Newsweekly 9/7/14

Newsweekly 9/7/14

Local Events

1. You are invited to a delicious Ethiopian fundraising meal hosted by NEW (Nurturing and Encouraging Women) at Lindale Mennonite Church from 5:30 –7:00 PM on Friday, September 12.  With Ethiopian women as its focus, NEW supports efforts in evangelism, counseling, education, healthcare, poverty and hunger reduction and small business development.  RSVP to Leanne Benner at (540) 432-9064 or benbiz29@aol.com
2. Pleasant View’s 5th Annual Community Pork BBQ on Saturday, September 6th from 4 pm to 7 pm at our Harrisonburg Day Support Service building, 151 Commerce Street, Harrisonburg Virginia 22802. One of our Board Members, Maynard Weaver, is donating and preparing the delicious Pork BBQ. Bring your family and enjoy good food and lively music by Men of Zion and Friday Night Special while supporting Pleasant View, Inc.  Pleasant View is a not for profit agency (and a Virginia Mennonite Conference related agency) that provides residential and day supports to people with intellectual disabilities so that they can live in and enrich the community. We will be selling a BBQ meal consisting of a sandwich, chips, coleslaw, baked beans, cookies and a drink for $8.00 or just a BBQ sandwich only for $3.50 each.  You can purchase a pound of Pork BBQ for $12.00 if you’d prefer.  There will also be a theme basket raffle, bake sale, and much more. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend Pleasant View’s 5th Annual Pork BBQ. You can follow our event on our Facebook page or contact Pam Miller at 540-560-1134. You can also visit Pleasant View, Inc. at our website: pleasantviewinc.org. Pamela L. Miller, Development Director, Pleasant View, Inc.
3. Join New Song Fellowship for an outdoor worship service Saturday, September 13, at 6 pm on 3156 N Valley Pike (Route 11) just north of Harrisonburg.
4. Join Our Community Place for Beyond Night Out! on Monday, September 15, from 5 to 8 pm. Our Community Place (community center) is transformed into a fine-dining restaurant, with Beyond Restaurant cooking a four-course meal. The suggested donation is $20. Enjoy a wonderful meal and support your local community.
5. Otterbein United Methodist Church will be holding a Divorce Recovery Workshop open to anyone in the community who is separated, in the process of divorce or in the process of adjusting to a divorce.  The workshop offers these persons a safe, loving and open place to go where others will listen if they want to share and try to understand. The ten-week sessions will be held 7-9 p.m. every Monday from 8 September – 10 November.  It is free of charge.   Registration will be held during the first two weeks and childcare is provided. The church is located of the corner of W. Market and High Sts in Harrisonburg.  To pre-register OR for more information call Otterbein at 434-7747.
6. Harvest Day 2014, Saturday, September 6, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's harvest fun for everyone at CrossRoads on Saturday, September 6, rain or shine! Bring the whole family–enjoy bluegrass and gospel music, play games, try your hand at a cross-cut saw and watch our blacksmith and many other skilled artisans at work. Many activities await your children and grandchildren. Entrance fee: $2 per person. Do you have a favorite cake, pie or bread/pastry recipe that includes berries? Sign up now to compete in our Great Berry Bake-Off! Ribbons will be awarded to the top three entries in each category – pies, cakes, breads/pastries. Bakers will submit two items for each entry – one will be judged, the other sold at the baked goods booth. The winning baked goods will be auctioned at noon. Visit our website for rules and an entry form.  Come prepared to bid on one of our winning entries! Are berries not your thing?  If so, you can contribute something to our baked goods sale.  Cookies and brownies (six to a bag, please) are a favorite for children.  Pies, bread, apple dumplings also sell well.  You can bring your baked goods to the Welcome Center on Friday, September 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by 9 a.m. on Harvest Day. CrossRoads Heritage Center is located at 1921 Heritage Center Way in Harrisonburg. Call 438-1275 or visit our website at www.vbmhc.org <http://www.vbmhc.org/> for more information.
7. Registration is open for the VMC Middle School Retreat. Kent Kauffman, director of Highland Retreat, will present "The Story of Your Life," with worship led by members of The Walking Roots Band. Join us for a weekend of worship, faith stories, energetic activities and friendship?building! Middle school youth in grades 6-8 and adult sponsors are invited from all Virginia Mennonite Conference churches. The retreat will be held at the W.E. Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center, located at Smith Mountain Lake in Wirtz, Va. Learn more and register at wp.me/P2AxnQ-ov <http://wp.me/P2AxnQ-ov>
8. Join local Herald Press author Shirley Showalter at VMRC's Strite Auditorium on September 18 at 3 pm for a one-year birthday celebration of the release of her memoir “Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World.”
9. The Everence Harrisonburg office is sponsoring Everence Harrisonburg Week of Generosity from Sept. 22-27. Everence members are invited to volunteer at a charity of their choice during that week. If you volunteer for three hours or more, Everence will contribute $50 to the charity you served. (This offer will be limited to the first 60 volunteers.) Each charity will be eligible to receive up to $500. All you need to do to participate is complete an application and pick up a free Everence T-shirt from our Harrisonburg office at 841 Mount Clinton Pike. We'd like you to wear the T-shirt while you're volunteering, if appropriate. Let's pull together to help the community during the week of Sept. 22-27. Visit everence.com/harrisonburg or call us at (540) 437-7422 for more information.
   
10. Love to ride in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley? Save the date for Saturday, September 20, and join the 17th annual Bike Shenandoah. Choose one of five rides for all ages and abilities, and support the work of seven local and regional agencies! Learn more and register at bikeshenandoah.org <http://www.bikeshenandoah.org/>.
11. Cherith Fee Nordling will give four presentations in Harrisonburg on the theme "Being Human, Becoming Christian: an embodied reconciliation of heaven and earth," September 15-17. Is our embodied humanity a temporary curse or permanent, glorious reality? Does salvation seem to imply getting out of our bodies, or is it about finally being at home in our bodies and getting to be truly human forever? Too often, Christians are deeply ambivalent, or silent, about our embodied lives and whether they really matter in the end. Ironically, if we take Jesus’ humanity seriously, then we will begin to see that “in the end” God’s gift and goal is to give us our truly human, truly sexual, truly Christian lives back, then and now!   The four events are: a public presentation on Monday, Sept. 15, Park View Mennonite Church, 7:00 pm, a Pastors’ Breakfast:* Tuesday, Sept. 16, Fireplace Room at Park View Mennonite Church, 7:30 am (*RSVP to Sarah Showalter at sarah.showalter@vmmissions.org or (540) 434-9727 by Sept. 11 if you plan to attend.), a Seminary Chapel: Tuesday, Sept. 16, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, 11:00 am, and an EMU Undergraduate Chapel: Wednesday, Sept. 17, Lehman Auditorium, 10:00 am. Cherith Fee Nordling is Associate Professor of Theology at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.
12. Aging With Grace – Equipping Churches for Senior Ministry in the Age of the Baby Boomer” is an ecumenical, non-denominational Ministry event for Pastors, Chaplains and Church Lay Leaders. This Event will cover Medical, Spiritual, Financial and Aging-related issues – for the broadest possible attraction to Church leaders. The wide-open Religious spectrum represented by the Virginia Council of Churches attracts a diverse Spiritual audience. This one-day event will bring together over 200 Church Leaders from all over Central Virginia with one overall purpose; Equip Churches to better serve the Senior population of their church membership. Tuesday, September 23, 2014, 9 am -2 pm at Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center, Glen Allen, VA. For more information and register at http://www.vacouncilofchurches.org/
13. Looking for missional church resourcing with an Anabaptist perspective? Join us for the “Church and Post-Christian Culture” Conference, Sept. 19-20, in Carlisle, Pa., at Carlisle Brethren in Christ Church. Speakers include Anton Flores, Greg Boyd and Nelson Okanya.  Jesus, community and mission are the broad themes for plenaries and breakouts. Mennonite Church USA is a partnering denomination. Contact Skip Tobin for details regarding travel and hotel details at skip.tobin@vmmissions.org or (540) 434-9727 • (800) 707-5535. Learn more and register at missioalliance.org/event/church-after-christendom-christian-witness-in-the-way-of-jesus/ <http://www.missioalliance.org/event/church-after-christendom-christian-witness-in-the-way-of-jesus/>
14. It began over three decades ago. With a simple act of healing, a church movement burst forth in Nepal! Join Global Disciples for dinner on September 22 at 6:30 p.m. at VMRC’s Detwiler Auditorium to hear how God used this simple act of healing to ignite a phenomenal church movement that has transformed thousands of lives! Register online at GlobalDisciples.org or contact Laura at(717) 290-7550. A free-will offering will be taken.
15. The annual Harrisonburg churches CROP walk to raise funds for Church World Service’s program’s to combat hunger around the world will take place September 28, Sunday at 2 pm starting from Muhlenberg Lutheran Church in Harrisonburg.  This is a great activity for a family, Sunday School class or small group.  Even if you do not have persons to donate money for your walk it is a good way to educate people about hunger in the world and CWS’s programs to feed the hungry.  Some of the money raised will go to local agencies such as People helping People and the Refugee Resettlement Program.
16. The Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale will be October 3-4 at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds, Harrisonburg. The relief sales offers a little bit of everything—quilts, artwork, homemade food, antiques, crafts, music and activities for the whole family. We hope you’ll join us! Proceeds go to the work of Mennonite Central Committee. Keep collecting for Penny Power and consider matching your church’s total! Watch the new video from VMM on this year's Penny Power projects at vmmissions.org/support/penny-power/ <http://vmmissions.org/support/penny-power/>   Learn more about the sale at vareliefsale.com <http://www.vareliefsale.com/>
17. Registration is now open for the 5th annual 5K for Relief that will be held at the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale on October 4 at 8:30 am.  Runners, joggers, walkers, strollers, and youth are all welcome to participate.  Participants who register by Sept 26 will get a free T-shirt. Sign up now at runwalkjog.com/relief <http://runwalkjog.com/relief> .
18. The Walk for Our Community Place will be October 18 at 9 am. Walk options are a 10K or 10 blocks. This Walk is a way for the community to help Our Community Place in its mission to promote personal growth and community well-being in the Harrisonburg area.
19. Rehoboth Jail & Prison Ministry invites you to the 27th annual Day of Jubilee, Saturday, Sept. 27, beginning around 11 am. at Tim Miller’s house. Enjoy sharing times, prayers and praise, a carry-in meal, and games. Tim's home is located at 165 Quarry Hill Lane, Schuyler, VA 22969. If you need more information or directions, you can call (434) 831-2963 or cell (434) 962-2354 on the day of Jubilee. Any time before that day you can call Ron Baker (434) 831-2963.
20. EMU Fitness Center has a Fall Membership Special! Get a three-month membership (Community Members-$55; Discounted Members*-$45). Offer expires September 30, 2014. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Specials cannot be “stacked.” Membership valid for three months from date of purchase. *Includes senior citizens, high school students, pastors, EMU alumni, retirees, dependents, spouses
21. There will be a Gestalt Pastoral Care Retreat led by Tilda Norberg at Highland Retreat, October 16-18, 2014.Tilda's healing ministry was featured in the 2013 School for Leadership Training at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.
22. Urban Anabaptist Ministry Symposium: Oct. 2–4, 2014 in Philadelphia. Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) East Coast are excited to announce plans to co-sponsor this event, aiming to connect Anabaptist ministers and leaders from Philadelphia, New York City, D.C. and surrounding urban areas. There will be opportunities to discuss challenges of ministry in our contexts, share best practices, form partnerships and inspire each other to continue to further the Kingdom work in our cities. Whether or not you are from one of these urban centers, we invite you to come, network and participate with real people, doing real ministry and engaging real needs in diverse contexts. More information coming soon

Other Announcements: 

Media for Living, publisher of Valley Living magazine, seeks to hire a sales representative. Do you like to build relationships? Do you value setting your own schedule? In addition to flexibility, we offer a career where the better you are at your job, the more you will get paid. As part of the sales team, you will sell print and online advertising and be responsible for developing advertising leads. Must be self-motivated with a desire to meet or exceed sales goals. Experience in publishing and sales a plus. Flexible schedule; set your own hours. For more information, visit valleyliving.org. Submit cover letter and resume to mediaforliving@gmail.com.

OFFICE SUITE FOR RENT:   A spacious two-office suite, partially furnished, with separate entrance, good parking, and good signage is available at 901 Parkwood Drive (office building of Virginia Mennonite Missions and Virginia Mennonite Conference).  All utilities, taxes and most insurance included, together with access to shared kitchen, copier/mail room, and restrooms.  $500/month.  For more details, contact Lynn Suter at lynn.suter@vmmissions.org <mailto:lynn.suter@vmmissions.org>  or 540-434-9727 <tel:540-434-9727> . See photos at vmmissions.org/2014/09/office-suite-for-rent/ <http://vmmissions.org/2014/09/office-suite-for-rent/>

Volunteer Opportunity:

Volunteers Need for Elementary School Field Trips: Each fall and spring the CrossRoads Heritage Center campus comes alive with elementary school children learning about life long ago.  Many volunteers (guides and presenters) are needed to assure a good experience for our young guests. Groups are also needed to provide lunch for our 35 volunteers each week.  This is a great volunteer opportunity for Sunday School classes or small groups.  If you or your group can help in either of these areas, please call 438-1275 for more information.

VMM Prayer Request:

September 7

Pray for the 30 people from the Life Enrichment Church in Thailand who are being trained to respond to the human trafficking crisis. May God make a way for this ministry of healing and redemption.