Bible Study Collection Available Online -- In Time for Great Lent
New Series Provides Resources for Personal and Group Study
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Designed for group or personal use, a new collection of Bible Studies titled "The Living Word" debuted this week on the Midwest Diocese website. Available just in time for Great Lent 2010, series one of what will be a five part series is now available. Edited by Father John Matusiak the collection will eventually include five series each with five individual studies -- 25 in all.
 Series one "What Did Jesus Say About It" guides participants through a discovery of Gospel quotes of what Jesus really said about: Himself, Life, Eternal Life, Faith and Forgiveness. "We've been using these new studies here at St. Joseph Church for the past six months," said Fr John. "I could not be happier with the results. People use them on the bus, at lunch hour or before work. Everyone can find time to look up one or two quotes per day. In our bible studies they work out great as well. Unlike group studies where the goal is to work your way through a particular Bible book people like these because each session is essentially independent. If a person misses one week they can jump back in the following week without being behind."
Series one - along with instructions for use can be found here.
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Webinar Series Continues: March 9, 7:00 PM CST
Facilitation Skills for Parish Life Series Moves to Evening Time Slot
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 Professional coach and facilitator Kenneth Kovach will present session three in the highly popular webinar series "Facilitation Skills for Parish Life" on Tuesday March 9. We've had numerous requests for an evening time slot -- so we're giving it a try. The session will start at 7:00 PM CST. (Listen closely now -- this means if you live in places Like Cleveland it starts at 8:00 PM EST!!! Get it?) Divergent & Convergent Thinking Skills for Parish GroupsThis session will focus on two critical areas of group problem solving: - Divergent thinking -- Tools to get groups to tap their creativity and to generate more and better ideas -- AND
- Convergent thinking -- Tips and practices for making better group decisions
Attending live sessions enables you to ask questions of the speaker. If you miss the live session though you can find the archive on the Diocesan website shortly after the event. The sessions, which are useful for both clergy and lay leaders are -- get this -- FREE! All you need to do is register here. More info on this session can be found here. Archive of Past SessionsClick these links for: - Session One -- "Making Parish Groups Successful" lays the foundation for using facilitation approaches in parish group settings. slides and session archive
- Session Two -- Making Meetings Matter covers types of meetings, good meeting practices & rescuing meetings gone wrong. slides and archive
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Parish Ministries Conference: 2010
Baldwin Wallace College is Site for Major Conference on "Equipping the Saints"
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 The campus of Baldwin Wallace College in suburban Cleveland will be the site of the Parish Ministry Conference 2010 on June 27-30. Adopting the theme of "Equipping the Saints" the conference will be a collaborative effort of the OCA's Departments of Liturgical Music, Christian Education, and Youth and Young Adult Ministry and the Midwest Diocese's Parish Health and Development Ministry.
Three Content Tracks PLUS Young Adult Rally
"Attendees will be able to choose between three major content tracks - Liturgical Music, Christian Formation, and Building Vibrant Parishes. In addition the conference will host a "young adult rally for Orthodox youth 18-30," said Protodeacon Joseph Matusiak, conference coordinator.
Who Should Attend
"The conference will be open to attendees over 18 years of age from any  Orthodox jurisdiction and will particularly seek to attract leadership groups from OCA parishes in the OCA's Diocese of Western Pennsylvania and Diocese of the Midwest, continued Fr. Deacon Matusiak. "We will be offering an important and impactful opportunity to
share ideas, explore common issues and build new relationships in an
atmosphere of worship and fellowship. The agenda we are building should be attractive to people from many areas of parish ministry --singers,
choir directors, composers, church
school teachers and lay catechists, youth leaders, parish council
members, and ministry coordinators. Really any Orthodox
Christian desiring to learn more about their faith or help energize their
parish will find something of value here," he continued.
SpeakersThe agenda is still under development by conference leaders. Speakers and contributors confirmed thus far include: - Metropolitan JONAH
 - Bishop Melchizedek
- Fr. John Matusiak
- Fr. John Behr
- David Drillock
- Matushka Alexandra Safchuk
- Matushka Valerie Zahirsky
- Joseph Kormos
The Venue: Baldwin Wallace Campus
"The Baldwin Wallace campus will be a great site for us, said Daria Petrykowsky of the Department of Christian Education and the planning committee's local contact in Cleveland.
All sessions, lodging and meals will
be held in two adjacent campus buildings enabling attendees maximum opportunity to interact while sharing a common schedule for worship, meals and free and social time. "Though the campus has plenty of space for a quiet tree lined stroll,
walking between dorms, classes and meals will be easy since it will involve only two adjacent buildings. Attendees can live in
the on campus residence halls or commute locally from the Cleveland area," said Daria.
Your Next Step
More details will follow. Your job is to mark your calendar for this important event in the life of our Church and our Diocese.
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Fr. Thomas Hopko to Speak in Southern Ohio
Lectures Planned Feb 27-29 in Cincinnati, Dayton and Oxford OH
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 Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of St Vladimir's Seminary will speak three times in Southern Ohio on the weekend of February 27 & 28.
- On February 27, Fr Thomas will deliver an all day retreat on the topic "The Crucified and Glorified Messiah" at Christ the Savior-Holy Spirit Orthodox Church in Cincinnati. More info and registration can be found here. Attendees $20 per person, $30 per family is the donation for attending.
- On Sunday, February 28 Fr. Hopko will speak on "THE DIVINE LITURGY AS OUR SELF-OFFERING TO GOD IN CHRIST - REFLECTIONS ON ROMANS 12:1." at St. Paul Church at 4:00 - 5:30 PM. This event is free and open to the public. For more information call the church at 937-297-3060, or contact Fr. Ted Bobosh.
- On Monday, March 1 at 7:00 PM at Miami University, Oxford, OH, Fr. Hopko will speak on "THE VISION OF FR. ALEXANDER SCHMEMANN." The event will be held in Harrison Hall, Room 204. For further information contact Dr. Scott Kenworthy.
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St Vladimir Summer Program June 14-16
Orthodox Parish Renewal: Finding New Life in Christ
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 As part of St. Vladimir's Seminary Summer program, the Midwest Diocese Parish Health and Development Ministry has been invited to collaborate with Fr. Sergius Halvorsen, Chairperson of the OCA's Department of Pastoral Life and Ministry to deliver a three day workshop on Orthodox Parish Renewal on June 14-16 2010.
Open to priests and lay leaders interested in developing their ministry and the health of their communities, the conference will provide skills, insights and tools for meeting the challenges of twenty-first century parish life. The conference will include:
- Brief, topically fresh presentations;
- Facilitated group discussions
- Collaborative Case Studies
- Cross parish problem solving -- enabling cross
parish subgroups to learn from one another by discussing not-so-mythical
parishes and to tackle revitalization issues
All pre-registered attendees will be surveyed in advance to determine
the key issues to be addressed and to allow maximum customization of
seminar content to relevant situations.
More info can be found here.
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Project Mexico
Archbishop JOB Memorial Trip Planned for Summer 2011
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 In December 2009 the Diocesan and Bishop's Council, with the blessing of Archbishop JOB, approved a Diocesan wide trip to Project Mexico. It was to be a retirement gift for His Eminence with youth and adults from all/most parishes in the Diocese participating together in a worthy service project. With our beloved Archbishop's untimely death only a few days later the plans for the trip continue -- only now as a Memorial to our archpastor.
The trip will take place in July 12-18 of 2011. There are spots for up to 300 missionaries. Participants must be at least 14 years of age by the time of departure, have a missionary mindset, and be ready to do God's work. The goal of the trip will be to build up to 12-15 houses. In addition to the charitable/humanitarian/service contribution of this trip it will be a wonderful opportunity to develop cross-parish friendships among faithful of our Diocese.
Email and telephone contact has been made with all parishes in the Diocese by Ruth Yavornitzky, coordinator and driving force for the project. "I'm asking each parish to establish a local contact person with whom I can communicate. Thus far response has been astounding. With little formal communication on this we have over 100 persons who have expressed strong interest in participating," said Matushka Yavornitzky. We would like to get a $50 deposit for participants by July 2010." For more info you can contact her at 248 852 9574 or by email . Putting "Project Mexico"
in the subject line guarantees a quick response time.
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Facebook
Parish Development Ministry Establishes "Fan Page"
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 We've created a "facebook page" for the Diocese' Parish Health and Development Minsistry.
The page will supplement "Parish Pulse" and our Midwest Diocese/ Parish Health website page as a tool to promote events, make you aware of new articles, ask for feedback on priorities for our ministry and to stimulate discussion on topics or projects of importance to building vibrant parishes.
Whereas we try to limit the number of times Parish Pulse gets pushed to your inbox, subscribers to this Facebook page will find new brief content snippets per weekly or even daily.
Facebook members can become a "fan" (woohoo!) by clicking here. (Fabulous prizes await the 500th fan. Honest.)
We promise, however, to never, ever, ask you to tweet. What ever that is.
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Greetings,