Dear Friends:

You will remember that on Monday, February 4, we joined with several partners for an interfaith call-in day to Congress. We made a significant difference as a chorus of moral voices: together more than 10,000 calls were made to the Senate through the Faiths Calling Campaign!

We are joining together once again, this time on April 9. I invite each of you to once again publicly participate in this effort, and to promote it widely throughout your churches. In order to have an impact on the critical decisions our elected leaders will soon make, we need to galvanize the people in the pews of the churches we serve. A word from you, the churches highly respected and regarded leaders, will go a long way to inspire participation.

Faiths Calling - Interfaith Call-in to Prevent Gun Violence - April 9th

Our partners at the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism have updated the excellent website - www.faithscalling.org - with tools that are easy to use, and applicable for a range of perspectives on the issue. All you need to do is fill in some basic information on the website, and you will be automatically connected with your elected leaders. It couldn't be easier! Please post and share throughout your networks. Sample social media posts are below - choose which ones are appropriate for your communion, or adapt as you see fit.

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Faiths Calling - Interfaith Call-in to Prevent Gun Violence
Call your Senators and Representative today and insist that they act to prevent gun violence! Ensure that the voices of faithful Americans ring throughout the halls of Congress. Demand Congress enact universal background checks - or bans on semi-automatic assault weapons & high-capacity magazines, gun trafficking, and improving access to mental health services. faithscalling.org  

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Try these for Facebook. Please post to your Facebook page, share the site on your wall/feed, change your cover photo, etc - as appropriate for your community.

• Call your Senators and Representative today and insist that they act to prevent gun violence. Ensure that the voices of faithful Americans ring throughout the halls of Congress. http://faithscalling.org
• When you call your Senators for today's national Interfaith Call-in day, tell them universal background checks work and that you are a member of the faith community demanding action now. http://faithscalling.org
• Feel free to promote the Facebook event we created for people to save the date about the call-in: https://www.facebook.com/events/512299335483257/

Try these for Twitter: Campaign hashtag #faithscalling

• If not now, when? Today is Interfaith Call-In Day to #preventgunviolence #faithscalling http://faithscalling.org
• Ban semi-automatic assault weapons & high-capacity magazines to #preventgunviolence. Join me today: #faithscalling http://faithscalling.org
• Require universal #backgroundchecks for all gun purchases. Join me TODAY in telling Congress. #faithscallinghttp://faithscalling.org
• #Preventgunviolence TODAY: Improve access to mental health services now. Join me in calling Congress #faithscallinghttp://faithscalling.org
• The time is always right to do what is right - #MLK. Today, join me & call on Congress to #endgunviolence #faithscallinghttp://faithscalling.org

Here are some other #hashtags people are using:

#preventgunviolence #gunsafety #demandaplan #gunviolence #ifnotnowwhen

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For your reference, the NCC 2010, "Ending Gun Violence: A Call to Action," is available here: http://www.ncccusa.org/NCCpolicies/endinggunviolence.pdf  

Together as people of faith we can do much more to prevent gun violence than we can separately. Now is the time to speak and to act, giving bold witness to the Prince of Peace. Thank you in advance for joining this effort.

In Christ,

Kathryn M. Lohre

National Council of Churches President

Youth and Youth Leaders Recognition
at Conference Annual Gathering 

The Missouri Mid-South Conference would like to recognize youth and youth leaders who exemplify excellence in Youth Ministry at this year's Conference Annual Gathering (June 7-9 at Drury University in Springfield).  We will be focusing a portion of our Saturday evening banquet on youth and youth ministry; and we are currently soliciting nominees for recognition.

We are seeking youth and youth leaders who go above and beyond what is normally expected of their position to embody Christ's teachings in the world.  Nomination form are available on the Conference website by clicking here. Nominations must be turned in by April 30, 2013; all nominations will be reviewed by the Conference Youth Ministry Covenanted Ministry Team at their May meeting.  Successful candidates are expected to be present at the Saturday evening banquet for recognition. 

Registration materials for the Conference Annual Gathering will be distributed soon. We hope to see you there as we honor our youth and youth leaders!

Youth at Conference Annual Gathering!

Attention all Pastors, Youth Leaders, Youth and CAG Delegates- starting this year at the Conference Annual Gathering (June 7-9 at Drury University), there will be special opportunities for Conference youth at our gathering!

If you are unfamiliar with the Conference Annual Gathering (CAG) it is a once-a-year event focused on mission, ministry, music and more!  (as well as the "business matters" of the Conference)  This is the once-a-year "family reunion" for the 150 churches of the Missouri Mid-South Conference!

Youth (ages 14 and up) will be invited to participate in several opportunities...

Mission Trip to Joplin:  those youth (ages 14 and up) who wish to participate in a Mission Trip to Joplin will arrive on Thursday evening (June 6) with their Pastors and/or chaperones.  We will participate in some bonding and training sessions Thursday evening, stay overnight at Drury, then head off to Joplin Friday morning after breakfast.  We will spend Friday morning and afternoon working in Joplin, then arrive back at the CAG for the beginning of the event.  

Youth Stewards:  the CAG planning team is looking for a team of select High School Youth to serve as leadership for this gathering.  These stewards will be given the opportunity to participate in leadership and hospitality endeavors during the gathering, and will participate in worship leadership and other fellowship and educational opportunities.  They will also receive a tour of the Drury campus by Drury staff during the weekend.  The registration fees for these stewards will be paid by the Missouri Mid-South Conference through Our Church's Wider Mission Funds (in other words, they will attend the event FREE!)  Youth Stewards must be nominated by leaders from their local congregation using this nomination form. These youth will be expected to arrive Thursday evening with their Pastors and/or chaperones; but they will not go to Joplin for the Mission Trip.  They will be participating other in leadership activities back at Drury.

In addition to these two tracks, there will be activities for the youth all weekend long.  Saturday night's banquet will feature a power point presentation from this year's Conference Youth Event at Camp MoVal, and will focus on recognition of youth and youth leaders of note.  (see separate article above)  There will be a pizza party for the youth Friday evening, as well as an ice-cream social and a 70s/80s cover band for all to enjoy.  This will be a very special weekend in the life of the Missouri Mid-South Conference; and youth, this is your Conference, too!  Hope to see you at CAG!

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Leadership Development Committee of the MMSUCC wants you to know we have several leadership opportunities.  We ask you, as Conference and Association leaders, to help us identify prospects for the following:

1. Conference Council seats (three year terms) for election at June 2013 CAG:

(i)One nominee for:  Eastern Association  (currently held by male Clergy member)

(ii)One nominee for:  St. Louis Association (currently held by male Clergy member)

(iii)One nominee for:  Western Association (currently held by male Lay member)

The Conference is seeking a highly qualified, diverse pool of candidates for the limited number of Conference Council positions. Members shall be selected so that the Council represents diverse population groups and can bring to its deliberations a variety of points of view and life experiences, as well as access to cultural, religious, educational, civic, business and economic resources.     

Click here for the nomination form for prospective candidates for the Conference Council that should be completed by you (or others) or the candidate, and returned to the committee no later than Wednesday, April 10th (via LJDAyers@aol.com).   Also, we would appreciate it if you would send a separate email to the same address regarding the prospect(s) and their contact information as soon as possible.  This will be helpful in case we don't received the expected completed nomination form in a timely manner.

2.)Deacon positions (openings available immediately).

Please see the ad within this eCourier under Job Opportunities. We have divided each association into multiple groupings. It is our goal to have two (2) deacons for each of the groupings in each association. Please contact Joyce Bathke (Joyce.Bathke@RedCross.org) with deacon suggestions and for information regarding the current roster. 

Please prayerfully consider who might be prospects to serve in these very important roles in the life of our church.  We appreciate any assistance and guidance you can give at this time.

Thank you, 

Laura Dierberg Ayers