Greetings!

Three of our 2012 Summer Camps start in just 3 days and the final two are the next week. Still time to register for those last two, but it must be done immediately. 

Registration materials     

• ChiRho Camp   June 24-30    21 youth registered 
• Junior Camp      June 24-30  43 youth registered
• CYF Camp         July 1-7       28 youth registered
• Grandparents & Me I   June 30-July 2   44 registered! CLOSED TO FURTHER REGISTRATIONS       
• Grandparents & Me II  July 4-6         9 registered
• South San Joaquin      June 24-29    24 registered 

PLEASE NOTE that Grandparents & ME Camp I is CLOSED to any further registrations! There are openings for GP&M II. 

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LOOK WHO'S COMING TO OUR REGION AND BRINGING THE WORLD TO US. MORE GLOBAL MISSION VISITORS ARE ON THE WAY...

 1. Betty and Ken Frank, recently retired Global Ministries missionaries, who worked in Turkey for nearly 30 years, will be with us for 2 weeks in July.  

Here are the places you could go hear them speak:

July 1- FCC Selma- morning worship

July 2- United CC, Fresno   6:30

July 3-6- Community of the Great Commission

(Sorry, no outside visitors able to attend)

July 8- FCC Sacramento- morning worship

July 8- Tapestry Ministries, Berkeley, 6:00 pm

July 10- Lafayette CC, evening group

July 11- Forest Hill CC, SF   6:00 pm

July 12-14- UCC, Redding

Call these churches for more details.

2. Tom and Lynnea Morse, home for a few months from China, will be in our Region for just 1 week, August 5-12.

Their schedule so far is:

August 5- CC of Pacific Grove-morning

August 5- Sinapi Fellowship, Palo Alto

  (afternoon)

August 8- Forest Hill CC, SF-evening

August 12- OPEN FOR WORSHIP

IN A CHURCH??

We are looking for other speaking possibilities as well as people who would be willing to host them in their homes and/or provide tours in the Bay Area. Contact Ben.

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By now, everyone should know this theme:

2012 YEAR OF EVANGELISM!! 

"Cultivating Disciples of Christ to become dynamic 'evangels' sharing the good news of God's transforming love." 

two exciting opportunities right now to help us alll grow in understanding, practice and comfort with the E-word!

 Here are dates and places:

• May 12- FCC Sacramento- 36 attended
• May 19- United CC, Fresno- 34 attended
• June 16- Lafayette- 29 attended

Two days until the Palo Alto workshop. Call the regional office for last minute registrations.

• June 23- FCC Palo Alto- 28 registered (co-hosted by Sinapi Seed Fellowship and Walking Faith American Korean CC)  Registration form at: http://www.ccncn.org/Doable-Evangelism-Flyer.pdf   

IS YOUR CHURCH REACHING OUT TO A DIFFERENT CULTURE, OR WORKING TO EMPOWER A MARGINALIZED COMMUNITY?

It's Coming! THE E-VAN!!  

(Can you guess what the E stands for?)

• August 12-16- light dinner, evangelism workshops and closing worship
• Sunday, August 12- FCC Concord    5:00-7:30
• Monday, August 13- FCC Chico  6:00-8:30
• Tuesday, August 14- Greater Sacramento Area
• Wednesday, August 15- FCC San Jose 6:00-8:30
• Thursday, August 16- FCC Hanford  6:00-8:30 

TRULY THIS IS 'THE YEAR OF EVANGELISM"

HOT NEWS

CHURCHES TO HOLD IN PRAYER

WHAT'S HAPPENING AROUND THE REGION????

1. ATTENTION:  

All Disciples Young Adults in Northern

California-Nevada

 

SAVE THE DATE

Regional Summer Young Adult Mission Outing "REACH-OUT-REACH"

August 10-12 in Santa Cruz at The Circle Church

 

Friday night will be optional but we'll have some fun for sure. Saturday we will begin at 11:00AM with Pastor Steve DeFields-Gambrel beginning to help us learn about the street community and the the rest of the day will be learning and interacting with the street community. In the evening there will be fun at the Boardwalk and back at the church in their full gym which is also where we will sleep.

Sunday morning will be worship with The Circle Church and then lunch which always includes all members of the church, some of which are the street community. Much more later, but hold the dates!!  Registration forms and more details to come. Thanks to our Regional Young Adult Council for leading this ministry to/with/for young adults.

2.  Applications for the Annual Clergy Continuing Education Scholarship Grants have been mailed to clergy across the Region. If you are interested, you can also get the materials at: www.ccncn.org  Note, that the deadline is July 6.

3. Thank you, CCNC-N churches, for continuing to contribute to the  All Peoples Campers' Health Kit Project!   We are almost "there" with funds for the health kits for All Peoples Christian  Center's 75 young campers!  We are very grateful for every contribution.  A couple of congregations have an especially nice approach - taking up a special offering for this project.  We hope to meet our goal by June 30th, and invite you to 

consider supporting this All Peoples outreach as you can. "Thank you!"  from your CCNC-N/All Peoples Team.

Please send your contribution to the regional office -  CCN-N  9260 Alcosta Blvd., Suite C-18, San Ramon,CA   94583-4143 - and note "All Peoples camper health kits" on the memo line.     
 

4. WOMEN'S FALL RETREAT at Mission Springs

September 14-16, 2012

"Spirit-Empowered Women"

Speaker is: The Rev. Amy Gopp, dynamic Executive Director of Week of Compassion who travels the world on behalf of 3,500 Disciples congregations.

Learn more at: http://www.ccncn.org/dwf.htm  

For more information on Amy Gopp and Week of Compassion, go to: http://www.weekofcompassion.org/   

5. Women's Ministries Networking from Michelle Nichols:

...Do you want to know what is going on in our region for the women, things like Fall Retreat, Spring Gathering, and any special regional events?  

...Do you have an event coming up, an important announcement, or prayer concerns, and would like the women of the region to know about them?

We are here to empower women in their faith and provide opportunities for fellowship, networking, making connections and sharing information. We have a place for that over on Facebook. Check us out and get started:
facebook.com/CCNCN.WomensMinistries 

Also, be sure you are signed up for the women's ministries list on our constant contact data base. You can update your constant contact profile by going to www.ccncn.org  and clicking on the button in the right-hand column to join our free email news.

6. Limited number of scholarships still available

...Does your church average less than 100 on Sunday morning?

...Have you never been to a General Church Pastors Conference sponsored by the Office of General Minister and President?

If you answer yes to either question, you may be eligible for one of 110 scholarships of $150 toward the registration fee for the Pastors Conference. To apply:

www.disciples.org

REGIONAL STAFF NEWS

Molly will be away June 21-25. Please hold e-mails and voice mails.

As of July 1, Cliff's regional position will move from Regional Minister of Placement, Training and Care to Regional Minister of Search and Call. Cliff has

graciously agreed to continue his service to the Region during this transition time. THANK YOU, CLIFF!

Ben will be on vacation June 28-July 10. He will be checking e-mail and voice mail along the way now and then but please hold these if at all possible.

Paula will be on vacation June 27-July 2. Again, please hold e-mails and voice mails.

From Cliff: Please add our grandson, LaFrance Cole, to the regional prayer list as he has been deployed to Afghanistan in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Clearance Unit.   

Have you been wanting a copy of the directory of churches in our Region?-like names, addresses, phone numbers, pastors names, etc. Did you know you can download that directory any day right from our Regional website. It gets updated regularly (if we know the changes). Just go to:

http://www.ccncn.org/directory-of-churches-2012.pdf 

The Regional Executive Committee has asked that you save the date of Saturday, October 20 for a Celebration of Ben's Ministry. Tentative time is 1:00-5:00 p.m. Place to be announced soon.  Ben's retirement date is November 1, 2012.

UPCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS

We do not put the dates of local church events here as we never could get them all and we would always miss some!    

JUNE

23- Do-able Evangelism- FCC Palo Alto (hosted by Walking Faith CC and Sinapi Fellowship)

24-30- Junior Camp

24-30- ChiRho Camp

24-29- South San Joaquin Camp

JULY

(June 30)- July 2- Grandparents & Me Camp 1

1-7- CYF High School Camp

4-6- Grandparents and Me Camp II

14- Regional Hispanic (ALPHA) Convocation

Porterville  12:00 noon-7:30 pm

16- NAPAD Planning Meeting

17- Regional Resources Committee   10:00-2:00

21- Regional Ministry Council- Livermore

24- Bay Area Pastoral Relations Committee-Livermore

AUGUST

12-16- E-Van on the road across our Region

SEPTEMBER

14-16- Mission Springs Women's Conference

OCTOBER

20- Celebration of Regional Ministry (Ben's Party)

NOVEMBER

3- Unity Festival UCC Lodi

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CELEBRATIONS & PRAYERS

CELEBRATIONS

Keep those prayers going for our Mexico Mission group as they complete their week of work on Friday and arrive back home this Saturday morning, June 23. We are so proud of our 23 youth and young adults and 19 adults. Participants come from FCC Concord, Lafayette CC, FCC Redding, Pacific Grove CC, Mayfair CC, Stockton and FCC Chico.The group is leaving this Saturday, June 16 and returning on June 23. Plans this year were to build a single house for the Rojas Castaneda family and a double house which will be used by a school (Escuela Tijuana). Thanks to Mike Hecker, Lafayette CC, and Director this year. Also, thanks to FCC Concord who has been the organizing church for the Mexico Mission trip for over three decades! Prayers always appreciated!

From William Leong, FCC Palo Alto:

We received a kind donation of $250 to go toward funding a trip to The Gathering 2012, National Men's Ministry Event in Bethany, WV.  Do you know anyone who would be interested in taking advantage of it?
http://www.gathering2012.org/ 

New members as reported:  CC of Pacific Grove (2 adult associate members); FCC Antioch (1 youth baptism)

We are saddened to hear of the death of Bob Neal, retired Disciples pastor who
has been an active leader in retirement at CC of Woodland. His memorial service is
today, June 21st, 11 a.m. at the church with Pastor Larry Love officiating.

Prayers for Pastor Hilary Marckx (Geyserville) and Cherie Marckx's (FCC Ukiah) granddaughter, Brigit,  who was in a very serious automobile accident early this week in Sacramento area. She is fortunate to be alive! She sustained some pretty serious injuries, but things are looking far better now. Hilary and Cherie appreciate your prayers for her recovery.

We continue to keep Pastor Mark Foglio, Oakdale CC in our prayers. Mark is still recovering from chest pains several week-ends ago. He has been undergoing a battery of tests this week. Cards of support can be sent to: Oakdale CC, 330 Maxwell Avenue, Oakdale 95361.

Keep those prayers coming for Julie Jones Rodriquez, active leader at FCC Sparks and former Regional Board member for three years, as she recovers from knee surgery that resulted in two different complications. She is doing much better.  Send cards to: 11860 Canyon Dawn Dr. Sparks, NV 89441 

We continue to pray for John Grose, former Moderator of FCC Vallejo, as he battles a  recurrence of lymphoma cancer. John finished his chemo treatments two and a half weeks ago and is now receiving acupuncture treatments which are giving him renewed energy. He appreciates our prayers.

Pastor Taulau Tupua, Via Dolorosa Samoan Congregational Christian Church of Modesto sends his deep appreciation for the many cards and prayers over this long and challenging battle with lymphoma leukemia. As he continues his second round of chemotherapy, he is driving to Stanford Medical Center twice a week for special "burning of the blood" treatments. Praise God he is still feeling strong enough to preach weekly. Cards to: 2329 Senimi Circle, Ceres, 95307.

Barbara Wikoff, musician at Oakdale CC, and husband Bob, Chair of our Regional Resources Committee is having some really good days right now following test results showing that the chemo treatments are working! in prayer.  She and Bob deeply appreciate all the prayers and ask that you keep them coming. Cards can be sent to: 941 Terrace Court, Oakdale, 95361.

Our prayers continue for the following who remain in need of our support and concern: 

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FINAL WORD-Regional Happenings

Nearly every week, the Regional Office participates in or reads about some wonderful movements of the Spirit among us. Now and then we will share thees with you. 

1. Thank you from Victor Smith

Dear Regional Christian Church,
My Ordination Ceremony at First Christian Church, Turlock on June 3, 2012, was truly a Life's Peak Moment.

• You Were There
• You Were Inspiring
• You Were Supportive

With much appreciation I offer my sincerest Thank You! 

2. Under the Big Top.......... 

Pastor Norrie Palmer has created a very unique and exciting sermon series this May and June..."Under the Big Top." Here's the way Norrie introduces it:

"Ever feel like you're missing the main event? Does life seem like a three-ring circus, a sideshow, or a high wire
act? Invite your friends for a fun look at life "Under the Big Top." Though there won't be any sword swallowing, you might be surprised by what does happen as we clown around in search of evermore rewarding lives. Come in
comfortable attire, ready to be changed by the Holy Spirit.

On one Sunday, here is part of the fun...

The Rev. Margie Brown demonstrated Liturgical Pyrogastronomics as series on "Under the Big Top" continued. At one time Margie was a member of a Methodist Circus - "The Circus Kingdom" that performed all over the U.S. and Canada. She left the circus to go to Seminary.

Margie has taught thousands of people the art of fire eating. It takes about four hours to teach the technique to a person. She does it as a parable of turning fear into action. She taught six nuns in their 60's and 70's, dressed in their habits, in the attic of the convent at midnight in Dover, Delaware, so the 90-year-old Mother Superior wouldn't know! All of the nuns were facing something new - new job, new community, health issues. They said, "If I can eat fire, I can do this."

Something very dangerous happened to one of her students near the end of her pregnancy which caused her and the baby's' lives to be in jeopardy, She had to lie perfectly still on her side until the baby was born. Remembering her fire eating training, she thought, "I can do this." After 4 hours a healthy baby boy was born. Both he and his mother are doing very well to this day. "Courage is NOT being afraid of being afraid." Rev. Dr. Margie Brown.

3. New Church Report- the Table, Berkeley

(This is the second in a series of monthly reports on our new churches. With so many new churches in our Region, it is easy to forget them all or to know what is happening with them. Please keep the Table in your prayers as they undergo a transition time from full time pastoral leadership to part time pastoral leadership. Tami Groves is their pastor).

"The Table community continues to thrive in most ways as a community. We are going strong in many of our groups and gatherings. People are finding a spiritual home with each other and sharing a vulnerability about their spiritual and life challenges.

As I (Tami Groves) shifted to part time pastoral leadership in April, we are seeking to find a way to continue with the same community energy without depending so much on me....it is challenging to become less pastor/leader focused for a demographic that struggles to have as few obligations as possible. 

We continue to seek revenue streams to support our ministry and find that getting the people resources to execute fundraising plans is a constant frustration as well.  We ask for prayers for us as we make the transition into a different season in our ministry.