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.... to purchase optional luncheon tickets! During the Mission Lunch you will hear and learn what a Community Church in an urban area is doing to impact their environs and to empower their people. Learn how a church / center anywhere can increase the effectiveness of their ministry through education, training, and commitment. B. Herbert Martin and other individuals with expertise will share their inspiring experience and insight. All can be inspired, learn, grow, and minister in a way that can bring God's Presence people.
The Prayer Breakfast is based on the theme “Send Out Your Light and Truth” (Psalm 43:3), the program will consist of several prayers by clergy and lay persons, combined with music from an area choir. Wayne Samuels, the Samaritans President, will be the lay leader.
The Koinonia Luncheon - Church is not where we go; church is who we are and what we do. Koinonia is not a word to be explained; koinonia is an experience to be lived. Forty-plus years' experience with congregations outside and inside the ICCC prove the point. Share some memories; live the experience.
New this year is the All Conference Welcome Luncheon, which is included in your registration fee. Go to http://www.icccusa.com/default.cfm/PID=1.2.13 to reserve now!
Attention Young Adults! (18+)
Habitat for Humanity Young Adult Mission
at the ICCC 63rd Annual Conference
July 21-24, 2013 Grand Rapids, MI
“A time of reflection...reflect the light!” Matthew 5:14
This conference will include an opportunity for young adults to participate in a comprehensive program of study and service with Habitat for Humanity:
A Brush with Kindness (two volunteer days)
Habitat for Humanity's A Brush With Kindness is a program serving low-income homeowners who struggle to maintain the exterior of their homes. Volunteers help homeowners with exterior maintenance. This includes painting, minor exterior repairs, landscaping, weatherization and exterior clean-up.
Habitat for Humanity ReStore (one volunteer day)
ReStore relies on volunteers to help with customer service, sorting inventory, cleaning merchandise and picking up donations. ReStore becomes a better place when volunteers are dedicating their time to support affordable housing efforts.
“I see life as both a gift and a responsibility.
My responsibility is to use what God has given me to help his people in need.”
Millard Fuller, founder & former president, Habitat for Humanity
For more information, contact Doris Marcisak, the Young Adult Leader, at mist8993@gmail.com
Don’t forget….. Roser Memorial Community Church in Anna Maria, FL where Gary Batey is the Senior Pastor, will pay the 2013 Annual Conference registration fee for 2 Young Adults from different churches attending the ICCC Annual Conference for the first time. To take advantage of this offer, please contact the ICCC Council Office to see if they are still available: ICCC60423@sbcglobal.net or 815-464-5690.
The International Council of Community Churches Constitution and By-Laws Revision Update
 Two years ago I was asked to form a committee, which we have called the Design Committee, to evaluate our current ICCC structure and by-laws with the purpose of proposing changes which might make the operation of our Council more effective and efficient. We have been working diligently and the product of our labor has been sent to all ICCC active churches and centers. A preliminary document was shared with the Board of Trustees at the winter meeting and their suggestions have been incorporated into this document. The Council will be voting on this proposal’s possible implementation at our summer conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. If it is approved, it will go into effect at the 2014 conference (we need the time to make the necessary preparations and changes). If you have questions and/or concerns before then, you can contact Herb at (727) 446-0430 or pastor@chapelbythesea.net or Chapel By The Sea, 54 Bay Esplanade, Clearwater, FL 33767. You can also contact Don Ashmall, our Council Minister.
Please remember that each ACTIVE member church or ministry center is allowed two voting delegates. Each delegate must have been certified in writing by a church or center official and be properly registered for conference by June 30, 2013. After this date, a delegate has to appear before a Credentials Committee representative at conference with this completed form. Verbal certifications are not valid. It is suggested that the proposal be shared with and discussed by your church/center governing body so your conference delegates can be instructed regarding how you want them to vote…and how much flexibility you will give them since the proposal will be explained and questions will be answered at the conference.
Thanks to all on the committee who worked so hard to make this document a reality. We are hoping that it will make our Council stronger as we face the future.
Herb Freitag
Chair, Design Committee
To view and/or download the ICCC Constitution and By-Laws working draft, click here. For the enabling motion, click here.
INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF COMMUNITY CHURCHES
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Criminal violence is a scourge affecting urban areas across the United States , endangering all of our citizens and especially our children. We give thanks to God for the creative efforts generated within our own member churches and ministry centers, and within the larger faith community, seeking to address this tragic situation through cooperative action.
We urge the servant leaders of our own churches and ministry centers, businesses, civic and community service organizations and government, and to all who are in positions of influence and authority to participated in practical efforts to reduce violence as a first step in building that which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called “the beloved community.” We pledge our own participation in these proactive efforts by prayer and by action.
Resolved this second day of March in the year of our Lord 2013.
The Board of Trustees of the International Council of Community Churches
 "A Time of Reflection...
...Reflect the Light!"
Planning is well under way for the 2013 Annual Conference, July 21-24 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Grand Rapids, MI. Co-chair Rev. Lyn ne Kammeraad from Christ Community Church Grand Rapids reported on what promises to be our best line-up yet for keynote speaker and Bible study leader.
Dr. Robert Smith, Jr. of Beeson Divinity School and Samford University will be our preacher and keynote speaker. Dr. Smith is a champion of Christian unity and will inspire and encourage us with his decades of experience and scholarship. Dr. Lois Tverberg will be our Bible study leader. Dr. Tverberg’s expertise is in the Jewish cultural context of New Testament times and is a leading scholar in that field. She will help us to understand the context in which Jesus taught and preached.
Because of the short 4 day length of the conference, it will be jam-packed with opportunities to fellowship, learn, and grow. The goal for workshops is to provide practical tools that church leaders and members can take back home and apply. Three different workshops will be available over 2 days. Each day will feature one workshop geared toward pastors, one toward lay-leaders, and one of gen eral interest. You will be able to attend whichever workshops you desire.
Rev. Kerri Sandusky will be leading the youth component (grades 7 – 12) of the conference and has already been in contact with organizations in the Grand Rapids area to provide our teens with mission opportunities in the area. Our young people will be powerfully impacted by this year’s program.
Sister Shyreece Pompey will be heading up our children’s program for youngsters kindergarten through 6th grade. She and her team will provide a dynamic program for our children that will include outings that will engage and inspire our children. 
This year’s conference is within a day’s driving distance of a majority of our member churches and centers. I encourage you all to make your plans as early as possible to attend what will be, with your attendance, one of the finest Annual Conference we have presented. Excellent planning, a stellar line-up of presenters and practical workshops are meaningful only with your attendance. Your participation in this cornerstone of the ICCC is vital to its success.
Our Conference Minister and Office Administrator, along with our volunteer committee, are doing everything possible to provide you with something worthy of your time and treasure. God bless you in the name of Jesus Christ!
- submitted by Rev. Dale Hopely, Jr, co-chair for the 2013 Planning Committee
2013 Preacher and Keynote Speaker......
 ROBERT SMITH, JR. of Beeson Divinity School and Samford University will be our preacher, keynote speaker and a workshop leader at the 2013 Annual Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “Dr. Smith is a champion of Christian unity and will inspire and encourage us with his decades of experience and scholarship.” – Dale Hopely, Jr.
Dr. Smith currently serves as Professor of Christian Preaching at Beeson Divinity School. Previously he worked as the Carl E. Bates Associate Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. A popular teacher and preacher, he received Southern’s 1996 Findley B. Edge Award for Teaching Excellence. An ordained Baptist minister, he served as pastor of the New Mission Missionary Baptist Church for twenty years before returning to complete his Ph.D. He has written the book, Doctrine That Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life (B&H Publishing Group, Nashville: 2008) which was selected as the winner of the 2008 Preaching Book of the Year Award by Preaching Magazine and 2009 Preaching Book of the Year Award by Christianity Today’s preaching.com. In 2010, Preaching Magazine named Doctrine That Dances one of the 25 most influential books in preaching for the last 25 years. He has spoken at more than 55 universities, colleges, and seminaries in the United States, Great Britain and the Caribbean. At Beeson, Smith teaches Christian Preaching and other electives in homiletics. He and his wife, Dr.Wanda Taylor-Smith, Ph.D who is also leading a workshop at the 2013 conference, are the parents of four adult children.
The title of his workshop Revisiting Christology: A Theology of the HIM-BOOK will attempt to teach the mind, touch the heart and stir the will of the attendees in relation to bringing Christ-centered sermons and lessons which will initiate the hearers into the faith (proclamation): instruct the believers about the faith (maturity); and inspire Christians to keep the faith (therapy).
2013 Bible Study Leader....
 We are pleased and excited to announce that Dr. Lois Tverberg will be our Bible Study Leader at the 63rd Annual Conference being held in Grand Rapids July 21-24, 2013. She will also lead a pastors’workshop.
As the granddaughter of missionaries, Lois Tverberg grew up with plenty of Sunday School knowledge. But it wasn’t until after she had earned a Ph.D. in biology and was teaching as a college professor that she discovered startling new insights which would deepen – and ultimately strengthen – her Christian faith.
“About fifteen years ago I began studying the Bible in its Middle Eastern setting and finding answers to questions that had bothered me for ages. The more I read about Jesus’ first-century world, the more fascinated I became,” says Tverberg. She began learning Hebrew, studying in the land of Israel, and exploring recent scholarship on Jesus’ Jewish reality.
She left her position in academia in 2001 to co-found the En-Gedi Resource Center, an educational ministry that seeks that seeks to teach Christians about the Bible's ancient cultural context. Her online articles have shared her delight in digging deeper with readers in over fifty countries. In 2004, the ministry published her first book, Listening to the Language of the Bible, a devotional guide to words and ideas that unlock the Scriptures. After serving as the director of En-Gedi until 2006, she now writes full time.
For more information, visit her website, Our Rabbi Jesus: His Jewish Life and Teaching (http://ourrabbijesus.com).
2013 Children's Program Leader.....
 Shyreece Pompey is a passionate educator. She has served and taught in the Covert Public Schools for the past 11 years. She has implemented several student-centered programs which have brought joy and academic interest to the learning environment. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Western University Michigan in Education and is currently working to complete her master’s degree in Educational Leadership. Shyreece (Also Known As: Sister Pompey) has been using her gift of teaching in the youth ministry at Emmanuel Community Church in South Haven, Michigan for the past eight years. She currently serves as Youth Director and Sunday School Superintendent at the church.
At the conference in Grand Rapids, Sister Pompey, working with a supporting team, will create meaningful learning experiences and projects that encourage children to live their faith in Christ. Children, K-6th grade, will be structurally engaged from 9 AM to 12 Noon during each day of the conference. Lessons will be age appropriate and centered on the conference theme. Worship, praise, make it/take it activities and field trip opportunities will ensure practical application of the Bible lessons and conference theme.
With the goal of engaging the children with parents and other conference attendees, there will be an opportunity for a family fellowship outing at Craig’s Cruisers (http:/www.craigscruisers.com) on one of the evenings during the conference.
If you would like to volunteer as part of the conference’s children’s program, please contact Sister Pompey on her cell phone at (269) 849-6419 or at her work number (269) 764-3714.
Sister Pompey believes the Holy Spirit is continuing to lead the conference planning committee in developing an outstanding experience of fellowship, growth, and renewal in the name of Jesus, the Christ. She remains particularly grateful to God and the Planning Committee for seeking to engage our children in a more welcoming and thoughtful way this year.
As we all prepare for our conference participation, let us remember the words of Jesus “whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me.” (Matthew 18:5)
2013 Workshops.....
 Dr. WandaTaylor-Smith has led various Bible studies and seminars with such topics as commitment, prayer, health care issues, and retirement; however her passion is the issues and concerns surrounding women, particularly women who are married to preachers/pastors. She is a member of New Mission Missionary Baptist Church in Cincinnati, where her husband, Beeson Divinity School professor, Dr. Robert Smith, Jr., formerly served as pastor. She was the founder and former president of the church’s Preachers’/Pastors’ Wives Ministry. She currently serves there as part of the Education/Scholarship Fund Ministry and is the Dean of Education for the Ohio Association of Ministers’ Wives and Ministers’ Widows, Inc.
"Joy for the Journey" is the title of Dr. Taylor-Smith's workshop. As we attempt to live a Christian life, women are often burdened by issues of life that steal their joy. This session will discuss some of those issues and ways to respond so that our life can reflect the joy of Jesus.
URGENT REQUEST!!
The Nominating Committee is STILL seeking suggestions for individuals to be considered for Council leadership. If you have suggestions or would like to be considered yourself, please submit names asap. The listing of names of incumbents is meant to give tribute for their past service and is not an indication whether the individual has or has not yet indicated willingness to serve another term.
Officers:
The following officer positions, each for a one year term, are up for election. The President, First Vice President and Second Vice President are eligible to be re-elected once to serve not more than two consecutive years. Nominations of new candidates are also in order.
President: Incumbent Bruce Merton is eligible for re-election to this position.
First Vice President: Incumbent Richard Griffith is eligible for re-election to this position.
Second Vice President: Incumbent Charlene Watkins is eligible for re-election to this position.
Secretary: Incumbent Abraham Wright is eligible for re-election to this position.
Treasurer: Nicholas Brame is eligible for re-election to this position.
Trustees:
Central Zone, Region A (Il, IW, IN WI, MN, Missouri): Incumbent William Samuels is not eligible for re-election. Position is OPEN
Central Zone Region B (Michigan, MI, OH, Western NY and PA): Incumbent Winifred West is eligible for re-election. Position is OPEN.
Western Zone, Region B (Southern California, AZ): Incumbent Nanci Harris is eligible for re-election.
The following Commissions have 3-year term positions that are up for election. Incumbents may be re-elected. Job description: Commissions are to implement the programs and policies of the Council in regard to matters concerning faith and order, churches, clergy, laity, ecumenical relations, social concerns, information sharing and other area.
Clergy Relations: 2 persons for the Class of 2016. Class of 2013, term ending: Brian Merritt and Elaine Richardson.
Job description: Provide direction for the ministerial Effectiveness Training program and funding.
Ecumenical & Interfaith Relations: 2 persons for Class of 2016. Class of 2013, term ending: Abraham Wright and Gary Batey.
Job description: Make recommendations to the Board of Trustees and help provide representation in relation to the various ecumenical movements and activities.
Faith, Justice and Mission: 1 person for Class of 2016. Class of 2013, Matthew Stephens
Job description: Shall reflect upon ideas and principles inherent in the Community Church movement. Shall develop systemic ways to share these reflections with the development of the wider church.
Laity and Church Relations: 2 persons for Class of 2016. Class of 2013, term ending: Lenard McClain and Toni Harris.
Job description: Will be involved with matters related to the needs of laity and local churches, Ministry centers and other ministries. Will seek to recruit, inform and support at least one Key Layperson in each member church.
Endowment Fund Committee: 2 persons for Class of 2016. Class of 2013, term ending: Myrtis Brame and Carolyn Ford. Incumbents are not eligible for re-election.
Please attach a brief profile of each person recommended and the position(s) indicated. Include information detailing activities in Church/Center, Community and the ICCC. Mail to: Carolyn Ford, Nominating Committee Chairperson - ICCC, 21116 Washington Parkway, Frankfort, IL 60423-3112 or email Carolyn at: personaltouch_22@att.net . You can also call Carolyn 248-352-9297.
You can also reach out to any members of the Nominating Committee: Abraham Wright, Lonnie Miller, Marty Singley and Harvey Carr.
2013’s Mission Opportunity is Coming to Us!
"When we come into a community, we want to leave it better than it was." - Rev. Dale Hopely, Jr, co-chair of the Annual Conference Committee.
We as an entirety will be collecting suggested items for both SECOM and We Care Inc. throughout the 2013 Annual Conference in Grand Rapids.
SECOM (South End Community Outreach Ministries), located in Grand Rapids, MI is an independent charitable organization serving Kent County by providing emergency assistance, offering opportunities for individual growth and development, and supporting the families in our community.
SECOM offers a variety of programs designed to teach life skills including programs in better personal health, raising a child, family support, relationship building and early childhood learning.
SECOM’s vision is a community where the basic needs of all people are met with compassion and respect. As a faith based organization, we value:
· All persons, as unique creations of God, are deserving of our compassion and respect
· We are called by God to care for those in need
· The hungry should be fed
· Strengthening families improve the lives of children and those who care for them
· Our staff and volunteers will be competent and caring
· We will manage our resources in a fiscally and responsible way to fulfill our mission
Although SECOM originated in 1971 as a shared ministry of four United Methodist churches and continues to maintain close ties with local United Methodist congregations, SECOM is a faith-based but nondenominational agency. We appreciate support from many different denominations and other non-religious organizations.
Current needs include: Personal care items such as: soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc. Basically, items not covered by food stamps. Food is always needed (canned and packaged items). Though sample sizes are accepted; Full size containers are more useful.
We Care In the Name of Christ is an ecumenical ministry that is supported by 40 partner churches representing 21 denominations. Those churches sponsor 39 pantries and service ministries offering an extremely wide variety of services for families within our service area who are suffering financially. We Care is in the middle of its 34th year of outreach ministry and, for the last 7 or 8 years has met over 35,000 individual needs annually providing approximately $2,000,000 worth of services to neighbors in need. Currently, three of our 39 ministries are Personal Care Pantries. These pantries are essential to the health and well-being of our families who are seeking help and they provide both personal hygiene and cleaning products. During 2012, our three Personal Care Pantries provided product packages to 2,050 families (7,520 individuals). These pantries run short on stock two or three times each year because costs of these products are expensive to donate and, quite often, donors just don’t think about the fact that these items are essential to maintaining a healthy family. Any support through donations of hygiene and/or cleaning products that the folks of International Council of Community Churches will be truly appreciated and well used. Blessings in your ministry and in working together to further God’s kingdom and His church universal and thanks in advance for your generosity and sharing.
The item list: soap/ body wash, shampoo/conditioner, toothpaste/toothbrush, powder, lotion, razors, Q-tips, laundry soap and bleach. Though sample sizes are accepted; Full size containers are more useful.
Of course monetary donations are welcome, providing both organizations the opportunity to purchase items needed most. Gift cards from stores such as Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, etc, all near the Crowne Plaza Hotel, would also be a great idea. There will be a table in the main ballroom where worship is held for any donations, or you can give them to DeAnn before, during or after the conference. A representative from both groups will be present at the conference banquet to accept these gifts.
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