The Indiana e-Christian

Light of The World Christian Church is declaring September 20, 2009 as African Sunday. At the 10:00 a.m. service that day, the church will honor those born on the African continent. A reception will follow the service. 

Bishop T. Garrott Benjamin, Senior Pastor and Resident Bishop at Light of the World, feels that it is past time for African-Americans and those born on the African continent to get to know one another.

Worship services and the State of the Church address during the General Assembly will be streamed live via the web from the Indiana Convention Center. Webcasts will be begin approximately 30 minutes before each service and will be displayed on the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) web site.

Viewers will be able to chat live during the webcast and those using Twitter will be able to tweet directly from this page. Status updates will be marked with the #docga09 hashtag.

Live Webcast Schedule

Times listed below indicate when the webcasts will begin and do not reflect the actual starting time of the event. Please view the General Assembly schedule for more information. All times are in Eastern Daylight Time.

• Wed., July 29, 2:00pm – Opening Business and State of the Church
• Wed., July 29, 7:30pm – Opening Worship
• Thurs., July 30, 7:30pm – Evening Worship
• Fri., July 31, 7:30pm – Evening Worship
• Sat., August 1, 7:30pm – Evening Worship
• Sun., August 2, 1:30pm – All-Assembly Concert and Closing Communion

Live Streaming Service

All webcasts and their associated services will be streamed using UStream (www.ustream.tv). This free web streaming service allows the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to stream worship services from the 2009 General Assembly without the need to pay for video distribution services. Webcasts will include small advertisements in the lower-third of the screen. These ads are managed by UStream.tv and not the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Republished from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) web site.

Light of the World Christian Church announces the latest in its series of Real Talk Forums.  On August 5 and 12, Domestic Violence Forums will be hosted by Bishop T. Garrott Benjamin Jr. along with community experts in the field, personal testimonies and organizations who have taken on the fight against Domestic Violence. 

The forums will begin at 7:00 each evening and will be held at the church.  Light of the World Christian Church is located at 4646 N. Michigan Rd. in Indianapolis.

T. Garrott Benjamin serves Light of the World as Senior Pastor and Resident Bishop.

For more information, contact Mmoja Ajabu, Minister for Social Concerns at Light of the World.

After a seven year run, the website for Camp Barbee, www.campbarbee.com, will come to a close.  With the increasing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, it was determined that the website was no longer an effective tool for communication. Many of the items on the site were also duplicated on the regional website.

Camp Barbee has a page on Facebook, where well over 300 former campers, counselors and friends connect.  Facebook also has over a dozen groups related to Camp Barbee.  Camp Barbee also has a profile on MySpace.

With this change, comes another important change.  Terry and Jill Best, the managers at Camp Barbee, now have a new email address. For rental dates and fees, or other information about Camp Barbee, please email Jill and Terry at campbarbee@kconline.com. For information about camp programs available at Barbee, please contact Vonnie Cloud or Carolyn Reed at the regional office or check the regional website.

The First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Mooresville, Ind., has received a grant of $48,516 from the Lilly Endowment to enable its minister, Kelly Carter, to participate in the 2009 Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations. First Christian is one of 30 congregations in Indiana that will engage in the program, which allows pastors to step back from their busy lives and renew their spirits for challenges ahead.

First Christian plans a sabbatical with a wellness theme.  The congregation and pastor will have programs that center around spiritual, physical, and mental health. Pastor Carter will travel with her family for a time of renewal and fun as well as work with a fitness trainer and nutritionist. She will also work with Sotello V. Long, Regional Minister for South Carolina, for Spiritual Direction.

During her sabbatical time, Kelly will also have the opportunity to work with Disciples’ former General Minister and President, Richard Hamm. “Having the chance to spend time just sitting at the feet of Jesus; to pray, to reflect, to write, this is such an amazing gift!” says, Carter.

Roger Heimer will serve as pastor to the congregation during the sabbatical period, and Stacy Nelson has been contracted to offer fitness and nutrition instruction at the church. The grant has given the pastor and congregation an opportunity of a lifetime.

The 30 Indiana congregations represent 18 cities and towns and 14 counties. Half have fewer than 200 persons at worship (the smallest is 30), eight have between 200 and 400, while seven have regular worship attendance of more than 1,000 (the largest is 5,522).

The 30 grants this year totaled $1.4 million. Since the program began in 1999, 336 renewal grants have been awarded to Indiana congregations.  The Endowment offers a separate renewal program for congregations in the other 49 states.

This is the 11th year for the Clergy Renewal Program, which invites congregations and ministers to consider and plan a period of “intentional reflection and renewal.” Grant funds assist congregations in providing an extended time for ministers to take a break from their daily obligations and gain a fresh perspective and renewed energy.

“We ask these congregations and ministers to consider the question, ‘What will make your heart sing?’, as they devise their plans,” said Craig Dykstra, senior vice president for religion at the Endowment. “they never fail to come up with wonderful and imaginative yet doable ways to fulfill their dreams. Their time away has freed them up to pursue personal interests and needs in ways that have given them new energy for ministry–and the congregations have discovered that they too experienced a refreshment of their own and newfound sense of their own strengths.

Bishop Benjamin and other ministers lay hands on the candidates for ordination and anoint them with oil.

On Sunday, July 12, The Christian Church in Indiana, Light of the World Christian Church and Bishop T. Garrott Benjamin, Jr. ordained five ministers into the fellowship of Christian Ministry.  This is the second time five candidates have been ordained in a single service during Bishop Benjamin’s 40 year tenure at Light of the World.

Greetings and the Affirmation of Faith were given by Rev. ILUMBE Ndjongo, Principal Supervising Pastor, Mbandaka District of the 10th Community–Disciples of Christ in the Congo.

The new ministers are Rev. Oscar E. Banks, IV, Rev. Carla Hall, Rev. Lisa Johnson, Rev. Toneko Kayzer, and Rev. Richard Reynolds. Bishop Benjamin charged the new ministers to keep Christ first.

Rev. Banks will be an associate pastor, serving in Kingston, Jamaica. Reverends Hall and Johnson will serve at Light of the World. Reverends Kayzer and Reynolds will serve at New Revelation Christian Church, a new church start of which Rev. Reynolds is the founding pastor.

The Traveling Communion Table will grace the chapel at General Assembly before moving on to displaced congregations.

Paul Hartig, pastor of Saint Paul (Ind.) Christian Church and a student at Christian Theological Seminary, has constructed a traveling communion table that will make its first stop in the chapel at the upcoming General Assembly in Indianapolis. 

Hartig originally built the table for Downey Avenue Christian Church in Indianapolis after the sanctuary had been severely damaged by fire in December 2005.  The original intent was to provide an enhanced sacred feel to the fellowship hall of the church, where the congregation met for worship while the sanctuary was being rebuilt.

The design of the table incorporates a three-part, angled shape, representative of the Triune God, and the words, “Do this in remembrance of me.”  Hartig says, “My hope for this table was that it would encourage each of us to remember the the gift of love shared with us 2000 years ago as well as to offer us a place today where we can ‘re-member’ the Body of Christ.”

Three panels of stained glass, also built by Hartig, will be incorporated into the construction of the table.  The center panel depicts the logo and theme for the 2009 General Assembly, For the Healing of the Nations.  Lettering on the glass was done by Patty and Tom Pike of Sign Masters in Saint Paul and members of Hartig’s congregation.

Paul Hartig, pastor at Saint Paul Christian Church, holds a stained glass piece that will be part of the traveling communion table.

The Administrative Board at Downey Avenue helped launch the Traveling Communion Table ministry by voting to allow the table to journey to another congregation that had been displaced from their regular worship space by human activity or natural disaster.  When the table makes its first stop in the chapel, participants at General Assembly will have the opportunity to learn about the ministry of the Traveling Communion Table.

Geist Christian Church will host the Ministry in Hard Times workshop at its north campus on July 28-29.  The workshop is being sponsored by Net Results magazine and will precede the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis.

Bill Tenny-Brittian, Bill Easum and Clif Christopher will provide keynote addresses during Ministry in Hard Times.  Noted pastors and consultants Gary Straub, Geoff Mitchell and Randy Updegraf Spleth will also provide participants with practical advice for being a vital and effective congregation, even under difficult economic circumstances.

Advance registration for the event is $85.  Walk-in registration is $95.  Advance registration is available through 21st Century Strategies, which manages Net Results.

The north campus of Geist Christian Church is located at the corner of 126th Street and Promise Road in Fishers, Ind., just north of Indianapolis.  More information is also available on the DisciplesWorld web site.

Eureka College invites all alumni, guests and friends of Eureka College to join them for a luncheon during the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis. The luncheon will be held on Friday, July 31, from noon until 1:30 p.m. in Regency Ballroom A of the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis Downtown.

Tickets for the luncheon are $24 per person. Reserve space by calling the Eureka College Alumni Office at 877-892-7823.  Tickets are also available online via the “meals tickets” link from www.disciples.org/ga and will be on hand at the General Assembly Convention Center ticket booth.

You do not have to be registered for the General Assembly event to attend, so come get a glimpse of what’s been happening “‘neath the elms” while hearing about the vision for Eureka College’s future.

Bishop Henry Williamson, Sr., will be the speaker at an ecumenical worship service at Light of the World Christian Church in Indianapolis on July 9 at 7:00 p.m.  The service is part of the opening of the Indiana Black Expo, which will continue through July 19.

Bishop Williamson is Presiding Prelate for the 9th Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, based in Los Angeles, Calif. 

Dr. T. Garrott Benjamin, Jr., serves Light of the World as Senior Pastor and Resident Bishop.