· Disciples of Christ Educators Training

· Prayer Request

· Time to get your Camp Forms In!!!

· Soles4Souls

· Wyatt Park Christian Church welcomes Hispanic Ministry

· Land For Rent

· Camp Dates

· Calendar of Events

· Week of Compassion Update

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Disciples of Christ Educators Training

May 10, 2008

9 am – 3 pm

Lathrop First Christian Church

Objectives:

* Strongly suggested for all current and potential youth workers and open to all

* Provide teaching strategies such as cooperative learning, active learning, multiple intelligences, challenging children issues

* Risk Management: Safe guards for both the youth & the teachers/workers

* Values Identification and Christian behaviors

* Disciples of Christ philosophies, new directions and educational application

* Share Fair: Review curriculums, share ideas, develop networks and support system

Presenters include:

Lori Colvin-Veteran Classroom Teacher and currently project assistant with the Missouri Professional Learning Communities with Missouri Department of Education; Bill Rose-Heim NW Area Pastor

Debbie Davis, Veteran Child Development Teacher, currently employed as Youth Specialist with University of Missouri Extension

Vic Davis Pastor Lathrop Christian Church

Clinton County Family and Children Services, and others

Please bring a sack lunch and your water bottle. We will have coffee and morning snacks.

This is open to any Disciples of Christ Christian church members in the area or other interested individuals. There is no charge but we do ask you to RSVP to ensure you will receive class materials.

Register by calling the Lathrop First Christian Church, 816-528-3868 or email: fccdoc@grm.net

PLEASE BRING CURRICULUM OR SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IDEAS TO SHARE!

Name________________________________________________________________

Address:____________________________________Phone____________________

Email:_______________________________Church___________________________

What are your greatest challenges in teaching or leading a group in church?

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PRAYER REQUEST

Please pray for the family of John Wyatt, Volunteer Area Pastor, and long time camp counselor. John’s sister passed away on Saturday, May 3. 2008 after a long illness. The address is 4500 SW Dubois Drive , Plattsburg , MO 64477 .

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FOR RENT HAY GROUND

For Rent: 143 acres M/L brome and mixed grass meadow to be leased for hay five miles NE of Lathrop. Submit sealed bids to the Northwest Area Christian Church, PO Box 353 , Cameron , MO 64429 by May 15th. For information contact Ed Shrewsbury 660-646-7997 or Ken Jameson 660-483-1941. Lease to be paid within 10 days of acceptance of bid. Owner reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids submitted. (This is the newly acquired camp ground.)

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TIME TO GET YOUR CAMP FORMS IN!!!

The Early Bird Discount date of June 1, 2008 is fast approaching. To ensure a spot for your camper and get the $20.00 discount mail your camp forms in now. Before you mail your camp form be sure that ALL information is complete and that the pastor has signed the form. This year the camp form that is incomplete will be returned for the needed information before the camper is registered.

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SOLES4SOULS

Join Soles4Souls in their National Barefoot Sunday Campaign on June 1st to help the over 300 million children around the world living barefoot.

Right-click here to download pictures. To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.Barefoot Sunday is a great opportunity to encourage congregations like yours to take off their shoes and walk out of services, barefoot. Your organization's leadership would invite members to leave their shoes on the altar in order to demonstrate God's love to hurting people across the world with the simple gift of shoes.

The process is simple; however the message from the service will have lasting effects. Please follow these 5 Easy Steps:

1. Contact a Soles4Souls representative at sunday@giveshoes.org to register your event.

2. After receiving your church information, our representative will send collection and marketing materials for your event.

3. We encourage you to advertise in your bulletin or newsletter for 3 weeks prior to Barefoot Sunday on June 1st. That way everyone can clean out their closets!

4. On Barefoot Sunday, ask everyone to leave church without their shoes.

5. Box the shoes and ship them to the closest warehouse!

This touching event will not only leave a mark on the hearts of the entire congregation, but it also helps Soles4Souls continue their mission of "Changing the World One Pair at a Time.™"

Thank you

Wayne Elsey

Founder of Soles4Souls

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Wyatt Park Christian Church Welcomes Hispanic Ministry

Good Afternoon,

I wanted to give you an update on the plans for a new Hispanic Disciples congregation in St. Joseph . The group wanting to start the congregation concluded that our facility here at Wyatt Park would best meet their needs, and I let them know that the Board vote Monday night was unanimous - that we welcome them to worship here.

They will plan to use the big room in the basement for worship, and will probably also want to use a classroom or two for children and adult classes. Their hope is to begin worshiping sometime in June.

The couple that will serve as pastors are David and Jazzel Ramirez and you will find their e-mail address above. They and their children will be moving from their home in Dallas , Texas to St. Joseph to begin their ministry. David will also be seeking employment here so that they have an income while they serve the new congregation. They will continue working with Pastor Francisco Hernandez (whose e-mail is also above) from Enid , Oklahoma . He has several years experience starting a new Hispanic congregation and he will be guiding them - and us - through this process.

I am very excited about the opportunity this gives us to partner with our Hispanic neighbors as we continually seek to live out our Vision Statement: "Reach out through Jesus Christ to bring people to spiritually abundant life and eternal salvation." I ask you to be in prayer for the Ramirez family as they prepare to move to St. Joseph, for us as a congregation as we open our facility and our hearts to these brothers and sisters in Christ, and for the people of St. Joseph - regardless of nationality - that they will come to know the love and saving goodness of Jesus Christ.

In His Name,

Scott

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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

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Calendar of Events

* Saturday, May 17, 2008 Bob & Charlotte Allen 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

* 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

* Saturday, September 6, Area Board meeting and dedication celebration for the new Life Long Learning Center

For more information on MSR courses email: KrystalMSR@earthlink.net or

www.msr-crm.org

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Week of Compassion Update

Destruction and Death Massive in Myanmar

Right-click here to download pictures. To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.

The death toll in Myanmar ( Burma ) from Cyclone Nargis is now estimated to be more than 22,000, with thousands more people still missing. Destruction from the powerful storm to homes, farmland, and infrastructure is simply "massive" and is being compared to the devastation in other southern Asia countries from the December '04 tsunami. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless.

While Myanmar is one of the world's most isolated countries and is ruled by an authoritarian military dictatorship, the Myanmar Council of Churches does have an active relationship with Church World Service. Yesterday CWS issued an emergency appeal to its member communions to assist the Council with immediate relief operations and comprehensive needs assessment work. The appeal will soon be revised and expanded to include additional relief support and long term recovery assistance. Week of Compassion has sent an initial grant of $6000 from the Response Fund to support the CWS appeal and will be providing additional funds as soon as the appeal is revised. WOC is also prepared to receive designated contributions for the cyclone and such gifts will be used in their entirety for relief and recovery in Myanmar . Contributions can be made online at www.weekofcompassion.org - please mark "Compassion Response Fund" - or send to WOC, attn: Elaine Cleveland, P.O. Box 1986 , Indianapolis , IN 46206 .

Tornado Relief Efforts Continue Across U.S.

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Week of Compassion continues to monitor relief and recovery work from recent tornadoes in Virginia, Arkansas , Missouri and other states. Thus far, the impact on Disciples churches and members is small. WOC is supporting a CWS tornado appeal, which we anticipate being revised and expanded for the second time since February.

Have a Blessed Day,

Jan Shrewsbury

Northwest Area Administrative Assistant

816-632-2237