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Easter Photo Gallery

A Northern Plains District Easter

Palm Sunday and Easter photos taken around the District and edited with Pixl-r-omatic

Click on each image for a larger version.

: The Palm Sunday display at Stover Memorial COB

: The Love Feast display at Stover Memorial COB

: Stacks of flapjacks for the Easter Sunday breakfast at Peace COB

: The sunrise service on Easter Sunday at Panther Creek COB

: A colorful cross at Panther Creek COB

: A window display at Ottumwa COB

: The Easter altar at Ottumwa COB

: Holy Week decor at Ottumwa COB

: Parker Cage plays the trumpet at Lewiston COB’s Easter Sunday service

: Fruit served at Lewiston COB’s Easter breakfast

: A table centerpiece at Lewiston COB’s Easter breakfast

: A candle on the altar at Lewiston COB on Easter Sunday

: Ankeny altar setting during Holy Week

: Ankeny’s altar during Holy Week

: Ankeny’s sanctuary on Easter Sunday

: Ankeny Pastor Dan Sanford delivers the Easter message as John the disciple

District News and Announcements – March 8

Click here to read this month’s edition of District News and Announcements.

In this issue…

1) I MPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR 2013 DISTRICT CONFERENCE

2) PASTORAL TEAM INSTALLED AT FAIRVIEW COB

3) CLUSTER GATHERINGS INTRODUCE VITAL MINISTRY JOURNEY

4) STOVER MEMORIAL COB OPENS THE DOOR FOR NEW POSSIBILITIES

5) H OLINESS IN OUR MIDST: ON BELOVED BELONGINGS

6) PALM SUNDAY PROCESSION FOR PEACE: MARCH 24

7) 37TH ANNUAL STOVER MUSIC FESTIVAL: APRIL 28

8) NATIONAL JUNIOR HIGH CONFERENCE: JUNE 14-16

9) JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE ON A TRIP TO THE HOLY LAND

10) D ISTRICT CALENDAR OF EVENTS

11) DISTRICT STAFF CONTACTS

12) ARCHIVES, DOCUMENTS AND RESOURCES

National Junior High Conference

February 15, 2013
by Communications
in Uncategorized
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Members of Panther Creek’s Junior Youth Group are planning to attend the Church of the Brethren National Junior High Conference, June 14-16, 2013, at Elizabethtown College. The cost is $155 per person before April 19, 2013. A travel scholarship of $175 is available to those who live west of the Mississippi River. Information about this summer’s National Junior High Conference can be found at www.brethren.org/njhc.

The youth at Panther Creek will host a spaghetti luncheon in the church’s fellowship hall from 11:30am – 1:30pm on Sunday, February 24, to help fund their trip.

Panther Creek’s Junior Youth Group members would like to travel to Elizabethtown with other Northern Plains District Junior-high aged youth and advisors. Please contact Tammy Kerkove (515-993-3466) or Denise Oneal (515-993-3411) by the end of March if you are planning to attend and would like to travel with other district junior high youth and advisors.

District News and Announcements – February 7

Click here to read this month’s edition of District News and Announcements.

In this issue…

1) PARKER THOMPSON STARTS NEW ROLE AS DIRECTOR OF CAMP PINE LAKE

2) H OLINESS IN OUR MIDST: ON SCRIPTURES

3) 2 013 YOUTH PEACE TRAVEL TEAM INCLUDES PANTHER CREEK COB MEMBER

4) COB JOINS IN RELIGIOUS COALITION TO END GUN VIOLENCE

5) AN INVITATION TO THE 37TH ANNUAL STOVER MUSIC FESTIVAL

6) T ALES FROM THE TOOL TRAILER: A PLEA FOR HELP

7) J OURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE ON A TRIP TO THE HOLY LAND

8) D ISTRICT CALENDAR OF EVENTS

9) DISTRICT STAFF CONTACTS

10) ARCHIVES, DOCUMENTS AND RESOURCES

Camp Pine Lake seeks summer staff

February 4, 2013
by Communications
in Uncategorized
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Camp Pine Lake, Northern Plains District of the Church of the Brethren, Eldora, Iowa, seeks four energetic, hard working, nature-loving people to join the 2013 summer staff. Applicants must be flexible, willing to work as a team, love children and have a deep desire to share God’s love.

Job Description:
Summer staff will live and work at Camp Pine Lake from June 1, 2013 through August 15, 2013. Summer staff will serve in all capacities on a rotation of property, kitchen and programming preparation work during outside rentals and as full-time counselors during all Church of the Brethren camps.

Applicants must be 19 years of age and out of high school with one year of college or the equivalent. Some counseling experience and/or work with children is preferred, as well as previous involvement in organized church activities. A formal training weekend or retreat will be required, as well as participation in summer long team building and Bible study meetings.

Compensation is $1,500 to be paid in monthly stipends or directly to an educational institution in the form of a scholarship. Room and board is provided at the camp. Some time off will be given.

To Apply:

Contact Camp Pine Lake for more information: camppinelake@heartofiowa.net or 641-939-5334 or bwlewczak@netins.net or 515-240-0060. Application materials include the application form, essay worksheet and two letters of reference – one character and one professional. Each applicant will be interviewed by current camp staff. Each staff member will go through a complete background check.

Deadline: March 1, 2013

District News and Announcements – January 11

Click here to view this month’s edition of District News and Announcements.

In this issue:

1 —DISTRICT LOSES TWO OF ITS PILLARS DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON

2—PASTORS JOIN TOGETHER IN PREACHING ON DENOMINATIONAL VISION STATEMENT

3—UPCOMING CLUSTER GATHERINGS ON CHURCH VITALITY

4 —COMMON SPIRIT MINNEAPOLIS BIRTHS NEW HOUSE CHURCHES

5—HANNAH BUTTON-HARRISON SERVES WITH BVS IN WASHINGTON, DC

6—NEBRASKAN BEGINS BVS SERVICE AT IOWA CAMP

7—HOLINESS IN OUR MIDST: ON DREAMS

8—TALES FROM THE TOOL TRAILER: A PLEA FOR HELP

9 —J OURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE ON A TRIP TO THE HOLY LAND

10—DISTRICT CALENDAR OF EVENTS

11—DISTRICT STAFF CONTACTS

12—ARCHIVES, DOCUMENTS AND RESOURCES

Marvin Thill Obituary

Marvin W. Thill, age 78 of Stockton, IL, died Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at home. He was born April 25, 1934, the son of William and Ruth (Bruss) Thill. He was a 1952 graduate of Stockton High School, and later graduated from the Olivet Nazarene University. Marvin married Betty Folkens on August 12, 1954 in Stockton.

Marvin served as pastor at the Church of the Brethren in Plattsburg, MO; Adel, IA; Wenatchee, WA; Enders, NE; and Warrensburg, MO. He retired to the Stockton area in 1997 and served as pastor in the Freeport area. He enjoyed raising sheep and back packing in the Cascade Mountains in WA. He also enjoyed photography, making post cards, master gardening, and raising corgis.

Marvin is survived by his wife Betty; two daughters, Kristin Thill (Mark McKenzie) of Oregon City, OR and Lisa Thill (Gordon Franck) of Columbia, MO; three sons, Curtis Thill (Yolanda Yoder) of Paoli, IN, Byron Thill of Seattle, WA, and Jeffrey (Karin) Thill of Orlando, FL; five brothers, Wesley (Betty) Thill of Lena, IL, David (Pat) Thill of Freeport, IL, Ron (Harriet) Thill of Renssler, IN, Lowell (Sonja) Thill of Bourbonnais, IL, and Carlyle (Claire) Thill of North Vernon, IL; and six grandchildren, Levi, Jordan, Leah, Audrey, Hannah, and Kristina. He is preceded in death by his parents.

A visitation will be held Sunday, December 30, 2012 from 2:00 to 5:00 PM at the Hermann Funeral Home in Stockton. The memorial service will be held Monday, December 31, 2012 at 11:00 AM at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Stockton. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established for On Earth Peace and Heifer International. Condolences and remembrances may be sent to the family at www.hermannfuneralhome.com.

Joseph Hoffert Obituary

Feb. 17, 1921 — Dec. 20, 2012

Joseph B. Hoffert of Winona passed away Friday, Dec. 20, 2012, at Winona Health at the age of 91.

He was born on a farm near Carleton, Neb., on Feb. 17, 1921, to Henry and Katie (Horner) Hoffert. Joe graduated from high school at age 16 and attended Kearney State Teachers College for a year. At 17, he was teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in rural Carleton.

After two years at the school and a year at an elementary school in Bruning, Neb., Joe studied for two years at McPherson College in Kansas, where he met his future wife, Lois Metsker. Upon graduation in 1943, he entered the Navy and was sent to officer’s candidate school at Notre Dame University. Upon receiving his commission as a “90 Day Wonder,” he married Lois in her home near Quinter, Kan. They moved to Boston, where Joe attended radar school at Harvard. He was assigned to a destroyer Escort in the Pacific, where he served until the end of the war.

Joe and Lois moved to Bird City, Kan., in 1946, where he continued his teaching career at the high school. After two years he was appointed as the school principal, a position he held until 1958.

During the summers he earned two master’s degrees, in secondary school administration from Colorado State Teachers’ College and mathematics from the University of Wyoming.

In 1958, Joe and Lois and their four children moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where Joe began a 28-year career as a professor of mathematics. He was faculty advisor to the mathematics fraternity Kappu Mu Epsilon, was active in Campus Ministries in Higher Education, and gained a reputation as teacher who could make difficult concepts understandable. He authored a textbook for use in teaching the mathematics of business.

After his retirement in 1986, Joe provided tutoring for young students gifted in mathematics and volunteered as a driver for the Iowa Blood Bank. He also found time to devote to his hobby, antique car restoration. His “legacy project,” the 1957 Oldsmobile that belonged to Lois’s parents, will forever be a family keepsake.

Joe kept Christ at the center of his life and served the Church of the Brethren at the local, district and denominational levels. He was a wonderful husband, father, teacher and friend, a man who set high personal standards and lived by them. Yet he could gracefully acknowledge the failings in others. He had a keen mind and a humble spirit and was a fine example of the term “Servant Leader.” He lived life with a sense of gratitude, especially for the love that he shared with Lois. We loved him and we’ll miss him greatly.

Joe is survived by his wife of 69 years, Lois; four children, Stan (Susan) of Wausau, Wis., Gordon (Ulrike) of Winona, Patty (Michael) Facius of Minneapolis and Tim (Nina) of Golden, Colo.; five grandchildren: Wesley, Paula, Rhonda (Barton), Jess, and Joe; his brother, Amos Hoffert of Anita, Iowa; and sister, Lois McDaniel of Geneva, Neb.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Ruth Dowdy; and his brothers, John and Booker.

A funeral service will be held Friday, Dec. 28, at 2 p.m. at Lewiston Church of the Brethren. A viewing will take place from noon until 2 p.m. on that day. Interment will be at the Bethel Church of the Brethren cemetery near Carleton and will take place at a later date.

Funeral services provided by Hoff Funeral and Cremation Services of Winona. Memorial gifts will benefit the Lewiston Church of the Brethren and Camp Pine Lake, Eldora, Iowa.

Please share a memory of Joseph at his online guestbook and view his tribute video at www.hofffuneral.com.