• Prayer Concerns

• Year Book Reports

• Invitation from Gower Church

• Area Board Meeting

• Spring Women’s Retreat

• NW Area Women’s Spring Assembly

• Randy Shannon Ordination

• World Convention needs volunteers

• Camp Dates

• Calendar of Events

• Week of Compassion Update

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 PRAYER CONCERNS

 Many of you will remember Victor and Violet Vaca, a missionary couple from Ecuador who traveled through Missouri , including the Northwest Area when they were on leave several years ago.  Violet became ill and was taken to the hospital where she passed away Wednesday evening.  Sandi Mull visited with this couple while she was in Ecuador . 

 Victor wrote:  Amid the pain of losing the most beautiful and precious thing that God gave me is the joy of knowing that she fulfilled important missions and services for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. She did important work in education with, students, believers in communities, and human development, especially with Indians and peasants in Ecuador and Paraguay . Thanks for the Disciples and UCC for the opportunity and support for our mission work.

 Please keep Victor in your prayers.  He may be emailed at fedicecuador@hotmail.com

 Please continue to pray for Willis Logston, retired pastor.   After spending several weeks in ICU with pneumonia, he has been released from the hospital and is now recuperating at home.

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 YEAR BOOK REPORTS

 Many of the churches have already sent their Year Book Reports in and we really appreciate your help.  However, there are still some reports that we have not received.  Please take the time to fill out the reports completely and return them to the area office as soon as possible. 

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 INVITATION:

 Please join us for the dedication celebration

Of

Antioch Fellowship Center

 Sunday, March 9, 2008

At 2:00 p.m.

Gower Christian church

203 S. 3rd St.

Gower, Missouri

Reception immediately following

Nursery provided for

Children 3 and under.

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 AREA BOARD MEETING

Continuing Education opportunity for you and a

team from your church.

 On Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. we will have the semi-annual Area Board Meeting.  Dick Hamm, former General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will be speaking about transforming churches to meet the challenges of our times and the coaching he is doing in the Northwest Area.  This meeting is a great one to bring several leaders from your church. We will also have updated information on the Pulliam land and the exciting prospects this presents for the area. 

 Next week we will be sending out packets to the Churches, Pastors and Area Board Representatives that we have listed.  If you get a packet and are no longer the representative, please give the packet to the correct person and notify the office so we can update our records. 

 Each church may have 2 voting delegates, but everyone is welcome to attend the meeting.  Come and be a part of the revitalization of the Northwest Area.  If you are planning to attend please notify the office by Tuesday, March 25, 2008, to help us prepare for you. 

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 Spring Women’s Retreat

March 28-29, 2008

Rickman Center

 KEYNOTER:  Rev. Colleen Carroll

MUSIC LEADER:  Rev. Emily Bowen

 Come to the Table – Retreat begins on Friday with registration at 4:30 pm, dinner at 6:00 pm and concludes at 3:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

 Deadline for registration – March 24, 2008

 Costs:  Staying at Rickman - $85.00

            Staying in Cabin      - $75.00

            Commuter – includes 3 meals $65.00

See attached flyer and registration form.

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 NW Area Women’s Spring Assembly

 NW Area women will “Dare to Dream” together on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at First Christian in Odessa .  The four workshops will include opportunities to share ideas/ministries that are working in women’s groups.  Good food, worship and conversations will be awaiting you.  Watch for more information in upcoming NW Connections.

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 RANDY SHANNON ORDINATION

 Randy Shannon, former volunteer on the Area Staff for evangelism and former pastor at Sweet Springs Christian Church will be ordained and installed at the Marshall Cumberland Presbyterian Church on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 7 p.m. A reception will follow.

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WORLD CONVENTION

 The World needs your help!

 World Convention needs volunteers

July 30 – August 3, 2008

 Nashville, TN

 See attached flyer

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CAMP DATES 2008

The dates for the camps are as follows:

(All camps begin and end at 10 a.m.)

1,2,3 – Go!

(Completed Grades K-2)

July 16-18 or July 24-26

Jr. Camp

            (Completed Grades 3-5)

            June 30-July 4 or July 11-15

Chi Rho

            (Completed Grades 6-8)

            July 6-10 or July 19-23

CYF

            (Completed Grades 9-12)

            June 24-29

 We are looking for camp counselors.  If you would like to be a counselor at one or more of the camps please contact Sue Jameson, nwchurchcamp@yahoo.com

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 Calendar of Events 

• Area Board Meeting – Saturday, March 29 at Cameron 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Women’s Spring Retreat Rickman Center March 28-29

• NW Area Women’s Spring Assembly – April 19, 2008 at Odessa

• MSR Understanding the Bible – Rev. Fran Schnarre  May 2-3, Aug. 8-9

• MSR Christian Ethics – Rev. Bob Flanagan  June 6-7, July 11-12, Aug. 1-2

• Summer Camps June 24 Through July 29 2008

• Women’s Mini Retreat July 11-13, 2008

• Sessions for Men July 17-20, 2008

• C.R.Y. 2008 Imagine, July 21-24, 2008  www.mid-americadisciples.org

• MSR History and Polity of the Disciples of Christ – Rev. Ken Watson  Aug 21-23

• MSR Introduction to the New Testament – Rev. Robert Atkinson  Sept 5-6, Oct. 3-4, Nov 7-8

• MSR Stewardship Strategies for the Small Congregation – J. Joseph Trower Dec. 5-6

 For more information on MSR courses email:  KrystalMSR@earthlink.net  or www.msr-crm.org

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Week of Compassion Update 

Compassion is Water in the Desert

I was honored to visit the First Christian Church in Tucson , Arizona last week. Humane Borders is an initiative of the church, responding to the hundreds of people who have died unnecessarily in the Sonoran Desert . In the name of Christ, we are offering water to those who thirst. "Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children face economic disaster in their homelands and migrate to the United States every year. Many of them come across the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona . Increasing numbers of them die every year making the attempt. The death toll is the direct result of U.S. border control policy, which ignores the economic forces on both sides of the border driving human beings to make such choices. Humane Borders, motivated by faith, offers humanitarian assistance to those in need through more than 70 emergency water stations on and near the border" ( www.humaneborders.org ).

As we made our way through the desert last week, taking the same journey so many migrants do, I thought to myself, could I do it? Would I have the courage, the clarity of vision, the drive and the faith to leave the place I know, the people I love, the language I speak, the food I eat, the land I call home? Could I conquer the desert? Would I risk my very life? Could I withstand the elements - the rough, seemingly desolate and unforgiving terrain?

And then I saw her. She looked about my age, perhaps a few years younger. One woman among six men. I could see her face and look into her eyes, but what was her name? What is her story? Who does she love? Where is she hoping to go? What are her dreams? Starving, exhausted, and blistered, she and the others with her had decided to go back. Devouring chips, cookies, grapes and sandwiches we had given her out of the leftovers we had brought along for the day's trip, she was loaded into the back of the green Border Patrol vehicle - herded like livestock into a space clearly not intended for seven people. What would become of her now? And yet she had made it thus far, still breathing, alive, with her wits and integrity about her -- perhaps preparing and praying to risk her life all over again.

We're not sure it was the water Humane Borders put in the desert that kept her and the men alive, but when Robin Hoover, founding director of Humane Borders and pastor of First Christian Church in Tucson, told them who we were and that we put water stations all over the desert, there was immediate recognition and gratitude on her face. Water in the desert. Oasis.

One human being dying is one too many. "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it." (I Cor. 12:26) This text provides the biblical foundation for the ministry of Week of Compassion. If even one of God's children suffers or is in need of any kind, we all are affected.

As Week of Compassion works around the world, around the year, we accompany not only migrants crossing the desert, but also those close to death in the Sahara Desert in Darfur . We are providing water in Darfuri refugee camps - clean, accessible, adequate water - to the hundreds of thousands displaced not only in Darfur but now across the border in Chad . We are putting in wells in southern Sudan . We are helping small farmers in Nicaragua put in irrigation systems and wells so they can water the crops they so desperately need to grow and bear fruit. We are providing cisterns in India to Dalit (the lowest caste) communities. We are supplying families along the Dominican-Haitian border with tanks to farm fish so they can feed themselves, earn an income, and regain their dignity. And we will never forget putting in a water system in a remote Kenyan village and the women of the village seeing water come out of the faucet for the first time, one of them shouting, "Water is Life!"

Compassion is water in the desert. It is life for our brothers and sisters, and for us whose lives have been changed, and therefore we can rejoice.

- Amy Gopp

WOC Map/Poster

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

Map for Congregations

 Have a Blessed Day,

Jan Shrewsbury

Northwest Area Administrative Assistant

816-632-2237

www.nwareacc.org