Have you completed healthy boundary training?

 
IMC is committed to equipping pastors for healthy ministry. Part of that commitment is ensuring that all pastors have healthy boundary training. That is why the church life team adopted a policy making healthy boundary training mandatory for all credentialed IMC pastors.
The policy states that all credentialed leaders in IMC are required to take Healthy Boundaries 101 training by June 1, 2018, or the credential will be on probation.
The next opportunity to participate in Healthy Boundary Training is coming up.  On Saturday, October 14, 2017, IMC will lead Healthy Boundary 101 training at First Mennonite Church of Champaign-Urbana.  Lunch will be provided.
  • Saturday, October 14 the training will be offered at First Mennonite Church in Champaign-Urbana.  We will begin at 9 am and conclude by 4 pm.
  • Thursday, March 1 the training will be offered at Living Water Community Church in Rogers Park, Chicago, IL.  We will begin at 9 am and conclude by 4 pm. This event will replace the Chicago Area Pastor Peer group in March.
  • Thursday, March 8 the training is being offered at Mennonite Church of Normal, Normal, IL. We will begin at 9 am and conclude by 4 pm. This event will replace the downstate pastor peer group for March.
This training event is free for credentialed leaders. If others from your congregation wish to attend, they are welcome to participate at a cost of $25 per person (this covers material and lunch costs)
To register, contact Holly Mason at (309-340-4503).
Kristin Jackson and Michael Danner will lead this training.
If you have questions, please contact Michael Danner.

Tim Huckins, Lead Pastor of Prairieview Mennonite Church

Pastor Huckins is from Central Illinois.  He has been in pastoral ministry for twenty-seven years serving churches in Illinois and Ohio.  The two churches in Ohio were both church plants.  He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Western Illinois University and a Masters of Divinity from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.  He and his wife Teri have been married for thirty-seven years.  They have four children and five grandchildren.  Three of their children live in Ohio while their youngest daughter lives in South Carolina.

Both Tim and Teri enjoy serving the Lord and are looking forward to a fruitful ministry at Prairieview Mennonite.  In their free time they enjoy playing golf, fishing and reading.  They are happy to be a part of the Illinois Mennonite Conference.

Communities recovering from Hurricane Irma, MDS and MCC respond

9.12. 2017  Written By: Hannah Heinzekehr, The Mennonite 
Photo: Flooding caused by Hurricane Irma reached almost a third of the way up the walls of Osa Jonmarits’ home in La Chapelle, Haiti. MCC photo/Annalee Geisbrecht

Not even two weeks after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, Hurricane Irma, a category 5 storm, began its journey across Caribbean islands and Florida, leaving widespread destruction and, in some places, flooding, in its wake. Now downgraded to a tropical depression, the storm’s impact continues to be felt in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. Thirty-five people were killed in the Caribbean and an additional 12 deaths have been recorded in the United States, where, some estimates say, as many as 6.7 million people remain without power.

Damage abroad

In Haiti, Mennonite Central Committee shared a story of Osa Jonmarits, a community health organizer, and his family, who were awakened in the middle of the night by water rushing into

Caption: Community health organizer Osa Jonmarits received a comforter, an MCC relief bucket and water purification tablets after his home and property were damaged by flooding from Hurricane Irma.

their La Chapelle home. According to the MCC news release, the family waded through waist-deep water to safety, the parents carrying the children on their shoulders. Following the hurricane, which peaked on the night of Sept. 7, MCC workers put together an assessment team to visit the Artibonite department in central Haiti. Because of its mountainous landscape, the region is prone to flash floods. According to Rebecca Shetler Fast, one of the country representatives for MCC, many communities are accessible only by foot and do not have telephone connections and electricity, so oftentimes damage that occurs in this region is not counted in the country’s official damage tally.

“Despite Haiti missing the center of Hurricane Irma, the damage was severe and widespread across the northern half of Haiti,” wrote Shetler Fast. “One difference because of this is the level of aid Haiti is expected to get, coming just after Hurricane Matthew and (for the U.S., Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma as well). There is fear in Haiti that their suffering will be forgotten.”

MCC is continuing to work at food security by helping provide access to food in the short term and helping individuals \ rebuild long-term food sources, such as gardens. In addition, MCC is working to help improve basic access to clean water and sanitation, such as cholera treatment and latrines.

MCC is also helping with relief efforts in Cuba, which was pummeled by Hurricane Irma on Sept. 8.

“The destruction is massive on the island in general,” wrote MCC area director Bonnie Klassen in an MCC news release. Klassen has been onsite with Brethren in Christ leaders in Cuba since the hurricane hit. “An enormous number of houses are damaged. A lot of roads are blocked. It has been many decades since Cuba has seen such massive destruction in a hurricane.”

Kevin King, executive director of Mennonite Disaster Service, is also in regular communication with leaders from the MDS Puerto Rico unit. Although widespread damage in Puerto Rico was less intense than expected, the island is seeing an influx of refugees from other nearby Caribbean islands, where the damage was extensive. The unit has put out a request for canned meat from MCC and is working to coordinate efforts to support those who are seeking food and shelter.

The impact in the United States

An assessment team from MDS will head to Florida on Sept. 13 to begin to assess damage and plan for cleanup and recovery efforts.

“These storms are just piling up on top of one another,” said King in a Sept. 11 phone interview. “We, along with FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Association] and many of my national colleagues, deployed many assets to Texas. Now all of us are facing the question of how to respond and manage resource constraints.”

King noted that it is still too early to really understand the full scope of Hurricane Irma’s damage.

“We’re not out of this yet,” he said.  “I think many people say they dodged the bullet from the wind, but I suspect Irma is going to become more of a flooding event.”

By and large, Mennonite congregations are grateful to have been spared extensive damage in the hurricanes. In Fort Myers, Florida, leaders from Iglesia Menonita Arca de Salvacionturned the church building into a temporary shelter space for over 200 people, members of the congregation and local community. From Sept. 8-11, people filled the building, shared meals and participated in three worship services.

“We saw the Lord working. We were blessed,” said Marcelina Pacheco, one of the assistant pastors, in a Sept. 12 interview. “Everyone was sharing whatever they had with one another. And during our services, actually we had two people that came to the Lord and two that reconciled, right during the hurricane.”

Despite heavy winds and rain, Pacheco said, the church building did not sustain any damage and no church members have reported major house damage, although nearly 80 percent of the city’s residents remain without electricity.

Andrew Bodden, associate pastor at Iglesia Menonita Encuentro de Renovacion in Miami, sayid in a Sept. 12 interivew that his family made the difficult decision to evacuate after his kids

Cleanup efforts are underway in Sarasota, Florida. Photo by Alma Perez Ovalle.

became nervous watching news and weather reports. The Bodden family took shelter with former Mennonite pastors David and Madeline Maldonado in Picayune, Mississippi. A drive that should have taken the family 11 hours took over 26, due to bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Bodden stayed in touch with congregation members—both those who chose to stay and those who evacuated—from afar. He is grateful that everyone has reported being safe. The majority of members from their congregation have reported fallen trees, and some have roof damage that will need repair. Many of the households are still without power, and the city still has major gas shortages, leaving many people without access to gasoline as well. Miami Dade County also still has a curfew in place from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

“One of the major things we need prayer for is patience,” said Bodden. “People get anxious in this crisis with no water, gas and often no jobs. In many cases, if people are not working, then they won’t get paid, so that creates anxiety and desperation in families, even if the damage is less than expected.”

Bodden also asks for prayer particularly for undocumented immigrant communities in Miami Dade county, especially that they would have access to the services and help that they need and also stay safe from deportation.

“For those immigrant communities with no documentation, the situation is worse, because they are expecting that immigration could also take advantage of the situation and have raids and take people away,” said Bodden, who mentioned that rumors of a raid were circulating in Mississippi where his family and many other Floridians took refuge.

Further south, members of Homestead (Florida) Mennonite Church prepared for the worst but were grateful to report safety and limited damage to the church building and members’ houses. Pastor Rick Lee and his family chose to evacuate further north during the storm but not before helping coordinate a team of volunteers to help church and community members shutter and prepare their houses for the storm.

Speaking on his drive back home to Homestead on Sept. 12, Lee said that several members remain without cell service and electricity, which has made communication back and forth difficult at times. Lee says he’s also not planning for a formal service on Sunday but plans to open up space for the congregation to share about their experiences during the week.

“The prayer I always offer my congregation is that whatever happens, I hope it inclines us and inspires us to lean into God. If things are going good, lean into God,” said Lee. “If things are going bad, lean into God. Sometimes we lean in by helping, and sometimes it’s by asking for help.”

In Tampa, Florida, Roy Williams, pastor of College Hill Mennonite Church, says the congregation is grateful the storm largely skirted the Tampa Bay area. In the lead-up to the storm making landfall, weather projections had indicated that the storm might hit the area full-force, but these predictions did not hold true. Williams works with a Tampa Bay chapter of Feeding America and says the congregation was prepared to move into a helping and relief mode if needed.

He also still urges people to pray for Tampa residents. “It’s just the trauma of the aftermath of Harvey combined with the psychological effects of preparing for a storm,” he said in a Sept. 12 interview. “Please pray for our community. We appreciate the brotherhood and sisterhood of the broader church.”

Ervin Miller, the leader of the Florida chapter of MDS, lives in Sarasota, Florida, and says that although the predictions for the area were dire, MDS will largely focus on cleanup efforts, and there’s not much long-term rebuilding that needs to happen. Miller says he and others are keeping an eye on the unfolding situation in Jacksonville, Florida, where flooding and large storm surges are leading to serious situations and evacuations. He anticipates that MDS may be deployed for long-term recovery efforts in that area and farther south as well.

Alma Perez Ovalle, a member of Sarasota Community Church (formerly Bahia Vista Mennonite Church) and a high school English and Spanish teacher at Sarasota Christian School, was also thanking God for protection and provision. She says she also is grateful for the prayers, love and support the Sarasota community felt from across Mennonite Church USA.

“I had phone calls and emails from as far away as Colombia. There were calls from members of the Mennonite Schools Council and international service participants and Marlene Bogard of Mennonite Women USA,” she said in a Sept. 12 phone interview. “We’re all grateful for the prayers and the love we felt.”

Ovalle said that many teachers, students and administrators came together this morning to clean up debris and damage surrounding the school. Sarasota Christian, a preschool through 12th-grade Mennonite school, will reopen on Thursday, Sept. 14. The school also served as a shelter for several faculty and staff members and their families during the storm itself.

Prior to the storm, Ovalle said, students had been advocating for a service trip with MDS to help with Hurricane Harvey cleanup in Texas, after getting a taste of service during a spring-break service trip to South Carolina this year. Now, students are finding opportunities to serve closer to home.

“These kids were already being built up through faith-forming opportunities and learning about caring for those around them,” she said. “It’s really cool that this clean-up effort was coming from the kids. I was grateful for that.”

You can donate to support relief efforts via both Mennonite Disaster Service (United States) and Mennonite Central Committee (international) efforts online. 

Mennonite Disaster Service Update

As members of your congregations are sharing their concerns with you regarding those who are enduring these massive hurricanes hitting our country last week and this week, please keep Mennonite Disaster Service in mind.  MDS is soliciting prayers and receiving donations for responding to these disasters.  Please be thinking about who in your congregations may be available to respond immediately as well as what groups from your churches may be available to volunteer in response during the coming year. Below is the latest Update from MDS.

Please contact me if I can be of any assistance to you and your congregation regarding interest in or questions about Mennonite Disaster Service.

I am also attaching an open invitation to our churches in Illinois to participate in the Region 2 meeting of MDS, which Illinois is hosting this year.  First Mennonite Church of Morton will be the host congregation for the meeting.  Please publicize this gathering in your churches as well.

Click here to view invitation Click here for registration form

 

Click here for hotel listing


Shalom,
Ronn Frantz,
MDS Illinois Unit Chair

 

Prayer Concerns

Please continue praying for survivors impacted by Hurricane Harvey and those in the path of Hurricane Irma, which is currently threatening the U.S.

MDS is closely monitoring the situation and has activated an investigation team in preparation.

Work in Texas began earlier this week in Bloomington, a rural community in Victoria County about 40 miles from the state’s southeast coast. Volunteers began cleaning up and cutting trees as part of the early response effort to Hurricane Harvey.

Remember and pray for those impacted by Hurricane Harvey as well as those being threatened by Hurricane Irma. Pray also for those affected by the wildfires in the western U.S. Dozens of fires are burning across eight western states, including the largest ever recorded in the Los Angeles area.

Urgent Need for Early Response Leaders in Texas

MDS is looking for Early Response volunteers to serve as leaders for weekly crews. We are asking leaders to volunteer four weeks or more. You can fill out the volunteer form online or you can contact Josh Carson at (800) 241-8111 or jcarson@mds.mennonite.net if interested.

Volunteers Needed in the MDS Lititz Office for Monday, September 11

Volunteers are needed for Monday (September 11) in the Lititz office from 4:30 am through midnight. We’re looking for volunteers to work in 4-hour blocks to help answer phones and process donations. The local Central PA ABC station will be partnering with MDS for an all day telethon with the proceeds going towards the work in Texas. If interested in volunteering, please call the office at (717) 735-3536. Our address is 583 Airport Rd, Lititz, PA 17543.

Weekly Project Crew Opportunities:

Greenbrier, W.Va.

• October 8-14: up to 12 people

• October 22-28: up to 6 people

• November 5-11: up to 5 people

• November 12-18: up to 15 people

• November 19-25: up to 13 people

• November 26-Dec 2: up to 13 people • December 3-9: up to 4 people

Lafayette, LA.

• November 12-18: up to 7 people • November 19-25: up to 5 people • December 10-16: up to 3 people

Lake County, Calif.

• October 22-28: up to 14 people

• October 29-Nov 4: up to 11 people

• November 5-11: up to 3 people

• November 12-18: up to 3 people

• November 19-25: up to 15 people

• November 26-Dec 2: up to 14 people • December 3-9: up to 15 people

• December 10-16: up to 14 people

Pine Ridge, S.D.

• October 8-14: up to 11 people

• October 15-21: up to 7 people

• October 22-28: up to 15 people

• October 29-Nov 4: up to 11 people

• November 5-11: up to 11 people

• November 12-18: up to 15 people

• November 19-25: up to 15 people

• November 26-Dec 2: up to 15 people • December 3-9: up to 15 people

• December 10-16: up to 15 people

Princeville, N.C.

• Sept 3-9: up to 6 people

• Sept 10-16: up to 15 people (bring a cook with you) • Sept 17-23: up to 15 people (bring a cook with you) • Sept 24-30: up to 15 people (bring a cook with you)

San Marcos, Texas

• Framing crew for 1-2 weeks end of September or beginning of October to jumpstart RV program

West Virginia Bridges

• November 19-25: up to 4 people (each person must be able to lift 50-100lbs) • Dec 3-9: up to 6 people (each person must be able to lift 50-100lbs)

To schedule any of the listings please click ‘apply now,’ or if you’d like more information or to apply by phone, please call Darin Bontrager at 800-241-8111 or email dbontrager@mds.mennonite.net.

Apply Now

RV Opportunities:

Volunteers in the RV project serve for a minimum of 4 weeks, stay in their self- contained RV, cook their meals, work 6 hours a day and four days a week. Suggested five-week blocks are:

San Marcos, Texas

• October 7-November 9 (room for two more RVs; couples or individuals) • October 7-November 2 (room for one more RV; couple or individual)

For more information or to serve call:

U.S. residents – Josh Carson at 800-241-8111 or

email jcarson@mds.mennonite.net.

Canadian residents – Evelyn Peters-Rojas at 866-261-1274 or email epetersrojas@mds.mennonite.net.

Project Leadership Opportunities:

West Virginia Bridges

• Office Manager – November 30-December 16 • Crew Leader – December 2-December 16

Greenbrier, W.Va.

• Crew Leader – October 7-November 5

• Crew Leaders – November 4-December 16

Pine Ridge, S.D.

• Crew Leaders – October 4-November 11

• Crew Leaders – November 11-December 16

Lake County, Calif.

• Head Cook & Assistant Cook – November 19-December 16 (due to accommodations needs to be a couple or 2 singles willing to share a room) • Crew Leaders – October 18-November 18

• Crew Leaders – November 18-December 16

MDS project leaders available to serve for one of the listings, please contact: U.S. residents – Josh Carson at 800-241-8111 or

email jcarson@mds.mennonite.net.

Canadian residents – Evelyn Peters-Rojas at 866-261-1274 or

email epetersrojas@mds.mennonite.net.

Monthly giving now available to U.S. donors online

The outpouring of generosity in the wake of Hurricane Harvey has been humbling. We are grateful for the trust donors put in hard-working MDS volunteers to respond, rebuild and restore after a disaster.

Now, on the heels of Hurricane Harvey comes the potential of another major storm making U.S. landfall with Hurricane Irma. Meanwhile, wildfires are burning in the west. Please pray for those in harm’s way.

In the face of so many disasters, monthly donations support recovery efforts throughout the U.S. and Canada. MDS recently upgraded its online donation form for U.S. donors and it is now possible to sign up to become a monthly donor with a credit card (the Canadian donation form already had this ability). Monthly gifts are used where most needed and help MDS volunteers be positioned to respond, rebuild and restore, whenever and wherever disaster strikes. Consider becoming a monthly donor to partner with MDS in recovery year-round.

Donate Form

Director’s Blueprint

Given the news of Hurricane Harvey and as I write this Hurricane Irma is growing into a Category 5 storm I will let the words of I John 3:18 speak for me:

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth.”

Kevin King,

MDS Executive Director

Learn more about MDS:

Hurricane Harvey Update – MDS volunteers to Bloomington, Texas Hurricane Harvey update – MDS team in Texas

From disaster on the street to tiny homes

MDS experience leads to more volunteer work

You could do this, too

 

Goshen College accepting applications for second Study-Service Theology Term

 

PHOTO CAPTION:
The 2017 SSTT group poses at Cerro de la Cruz, a huge stone cross on a hill overlooking Antigua.

GOSHEN, Ind. –  Following a successful first tour, Goshen College’s Study-Service Theology Term (SSTT) is currently seeking high school applicants for a two-week study experience in Guatemala in June 2018. Students will be provided with the opportunity to explore their understandings of Jesus’ life and mission in light of contemporary challenges and their own sense of calling.

“Faith perspectives are often developed in contexts that take us out of our comfort zones and raise new challenges,” said Keith Graber Miller, professor of Bible, religion and philosophy at Goshen College and SSTT program director.

Participants are selected through a competitive application process and will be drawn from students from any Christian denominational group in the United States who have completed their sophomore, junior or senior year by June 2018, with priority given to students of color. The deadline to apply is October 31, 2017.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., SSTT participants’ costs for the program will only be a $100 deposit, which secures their position in the group.

The program will include orientation and study on Goshen College’s campus and two weeks of academic study and field trips in Guatemala, followed by a 40-hour internship in the student’s home congregation or another religiously-based organization, and journal submissions and reflection.

“One of the things that we tell the students from the beginning is that this is not a missions or service trip,” Graber Miller said. “This is about them learning in a cross-cultural context.”

Upon completion of the SSTT program, students will receive academic credit in religion through Goshen College.

“We hope young people in the program are able to think about the decisions, choices and commitments Jesus made during his brief life — commitments to the oppressed, to social justice, and to caring for those on society’s margins — and then apply those learnings to their own faith and life,” said Graber Miller.

Last June, a group of 20 high school students from Mennonite, Catholic, Baptist and nondenominational backgrounds and from across the country completed the first SSTTtour in Guatemala.

“This was such an amazing experience,” said Diana Baena, a recent high school graduate from Elkhart, Indiana. “I wish people would know more about it and go for it.”

To apply, go to goshen.edu/SSTT. If you have questions, contact Graber Miller atkeithgm@goshen.edu or 574.535.7436.

Yard sale to benefit Menno Haven Camp & Retreat Center

Micah Yoder hosted a yard sale to benefit Camp Menno Haven on Sat, August 19. Micah is a member of Lombard Mennonite Church. Items that he sold were: Fresh home garden produce, fresh-made mint lemonade, games, kids’ books, lamps, fireplace log holder and grate, a pair of living room chairs, snow-pants, …and all the usual rich and interesting assortment of yard sale treasures.

Several remaining items are still out for eBay and on Craig’s list. But the day brought in over $160.00 for Menno Haven – Thanks mostly to the contributions and shopping from the church family.

Way to go Micah!

Training Healthy Pastors

Illinois Mennonite Conference is committed to supporting and equipping healthy pastors for local Anabaptist/Mennonite Congregations. Part of that support and equipping is helping pastors maintain healthy boundaries as they navigate the maze of relationships within a ministry. On May 10 and 11, pastor Kristin Jackson (Living Water Community Church) and CEM Michael Danner (IMC), attended training in Kansas City, MO for this task.

This training is led by FaithTrust Institute, in conjunction with MC USA. FaithTrust Institute leads the way in helping churches create safe spaces for all persons in the church. This two-day training equipped Kristin and Michael to lead the Healthy Boundaries 101 and 201 events for IMC pastors.  In January 2017, the IMC Church Life Team adopted a policy that makes this Healthy Boundary training a requirement for all credentialed leaders within IMC.

Kristin and Michael, we will be able to provide this training regularly and in a cost-effective way within the conference.

The next Healthy Boundaries training will be October 14, 2017, at First Mennonite Church of Champaign-Urbana. This training is free for all IMC credentialed leaders. Others are welcome to attend for the cost of course materials and lunch. (around $25).

Please email the conference office with questions, or to sign up for this event.

MyNeighbor credit card helps charitable contributions add up

The new MyNeighbor credit card from Everence® Federal Credit Union helps people boost their generosity while making their usual purchases.

For every purchase made with the MyNeighbor credit card, Everence will donate 1.5 percent of the transaction total to the charity of the cardholder’s choice.

Since the MyNeighbor program began at the end of April 2017, over $81,000 has been generated for churches, nonprofits and other Neighbors.

The MyNeighbor charitable contribution feature applies to both personal and business credit cards from Everence Federal Credit Union. MyNeighbor cardholders have thousands of charitable organizations to choose from when they go online to choose the one that will receive donations.

“The MyNeighbor card gives people a simple and effective way to support the charities dear to their hearts,” said Kent Hartzler, President and CEO of Everence Federal Credit Union. “As a cardholder, there’s nothing different about how I use the card for purchases, but what is different is I can watch my charitable contributions add up throughout the year.”

For more information about MyNeighbor, visit everence.com/MyNeighbor or call    (800) 451-5719.

About Everence: Everence helps individuals, organizations and congregations integrate finances with faith through a national team of advisors and representatives. Everence offers banking, insurance and financial services with community benefits and stewardship education. Everence is a ministry of Mennonite Church USA and other churches. To learn more, visit everence.com or call (800) 348-7468.

###

For more information:
Allison Schrock, Marketing Manager
allison.schrock@everence.com
(800) 348-7468, ext. 3301
(574) 533-9515, ext. 3301