www.uppermidwestcc.org/2010/09/08/disciples-network-gathering-promotions/

Vision Task Group: Presented a vision and process to lead us to a new structure that fully reflects the energy and spirit of what we have been experiencing as “Disciples Together.”  This is possible now that our Line of Credit Debt is fully paid off.  Will be listening and presenting with groups throughout the region with hopes to bring a proposal to the February regional board meeting.

Budget Management Task Group: Reported the exciting news that the 192,000 line of credit has been paid off.  They continue to meet once a month with the task on continuing the responsible watch of our finances.

Camp Ministry: Registrations reach 1042 a decade high!  A.D.a.M (Art, Drama and Music a major success in its premier outing.

Youth Unit: UmwYC (Regional Youth Council) coming together and beginning planning for the High School Youth Assembly in November and Youth events at the Disciples Network Gathering in October.  Unit is also hosting the Youth Worker Interchange on September 10-11 with Mark Riddle.

Congregational Transformation: Sponsoring Clergy Sharing events in 8 different locations in the region in late October.

School for Congregational Learning: Shared that the event this year will be $10 less then last year, will move to West Des Moines Christian Church, has exciting practical workshops for all and will feature Jose Morales as the keynoter.  All takes place on August 28^th.

Commission on Ministry: Reported that they had a very productive meeting and continue to encourage and nurture people in and during ministry.

Ministers’ Institute: Planning the next gathering for January 24-26^th with the theme of “Coaching in Congregations” with Tom Clegg as the keynote speaker.

New Church Unit: Shared that the new church in Rochester continues to grow in strength and that many churches in the region have chosen to support through above and beyond giving.  Looking for new ways to use New Church funds to encourage congregations to explore new church ministries through a grant process.

Personnel Unit: Requested action to help modify the membership of the unit to make it more reflective of the diversity of the region particularly as it relates to age.  The board gave authority to the moderator of the board to appoint some additional members. This was requested as they begin to prepare to initiate a search for the next settled Regional Minister and President.

Property Unit: Working on plans to update and replace buildings at the conference center and continue with the sale of the regional church center.

Regional Assembly Presents: Disciples Network Gathering: Continue to work on plans for the gathering on October 9^th.  There will be no charge for the event and the food booths will be sponsored by congregations with money going back to local mission.  This will be an event that is a mix of a state fair and a family reunion with lots of fun for all.

Stewardship & Mission Interpretation: Preparing for final plans for the mission trip to Poland with another possible mission trip to Haiti being planned for next fall.

Event organizers write: “In sharing stories we hope to create an open and Spirit-led atmosphere where relationships, support, networking and ideas on congregational transformation can occur.  Throughout the day there will be singing, prayer, reflection, food, fellowship, encouragement, networking, and sharing of resources.”

When: Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Who: Upper Midwest Clergy
Where:

• Des Moines (Highland Park Christian Church)
• Please note: due to site availability, the Cedar Rapids location will change.
• Laurens, IA
• Muscatine, IA
• Ottumwa, IA (First Christian Church)
• Red Oak, IA
• Lakeville, MN (Spirit of Joy Christian Church)

Visit this page in coming months for registration forms.  Please direct any questions to Mary Jane Button-Harrison (maryjane@fccames.org).  The Congregational Transformation Task Group is creating and planning this event.

Pastor Gail Thiessen spent the months of January through March (2010) enjoying a sabbatical experience.  She rested (keeping true to the Biblical sabbath roots of sabbaticals) and she also went to the remotest place she could imagine that still spoke the English language: New Zealand.

Thiessen is the pastor of Central Christian Church in Marshalltown, IA.  While she tried to give shape to her “time away,” she took to heart the recent experiences of her congregation.  The church had spent the last 14 years trying to decide how to re-orient its way of life.  The church discerned that their mission, their calling in the community, even their worship space would be different.  They had completely turned around and renovated their sanctuary.  It was an 180-degree change.  And as the congregation’s leaders reflected on their recent mission trips, they realized that the trips involved caring for God’s creation.  They’d built wells; they’d helped sustainable agriculture.  They knew their calling was tightly woven with the calling to tend  human-to-human relationships and the human-to-creation relationship.

So Thiessen went exploring. Her question: “If my congregation is moving away from a dominion relationship with God’s creation to a ‘tending‘ relationship; and, if they’re wanting to avoid the polarizing effect that politics and religion have on their environmental stances, then I want to join them by asking ‘what’s possible?’”

Her answer sounds enormous: a change of heart.

Thiessen is not naive to the paralysis people feel when struggling with questions of how to care. “Changes of heart do not happen with logical or reasoned arguments.  It does little good to point fingers or to give all of the reasons supporting or denying global warming, environmental change, or the reasons to use CFL light bulbs.  Changes of heart happen with personal experience, and when people believe that change is possible, that it is good, and that it is bigger than themselves.”

Thiessen’s sabbatical journey was underwritten by the Lilly Foundation and was generously supported by her congregation.  Thiessen has already led the Central CC leaders in some reflections and shared experiences from her time in New Zealand.  ”The people who are the most excited about it are not the ones I expected.  They’re not the environmentalists.  The people with the most energy are the fence-riders, the ones are are committed to being stewards of God’s creation, but do not buy all of the political stances that have accompanied this conviction.”

Thiessen sounds like an evangelist, even though she’s the first to admit that it was her host culture in New Zealand who shared it with her.  The diverse, almost completely “unchurched” culture in New Zealand whole-heartedly lived a more conscious lifestyle.  ”They were aware that every decision they made would have some impact on their neighbor.  The human-to-human relationship intertwines with the human-to-creation relationship.”

Thiessen developed a nine-week small group curriculum as well as a “teaser” version for her upcoming workshop at School for Congregational Learning on August 28th.  She looks forward to seeing it offered in school groups, civic organizations, and in churches across the country.

Are you:

• not sure how you can fit into all of this?
• a “fence-sitter” who cares, but is skeptical of the political stances?
• afraid that any personal changes will be overwhelming or paralyzing?

If so, please attend the worship on August 28th

Ask Pastor Gail questions at pastor.gail@centraldoc.org

Registration PDF

Event Listing – Word File

Promotional Materials

3 on 3 Basketball Tournament

FCC Adel, Iowa:   Nile Kinnick Drive N & Rapids Street
(515) 993-4514

Entry fee: $40.00 per team
Deadline: August 11, 2010

Boys and Girls – grades 6-7, 8-9, 10-12
Adults – over 18, over 30

Tournament Time – 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Food booth, homemade ice cream, and pie also available

Other community entertainment and schedule:

• 8:00 Sweet Corn 5K Run
• 9:30-11:00 Parade
• Start serving Free Sweet Corn after Parade
• 11:00-1:00 Richie Lee- 50’s & 60’s Rock-n-Roll
• 1:00-2:00 Let’s Dance
• 2:00-2:30 Adel Tumbling Team
• 2:30-3:00 Adel Dance Club
• 3:00-4:00 Deborah’s School Of Dance
• 4:00-4:30 Curse of Hail (metal)
• 4:30-5:00 Stage DARK
• 5:00-7:30 Douglas Acres (country, southern rock, classic rock)
• 8:00-midnight Gimikk (rock cover band)

Author: Tony Thurston

Lisa and I just returned from our annual stint as Directors for JYF Camp #4 in Newton that ran from July 11—17. It was a Powerful, Rewarding, and Tiring experience again this year. Since 1998 we have directed this camp for 3rd thru 5th graders and we have enjoyed every minute of it. It seems that most of us who are involved with kids, either raising them or shepherding them, find that it isn’t very often that we get the opportunity to do “big picture” thinking with them. There just never seems to be enough time. We offer bits and pieces and snippets to them in our children’s sermons and Sunday School lessons and some short sit-downs with our children. But many times the kids are distracted and we’re lucky if we can just get one point across to them.

But church camp is different. While they are here the kids are removed from the T.V., PlayStations, and school activities, and they can focus and learn in a more leisure and fun atmosphere. At camp learning takes place through fun activities and relationships. This year we had 80 kids and 16 counselors together in a beautiful and fun camp setting. It was powerful and rewarding.

The theme for camp this year was “God is Bigger”, and we encouraged the kids to expand their concept of how they understand God. We based it on the old story about the six blind men who tried to describe an elephant that wandered into the village. One man felt a leg and said that and elephant was like a tree trunk. Another felt the nose and said an elephant was like a big snake. Another felt an ear and described an elephant like a large fan. And so on. The point of the story, of course, is that because the men could not see the whole elephant, they could not experience what an elephant was really like. Maybe if they sat down together and discussed their own experiences with the elephant, and combined them, they would have a more complete accounting of the creature called an elephant.

We all have our own experiences and descriptions of what we think God is like, and so do our children. But GOD IS BIGGER than all those human descriptions we have come up with to describe Him (Is God a “Him”?). At camp we tried to get the kids to think of God as a rock that we can build our life upon, a loving parent that we can listen and talk to, and a friend and companion that can walk with us through the green pastures and the dark valleys, and other ways we can look at and experience God.

Think about how you would describe your experiences with God, and talk to your kids about them. Maybe you might find that “GOD IS BIGGER,” and you will enlarge your understanding of God.

For 2010-2011 they include:

• Alex Nicoll (West Des Moines Christian Church)
• Cassandra Dietrich (First Christian Church – Keokuk)
• Jessica Sundstrom (Noelridge Christian Church)
• Kathleen Fox (Wakonda Christian Church)
• Alexis Miller (Central Christian Church – Waterloo)
• Kyra Fry (West Des Moines Christian Church)
• Lucas Nordyke (Runnells Christian Church)
• Leah Reeve (Runnells Christian Church)
• Amanda Wakelin (Davis Street Christian Church)
• Kelsey Edwards (Wakonda Christian Church)
• Mattie Schaffer (Noelridge Christian Church)
• Jacob Kingland (North English Christian Church)
• Allison Babberl (Wakonda Christian Church)
• Annie Brown (Howard Street Christian Church)
• Jordan Hagedon (Davis Street Christian Church)

We look forward to seeing their creativity and gifts for ministry at this year’s upcoming youth events.

Sanctuary in the Stories
**Telling stories of women throughout the Bible**
**Telling stories of women throughout our lives**

Women of all ages are invited to gather in a beautiful retreat setting to explore and experience ways in which extending a sense of sanctuary can be an intentional part of how we relate to each other, and to God’s world around us.

Cost: $100 – $150 (double occupancy)
Includes 2 nights lodging, program, 5 meals
Full & partial scholarships (at Retreat Center rate) are available through the Beth MacWhorter Fund.

* * *
Retreat Leader: Marti Stuessy
She is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and
MacAllister-Petticrew Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, where she has been teaching—and storytelling!—since 1988.

Retreat Chaplain: Deborah Lewis
Retreat Coordinators: Alison Phillips Robuck and Tammy Rottschaefer

	Retreat Flyer
	Retreat Flyer
	Registration Form
	Registration Form