Maryland-Virginia Fellowship Day

Dear Pastors,

The Peach Orchard Christian Retreat Center Board,
in appreciation of our Pastors and spouses,
would like to invite you for a fellowship time with
Bishop David Roller and Yvonne
and Superintendent David Harvey and Dawn.

The event will be held on Saturday April 26th.

At 9 AM, a continental breakfast will be served,
followed by songs, notes of praise,
and getting to know our MD/VA conference leaders.

A hot lunch will be served at 12:30 before dismissal.
Please RSVP For Meals

Directions and contact info are available at: www.peachorchardretreat.org
MDVARETREATCTR@AOL.COM
Phone: 301-384-3305

For those travelling a long distance, overnight accommodations
at the Retreat Center will be provided on a first come, first served basis.
Please call to make a reservation.

Buck Township placed under Pastor Joe Shimko

Buck Township church in Pennsylvania had been placed under the leadership of Pastor Joe Shimko who pastors Mountainview Community Church in White Haven, PA. Pastor Joe has been appointed the pastor and will take administrative leadership of the church. Most of the preaching and pastoral care work will be done by people who assist Joe at White Haven. Buck Twp. is 11 miles from White Haven.

Thanks to Pastor Don Vanderhoof and Roe for their good leadership over the last 16 years.

Northeast, MD church plant has 54 at first meeting

Haven Community Church, our newest church plant, met last Sunday for the first time at the home of Pastor Jack and Melissa Cohen. They had 54 people attend (34 adults, 3 teens, 17 kids). Melissa had a Sunday School with the children. Haven is still looking for a place to rent and hopes to have a grand opening on Easter Sunday. Keep this plant and Pastor Jack and Melissa in your prayers.

Denny Wayman's pastoral counseling course

Denny Wayman is offering his pastoral counseling course again this summer. Here is the information:


This summer I am offering my pastoral counseling class once more. Please forward this email to people in your conferences, districts and churches who may be interested. The course is designed to provide the skills and practice for direct use in church ministry. The information attached explains the reading and the two paths of CEU or MDiv credits (through Haggard School of Theology.)

When: July 21 at 1:00 to July 25 at 12:00 noon
Where: Santa Barbara, CA at the Free Methodist Church, 1435 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara, CA (Housing and meals are not provided).
Who: Pastors and those providing pastoral care in a congregation (i.e. parish health, youth leaders, group leaders, etc.)
Costs: $300 per person (includes syllabus) with a $100 non-refundable deposit.

The class is limited so it will be a "first come - first served" situation with the deposit reserving your place.

Denny Wayman
http://fmcsb.org/staff.html

Conference Merger Task Force Meets

The Conference Merger Task Force had its first meeting Wednesday evening at the regional office in Aberdeen, Md. This task force was formed by action of both conferences after an ad-hoc merger committee recommended that both conferences continue to consider the possibility of merger.

In its first meeting the task force began to lay out a plan to guide its work. It's purpose is to decide whether or not to bring a recommendation to each conference to merge, and if it decides to make that recommendation, then to lay out a process by which merger may take place. The task force is seeking to discern if merging the conferences will enable us to achieve our goal of creating a culture of rapid multiplication of the Kingdom more efficiently.

The task force is discussing the pros and cons of merger as well as discussing what is the role of a conference and what is the role of a superintendent in creating this culture of multiplication.

Please keep this task force in your prayers. Their next meeting is in early February.

Reports Due

This is the time of year when annual reports are submitted. There is always some confusion about these reports. Here is a brief explanation of these reports.

There are two types of reports. One is the Annual Statistical Report which is submitted on line. If you are not sure how to submit this, please contact Kerrie at the conference office and she will guide you through the process. This is due NO LATER than January 31, 2008. Pastors are responsible for seeing that this report is submitted on time.

The second type of report is a confidential report that is filled out by both the pastor and the delegate of each church. These reports have been mailed to pastors and delegates and are to be returned to the conference office.