ALL CONFERENCE E-MAIL
May 30, 2007

1. Delegates to June 9th Special Conference Meeting
2. Attention Gardeners and Plant Lovers
3. Thank You for June Boutwell
4. Choir for UCC 50th Anniversary Celebration
5. Youth Meals for General Synod
6. Change in Return Bus Schedule on Sunday, June 24
7. Terrorism Expert to Speak June 16

1. If you are sending delegates to the June 9th Special Conference Meeting, please notify Sue Stevens in the Conference Office (suestevens@maineucc.org or 800-244-0937). This is a very important meeting for the Conference – we will vote to call Susan Craig as the new Associate Conference Minister – and we must have a quorum to make the vote valid. A quorum consists of delegates from 30 churches, from at least 7 Associations of the Maine Conference. PLEASE let us know if your delegates will be there.

2. Attention gardeners and plant lovers- We invite you to come and help with the annual Pilgrim Lodge planting to be held on Wednesday June 6th 2007. We will provide the plants and containers. Just bring your gardening gloves, a trowel or small shovel and join the fun. We will begin at 9:00 am sharp and end when we've finished.....but you can stay for a short or longer time; whatever your schedule allows. Lunch will be provided. Come and enjoy the fellowship, the cool breeze and the peace of getting your hands dirty for such a beautiful project. Any questions, please contact Deborah Breault. (dbreault@highstreetucc.org) Thank you in advance and we hope to see you there!

3. The three Commission Chairpersons and Conference Moderator would like to invite you to join them on June 2, to celebrate June Boutwell’s ministry with the Maine Conference and show our appreciation for the many gifts she has shared with us. We will gather at the First Congregational Church in Waterville UCC at 1 p.m., following the regular meetings of the three Conference Commissions, for a pot-luck luncheon. Please bring finger foods to share.
Please join us for this occasion to show June how blessed we have been by her ministry with us.

4. We hope that your church, especially your choir members, will participate with all of our UCC churches in Maine in the Maine Conference’s worship service celebrating our 50th Anniversary of the United Church of Christ. The service will be held at First Congregational Church, UCC, in Waterville, (7 Eustis Parkway) on Saturday, June 9, at 2:15 p.m.
An important part of the service will be an anthem (actually a hymn from the New Century Hymnal) and several responses by a combined choir. We will rehearse in the sanctuary at 11:30 am on June 9. Then there will be plenty of time to get lunch on your own afterwards, before time for the service at 2:15. (Some delegates will be involved in the specially called Conference meeting to act on the recommendation of the Search Committee and the Coordinating Council to call the Rev. Susan Craig as Associate Conference Minister, which will be at 1:00 pm, preceding the Anniversary Service.)
Please share this with your choir director so it can be announced at this week’s choir rehearsal. Other singers who are not currently choir members are also welcome to join us, so please also post it on your bulletin board and include the information in your bulletin this Sunday. Note to singers: it would be very helpful if we had some idea of how many would be able to participate in the choir, so please send us your name, your church’s name, and whether you’re a soprano, alto, tenor or bass. With your help we can make this something very special.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Please email to Alice Eaddy (directing the choir) to office@wtvlucc.org. And hopefully we’ll see many of you at 11:30 on June 9th


5. The deadline to order tickets for the youth meals at General Synod has now past. If you have not ordered tickets for your youth, you will have to make sure to send them with money to find another place to eat. Please contact Heidi Bennett at synod@maineucc.org and let her know if your youth does not have meal tickets. This is to match your youth with a chaperone and other youth that do not have meal tickets.

6. The original bus schedule coming back from General Synod on Sunday has been changed. The original schedule was for both buses to return to Woodfords Church, Portland. Now one bus will be going to Woodfords and the other will be going to Saco First Congregational. After leaving Saco First, this second bus will be taking campers to Pilgrim Lodge for the Arts Alive week. If you or your youth are signed up for Arts Alive, plan on bringing your gear for camping to Woodfords on Wednesday, June 20th to be picked up and stored by Pilgrim Lodge until your arrival. At the time of the pickup in Hartford, it will be pointed out as which bus is going to which destination. If you have any questions, contact Heidi.

7. On Saturday, June 16, there will be a unique opportunity to participate in a presentation by Brig. General Russell Howard. General Howard is an internationally recognized expert on worldwide terrorism. He is Director of the Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies at Tuft’s University’s Fletcher School in Boston. He is the former head of the Department of Social Sciences and the founding director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
General Howard has written, ”Terrorism today has a global reach that it did not have before globalization and the information technology revolution.” The afternoon presentation will include a talk by General Howard followed by time for questions from the audience. Anyone who is interested in learning about what the general calls the “new terrorism”, one that is “not ideological in a political sense” is most welcome to attend.
The presentation will be held at the Bethel church from 2-4 pm on June 16. Sylvia Vander Sluis & Hal Mahon arranged for this time with General Howard as a contribution to the church’s auction fund raising event. There will be no specific charge, but participants are asked to donate (proceeds going to the church auction account)