Informing and Connecting ROM Community
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Renewing
Our Minds Notebook
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Investing in a New Generation of Leaders
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October 2009
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Greetings!
Here we are, with our upgraded version of newsletter, moving a step forward in our desire to inform and communicate.
Renewing Our Minds, or ROM for short, is a Southeast European initiative for change with the vision of a transformed society through transformed leadership, inspired by the character and teachings of Jesus Christ. Its mission is to develop leaders of integrity, committed to reconciliation and peace-building; leaders who, renewed in their minds, characters, attitudes and actions in the likeness of Jesus, are steadily transforming their constituencies, communities and countries.
Following the Balkan Wars (1991-1995) in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, a group of young adults involved in the ministry of Life Center International (LCI) - a faith-based, interdenominational and humanitarian organization in Croatia - gave birth to the international ROM project. The ten years of experience in leadership development, reconciliation and peace building in Southeast Europe and beyond, and its resourceful community numbering in hundreds, are nowadays being invested into developing a training strategy that will bring ROM to new regions of the world needing servant leaders and active peace building.
Love and blessings
Tihomir Kukolja, Renewing Our Minds Director
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News
Wave Only a Few Days Away
In a few days we will have gathering of the Wave core team in Tuzla, Bosnia. On Friday morning we are going to Subotica where we will have a day of meetings and technical preparation. On Friday evening we'll have the opening session for the Wave Subotica team. On Saturday we'll have the first initial testing's for participants. Preparation work is going well and we are thankful to God for it. In Subotica, some of our team members are already working with registrations and technical preparations. The number of of participants has already gone over 100. Having in mind that our Subotica team will include 15-20 persons, we can say that this will be the biggest ROM/EDS/Wave event ever. Pray that God will give me and my team wisdom and strength to go through the next two weeks boldly. Expect more updates soon. Tea Deak, Wave Director. Visit 2009 ROM Notebook and Wave Blog.
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Kristina Kukolja, SBS Radio, Melbourne, Australia
Kristina Kukolja works as a radio producer and presenter for the state owned SBS Radion in Melbourne, Australia... "Two year old Leona's illness is so rare and aggressive that, unable to receive treatment in her homeland of Croatia, she and her family have relocated to Germany to receive specialist treatment. With medical costs in excess of $400,000, her family is now desperately trying to raise the necessary funds to treat the little girl and her sister, who is Leona's bone marrow donor...". SBS Media Release, Melbourne, Australia, 29 September 2009. Read the entire news release here.
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John Masuku reports for the Radio Netherlands: Letter from Zimbabwe, Welcome to Our Urban Villages
"With the generator in place, our next battle is with perennial water shortages. We only have running water once every Friday for which the national water utility, Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) places blame on acute shortages of foreign currency to purchase treatment chemicals and repair ever bursting rotten old pipes. We have to fill up several drums, buckets and pots so that we have enough water for cooking, drinking, laundry and bathing, to last seven days..." Read the entire moving report here or here.
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Interview with Srdjan Antic, a Well Know Croatian Human Right Activist
Srdjan Antic shares about the impact of ROM in his own life and introduces his
latest TV documentary "Untold Stories", in which several stories are shared
between the people across the enemy lines who helped save lives across the enemy
lines in the war years 1991 - 1995 years in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Srdjan Antic, a Croatian Serb, attended the ROM Gathering in 2000. Inspired by
what he experienced at ROM Gathering 2009, together with another two 2009 ROM
participants from Croatia, he founded ROM Junior, a week long seminar "Inclusion
and Embrace", that focuses on teaching reconciliation and peacemaking the
Croatian and Serbian teenagers from Croatia. ROM Junior started in 2001 and has
been taking place at the end of each summer in Fuzine, Croatia until now. His
latest TV Documentary "Untold Stories" is worthwhile seeing, and once it becomes
available on-line we will direct you to the appropriate link. Srdjan Antic has
bees serving for a number of years as the director of the Osijek based Nansen
Dialogue Center in Croatia. This interview was recorded at ROM Gathering 2009 in Fuzine, Croatia. Listen.
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Mark Casey Do Christians, Jews and Muslims Believe in the same God?
At ROM Gathering 2009 in Fuzine, Croatia Mark Casey presented a challenging topic - Do Christians, Jews and Muslims Believe in the same God? Mark is the executive director of Common Path Alliance, an international organization that desires to bring Christians and Muslims closer together. Listen.
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Vision and Mission
Renewing Our Minds, or ROM in short, is a Southeast European initiative of
change with the vision of a transformed society through transformed leadership,
inspired by the character and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Its mission is to
develop leaders of integrity, committed to reconciliation and peace-building;
who, renewed in their minds, characters, attitudes and actions in the likeness
of Jesus, are steadily transforming their constituencies, communities and
countries.
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Quote
And
so my second day home after I returned from ROM, I went with a Jewish friend to
have a breakfast. I told her about ROM, and then out of the blue I had tears in
my eyes and I told her 'you know, now I can say I sincerely love you' and
instead of getting insulted, she stood up and hugged me.
Sana Rizek, Palestine/Israel
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Note
Since this is the first time we are using this method of creating and sending our newsletter, it might happen that not everything visually appears as we have desired. As we continue developing further our bulletin we will also work on advancing its appearance.
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Reflection
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Tihomir Kukolja, Serving God's Purpose in Our Generation
I love the slogan "Serving God's purpose in our Generation", but what are its possible implications? Competing offers from all sides and sources can easily confuse the heart and mind of a seeker, and one can find oneself all over the place in attempt to serve or eventually give up trying. Some years ago such a theme would urge me to mostly doctrinal and black-and-white theological conclusions. Nowadays it leads me to a different place: one where a follower of Jesus is called to be a catalyst for change in his/her community. And where a fellowship of believers, rather than being an exclusive club for the self-righteous, is making a difference by serving their communities as God's ambassadors of healing and restoration... Read More...
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Newsline
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Following the recent elections in Albania Dorian Ducka has been invited to become the Senior Advisor to Dritan Prifti, Minister of Economy, Energy and Trade; while Gerti Bogdani has become a Member of Parliament. Camelia Popa from Romania is actively involved in the planning and leading of a couple of PATRIR (Peace Action Training and Research Institute) reconciliation conferences in Romania. Randall Butler, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Peace in Houston TX, USA is travelling in a few days to Sudan. Keep Randall and other friends in our prayers.
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Contact
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Visit us often. These are the places we recommend for regular updates and information:
Renewing Our Minds Notebook Blog, ROM Web, ROM Family on Twitter,
ROMCAST: Weekly ROM Podcasts - and here.
Contact: Tihomir Kukolja, Renewing Our Minds Director, 1-281-515-3707
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