Saturday, July 12
Feature

[Highlights | Business | Photo | Worship]

Cristian Aquino Encarnacion, a pastor from the Dominican Republic, greets the General Board meeting. Photo by Ken Wenger

A Food Drive benefiting the Central Virginia Food Bank, is part of the Service Blitz planned by the 300th Anniversary Committee. Photo by Regina Roberts

Volunteers who took part in the Service Blitz today worked at the Black History Museum. Photo by Regina Roberts

Service Blitz volunteers enjoy working with items at the Black History Museum. Photo by Regina Roberts

Guests from Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) chat with a member of the General Board staff: (from left) Jinatu Wamdeo, EYN general secretary, EYN president Filibus Gwama, and R. Jan Thompson, interim executive of the Global Mission Partnerships. Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford

SERVICE BLITZ SHARES BRETHREN CARE FOR RICHMOND
A “Service Blitz” of volunteer work intended to share Brethren care for the city of Richmond began today and will continue with more work groups on Monday, July 14. The service work is sponsored by the 300th Anniversary Committee, as a way to reach out to the community during the 2008 Annual Conference.

“In honor of our anniversary and ‘for the glory of God and our neighbor’s good,’ we want to shower the community of Richmond with acts of service that they might ‘know we are Christians by our love,’” said a statement from the committee.

Today two groups of volunteers worked at the Black History Museum and the Central Virginia Food Bank, which also is the recipient of a food drive at the Conference. On Monday the volunteer groups will include adults who have signed up for the service projects, as well as the youth group and the older children’s groups at the Conference.

All three groups of youth and children will be doing outdoor clean-up projects in two neighborhoods and one park close to the Greater Richmond Convention Center where the Conference is taking place.

The work locations on Monday include the Fairfield Court Elementary School, a low-income public housing community that boasts the highest rated elementary school in the city based on testing scores, according to the local coordinator for the Service Blitz. Volunteer work crews there will do clean-up work coordinated with the elementary school, including school grounds and some of the surrounding community.

Another work site on Monday will be the former Whitcomb Court Elementary, a low-income public housing community whose elementary school was closed two years ago and whose children now attend Fairfield Court Elementary. The local coordinator reported that the building has been mostly vacant, but is going to be rehabilitated into “a nonprofit organization incubator.” Clean-up work there will be coordinated with the local community and will include school grounds and some of the surrounding community.

The youth will work on clean-up at Belle Isle in the James River, which runs through Richmond. Belle Isle is a historic location, home to a Civil War-era Confederate prisoner of war camp for Union soldiers, and a popular spot for enjoying the river. “Unfortunately, some people enjoy things a little too much,” said the local coordinator for the work projects. “We will attempt to have a major clean up of the island.”

Work projects on Monday also will continue at the Central Virginia Food Bank and the Black History Museum, as well as other locations yet to be arranged.

INTERNATIONAL GUESTS ATTEND THE 300th ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE
Several international guests are attending the 300th Anniversary Conference of the Brethren, representing other Brethren bodies from around the world.

Official guests of the Church of the Brethren are:

-- Filibus Gwama, president of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN-- the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), and Jinatu Wamdeo, EYN general secretary;

-- Marcos and Suely Inhauser, national directors of Igreja da Irmandade (Church of the Brethren) in Brazil;

-- Cristian Aquino Encarnacion, a pastor from Iglesia de los Hermanos (Church of the Brethren) in the Dominican Republic; and

-- Ludovic St. Fleur, coordinator of the Church of the Brethren’s mission in Haiti, and pastor of Eglise des Freres Haitiens in Miami and the Orlando (Fla.) Haitian Fellowship.

Also at the Conference is a group of EYN members representing the Brethren Evangelism Support Trust (BEST), an organization of Nigerian business leaders who work to impact communities for Christ through their local churches. The group’s visit to the United States and the Conference is sponsored by Atlantic Northeast District, and Virlina District churches also will help host them during their time in Virginia. Paul Steiner and Monroe Good are the coordinators for the group during their time in the US.

The BEST group includes 32 Nigerians who flew from Abuja, Nigeria, yesterday to Dulles International Airport, arriving at Annual Conference this afternoon, according to a report from Earl K. Ziegler who is helping coordinate their time at Conference. The BEST group will be guests of the Brethren World Missions breakfast on July 15, where the speaker will be David Garnuwa, BEST president.

Conference-goers also are encouraged to help host Nigerian brothers and sisters as guests for meals during the Conference, both for hospitality and educational purposes. The Nigerian group will congregate at the back of the Coliseum following main sessions in order to make meal arrangements.

‘COUNT WELL THE COST’ PICTURE PROJECT SPONSORED BY BMC
The Brethren Mennonite Council for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Interests (BMC) is sponsoring a picture project at the 300th Anniversary Conference titled “Count Well the Cost of Exclusion."

The organization has invited supporters in the Church of the Brethren to submit pictures of those who have left the church, and those “who remain yet struggle,” said BMC director Carol Wise. “We also included some non-lgbt allies who have either already left the church because of its exclusive practices, are just barely hanging on, or who daily struggle to remain a part of the church and wanted to express their solidarity.”

The project received more than 80 photos, and has invited supporters to carry one of the photos while at the Conference. The project hopes to make visible “the presence of Church of the Brethren lgbt people, our families, and allies,” and to encourage conversation, Wise said.

The organization plans to display the whole group of photos at a silent witness on Tuesday evening, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. outside the Richmond Coliseum.