AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado Issue 67 Spring 2015

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The Lamplighter Along the Way…

Once I attended a workshop on Strategic Planning. My take-away from that workshop was, while at one time we tried to make five year plans, sticking with the plan is no longer the most important thing. Now we need to be agile enough to change directions anytime, because the world is changing so rapidly. Your conference committee has been practicing “flexible and agile”! In September, when our original plan did not work out, we rejoiced in Landmark Ministries’ willingness to host our 2015 “R & R Event” (state conference). We continue to thank them, even as their situation has changed, and they have moved to share facilities with a church in Aurora. Now, we also thank St. Paul

Presbyterian Church for their willingness to let Landmark host our conference there. Be sure to read the information in this Lamplighter about our program and new venue. Let us enjoy being flexible and ecumenical! Mark your calendars, June 5 - 7! The mission trip to Deborah’s House in Tijuana, Mexico, that we dreamed of last February, is becoming a reality! Eight women will go on our Colorado AB Women’s Ministries mission trip, March 10 - 17. We will be representing all of us as we visit our missionaries Ray Schellinger and Adalia Gutierrez-Lee, and as we encourage and empower the residents of this shelter for victims of domestic violence. We anticipate working with the women, teaching them skills they may use in supporting themselves in the future, and encouraging them in their journey away from abuse. We plan to work with the children, sharing some fun activities and, as we are learning, we will need to be flexible, looking to see what God is doing and wants us to be doing there! We will go with servant hearts, trusting God to use us as we are open to God’s leading. Would you support our mission trip and be a part of this mission work, even if you are not going to Mexico? I invite you to contribute to the mission of Deborah’s House. They have ongoing costs of housing, teaching, clothing and feeding women and children, and they are building a new building to house more of their residents and a new sewing room. If you choose to contribute, write a check to AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado (or ABWM of Colorado) and mail it to our treasurer, Sharon Murphy, PO Box 866, Castle Rock, CO 80104-0866. We will send the collected money to support the amazing ministry of Deborah’s House!

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Table of Contents

page

President - “Along the Way” 1-2

What You Can Do 3

Scholarship 3

Conference Information 4

Bylaw revision proposal 5

Happenings Around Colorado 6

AB GIRLS 6

Northern Association Reminder 6

Mission & Service 7

Mission Trip 8

Mission Encounters 9

Treasurer 10

Board Pictures 11

AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado Issue 67 Spring 2015

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Women’s Day — If you have never been to a national AB Women’s Ministries event, this may be the year to go. Women’s Day is 9:00 am - 3:30 pm, Friday June 26, in Overland Park, KS, prior to the ABC-USA biennial “Mission Summit” June 26 - 28. Let’s have a good representation from Colorado, when the event is only one state away! New Ministry Focus for 2015-17. When you plan for next year, know that there will be a new Ministry Focus (theme) and a new Ministry Resource (program packet). We will have more information at our R & R event in June. If you want planning materials earlier, the ministry resource will be available in March from www.abwministries.org. We all wish more young women would discover the joys and opportunities of AB Women’s Ministries. What might we do? (See my separate article.) When you feel like the world is spinning, or there are too many things on your To Do list, or there are too many people in need, Stop. Pray. Listen for the voice of God’s Spirit of comfort, encouragement, blessing and love. Serving with you, Mary Beth

Rev. Mary Beth Mankin - 303-494-5582 - mbmankin545@gmail.com

(Continued from page 1)

State Board meeting at Region Office January 30-31, 2015

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What You Can Do for a Young Woman

Get to know her as a person. Know her children and husband by name. Listen to her. Learn what her job is, and what her interests are. Pray for her. Ask her about what she would like you to pray for her. Encourage her. Affirm her efforts and acknowledge her gifts. Invite her to work with you on a project that has value to her. Introduce her to other women her age, and to your friends. Be available for when she has questions.

Recognize that the ways of the past may not work for women of the present and future. Allow room for different and new ways for women to serve! Rejoice when you see a young woman growing and serving God.

Scholarship

Our three recipients of the Jane Loring Jones Scholarship are doing well and all have thanked the ABW for our support of the scholarship fund. They are enjoying their college experience and as with any of our college students, need our continued prayers, support and encouragement. Heather Dyer California Baptist University 8482 Magnolia Ave Box #120 Riverside, California 92504 Jordan Grohskopf 2901 Stadium Dr TCU Box 291161 Fort Worth, Texas 76129 Kalie Hubbard Colorado Mesa University 1280 Cannel Ave. #A222AA Grand Junction, Co 81501

I encourage you to drop them a note of encouragement. We have sent them a gift card from the ABW of Colorado, but mail is nice to get also. Chris Oldham

AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado Issue 67 Spring 2015

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AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado 78th State Conference

“R & R Event”

June 5, 6 & 7, 2015

In Their Shoes:

Encouraging and Empowering Women and Girls

“Encourage one another and build each other up…” I Thessalonians 5:11

Missionary Speaker: Kihomi Ngwemi

Guest Pianist: Hornrette Washington

Sessions and Meals at Landmark Ministries

(Please note their new address)

Landmark Ministries co-exists with St. Paul Presbyterian #303-693-3434

18901 E Hampden Ave.

Aurora, CO 80013

Renew your spirit as you hear Missionary Kihomi Ngwemi’s passion for women and girls. Kihomi

works with families in the areas of counseling, family planning and women’s health issues. She

preaches in churches and also coordinates and advises the Women’s Association of the Haitian

Baptist Convention.

Relax as you listen to Hornrette Washington play the piano. She is well known by attendees of

the National AB Women’s Ministries Conference and is popular with both the adults and the AB

GIRLS. Come and enjoy music at its finest. Learn to appreciate music in worship.

Watch for the Registration Form and more information in the Lamplighter

Extra which will be available in early April.

AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado Issue 67 Spring 2015

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Proposed 2015 Bylaw Changes

The State Board recommends the following changes to the Bylaws. These changes will be voted on at the annual business meeting in June.

1) Pg 3 Article VI Duties of Officers Section 1 Administrative Officers

A. The President Shall

After the 2nd bullet add:

If the President is unable to represent the Colorado AB Women’s Ministries Board on the Region Board of the American Baptist Churches of the Rocky Mountains, a member of the Board may be elected by the Board as the representative, in place of the President, to the Region Board of American Baptist Churches of the Rocky Mountains.

Rationale - This is how we are now operating because our term of service and the region bylaws term of service are not in sync.

2) Pg 5 C. Coordinator of Mission and Service

Delete bullet 6 which states “serve on Mission Committee of American Baptist Churches of the Rocky Mountains”.

Rationale - The coordinator has not been asked to serve on this committee for a number of years.

3) Pg 10 Article IX Ministry Working Groups Section 3 Mission and Service

Remove “The Minister of World Mission Support shall be a resource person.

Rationale - The region no longer has a Minister of World Mission Support

4) pg 11 Article X Committees Section 2 Finance Committee

Add “and the Assistant Treasurer” following Treasurer.

Rationale - This corresponds to Article VI (p. 4) which indicates that the Assistant Treasurer shall serve on the Finance Committee.

5) pg 11 Section 5 Minutes Review Committee

The Minutes Review Committee shall consist of two (2) members. The secretary shall submit the minutes of the Annual Business Meeting to this Committee for their review within one month. The Review Committee shall make their corrections to the secretary within two weeks. These minutes are then submitted for approval at the following Annual Business Meeting.

Rationale - New wording for clarification of the role of the Minutes Review Committee.

6) pg 13 Article X. Section 9 Resources Committee

This bullet should be removed: Promote the American Baptist Women's Ministries annual program packet.

Rationale - The annual program packet is no longer being published.

7) Pg 13 Article XI Association Organizations

Change six (6) to five (5): “There are five (5) geographical associations…”

Remove “Eastern” where the associations are named.

Rationale - Eastern Association has joined Northern Association, hence Eastern is no longer a separate association.

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Happenings Around Colorado

NORTHERN ASSOCIATION Spring meeting

When? Saturday April 25th, 10 am Where? Flagler Baptist Church 502 Pawnee Ave. Ph) 719-765-4407

AB GIRLS There will be a Mother-Daughter Luncheon and Basket Making Gathering on May 2, 2015. The Event will be from 12:00 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. on that Saturday. All Girls between the ages of 7 and 18 are invited. Bring your ideas and thoughts for Creating Baskets for Mothers and Daughters who are homeless. Baskets and food will be provided but donations of food and small clothing articles would be appreciated.

The Event will take place at 16th and Ogden (1615 Ogden Street) in downtown Denver. Please come, Mothers and Daughters, and bring your friends. RSVP, or questions to Reverend Karen Schneider, Chair of AB GIRLS, at reverendkarenwschneider@yahoo.com or 720-308-8418.

Aurora Hills' Two-Day Women's Event - May 15-16

The women of Aurora Hills Church are sponsoring a two-day event at their church, 12800 E Alameda Ave., Aurora, CO 80012,

Friday, May 15 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm and Saturday, May 16, 8:30 am – 5:30 pm. Guest speaker Sharon Sands

Theme: "The Heart of Worship". This event is open to any woman, but they have a limit of 35 registrants.

Cost $35 (plus optional Saturday lunch for $10). Registration deadline is April 15.

For more information, contact Alicia Williams: aliciawilliams312@hotmail.com,

Helen Suggs, 303-344-5676, or call the church at 303-366-3620.

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MISSION AND SERVICE

Spring is on its way and with it the end of our ABW Ministries year.

Our state project this year has been “Pedaling for Christ, Bicycles for

Congo” and our goal is $1700, which will buy approximately 17 bicycles

for the seminary students in Congo. We are nearing our goal, thanks to

the women in Grand Junction who really promoted this project and sent

$1300 towards the goal! Thanks to all of you on the Western Slope! Any

monies your groups have received towards this goal should be sent to Sharon

Murphy, the state treasurer, by April 15. You will hear about the exciting state project

for next year at the conference in June.

At the state board meeting the end of January I shared one way our Boulder

church has been able to include the entire church in our Overland White Cross giving

and I was encouraged to share it in the Lamplighter. I made a list of all of the items

that people could donate (larger items we put on a gift card) and told where they were

going. I made the outline of a tree on a piece of poster board. Then I bought

decorative fall leaves at the Dollar Store (they come in a package of about 50) and

scotch taped individual items on the leaves and used double stick tape to put them on

the poster board. I announced in church that people should take a leaf as a reminder

of what to bring back and sign up on a list next to that item. In that way I knew what

to expect each person to bring and allowed 2 weeks for those items to be returned.

The entire church became involved and we did not have to provide everything from

our small ABWM group.

Please keep in mind the Mission themes for this year: “Crisis at the Border:

What Could We Do?” and the Global Mission Study: “Partnership in China:

In Mainland and Macau”. And consider signing up for a Virtual Mission Encounter

about many areas of concern in our world.

Judy Rothe, Coordinator of Mission and Service

3965 Britting Ave, Boulder, CO, 80305 303-494-0714 judyrothe@comcast.net

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Mission Trip We’re Going, We’re Going!!!! We are really going to Deborah’s House AB Women’s Ministries’ Mission Trip March 10-17, 2015 8 Women - 7 Days - One goal - to be what God wants us to be in this place at this time. Last February at our AB Women’s Ministries’ Winter Retreat, Adalia Gutierrez-Lee, IM Missionary, inspired us to dream about going to Deborah’s House in Tijuana, Mexico. She and her husband Ray Schellinger, who spoke at our state conference in Sterling several years ago, operate a shelter for women and children victims of domestic violence. We are following God’s call to us to spend seven days to listen and share, to help build skills, to play, sing and laugh with women and children who want to build new lives. We are joining with many other mission teams who have gone before and will go in the fu-ture to Deborah’s House, each team bringing their own talents to help this ministry flourish and to honor God. We are going to help in the Sewing Center, to make cards, share knitting and crocheting. We will sing, bake, play games and just be with the residents. This will be the first AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado Mission Trip. Members of the team are Bonnie Glass, Corky Nichols, and Juana Mendoza from Longmont; Mary Beth Mankin, Colorado AB Women’s Ministries state president and Estelle Torpy from Boulder; Karen Van Valkenburgh from the Region office; Jenita Calton from AB Women’s Ministries of Wyoming and Gail Grovenstein, state president from AB Women’s Ministries of Montana. We have completed a wonderful training session with Chris Oldham held at Yvonne Whisenhunt’s home. We desire your prayer support and appreciate financial and other support from many of you. If anyone wishes to give financial support for the Deborah’s House Ministry, please make out checks to AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado and mail them to the state treasurer Sharon Murphy. She will send the funds to IM to be placed in the Deborah’s House account. We will be writing a daily journal of our activities and posting photos on the Region website. Please click on the link to follow along with us. http://abcrm.org/category/missions/deborahshousetripblog God is good every day, Estelle

AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado Issue 67 Spring 2015

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Virtual Mission Encounters

American Baptist Women's Ministries is hosting two virtual mission encounters in 2015: "Crisis at the Border: What Could I Do?" on March 2-6, and "Sacred Space: Bullying in Church Youth Groups" on September 21-25.

"Crisis at the Border: What Can We Do?"

Virtual Mission Encounter March 2-6, 2015

In 2014, over 60,000 children arrived unaccompanied at the borders of the United States, seeking refuge from rampant violence and poverty in their home countries. Although the numbers of new arrivals have decreased in recent months, those who arrived earlier are still in limbo. This virtual

mission encounter will help you: explore the stories of refugees and immigrants in the Bible, under-stand the difference between refugees and immigrants and see why that forms the crux of the dia-logue around the unaccompanied children at the border Learn about life in the countries they are fleeing, understand better their needs once they arrive here in the United States, and learn about possibilities for advocacy and involvement. Click here for more information about this virtual mis-

sion encounter.

"Sacred Space: Bullying in Church Youth Groups"

Virtual Mission Encounter September 21-25, 2015

"Bullying" is a strong word, and brings images of physical confrontations, name-calling, and visible harassment. Fewer than 30% of bullying incidents are physical; the rest are subtle: the spread of rumors, ridicule, ostracization. Sometimes, unfortunately, youth group games and activities or dy-namics between adults and youth can even unwittingly encourage such behavior. This virtual mis-sion encounter will help you find comfort and encouragement in the Bible, become aware of signs that bullying may be occurring in the youth group or girls' group, find ways to build healthy relation-ships among members, and get resources and activities to use in church or community youth groups to help create a more sacred space. Click here for more information about this virtual mis-sion encounter.

Registration The registration fee* is $30 per person, per virtual mission encounter. *Registration fee does not include long distance phone charges for conference calls--consult your long distance plan. Register Now! Registration is open now! Register online and pay by credit card by clicking on the links above. If you prefer to register by mail and pay by check, click here.

AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado Issue 67 Spring 2015

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2014 Colorado Women’ Retreat Treasurer

Our ABWM groups are busy in the midst of this program year. White Cross

projects are being completed, plans are being made for the annual state gathering

in June, people in our communities are benefiting from our financial and physical

outreach. And much of this good activity depends on wise use of our individual

and group funds.

I encourage each circle and each group of church women to contribute to National

Support so that our ABWM staff at Valley Forge can continue to provide

resources and experiences that strengthen so many women across our country in

service to God and in spiritual growth. If you’ve not recently reviewed the website

at www.abwministries.org, take a look and marvel at the variety of information

about mission concerns and program ideas!

I also encourage each group to become familiar with, and give to, the Women and

Girls Mission Fund which provides monies to support mission projects (such

as Break the Chains), AB GIRLS ministry, Refit, and occasional urgent short-term

mission projects to bring healing, wholeness, and hope to our global sisters. If

you’d like more information and don’t have internet access, let me know and I’ll

send you some interesting material about this!

A calendar note: the financial year for AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado is from

June 1 through May 31. Most ABWM monies, other than Love Gift donations, are

sent through your Association treasurer, and she then forwards those monies to me

as State treasurer for ABWM. Please make sure your group’s gifts and offerings

reach your Association treasurer before April 30th, so that we can distribute those

funds as you direct before our fiscal year ends on May 31st. If you have any

questions about this, feel free to contact me --

and we’ll work together to figure it out!

Sharon Murphy

P. O. Box 866

Castle Rock, CO 80104

Murphy@SMurphyLaw.com

303-708-1300 x 206 (W)

303-688-3443 (H)

AB Women’s Ministries of Colorado Issue 67 Spring 2015

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Carol Weale, Rocky Mountain Association

Contact

Yvonne Whisenhunt, Editor

Aleta Purcell Member at Large

Becky Romero,

Secretary

Ann Mills, Scholarship Investment Chair

Carol Cook, Assistant Treasurer

Gail LaForce, National Secretary

Ellen Currier, Western Association

Contact

2014—2015 ABW Board Members not pictured elsewhere

Share the Lamplighter! Do you know of anyone

who would like to receive their own Lamplighter?

Send their name & email address to

me at Yvonne_colo@q.com with

“Send Lamplighter” in the subject line.

Alice Cole, Coordinator of

Church and Community

Adelaide Currier,

Resources

JoAnn Clutter, White

Cross Chair