From Monday through Friday, April 2-6 men from churches in the Cameron area will gather each morning to observe Holy Week.  The event is an annual tradition that has been observed for many years.  First Christian Church, 318 N. Pine will serve as this year’s host site.  The daily schedule will remain the same as in past years. At 6:15 AM the church doors will be open and coffee ready.  >From 6:30-7 AM breakfast will be served, and from 7-7:30 AM the group will worship.  At 7:30 AM everyone should headed for their daily tasks.  On most mornings a continental style breakfast will be served. Wednesday, April 4 is the exception.  On that morning the men of First Christian will provide a hot breakfast.  Friday will be family day.  The men of our area, young and old, are cordially invited to join us!

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HELP FOR EVANGELISM TEAM

New Equipping Resources For Congregational Leaders:

RESOURCE FOR IMAGES IN WORSHIP

Please let us know if you use this service.  We'd like to post your observations on the web.  While you are at it, take part in the chatting going on among us at: http://www.nwareacc.org/new/new_v2/mission_resources/chat_rooms/contemp_worship.html .  It's free and easy to exchange ideas, ask questions, and contribute to the common work of helping worship to become an occasion for experiencing and honoring God.

Living in a fairly monochromatic part of Missouri , it is easy to think that racism is something we never deal with.  Having taken the training described above while serving in Arkansas , I can tell you that my eyes were opened to some subtle cultural indoctrinations and misunderstandings that make relations with people of other cultures more difficult than they have to be.  Click on the .gif to learn about an upcoming offering from MSR – BRH 

   ST. PAUL’S SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

The Emergent Church

April 11, 2007

11 a.m. in the Chapel

Wallace Chappell Lecture: Brian McLaren

Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, pastor, and networker among innovative Christian leaders, thinkers, and activists.

He is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs. He has appeared on many broadcasts including Larry King Live, Religion and Ethics

McLaren has been active in networking and mentoring church planters and pastors since the mid 1980's, and has assisted in the development of several new churches.

The Wallace Chappell Lecture is paid for by the Foundation for Evangelism and is free and open to the public.

Contact:

Audrey Williams

Coordinator of Lilly Grant Programs

816 245-4815

awilliams@spst.edu

Saint Paul School of Theology

5123 East Truman Road

Kansas City, Missouri 64127

Our keynote speakers will be Zane Whorton and Nathan Brooks who will share our theme of “Disciple Spirit” with the youth who attend.  We will also have Barb Jones, Executive Regional Minister for the Great River Region attending to share with our campers about the destruction of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina and how the DOC churches pulled together to assist the communities and congregations impacted by these storms.  As always there will be workshops, family groups, singing, worship and lots of fun as we build relationships with other youth in the Mid-America Region.

Any questions e-mail me or give me a call, 573-442-0336. 

The NW Area Beta-website is up and running, although it will be significantly expanded over the weekend.  Our aim is to accommodate a shift in web use from an electronic newsletter to a resource and communication hub for congregations that are gearing up for a fresh start or for a significant increase in local mission and witness.

Brian Bullock has added several features including a blog and several forums for posting questions and helpful suggestions about nearly every aspect of congregational mission.  We are adding to the on-line resource links all the time at your suggestion.  Once the site is working well for you, we'll begin to get it to show up sooner on web searches so that more Christ-followers of any denomination can benefit from and give to our shared work with Christ.

The current site will continue to run for the next month or so.  http://www.nwareacc.org 
 
We really want your input to make the site as useful to you and your congregation as possible.  To check out the work thus far, please go to: http://www.nwareacc.org/new/new_v2/index.html   

Northwest Area - Boundaries Training
Friday, April 20, 2007
Cost:  $45 (includes lunch)

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 
First Christian Church, Cameron

Creating healthy pastoral relationships is essential to ministry. While maintaining healthy boundaries with parishioners and others is only one aspect of these relationships, it is often the area that creates the most potential for transformation, but also for abuse. These workshops will focus on the creation of healthy relationships by examining the importance of pastoral boundaries.

A flyer/registration form is attached.  For more inforamation or to register by phone contact:

Saturday, March 31, 2007 10 a.m – 2:30 p.m. at the Cameron First Christian Church.  Lunch will be served.  All Counselors please plan to attend this training.  If you have not yet signed up as a counselor and would like to please contact the area office (816)632-2237 or nwareacc@nwareacc.org. 

Camp registration packets were mailed in January along with a color poster.  Dates are:

123 Go #1                  July 2 – July 4 (must have completed Grades K-2)

123 G0 #2                  July 11 – July 13 (must have completed Grades K-2)

Junior Camp I            July 6 – July 10 (must have completed Grades 3-5)

Junior Camp II            July 14 - July 18 (must have completed Grades 3-5)

Chi Rho I                    July 19 - July 23 (must have completed Grades 6-8)

Chi Rho I                    July 24 - July 28 (must have completed Grades 6-8)

CYF                            June 26 – July 1 (must have completed grades 9-12)

Plan to register early as we are expecting full camps again this year.

Wanda Mitchell lived in her small family home in Port Arthur , TX , all her life - until Hurricane Rita struck. Wanda is 47 years old and has 3 children, ages 21, 16 and 14. Wanda has been fighting cancer for four years. There have been periods of remission, but the cancer has returned.

Wanda and her children were forced from their home after Rita badly damaged her roof, and the house was flooded with hurricane-driven rain. The roof, ceiling, walls, hardwood floors, carpet, furniture, clothes, and all of the family's belongings were wet, moldy, and trashed. The house - her family home - was in ruins. Then came the churches - Disciples, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and others. After several months, the house now has a new roof and a new interior, but Wanda still can’t come home. With her health concerns and without a job, and having to pay rent where she and her family are now staying, she doesn’t have the money to get the gas, electricity, water, and telephone hooked up so they can move back into their home. She has a caseworker who is trying to get the money for them to move back in, and I pray it will be soon.

Wanda is only one of thousands who have lost their homes and have not been able to return. There are many blue FEMA tarps still on top of damaged roofs, and they have shredded, as it has been well over a year since the hurricane. The houses get wet inside every time it rains. There are volunteers from North Carolina , Kentucky , and Tennessee down here this week. For some, this is their third trip to work on the Gulf Coast and we are getting to be old friends. These are the best of the best, giving weeks of their lives to come down and do hard work to help people they have never seen before. This is “loving your neighbor as yourself.” I thank everyone who has come and encourage anyone who has not to please start planning a mission trip now, as there are thousands of stories like Wanda’s. If you can’t come and work, please pray for us, for the work we are doing, and for the people still homeless on the gulf coast.

This is a good thing we are doing - come join us.

- Mike Lee, Mission Station Manager, Port Arthur , TX

This month is also the Week of Compassion Habitat for Humanity Build in Nashville . We are building a home for Arthur and JoAnn Foley. For the past eighteen months they have had to rely on the kindness of strangers more than they ever could have imagined. Like many others, the Foleys lost everything due to the flooding that occurred at their New Orleans home following Hurricane Katrina. The Foleys were at home preparing to evacuate New Orleans as the storm approached. Arthur, who worked at the New Orleans Transit Authority, was called into work. JoAnn and her family left with a few things and headed north. On the third day after Hurricane Katrina hit, Arthur was ordered to evacuate in a boat. For six days, Arthur and JoAnn were unable to communicate with each other and ended up in two different cities.

They were finally reunited in Texas , where they met Frank Davis, a stranger, who helped them get settled into an apartment and even purchased some essential furnishings for them with no obligation to pay him back. A few weeks later Arthur returned to New Orleans to finish his 30th year with New Orleans Transit Authority and retire. During this time JoAnn remained in Texas because their home in New Orleans was in total disrepair. Arthur lived in a very small FEMA trailer. JoAnn would come and visit on the weekends to “keep him from losing faith.”

Arthur and JoAnn moved to Nashville after hearing that FEMA housing was available. They now live in a house in Antioch and are permitted to remain there until the end of April. Shortly after their move to Nashville , they began attending church where they began making friends. One of those new friends referred them to Woodbine Community Agency, who, in turn, referred them to Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity.

The Foleys are so grateful for the opportunity to begin building their lives again “after eighteen months on the go,” says JoAnn. She gets teary-eyed when she thinks about all of the people who have helped them along their journey. Arthur is giving back by volunteering at the New Haven Homeless Shelter. JoAnn is baby sitting her two grandchildren as her daughter also starts over in Nashville . Both Mr. and Mrs. Foley look forward to spending quiet time together and finally just relaxing.

- Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity

Click below for the latest additions to the WOC interactive map/poster. For a complimentary copy of the WOC map/poster for your congregation, call the office at 317.713.2442 or send an e-mail to ecleveland@woc.disciples.org.