March 19, 2008                                                                                                    VOLUME 60, NO. 12

Easter Sunday - March 23

To register, visit www.olaccma.org/DMSpringRally.pdf

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"Come to the Table"

Regional church retreat begins Friday

Registration at 4:30 p.m. and Dinner at 6:00 p.m.

Concludes at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon

To register, visit www.olaccma.org/DWSpringRetreat.pdf

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Report on the March General Board Meeting

Forty-eight members of the board met March 9 for its bi-monthly meeting which are always open to any interested NACC member. These "highlights" represent a summary of the public agenda and serve as a report to the congregation of actions taken:

Treasurer Susan Wheeler presented the Financial Report as of February 29. Receipts to date total $65,732; expenses to date total $63,048; and ending checkbook balance was $2,683.77. Since the 2008 proposed budget has not been approved, no outreach disbursements have yet been made, but will begin in March at the rate of 10% per month of the budgeted amount.

In compliance with policy, the following expenditures from Property and Outreach Unitrust annual distributions were presented and approved: For the Property - $5,414 for a natural gas automatic backup for the sump pump system and $600 for equipment rental to evaluate needed steeple repairs and gain a second estimate. For the Outreach - $20,000 for the final payment in our three-year commitment to Rainbow Network for village sponsorship of Hilapo Dos; $4,000 to MSU’s United Ministries in Higher Education sponsoring the ministry internship of our member Judith Rowland and travel support for the student’s spring mission trip; $1,000 to Ozark Lake Area’s New Church Start; and $750 to send an NACC representative, if able to recruit, to Week of Compassion’s Weekend of Compassion event in Nashville April 11-13.

Other Motions Passed included: Designating the first Sunday of each month to support the Ozark Lake Area’s "KFC Bucket Pass" in support of a new church start ministry; moving up to $30,000 from the Woldridge estate to a new designated account titled "Legal Fees;" and the adoption of the proposed 2008 operating budget in the amount of $411,436.53 that will include underwriting from two new streams of income – a special fund-raiser ($35,000) and a credit loan ($32,607).

Reports were received from Lee Longman on the Ozarks Lakes Area board meeting; Scott Zimmerman and the mission trip to Pearlington, Miss.; the Membership department, the Visitation Minister, and the Interim Minister. Thoughts about having a special 60^th anniversary in the fall were also greeted with great enthusiasm. Finally, a special word of thanks was extended to board secretary JoAnn Conrad for her excellent services as they are moving to Texas in April.

Rainbow Network staff asked if I would be willing to come back to the states earlier than planned in order to help them prepare for April’s big fund-raising events. Rainbow Network has events planned in four different states over three weeks. At these events, Nicaraguans will be giving their personal testimony to how the organization is changing the lives of the poor. Since January, I have been working at setting things in motion on this side - visiting all seven Rainbow Network projects, interviewing over 30 people in three weeks in search of extraordinary stories, eliminating, nominating, using a video camera to film the story, and helping the national director with all the logistics required to get visas for eight rural Nicaraguans to travel to the U.S. I will hand over five hour’s worth of interviews, in Spanish, that will be sent to Springfield to be edited and made presentable by April 4.

Vocationally, I’m excited to take on more responsibility in making the organization’s biggest events of the year a success; emotionally, I haven’t prepared to say "good-bye" to the friends and family (the home) I have created here. It is not just coming to an end - it’s coming to an abrupt halt! On the other hand, if there is one overarching theme I’ve learned in Nicaragua, it is flexibility and not letting anything in life get me too worked up. So, starting March 24 I will be finishing my internship for Rainbow Network in Springfield. If anyone wants to host me a few days and is willing to put up with occasional weeping in my moments of Nicaraguan nostalgia, I promise I will share a lot of stories! I hope to see you all at Rainbow Network’s annual auction, presentation, and concert at Remington’s on April 12!     Jessi

In 2007, NACC gave $24,181.04 to DMF of which $9,440.14 went to your region of the church: Christian Church of Mid-America for ministries such as nurture and care of congregations and pastors; help in securing pastoral leadership; youth camps and conferences; lay training events; new church development ministries; spiritual enrichment; Christian Women’s Fellowship and Christian Men’s Fellowship retreats; and other services to congregations.

The NACC/Habitat for Humanity

CROSSLINES REPORT