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State of the Church
 In the spirit of the children's rhyme "This is the church, this is the steeple", General Minister and President Sharon Watkins taught us a new version for our time by former Regional Minister Ben Bohren - Here's the Church/with prayer and vision/Throw open the doors/ Go out into mission!
Quoting great Disciple preacher Fred Craddock, Watkins asked, "Are we giving our lives for the world?"
Watkins went on to make the case for Mission First!, a pilot program for the next biennium to find new ways to cooperate across the life of the church on shared mission. The steps will include input, identify, implement and impact and in the process the "i's" become "we".
"We need to get up from the table and get out the door," Watkins said. "With prayer and with vision, go forth into mission.
For more information or to sign up for a mission gathering, go to http://missionfirst.disciples.org A more complete story will be available in the General Assembly News publication in August and you will be hearing more through Disciples News Service over the coming months.
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Volunteers from the General Assembly processed 42,000 pounds of potatoes for local food pantries. With produce gleaned by the Society of St. Andrew (a Week of Compassion partner), 10 pound bags of potatoes were counted out by the volunteers for pick up by the pantries. Local television stations picked up on the story (
