This newsletter was sent on: 2/20/2008

The Communique
News of the Kansas East Conference # 225 - February 20, 2008

Quick Links

Kansas East Conference

Bridges to the Future

Conference Calendar

Classifieds

Appointment Changes

UMC.org

General Conference 2008

Discipleship Resources

Igniting Ministry

The Upper Room

Camp Chippewa

Baker University

Cokesbury

Saint Paul School of Theology

Sign Up
Sign Up for our
E-newsletters


Get news with RSS
Subscribe to conference news via RSS feed. Choose from:
Submissions
Send Communique submissions by 5 p.m. the Monday prior to publication to Beverly Fanestil at Bfanestil@kswestumc.org.


Contact us:
office@kansaseast.org
or 877-972-9111

Kansas East Conference
4201 SW 15th Street
Topeka KS 66604

In this issue:

  • Bishops issue statement on immigration
  • Bridges to the Future updates
  • Congregational readiness for visioning and planning
  • Worship and planning calendars
  • Interpreter Enrollment Forms
  • Combat veteran benefit enrollment information\
  • Second of five conversations on Fruitful Practices
  • Spiritual Spendover
  • Area Archives and History Event
  • Student Forum
  • Summer Institute
  • Saint Luke's CPE program accepting applications
  • Bishop's Roundup for Hunger

General News

Bishops issue statement on immigration
Kansas Area Bishop Scott Jones and the bishops of the Kansas congregations of the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have written a letter to Kansas legislators on the immigration issue. The statement is available on the conference website at http://www.kansaseast.org/page.asp?PKValue=836

Bridges to the Future Capital Campaign Update:

  • Pledges have reached the $2.1 million mark on our way toward reaching $5.3 million!
  • The Conference United Methodist Women have given a conference pledge of $3,000 to Camp Chippewa and have challenged each unit to make an additional pledge of $1/unit member (sending all unit pledges to the UMW Conference Treasurer)
  • 99% of all churches in the conference have either received presentations or are scheduled to receive them in the next 6 weeks!

Bridges to the Future Timeline for churches:

  • March 30th---All presentations received by churches
  • April 30th ---All pledges sent to the Campaign office
  • June 5th--Celebration of pledges at Annual Conference.

Do you have questions or concerns about Bridges to the Future?
Contact the Bridges to the Future Campaign office at:
Bridgestothefuture@kansaseast.org

Call Campaign Director Laura Murphy or Campaign Coordinator at 913-393-4201

Congregational readiness for visioning and planning
A new article from Robert Leventhal of the Alban Institute talks about visioning and planning with local churches. The article was featured in the February Alban Institute e-newsletter.

?Before I agree to work with a planning team, I determine if the leadership is ready for the test. Congregations are different. Some are doing great and don't need to do developmental planning now. Others lack a readiness to plan. I have developed some characteristics of successful planning teams for leaders to consider. If a congregation does not have enough of these assets, they may need to set more modest goals. They may not be a candidate for serious planning. Even if they feel they are ready, many still struggle with key issues related to readiness. Look for signs of readiness for planning. Have a mental checklist: Do we have board approval? Is the clergy on board? Do we have planning chairs? Do we have a budget??

Read the whole article online at http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=5688.

Worship and Music Planning Calendars, 2008-2010
The General Board of Discipleship is pleased to make available as a free download planning calendars for worship, music, and other congregational leaders. These calendars are for 2008, 2009, and 2010 and contain the Revised Common Lectionary citations for every Sunday and major day of the church year, as well as United Methodist observances and special days and holidays from the secular and civil calendars. Download it at: http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?act=reader&item_id=6337

Interpreter enrollment forms
Please make sure to complete and return your Interpreter magazine enrollment form. For your convenience, the following ways are available for completing the enrollment process:

New benefit for combat veterans
Rev. Rick McKinnie, supervisory chaplain at the Colmery-O?Neil Veteran?s Affairs Hospital, Pastoral Care Department in Topeka and member of the Kansas East Annual Conference, shares the following information of interest to combat veterans who served after Nov. 11, 1998.

The VA has made the decision to immediately implement the enhanced enrollment opportunity benefit provision of the NDAA for veterans who served in a theater of combat operations (commonly referred to as combat veterans or OEF/OIF veterans) after November 11, 1998. The following business rules are applicable for veterans eligible for the enhanced benefit of enrollment in Priority Group 6, unless eligible for a higher Priority Group placement and resultant cost-free care for medical services that are potentially related to their service in the theater of operations:

  • Currently enrolled combat veterans will have their enhanced enrollment period automatically extended to 5 years from their most recent date of discharge.
  • New enrollees discharged from active duty on or after January 28, 2003 are eligible for this enhanced enrollment health benefit for 5 years after their date of their most recent discharge from active duty.
  • Combat Veterans who never enrolled and were discharged from active duty between November 11, 1998 and January 27, 2003 may apply for this enhanced enrollment opportunity through until January 27, 2011.

NOTE: Combat veterans who applied for enrollment after January 16, 2003, but were not accepted for enrollment based on the application being outside the previous post-discharge two year window will be automatically reviewed and notified of the enrollment decision under this new authority.

To assist combat veterans in determining veterans? eligibility for health benefits under this new authority, an interactive health benefits calculator can be found on VA?s internet site www.va.gov/healtheligibility. The veteran or user simply enters the combat veteran?s enrollment status (enrolled or not enrolled) and their most recent service separation date into the form, and the calculator returns the new end date for the veteran?s enhanced enrollment date or whether this new provision has any impact.

The calculator will be helpful to veterans to cut through the complexity of determining health benefits eligibility under the provisions of this new law. Questions may be directed to the Eligibility Office at your local VA Medical Center.


Upcoming Events

Second of ?Five Conversations? March 9
The second of ?Five Conversations About Fruitful Practices,? sponsored by the Topeka District Council on Ministries, will be Sunday, March 9, at 3 p.m. at Highland Park UMC in Topeka. Rev. Nanette Roberts, senior pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Olathe, will speak about ?Passionate Worship.?

Rev. Roberts? church reaches more than 1,000 worshipers each week through four different worship services. You won?t want to miss her reflections on Bishop Robert Schnase?s book, ?Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.? A ?world caf?? discussion about worship will follow Rev. Robert?s presentation.

More than 200 Topeka district pastors and leaders participated in the first conversation, ?Radical Hospitality,? which featured Rev. Adam Hamilton. Pastors and at least two laypersons from each congregation may register for the March 9 event online athttps://umcdata.com/EventReg/regEventList.cfm?webcat=10 or by e-mailing topdist@kansaseast.org. Your registration helps to plan adequate seating and refreshments.
Registration link:

Spiritual Spendover
Spiritual Spendover is an overnight opportunity for mid-high youth from all over the Kansas East Conference to join together for spiritual learning and fun. This year?s event is April 4 and 5 at Manhattan First UMC, 612 Poyntz Ave.

Registration opens at 6 p.m. Friday and pick-up is at 5 p.m. Saturday. Supper is not provided either evening. For a registration form and Health Waiver, go to http://kesite.brickriver.com/page.asp?PKValue=530.

Area Archives and History event
The Kansas Area Archives and History Commission is sponsoring a workshop for church historians on April 12 at Hutchinson First UMC, 101 E. First in Hutchinson. The theme is Discovering and Nurturing our Roots. Registration is $25 per person. Registration deadline is April 4. A flier and registration form are available for download from the conference website. http://www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2165

Student Forum 2008
The United Methodist Student Movement?s annual Student Forum 2008 will be May 22-25 at American University, a United Methodist-related university in Washington, D.C. The theme is ?Be the Change: The Fruit of Love.? Registration deadline for the event is April 18. Kansas students interested in going as part of a group should contact Kurt Cooper (umcmesu@yahoo.com), campus minister at Emporia State University, by April 11 so travel arrangements can be made. To register for the event, go to the Student Forum website: www.umsm.org/studentforum.

Mark your calendars for Summer Institute
Plans are well underway for this summer?s Institute. Institute will be June 16-21 and July 21-26. Institute is a leadership and spiritual development experience for youth completing 8th through 12th grades. Check out the iBelieve 2008 promotional video now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WA7MnvyPTU

Saint Luke?s CPE program taking applications
Saint Luke's Hospital CPE Program announces openings for this summer's fulltime program (May 27 - August 14, 2008) , Residency Program beginning August 25, 2008-August 31, 2009 and fall Extended part time program beginning September 24th, 2008 - April 25, 2009.

Tuition Scholarships are available to applicants with expressed need for financial assistance for any of our programs; in addition, our Residency programs offer a stipend of $28,500.00 annually. Our program will waive the Application Fee of $25.00 for any member of the Kansas East Conference. Applications need simply to indicate you read about our program in the Kansas East News.

Each program provides 400 credit hours of CPE through the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. For more information or application material please go on-line to http://www.saint-lukes.org/ and click on Allied Health Education and then to Clinical Pastoral Education.

Other inquiries may be made directly to the Director of Pastoral Education, Rev. Stephen W. Overall, at (816) 932-2840 or to Mrs. Tessha Miller, Administrative Assistant of the Spiritual Wellness Department of Saint Luke's Hospital at (816) 932-2180.

Bishop?s Round-up November 15
Mark your calendars now. The 2008 Bishop's Round-Up for Hunger will be Saturday November 15 at the Douglas County Fair Grounds in Lawrence.

Food donations brought to the Bishop?s Round-up are essential to conference agencies and the hungry they serve. These agencies are feeling the pinch this year as the 2007 contributions of food brought to Round-up were reduced by 25 percent.

A help center director shared the memory of a family that came into the center just before closing. The family had three or four children. The family was given the number of bags of groceries for a family that size, and the normal paper work was filled out. There were some cans of Spaghetti-Os in the groceries. As the family was leaving, the father noticed a tray of plastic spoons on the counter. He asked if he could have some of them, and was told, "Sure."

As the director left the agency, he happened to glance to the right, and there was the family eating the Spaghetti-Os with the plastic spoons right out of the can. The director says nothing in his memory illustrates the purpose of the agency more than that memory.

Learn more about Bishop?s Round-up: http://kesite.brickriver.com/page.asp?PKValue=967

February 2008

Signs of Life Retreat
Feb. 22-23
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2139

Global Mission Experience
Feb. 23
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=1827

Safe and Sacred Spaces Worker Training in Wellsville
Feb. 23
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2141

Safe and Sacred Spaces Worker Training in Caney
Feb. 23
http://www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2167

Safe and Sacred Spaces Worker Training in Topeka
Feb. 24
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2171

March 2008

Disaster Response Training
March 1
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2039

Safe and Sacred Spaces Worker Training in Leawood
March 1
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2065

Social Principles Workshop
March 1
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2161

One Great Hour of Sharing
March 2
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2088

Sexual Ethics Quadrennial Training Update in Wichita
March 4
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=1810

Sexual Ethics Quadrennial Training Update in Chanute
March 6
http://www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=1807

2008 Confirmation Retreat
March 8-9
www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2122

Turnaside and See
March 9
http://www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2170

Topeka District Leadership Event: Conversation Two on Five Fruitful Practices
March 9
http://www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2136

VIM Team Leader Training/Disaster Response Orientation
March 15
http://www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2040

Safe and Sacred Spaces Training - Council Grove UMC
March 25
http://www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2190

Lay Speaking Seminar
March 28-29
http://www.kansaseast.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=1825


Communications Staff

Lisa Elliott Diehl
Area Director

Susan Cooper
Associate Director
Beverly Fanestil
Secretary
Britt Bradley
Electronic Media Specialist

Area Communications Office, 9440 E Boston, Suite 110, Wichita KS 67207
866-915-3638 or 316-684-3638; Fax: 316-684-0044