The Communicator - IYM's Newsletter - Hinkle Creek Friends has it's first entry!

IYM sessions, July 21-24,

Quaker Haven Camp      

    Many of us do not realize the wide variety of positive and effective influences we make at home and across the world by working together. During IYM sessions you will hear reports from “affiliated organizations” that we directly assist and influence through board appointments and financial backing. Hear the moving accounts from Friends United Meeting’s missions from Africa, the Middle East and Caribbean. Discover the joy expressed by those that work and live at Friends Fellowship Community. Share the stirring stories of troubled teens reclaiming a future through the caring workers at White’s Residential and Family Services. Catch the energy, excitement and moments of reflective peace offered by the Quaker Haven staff through their camping and retreat opportunities. Join us at IYM sessions to see how we together are changing our world!

News from the April 9

Representative Council Meeting

1. The first reading of the 2012 budget was given. The amounts for program assessments and the mission goal are each $75 per meeting member.

2.  Hinkle Creek and Westfield Friends Churches were received as Preparative Meetings in Indiana Yearly Meeting. Both meetings are from Hamilton County, Indiana, and are former members of Western Yearly Meeting. Lou Herchenroeder serves as pastor and Katy Palmer is youth pastor at Westfield. Bethel Friends is serving as Westfield’s sponsoring meeting. Bob Stubbs is the pastor at Hinkle Creek. Anderson First Friends is serving as the sponsoring meeting for Hinkle Creek.

    Pat Byers, Wabash Friends, has accepted the part-time position of Director of Christian Education for Western Yearly Meeting. 
He will continue at Wabash Friends as a part-time Worship Director.

    Friends Chapel will host a worship and praise service for all meetings in Van Wert Quarter on Sunday, April 17, at 6:30pm.     
For more information, call Van Wert First Friends Pastor Paul Hamrick at 419-771-9378 or email mercy_missions@hotmail.com.

    Hinkle Creek Friends will host a Women’s Conference & Luncheon Series, HJM Ministries with Heidi McLane, Saturday, May 14, 9:30-2:30. Tickets are $10. For more information, contact pastor Bob Stubbs at 21617 Hinkle Creek Rd, Noblesville, IN 46062 or call 317-691-2329

    Jericho Friends: Elaine, wife of pastor Martin Wells, recently had surgery on a mass in her brain. Please pray for her as she recovers.

    Richmond First Friends was thrilled to host about 40 people from six monthly meetings at its recent threshing session on authority and love for Spiceland Quarter. The discussion was rich and those in attendance expressed appreciation for the chance to gather as a Quarter for fellowship.

    Van Wert First Friends announces that Dr Michael Barry, Director of Pastoral Care at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Philadelphia, will come to their area to present a conference on “The Healing Power of Forgiveness” on April 29 & 30. Dr Barry specializes in the connection between spirituality and health and will share proven strategies to find peace with your past, relief from hatefulness, and hope for healing. For more information please call Pastor Paul Hamrick at 419-771-9378 or email mercy_missions@hotmail.com.

    West River Friends will host Rick Schoeff, pastor of Greenfield Friends, as he leads the worship for Maundy Thursday Services at their meeting. Ruthie Lamar will also share special music. Service begins at 7:00 pm on Thursday, April 21. Also, West River Friends will host its Pork Chop Dinner on April 30, 5-7 pm. Carry-out is available. This building fund-raising event will serve pork chops, potato casserole, green beans and homemade desserts. The cost is a free-will donation. For more information contact Anne Smith at 765-489-4036.

    If your meeting pays pastors or other staff for mileage or other  expenses, it is best for the individual and the meeting to reimburse these expenses after the individual submits a mileage log or receipts. Allowances are wages and are subject to taxation. Amounts paid under a written accountable reimbursement plan, on the other hand, not only increase transparency but they are not wages and are therefore not subject to taxation. If you have questions about this or any other issue related to the tax treatment of pastors, please contact IYM Ministerial Advocate Matthew Hisrich by email at matt@iym.org or by phone at 765-319-3244.

    White’s Residential & Family Services wishes to thank those who have already committed to participating in White’s Sunday. However, it’s not too late for your meeting to get involved! We have resources that can be used (giving envelopes, 3-slide power point presentation, brochures). Our staff is also available to come and share with your congregation on a Sunday morning. Please contact us at 260-563-1158, ext. 1346, if there is anything we can do to help you share the message with your congregation.
 

    Friends Disaster Service will work at Second Friends Church in Indianapolis (home of IYM’s Hispanic ministry, Iglesia Amigos)  on May 6&7. They will work in conjunction with FDS of Western Yearly Meeting on plastering, landscaping, painting, and more. For more information, contact Don Wimmer at dwimmer@comteck.com or 765-661-0064.

Spring Quilt Retreat at Quaker Haven, April 28 – May 1
Registrations are available on the website & need to be sent or called to the

camp office ASAP. Payment by credit/debit is available. Registrations will be

accepted until the retreat date. Go to www.quakerhaven.com - click on “calendar,”       
then click on "next" to get to April, then click on the "Quilt date.”

    

Fall Quilt Retreat at Quaker Haven, September 29-October 2.

Good Morning!

      Laura Lee Allen tells the following story in Christian Reader: During Sunday school, our pastor, who was teaching the adult class, selected a middle-aged couple to act out the burning bush scene from the Old Testament. The husband was asked to supply the voice for God and his wife would read Moses' lines. All went well until they got to verse 15. The wife, as Moses, mistook her husband's dialogue for her own and read, "Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers--.'" The pastor interrupted her. "Wait a minute. You're not God." Without missing a beat, her husband deadpanned, "I've been trying to tell her that for 18 years."

     The movie, Rudy, includes Father Cavanaugh’s memorable quote: “Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and I'm not Him.” Even though we know this intellectually, many involved in church leadership reflexively fall into the trap of mistakenly “reading God’s lines.” 

     During my life I’ve been privileged to witness first-hand some amazing spiritual movements in Friends churches that brought transformation and restoration to individuals and filled meetinghouses with crowds of worshippers who regularly gathered in anticipation of fresh manna from above. Somehow, in the last few weeks I’ve felt a strong impression that we are on the cusp of a similar fresh movement of God’s Spirit here in Indiana Yearly Meeting. We can’t produce this, only God can.                                                                                                                                                                 Doug Shoemaker

IYM Upcoming Calendar

4/20     Marion Area Pastors’ Breakfast, Bethel Friends, 8:30 am

4/22     IYM office closed for Good Friday

5/5       Richmond Ministers, Richmond State Hospital, 3 pm

5/10     New Castle Area Pastors’ Breakfast, Greenfield Friends, 8:30 am

5/10     Nominating Committee, IYM office, 6 pm
5/17     Committee Day, Friends Memorial, 6:30 pm

5/18     Marion Area Pastors’ Breakfast, location TBA, 8:30 am

5/23     Program Committee, IYM office, 10 am