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Check Website Information!
Pastors, please check your congregational information listed on Franconia Conference’s website. Please verify that your congregation’s address, phone number, email address, website, and pastors are correctly listed. Reply to office@mosaicmennonites.org by Monday, November 17 with corrections or confirmation that the information is correct.

Pastors and Leaders Breakfast
This month’s Pastors and Leaders Breakfast, entitled Ministering Through Financial Turbulence: Stories and Resources For Leading in a Fearful Climate, will be held from 8 – 10 a.m. on Thursday, November 20 at the Mennonite Conference Center. The event will be led by Randy Nyce, MMA Church Relations Manager. A $5 donation is appreciated for this hot breakfast. Please register by Monday, November 17 to Jessica Walter.

Pastor/Chaplain Appreciation Breakfast
The Annual Pastor/Chaplain and Spouse Appreciation Breakfast is planned for Tuesday, December 2 from 8 – 10 a.m. at Zion Mennonite Church in Souderton, PA. Invitations with more information are being sent in the mail this week. Please call the Mennonite Conference Center at 215-723-5513 with any questions.

Twenty-Five Hour Retreat
Join the new Learning Community on “Deepening Our Spiritual Lives” for an overnight retreat on December 10 – 11. The retreat will run from 9 a.m. on Wednesday, December 10 through 10 a.m. on Thursday, December 11 at St. Raphaela Retreat Center, 616 Coopertown Road, Haverford, PA. “Tending the Center”, a retreat design written by Marlene Kropf, will be led by Dawn Ruth Nelson and assisted by Barbara Shisler. Pastors are encouraged to bring along their congregational leaders for this time of input, exercises, prayer time, and silence. The cost for 3 meals and overnight lodging is $65. Contact Dawn Nelson at dp.ruthnelson@verizon.net to register soon!

Franconia Conference School for Leadership Formation presents

November Pastors and Leaders Breakfast

Ministering Through Financial Turbulence
Stories and Resources for Leading in a Fearful Climate

Thursday, November 20, 2008
8:00 am to 10:00 am
Franconia Mennonite Conference Center
771 Route 113
Souderton, PA 18964 (map)

This month’s breakfast will be hosted by MMA and led by Randy Nyce, MMA church Relations Manager.

A $5 donation is appreciated for this hot breakfast.

Assembly ‘08 Invitation and Reporting
Have you taken time to view the Assembly 08 Invitation yet? (Do so by clicking HERE.) Please remember to use it somehow in your congregational life this week if you have multimedia capabilities–and to invite persons to remember to pray for the event as we gather next week at Penn View Christian School for worship, celebration and discernment together.

There will be no follow-up DVD video this year. However, there will be a multimedia presentation available, similar to the invitation. We’d encourage you to use it as part of your congregational reporting and discerning post-Assembly. The follow-up multimedia presentation will be released by Friday, November 14.

Conference Assembly ‘08 Preview Video
A Conference Assembly Invitation and Preview video is now available at mosaicmennonites.org. (Click here to view!) The video is designed for use in worship. Download it directly from the website or contact the conference office at 215-723-5513 ext.123 to receive a copy on CD. We encourage pastors to view the video and share it with your congregations in worship.

2009 Missional Leaders Meeting
Mark your calendar now to attend the 2009 Missional Leaders meeting, May 2 – 4 in Denver, Colorado. Leading by Example is the theme of the 2009 meeting. Components of the time together will include dwelling in the Word, practical applications, case studies and worship in local congregations on Sunday morning. The meeting is open to area conference leaders, congregational leaders and others with a heart for Missional Church. Contact Becky Tyson at BeckyT@MennoniteMission.net or call 574-523-3076 (toll-free 1-866-866-2872). Registration is available online in 2009 at www.MennoniteMission.net.

Urgent Request
A young family needs a home for the winter. Mom is 32; children are 13 and 10. Please contact Pastor Luke Beidler (610-270-0636) or Pastor Bill Kull (215-699-5663) if you know of an apartment for rent or a house that needs house-sitting.

Penn Foundation Presents Workshop on “Embracing Diversity” in the Workplace
On Tuesday, October 28, Penn Foundation will present a workshop entitled Embracing Diversity: The Key to Meeting Your Company’s Complex Needs as a part of it’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Led by Penn Foundation’s EAP Counselor Gigi Farrow, the workshop will address the daunting yet rewarding task of embracing diversity in the business field. As the workshop outlines the key components needed to become a leader in today’s multicultural market, participants will explore such topics as inclusivity, fairness, recruiting and training and analyzing a company’s strengths and areas for growth. The workshop will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Penn Foundation’s Grundy Auditorium in Sellersville, PA. The registration fee, which includes a continental breakfast at 8 a.m. and lunch at noon, is $35 for non-members and $25 for Penn Foundation EAP Members. For more information or to register, call 215-257-6556, email eap@pennfoundation.org or visit www.pennfoundation.org. Registration deadline is October 21.

October Pastors and Leaders Breakfast
Remember to RSVP for the upcoming Pastors and Leaders Breakfast on Thursday, October 16 from 8 – 10 a.m. at the Mennonite Conference Center. For more information on the breakfast entitled The Faith Walk of a Child: An Intentional Journey click here.  A $5 donation is appreciated towards this hot breakfast.

Opportunity to Support Haiti
The recent hurricane season has left the people of Haiti devastated. Tens of thousands have been left dead or homeless and without a way to provide for their families. In addition to support through prayer, churches who want to do more can collect money, non-perishable food, summer clothing, heath kits and school kits. The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Material Resource Center of Harleysville has agreed to serve as a collection point for these items and will prepare them for shipment. Items should be marked for Grace Assembly Network and delivered to the MCC warehouse at 461C Indian Creek Road, Harleysville, PA.

Day of Renewal at the Brooklyn Tabernacle
Pastors, prayer leaders and students are invited to a day of renewal at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, NYC, on Tuesday, October 21. Speaking will be Pastor Jim Cymbala and Daniel Henderson of Strategic Renewal Ministries. The day will include morning and afternoon sessions, lunch and the evening prayer meeting at the Tabernacle. Dinner is on your own during a break in the late afternoon. The cost of the registration is $65 plus transportation costs and dinner. To register for this event and to learn more about the day of renewal, please check the website for Strategic Renewal International at www.strategicrenewal.com/brooklyn-tabernacle.aspx.

There will be a group traveling from this area, which will plan to leave by 6:30 am and will return home after the prayer meeting which is scheduled to end at 9 pm.

Partners in Mission available to speak
With the emphasis on Partners in Mission at Conference Assembly this year, a number of our partners would be available to speak in congregations on Sunday, November 7.

https://mosaicmennonites.org/2008/10/09/1856/

Peace and Justice Committee Conversation
The Peace and Justice Committee of the Franconia and Eastern District Conferences invites you to a conversation on “Keeping Faithful to the Biblical Vision and the ‘Politics of Jesus’ without being Politically Partisan.” This conversation will take place on Tuesday, October 7 from 9:30 – 10:45 a.m. at the Mennonite Conference Center. The Committee hopes that such a conversation among pastors and others interested will help all of us constructively navigate in the midst of competing, and at times conflicting, opinions and feelings in our nation, communities and congregations. James C. Longacre will moderate the conversation.

Learning Community Opportunity
The learning community called “Deepening the Spiritual Lives of Congregations and Leaders” will meet on Wednesday, October 8 from 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. at Nueva Vida New Life Plaza, 25 East Marshall Street, Norristown. This office building is located right next to the church, with a walled-in parking lot. Everyone is invited to come and learn how to “be” instead of just “do”. Bring members of your congregations. Below is the schedule for the morning:

8:30 a.m. Coffee and refreshments
8:45 a.m. 45 minutes of lectio divina or “Dwelling in the Word”
9:30 a.m. Barbara Shisler will talk about her journey into listening prayer.
10:00 a.m. End with some discussion of further plans and next steps for the learning community

October Prayer Gathering
You are invited to the October prayer gathering of Franconia Mennonite Conference at Rockhill Mennonite Community’s Activity Center on Saturday, October 25, 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The focus will be the role of forgiveness in prayer and prayer ministry. Speaking will be Ray Yoder, who has a heart for seeing the healing power of God released through the church today—healing of mind, body and spirit. Come and be blessed through worshiping, learning, praying and fellowshipping together.

Volunteer with MDS
Mennonite Disaster Service invites pastors to get involved with MDS projects! Through a generous grant, MDS is offering travel cost reimbursement to constituent pastors volunteering at an MDS project site for a week or more. For more details call Lois at 866-261-1274.