Wednesday, July 13, 2011 -- Last Day of General Assembly -- The day started with the Disciples Peace Fellowship Breakfast (at 7 a.m.!). What impressive work a small group of dedicated Disciples are doing. They showed a video that included interviews with campers and their parents sharing the impact that the three college-age Peace Fellowship Interns this summer had on their camping experience. Young people talked about viewing disagreements differently, about learning approaches to responding to conflict without violence, about feeling supported in their desire to oppose cruelty to others. One parent talked about the reassurance her son felt about himself after a challenging year at school.

As this session was ending, I received an email from Jason Buckwalter about Helen Hunt's death and shortly after that a phone call from Helen O'Donnell. How blessed we are in our small congregation to have such responsible, capable leaders.

It was good to know that Rev. David Caldwell was home from Assembly and able to minister to Helen Hunt's family. Helen had long ago arranged for David to do her funeral service at Oak Crest Retirement Center, so everything was in place. David and I agreed that Rev. Larry Fisher and I would read Scriptures and prayers. Thanks God for such gifted colleagues. I knew that Helen's family and her service were in loving hands as I prepared to drive back.

It seemed like one meal to another on Wednesday! Not much time passed before it was time to join with other Disciples Women for their luncheon. It included the installation of Pat Donahoo, from the Capital Area, as the new executive director for Disciples Women. We also learned that the next Quadrennial would be in Atlanta, Georgia, June 25-29, 2014.     continued on Page 2>

Page 2 -- The Social Action Emphasis for 2009-2014 is Break the Chains of Human Trafficking. Disciples Women are called to learn, write letters about, volunteer at shelters, and speak out against this slavery.

It felt as though I went from one meal to another on Wednesday! Not much time passed before it was time to join with other Disciples Women for their luncheon. It included the installation of Pat Donahoo, from the Capital Area, as the new executive director for Disciples Women. We also learned that the next Quadrennial would be in Atlanta, Georgia, June 25-29, 2014. The Social Action Emphasis for 2009-2014 is Break the Chains of Human Trafficking. Disciples Women are called to learn, write letters about, volunteer at shelters, and speak out against this slavery.

I went a workshop session on how to evaluate if your church will be alive in 10 years, and another one discussing

It was time for the Council on Christian Unity and Reconciliation Dinner. Once again great fellowship around the table, and an exciting message from African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Bishop John F. White, who often repeated the phrase, "Somebody's calling our name, and it sounds like Jesus" as he urged us to work together in unity.

During the closing worship. Marian Wright Edelman called us to be proponents for the children of the world, especially the African-American and Latino children who are facing a new type of slavery – the pipeline to prison. She has met so many children who do not think of a future because they assume that they will either be dead or in prison. What can First Christian Church do to be a community that brings hope to these children? -- Blessings, Carol     Page 1>