Missouri Mid-South Conference United Church of Christ (Serving Missouri, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee)
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Office hours
8am - 4:30 pm
Monday through Friday
The Conference Office will be closed Monday, September 6, for Labor Day.
 

Above: Slideshow of images from the Conference Annual Gathering in Springfield, MO, in June 2010.

News from the MMSUCC
 

Emmaus Homes Seeks Chaplain

The Emmaus Homes, Marthasville Campus, is searching for an Interim Chaplin. The job description for this full time position includes:
• Provide pastoral care and advocacy support to residents.
• Facilitate support from the wider church community for our off-campus homes.
• Provide pastoral care to staff.
• Maintain relationships with the United Church of Christ and within the wider church community and be a spiritual presence for everyone in the organization.
A complete job description is available here. If you would be interested in applying for the position please contact Rev. Jeffrey Whitman Conference Minister.
 

 
 

Additional Boundary Training Dates

Boundary Training is a requirement to maintain ministerial standing with the Associations of the Missouri Mid-South Conference and must be completed every three years.  New dates have been added to the calendar for your convenience.  The following are the remaining opportunities to fulfill Boundary Training in 2010.

Western Association - Dates just added!
Thursday, September 9, 2010 - St. Johns UCC Billingsville in Boonville.  9am-4:30pm. 14191 Billingsville Road, Boonville, MO 65233. 660-838-6396.

Thursday, October 14, 2010 - Bethel UCC in Concordia, MO. 9am-4:30pm. 710 South Gordon, Concordia, MO 64020. 660-463-7500.

St. Louis Association
Saturday, October 2, 2010 - Parkway UCC in St. louis, MO. 9am-4:30pm. 2841 N. Ballas Road, St. Louis, MO 63131. 314-872-9330.

Eastern Association
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 - Zion UCC in Union, MO. 9am-4:30pm. 115 South Washington, Avenue, Union, MO 63084. 636-583-2714.

Registration form available here.

 

Camp Mo-Val Events

Pool Party & BBQ - See full flier here!
Sunday, August 29th from noon to 5pm, Camp Mo-Val is the place to be for a fun-filled time with your Conference Family. There will be many activities available including swimming, canoeing, paddle-boating, volleyball, wagon rides, nature hikes, picnicking and fishing. PLUS food! Activities are free; food (BBQ, Sides and Drink) will be available for purchase! Come spend a fun day at Mo-Val and celebrate the end of summer with us! Questions? Email Rick Oberle at rick@bemchurch.com or Don Bizer at moval2@mmsucc.org.

Mo-Val Benefit Concert: This is a concert you won’t want to miss. Sheltered Reality will be playing a benefit concert for Camp Mo-Val on Sunday, September 26 at 6:30 p.m. The concert will take place at the Kirkwood Park Amphitheater, 111 S. Geyer, Kirkwood, MO. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. For tickets to the concert or posters to publicize the concerts call 314-607-5026 or go to http://kirkwooducc.org/moval. In addition to the concert there will be a raffle with some great prizes including a free week of camp at Mo-Val and a Best Buy gift card. Attendance prizes will also be given. Enjoy an evening of music and support Camp Mo-Val by coming to the concert!  See the gorgeous flyer here!

 
 

Jamaica Partnership & Trip

COME TO JAMAICA . . . and feel all right! The Jamaica-Missouri Partnership Group of the Missouri Mid-South Conference and the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is planning a mission trip to Jamaica, October 6-13, 2010. The group is limited to ten people and we have room for four more participants. Tentative plans include visiting a children’s home, participating in a work project and attending Sunday morning worship service. The cost is approximately $520 for airfare. There will be additional food and lodging expenses. Appropriate passports are necessary. No immunizations are required. For more information, please contact Chuck Adams, 573-764-3963 or ca6853@fidnet.com.

The Missouri Mid-South Conference and the North Middlesex Area Council of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands formed a partnership in 1992. Recent reorganization of the area in Jamaica has changed the title to North-Eastern Regional Council. Over these nearly 20 years, folks from Jamaica have visited us and we in turn have had mission trips there. Most recently, Rev. Jeff Whitman was the featured preacher at the Ash Wednesday service at Boscobel Cathedral in February 2009 and four Jamaican delegates visited us in June of this year and attended the Conference Annual Gathering. Rev. Norbert Stephens, Deputy Director, presented the keynote address at Saturday's lunch.

This partnership is exciting and vibrant. Please join us. We are interested in people joining in the Partnership Group from Western and St. Louis Associations.

"Reggae Sunsplash"
Robller Winery, New Haven, MO, is holding its annual Reggae Sunsplash August 21-22. The Jamaica-Missouri Partnership Group will be there both days (12pm-6pm) selling Jamaican sweets as a fundraiser. We will sell Grater Cake, Coconut Totoes, Coconut Gizzada and Coconut Drops, Fruit Cakes and Rum Cakes and more. All delicious and a fun taste of Jamaican delicacies. There will also be live music 2-6pm and Jamaican cuisine to purchase through the winery. There is a $3 cover charge.

 
 

Volunteer in Florida

Are you looking for a way to help with disaster recovery?  Volunteers are needed for Volunteer Disaster Recovery Week of the Florida Conference UCC, September 12-18, 2010. Join a group of UCC Disaster Ministry volunteers to help repair homes damaged by storms in 2009. Read more here.

 
 

Quarterly Bulletin Insert

We are pleased to present the second issue of our Quarterly Bulletin Inserts!  We ask for churches to please distribute these inserts in their Sunday worship bulletins, in their paper newsletters, or to their email lists.  Click here to view/download.

Keeping our congregations in touch with the wider church is both easier than ever, with the widespread use of e-newsletters and internet access, and more difficult, because of the elimination of our paper newsletters.  Please help us stay in touch by offering these bulletins to your congregations, as well as reminding church members that they can sign up for the eCourier by emailing mms@mmsucc.org

 
 

Fourth Annual St. Louis CROP Walk

This year will be the 4th Annual St. Louis Metro CROP Hunger Walk to help stop hunger and poverty in St. Louis and around the globe. With over 1 billion people suffering from hunger and poverty globally and over 350,000 living in poverty in the metro St. Louis area, the problem often seems daunting. Yet individual actions can go a very long way in providing compassionate assistance to those in need.

For the past three years, hundreds of individuals representing various faith and community groups in the St. Louis metro area have come together to walk and take a stand against hunger and poverty in their community and worldwide.  Of the funds raised by the St. Louis Metro CROP Hunger Walk, 25% is earmarked for local hunger relief, which has resulted in over $45,000 being donated to Operation Food Search.

The Fourth Annual CROP Hunger Walk is being expanded to three locations and dates for one great cause.  Your congregation can choose its opportunity to help stop hunger by joining one of the following walks:

North Walk - Florissant Valley Community College
September 26, 2010
Contact: Duane Mazzacavallo
duane.mazzacavallo@sbcglobal.net

South Walk - Clydesdale County Park
9426 Green Park Road
October 3, 2010
Contact: Jon Hicks
hless03@att.net

Central/West Walk - Forest Park
Upper Muny Parking Lot
October 24, 2010
Contact: Sharon Hyde
slh1059@live.com

If your congregation is unable to participate in one of the three walks, but would like to help, please contact Kari Davidson at Church World Services at (314) 252-3298.

 
 

Introducing Rev. Dr. Marc Wessels, our new Associate Conference Minister

We are pleased to introduce Rev. Dr. Marc Wessels, who we have called as our new Associate Conference Minister! He will join us in mid July to begin work, and we were blessed to have him with us this weekend for the Conference Annual Gathering.

The Rev. Dr. Marc A. Wessels was born a Connecticut Yankee, but was raised along the Mason-Dixon line in Maryland. He graduated from Coker College in South Carolina, then founded the Space Exploration Archive (SEA), a nonprofit educational organization whose purpose is to encourage the peaceful use of Outer Space through an awareness, appreciation and understanding of the human endeavor in space flight. Wessels is a double graduate of Lancaster Theological Seminary with specialized studies in ethics and theology. He was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1981 and began his ministry serving six years with the Uniting Church in Australia as an Associate of the UCBWM. He has served UCC churches in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Kentucky, and maintains dual standing in the UCC and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Wessels has served as a Chaplain with the Kentucky Department of Corrections and as a full-time member of the Kentucky Parole Board.

Marc is married to Elizabeth, a licensed clinical social worker who has served leadership roles at the UCC-related Brooklawn Child and Family Services and Sunrise Children Services, where she is the Vice President of Foster Care & Community Based Services. Their family includes two children, Taylor Bell and Meredith.

 
 

News from the Conference Annual Gathering

This past weekend, delegates and members from around the Missouri Mid-South Conference met in Springfield, MO, to vote on Conference business and worship, fellowship and commune together.

Results from Business Session:
• We approved changes to the MMSUCC bylaws.
• We approved changes to the UCC Constitution.
• We voted to affirm our partnership with the Bokungu Region of the Community of the Disciples of Christ of the Congo.
• We elected Conference Council, including officers, and General Synod delegates.
• We elected representatives to boards.
• We approved the 2011 budget as presented.

We welcomed:
• Rev. Dr. David Greenhaw, president of Eden Theological Seminary
• Rev. Dr. Kris Tenny-Brittian, Northeast Area Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
• Rev. G. Mike Weinman, Ozark Area Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
• Rev. Norbert Stephens and delegates from the United Church of Jamaica
• Performer “Rod Stewart” (Don Audette)

We celebrated:
• The calling of our new Associate Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. Marc Wessels
• Clergy celebrating significant anniversaries
• Those who served on ministry teams and Habakkuk
• The newly elected Conference Council and General Synod delegates
• Churches celebrating significant anniversaries
• The 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Nollau, significant founder of the UCC
• Outgoing Conference officers
• The ministry of Rev. Dr. Jack Seville

Are you interested in ordering CDs or DVDs of the business sessions and keynotes from the Conference Annual Gathering?  Florian Audio Visual recorded the event and you can buy copies through their website.

 

Above: the newly elected Conference Council.
Photo courtesy of Mark Robinson.

 
 

Widening the Welcome: Inclusion for All

On September 23-25, the UCC Disabilities and the UCC Mental Illness Network will be meeting in St. Louis for the first national Widen the Welcome event. During the 3-day event, there will be keynote presentations and workshops on ways that we can make our churches more accessible and welcoming to all of God’s children.

The organizers are asking for our help in two ways. First, some of the participants have asked for sign language interpreters. If there are members of your church who can sign and would be willing to share their gift as part of this event, please contact Rev. Jeffrey Whitman in the conference office and I will pass name and contact information along to the event organizers.

The second request involves Sunday morning. The organizers of the event are hoping that some of the participants will be available on Sunday morning to lead an adult education class, offer a mission moment during worship, or even preach. If you would be willing to have someone from the conference join you on Sunday, September 26, to talk about the issues of accessibility in one of these ways, please contact Rev. Whitman at the conference office.

 
 
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