Did You Know?

Did You Know: The Story of the Heifer Project

As told by W. E. Ickes, father of Ruth Brewer of the Dallas Center COB

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was set up in 1943 by forty-four nations to relieve suffering caused by World War II.  The organization began to operate on a large scale in 1944.  UNRRA did it greatest work in the two years after WW II.  Food was distributed to save millions of persons from starvation.  

    The Heifer Project International which was organized by Dan West of the Church of the Brethren had already been started and had shipped a few cattle with the UNRRA program.  These went to Greece.  UNRRA was officially ended on June 30, 1947.  

    Ex Mayor La Guardia of New York was the head of the program.  I was able to hear LaGuardia speak at a meeting of the U.N.  He was very much interested in Heifer Project and said there was great need for more help in Europe.  He turned over what money was left from his program to H.P. to help pay for shipments which cost $165 per head by boat.  This was about the average price of a heifer here.  The H.P. committee had asked the U.S. Government to help pay for the transportation and it took some six months to decide if this was material aid or not.  They finally took it over and after the U. S. Government quit we had to ask the country who received the cattle to pay the transportation.  

    I was the representative for Iowa and adjoining states from 1945 to 1960.  The cattle were brought to our farm and when we had enough for a truckload, we had the cattle tested and then sent to New Windsor, Md.  Later we trucked them to a farm close to N.Y. in Pennsylvania.  I shipped one car load by rail from Iowa City to New Windsor.  Because the Amish people didn’t have quite a full load I took some from here.

   We received cattle from Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Minnesota and South Dakota.  Heifer Project during that period shipped around thirteen thousand head with three thousand coming from the Midwest.  

    I accompanied 3 shipments to Europe.  The first trip I took 165 head and we had 16 calves born on the 18th day of the voyage to Naples, Italy.  The next two trips were to Germany in 1950 and 1953.   

    There still is an organization known the Heifer Project International and they have purchased a ranch near Little Rock, Arkansas, which contains 1200 acres.  There is also an agency at Goshen, IN, for the Northern States.  There was a shipment by air in 1975 of fifty head of Holstein heifers from Harrisburg, PA, for Amman, Jordan.  This shipment was sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee.  The Goshen H.P.I. was responsible for putting it together.     

    I am thankful I am a member of the Church of the Brethren because they have proven the need to help others at home as well as abroad.  I spent a lot of hours in H.P. work and nothing I did gave me greater satisfaction.  I tried to show my appreciation by sharing my vision I had of Europe in schools, churches, and organizations of all kinds with colored slides and a message.  This was always very much appreciated.  

    I wonder why government officials never seems to get a vision  after they return from seeing Europe that there is a need here at home for cleaning up and for keeping up our railroads and rivers.  We have plenty of work here to do but people seem to take relief instead.  

    How would we act if we really loved our neighbors as ourselves?  Without faith, we have no driving force.  Love is the greatest undergirding of our peace program.

Did You Know: LIFE OF A MISSIONARY COUPLE IN NIGERIA—Dick and Ann Burger

Richard and Ann Burger were appointed to the Nigerian mission field in 1944, arriving there in time for the New Year in 1945.  Richard (Dick) was born in Waterloo, Iowa in 1920. As a child he attended Fairview church of the Brethren near Unionville, IA.   Ann Witmore Burger was born in Rich Hill, Missouri in 1924, and attended Happy Hill Brethren congregation in Bates County, MO.  They met at McPherson College.  Ann completed her college experience in Chicago while Dick attended Bethany Seminary in Elgin, IL.

Dick’s path to ministry was greatly influenced by his parents, his pastor Orlando Ogden, Camp Pine Lake experiences with Desmond Bittinger, Dad Kahl from Virginia, a Christian Church missionary to the Belgian Congo who spoke at the Christian Church in Udell, and other Brethren   missionaries who spoke at Fairview Church of the Brethren.  Dick began speaking at Fairview under the direction of pastor Orlando Ogden.  Dick led many junior high and youth camp experiences and spoke at Sheldon, IA at the youth conference for the District of Northern Iowa.  

“Dad Kahl used an illustration to demonstrate his concern for youth learning about the simple life.  He asked for a woman volunteer to let him use her purse.  He dumped the contents on the table for all to see; then he taught us how to thrive in a world where the economy has tanked.  That was in a time when the Brethren still believed in the ‘simple life’.  I was impressed by two things then and I embraced them into my lifestyle.  1) Live on your income and 2) save a little something.  I accepted these teachings as essentials into my manner of living.”

Dick was also greatly influenced by his sister Melba; she took jobs as soon as she was able, then saved money for college to become a teacher.  She attended McPherson College one year, then encouraged Dick to attend a camp for young adults at Camp Pine Lake and McPherson College.  During college, Dick decided to become a missionary.  Melba and her husband from Waterloo City church also became missionaries in Nigeria for one term and lived close to Dick. Melba is still living in the Washington D.C. area and is 98 years old.  Wayne taught at a university in that area before his death.

Dick was in high school when Nigerian missionary Desmond Bittinger  came to Fairview to speak at the Southern Iowa District’s youth conference; the event heightened his interest in becoming a missionary and he explored the possibility of becoming one.  During his junior year at McPherson College, Dr. Bitttinger was his teacher.  Dick believed he could belong to the Fairview community  AND become a rural missionary to Nigeria.  Dick had noted that in Nigeria, many were moving away from the rural areas to seek work in cities—just like Southern Iowa.

After their marriage in August 1943 and return to seminary and college, Dick and Ann’s commitment to become missionaries flourished.   In 1944 they were officially appointed to the Nigeria mission; they began to prepare.  The mission board at Elgin gave us an allowance of $1400 to equip them for the first three year term.  In the summer of 1944, Dick bought a bench saw, making and packing 42 boxes in his parents’ basement to ship to Nigeria which were shipped on the Rock Island railroad from nearby Unionville, IA.

The Church of the Brethren General Office, their parents, families, and home congregations were very supportive, especially Dick’s father and mother, John and Rose Burger.  They provided a stable home that was always available, not only for us but also for other members of the family.  Dick’s dad, John Burger provided Dick with his first Model A Ford for his senior year at McPherson so he could pastor the Nickerson, KS church.  When Dick and Ann were married, John also bought the couple a 1939 Ford car.  Following the model of Free Ministry which his pastor Orlando Ogden had followed, Dick accepted no pay for his leadership to camps and youth conferences, asking the Northern District only for gas money to travel to Sheldon, IA.

Dick took every opportunity to be self-supporting—plowing 40 acres during a spring break so his father and he could share the crop proceeds, and raising sheep in his father’s barn during a one year furlough.  Since Dick was traveling to speak to other churches about missions, Ann cared for the sheep while he was gone.  Dick accepted no pay from speaking; the checks he received he took to Elgin and gave to Spencer Minnick for further missionary work.  Offered a jeep, Dick declined telling a large church that he intended to do it on his own.  He researched the cost and talked to a local dealer who said he could travel to Chicago factory, buy the jeep cheaper, and take a training course on how to repair it.  Dick bought the pickup jeep and $900 worth of parts and a good metal box that fit across the front of the bed for storage for about one-half of the cost.  He designed a good rack with windows and a sturdy top.  He was assisted in building it by  local carpenter Jess Tarrence, a member of Fairview church.  Dick supplied most of the money;  Dick’s father John Burger and Harry Shenk provided money to pay the remaining funds that Dick needed.

Because of Ann’s severe sinus infection, they were forced to return to the states before the end of their first term.   They returned to the mission in the winter of 1949 and lived at Chibok until the building season; they were assigned the building of the new station at Shafa.  Dick lived inside a grass mat room and Ann lived in the guest house, cooking on a steel barrel top placed on 3 stones.  Ann was expecting their second baby boy.  Dick rode the hundred mile trip from Chibok on his good horse to look at Shafa and the plat of the site for the Shafa station.  It was late in the building season; Dick was to build the residence, a shop, a wash house, a small dispensary, three African type compounds for staff, and a large building which would be used for school and church, a house for two horses, and a pig pen.  He also was to develop a rainy season and a dry season garden, clear the site of the abundant large rocks and make a road to the site.  In addition, he was to provide a source for water; all had to be done before the rainy season began in May.  At Shafa, Dick lived in his grass mat house and Ann remained at Garkida in the guest house.  They were only together on weekends.

To provide the water, Dick sought permission to order a ‘Hydraulic Ram’ from England, a European invention; he read the instruction book, and installed it in a small running creek.  The ‘Ram’ would supply water; Dick would not need a day laborer to carry water.  He planned to use the telescope on his rifle on a wooden level to help in operation.  After some contention about the proposal, the mission headquarters provided the money.

After hearing about the project, Dr. Bosler contributed unneeded cast iron for steel pipe from the leper colony; Dr. Studebaker brought a 2 ½ gallon drum of copper sulfate.  Dick drug the creek with porous cloth to kill the snails and make water safe from Schistosomiasis.  He also made a sand filter about 5’ by 10’ by 1’ deep that all the water flowing to the Ram had to run through.   After many hours of planning and studying, Dick turned the water into the Ram.  It swirled and growled and settled down to regular throbbing.  Not sure what it was supposed to sound like, Dick walked 600’ up the hill and climbed to the top of the storage tank.  Relieved to see a stream of fresh water about the size of a pencil running into the tank, Dick got a lawn sprinkler and mounted  six steel barrels on a stand about 20’ above to make a beautiful dry season garden that was watered at no cost.

Every day at the mission station was busy.  There was always something to do.  I had a good spotted horse that was gaited like a Tennessee walker who carried me thousands of miles to the villages where I held classes of religious instruction and little schools teaching literacy.  I would be away from home several days.

Ann managed a dispensary and an elementary school.  There was gardening to do as well as canning and processing.  I had pigs which we butchered, curing the meat, smoking it and/or canning it.  There were always medical emergencies, some very serious.  I took several of these 25 miles in my Jeep to Garkida where there was a hospital and doctors.  We set a few bones, delivered a few babies, and doctored a few that had been wounded by wild animals.  There was the work of the church to oversee as a pastor.

One day a mature man, a young man, an old grandmother and a new born baby arrived.  The mother had died and left a small orphan.  They heard that the mission would raise such orphans.  They had no way to raise a new born baby.  When seeing the situation, Ann came to the rescue.  She had her own new baby.  Ann went into the house and got a cup of warm milk and did something that I didn’t know could be done.  She taught the new baby to drink from a cup.  She asked the man if they had a grandmother that could raise and care for the baby if she provided fresh milk every morning and every evening.  She would have to come to the get the sterile tin cans and jar of milk twice a day.  It was beautiful to see how the baby thrived.  

In a few weeks another orphan was brought much like the first and then another.  Ann raised six such orphans.  The canned milk was expensive.  It occurred to me I should have a few cows.  I looked for cows that were in sound health.  Most of the cows being sold locally were unwell.  Where could I find good cows?  

One day I was traveling on my horse north and west toward Biu and came upon a huge herd of good cows.   In a few days I drove to see the chief of Biu and told him my need.  He was friendly and negotiated well.  I returned a few days later with my nearly new 12 gauge shotgun I didn’t need  and traded it and two boxes of shells for seven cows.  I hired a herder and we went to the big herd and picked out the cows and drove them home.

When I began to teach my men how I wanted to handle and manage the herd, they were horrified.  I wanted to wean the calves and milk the cows as we do here.  The men insisted that the cows couldn’t be milked without the calf tied to the cow’s front leg or they would dry up.  African cows were so maternal they would not give their milk without the calf.  I told them I had to find out which ones were maternal for I didn’t want them as it would be two years between calves if calves weren’t weaned.  I had taken a bucket and nipple to feed the calves.  Sure enough one cow wouldn’t milk without her calf.  I sold her and I was fortunate all the other cows did.  In the next year they all had nice calves.  Before long I had a nice herd.

Due to Ann’s tragic sinus infection we had to return home.  I made arrangements with the government vet department to care for my cows.  Ivan Eikenberry heard about it and thought the mission school should have first choice on my cows.  To avoid a disagreement, I gave in and had the cows driven up there.  I did not look over the facilities for keeping them.   We were home nearly three years.  Ivan wrote after a year and half and asked what I wanted to do with them.  He had agreed to keep them one year.   He thought that the church had bought them and that I should give them to him. I sent Wagini Mwada a letter and had him drive the cows back to Shafa.  I also sent a letter to Ivan informing him of my action.

When I got back to Shafa, I realized the cows had a skin disease and there were no calves.  I treated them with some medicine brought from home, DDT and salve.    The reason there were no calves was lack of secure fences; the leopards had killed five calves over time.

We visited a Christian family after the arrival of their second baby; the father had no work.  I asked the man to work for me.  He asked what kind of work; I told him with a pick and shovel; he said he couldn’t because they weren’t eating well because they were short on food.

Here I was, a farmer, and one who preached that God loves them.  It pained me that here a mission that represented many agricultural people had done nothing to teach them better ways to farm.  We had been strong in literacy, education, and medicine but virtually nothing in rural living.  If I approached the mission administration, I knew they did not have money available.  Shafa was located on a rocky mountain plateau land resource that couldn’t be farmed with anything but hand hoes.  Still there were some good acres of good soil and river bottom soil; it was a place to begin.  We didn’t ask for financial help; we would do it ourselves; we needed plows and chains to pull a plow.  I sold a good horse, 4 saddles, a high powered rifle and provided some money from our Iowa farm.  We broke 7 teams of oxen to pull plows.  First, throwing them down and castrating the, punching a small hole through their nose so we could thread a small rope through the hole and between their horns and ears to control them.  We taught them to pull logs to break them to pull a plow which I didn’t have.  I asked my dad to take the mole board off his old antique walking plow and send it to me. I made a heavy wooden beam with handles on it to control it while the oxen pulled.  

Unfortunately, our six year old boy lost an eye and we had to return home to receive proper for him so we never got to develop our agricultural program, but some of the younger missionaries did.  A group of young men, Irven Stern and Gerald Nehr, joined the mission staff, finding plans for an agricultural center. Finding no support in the mission headquarters, the plan seemed doomed.  When Irven Stern went home, he went to visit over lunch with Norman Baugher, head of the denomination in Elgin.  While he talked, Norman just listened and gave no clue what he was thinking.  When lunch was over, the missionary stood to go and observed, “Well, I guess we can’t do anything about the proposal for the rural center.”    Immediately Norman expressed his thoughts.  “That sounds like a pretty good idea to me.  I don’t know why it can’t be done.”  So the agricultural program became very significant in the mission.  It became not only a rural development center but the Kulp Bible School for the training of rural pastors.  

The mission in Nigeria was launched by pioneer missionaries Stover Kulp and Albert Helser.  After a disagreement, Mr. Helser left the mission.  Just as disagreements happened in the early church and God continued the work despite those, the most import lesson to learn is that even in a contentious environment the church of Jesus, our Lord, was planted and has thrived all over the world.  

Recalling these events and writing about them has been a formidable job for a 95 year old man!  I’ve enjoyed sharing my memories.  

Richard ‘Dick’ Burger, 2016

Did You Know: Paul Miller – Camp Pine Lake’s Greatest Visionary

Paul Miller – Camp Pine Lake’s Greatest Visionary

by Gordon Hoffert

No name is more closely connected with Camp Pine Lake’s Friendship Lodge than Paul Miller. To Paul, Friendship Lodge was more than just a multi-purpose building, it represented a crowning achievement in the mission to which he had dedicated his ministry: to train and empower young people as servant leaders in the Church of the Brethren. Its construction and completion is due to the herculean efforts of this one man and the countless brigades of volunteers he inspired.

Paul grew to adulthood in the 1930’s, a member of the South Waterloo Church of the Brethren. His generation was the first to benefit fully from the denomination’s growing emphasis on district camping and youth ministry. The earliest effort to organize youth activities outside of Sunday Schools began with the Christian Workers Society in 1903. Its aim was to promote growth in fellowship and leadership skills. The Northern Plains District (then called the Tri-District) fell in step with this movement. A district camping program began in 1921. During these early years of camping, the Brotherhood would send out some of its top leaders to mentor and inspire the campers. In 1932, the camping program moved to its present location, the Meeker YMCA camp, but was owned by the Y until the district purchased it in 1954.

In the early 1930’s a Brethren Young People’s Department was organized by the Brotherhood and Paul became its district president. Paul also participated in the “Hilltop Retreats,” a movement begun by Dan West to train leaders by gathering together selected district youth. Paul belonged to this group, which strove for “disciplined fellowship.” Their mission was to develop “effective leaders for young people’s work in the Church of the Brethren – effective because they are essentially healthy mentally and physically; free to give what they have, and growing into greater effectiveness.”

Paul’s first career choice was to become a high school ag teacher. He attended Iowa State University for one year, but then experienced a call to ministry. It occurred during an event he was attending at Camp Pine Lake. In the stillness of the evening he went for a walk around the lake. He stopped for a moment and felt God’s presence moving him in a new direction, into a vocation as a pastor. He transferred that fall to McPherson college and from there went to Bethany Seminary. He and his wife, Ellen, spent most of their years in ministry serving churches in this district.

Paul maintained his active involvement in the district’s camping program throughout the 1940’s and 50’s. The purchase of Camp Pine Lake in 1954 was accompanied by a host of challenges. The original buildings were falling into disrepair. First and foremost was the need for new cabins and shower facilities. These were constructed on the 10 acres of land that bordered the original camp. Then, in the early 1960’s it was time to build a lodge that could serve as the focal point for nourishing and building up the Body of Christ.

Paul managed to complete the project for around $20,000.00, an unthinkable amount until one factors in the boundless energy and irrepressible optimism of its director. The plans were drafted for free because Paul had the temerity to ask a non-Brethren neighbor, an architect, to donate them. He became a master scavenger as buildings were demolished in the path of the new interstate highway corridor.

Paul would make a weekly drive up to the camp from the Panther Creek Church with a group of volunteers in tow, among them Earl Deardorf, the camp manager at that time. After a week’s work, Paul returned to Panther to squeeze in his pastoral duties and prepare for Sunday. Then it was back up to camp the following week. Youth camps proved a fertile field for volunteer recruitment. For his drive in pushing the project forward, Paul earned a nickname lifted from pages of scripture. He was called “Pharaoh.” With so much unskilled labor at work, shortcuts sometimes became the order of the day. One worker suggested, “You can’t find a square corner in the building.” But the construction, though not perfect, was sturdy and Friendship Lodge has served as an anchor for the camping program for over 50 years.

It’s coming up on a century now since the movements in the Church of the Brethren – the Christian Workers Society, Brethren Young People’s Department, and Hilltop Retreats – inspired young people like Paul Miller to view camping as integral to the future health of the church. The culmination of Paul’s vision, Friendship Lodge, now provides a space for each new generation to discover a call that Paul heard on a quiet night just a short walk away.

Sources:
Judy Miller Woodruff (Paul’s daughter)
History of the Northern Plains Church of the Brethren: 1844-1977

Did you know: The Woman who Wanted to Break Bread

The woman who wanted to break bread

by Marlene Moats Neher

Reprinted excerpts by Alice Draper, with approval of Marlene Neher and Messenger. Original story in Messenger, June 1976. Marlene Neher is the great grandniece of Julia Gilbert.

Born in Maryland in 1844, Julia Gilbert was crippled by measles and scarlet fever, from which her brother and sister died. She later moved to Ohio and then to Iowa in 1897. Influenced by Brethren publications, regular church attendance, as well as devout family study, she read the Bible faithfully. At age 14, after baptism, she began to question the way Brethren did communion, feeling that it was her duty to do communion the way Christ did.  Early Brethren women were not allowed to break bread and pass the cup to each other at communion.

A query was brought up in 1849 and again in 1857 regarding women being allowed to break bread and pass the cup to each other. In 1883 writers were questioning the rights of women, including Julia Gilbert’s letter in the Gospel Messenger, citing women washing feet and the holy kiss. In 1894 she submitted a query for Annual Meeting to repeal former positions and grant women the same privilege in breaking bread and passing the cup as the brethren (men). It did not pass the church vote to be forwarded that year or in 1895. After moving to Grundy County, Iowa in 1897, where the Brethren of the Western frontier were considered radicals and innovators by Eastern Brethren, her query passed the local church. It was passed on to Annual Meeting in 1899. A modern sounding response from that meeting was to appoint a committee to investigate and report back in 1900. It was deferred for another year. A query was presented every year from 1906 to 1909 with more committee study. The eventual answer changed the existing practice. The officiating minister was to break the bread and pass the cup to both men and women.

In 1910, after an emotional speech by Julia Gilbert, explaining that men come between women and the Savior, the privilege for women breaking bread and passing the cup for themselves finally was approved.  In 1970 an Annual Conference resolution stated the church’s position on women in our church and society. In 1975 Ivester Church sent a query affirming women having full worth and humanity.  The spirit of Julia Gilbert continues to live on. The openness of Northern Plains District congregations continues to address leadership of women in the district. 50% of our congregations are now being served by female clergy, the highest in our denomination. Total clergy numbers, including retired pastors, is 45. Of this total, 23 of these licensed and ordained pastors are female in the Northern Plains District.

Did You Know: Remembering the Last 55 Years

Marilyn Koehler, Fairview COB (with Richard Burger)

In 1960, the Southern Iowa District, the Middle Iowa District, and the Northern Iowa/Minnesota/South Dakota District held separate district conferences for the last time. That year at their district conferences, each voted to approve a merger that would create the Iowa-Minnesota District, one of the final steps in the creation of what we know of today as the Northern Plains District. A few years later, the North Dakota-Eastern Montana District voted to join the Iowa-Minnesota District and the boundaries were set for the Northern Plains District.

My husband David and I were chosen as delegates to the first combined district conference held at South Waterloo Church of the Brethren. The dedication of the conference officers and church made a lasting impression on both of us through business sessions, sermons, hospitality and music. Our host for overnight lodging was the Moore family.

Although I can’t recall specific sermons or business items, I do recall the singing of the hymns as being the best music I had ever heard—some 400 Brethren voices in perfect harmony literally lifting my spirits and understanding of hymnology and voices. We also recall leadership of that and other early conferences—which becomes a list of names of ministers and leaders. The majority were graduates of Bethany Seminary but there were also people who had emerged as leaders in their congregations. There was a nice mix of men and women who were educated, dedicated, conscientious, and servant-minded.

At the risk of leaving out some you may remember (and hopefully will add to the list), I will name a few leaders from the 60s and 70s. Clarence Sink, pastor of South Waterloo; Wanda Will Button, energetic lay leader trained at Bethany Seminary; Jay Johnson, pastor of English River; Berwyn Oltman, pastor of Stover Memorial; Lyle Albright, pastor of Fairview congregation and then District Executive 1962-72; Milton Early, pastor of Ottumwa Church; Dorothy Miller; Ruth Clark; Elmer West, pastor of Salem/Mt Etna churches; Glenn Fruth, pastor of Cando ND church; Joe & Lois Hoffert, members of Stover Memorial; Harold & Joanne Mack, members of Dallas Center church; and Charles Lunkley, missionary and pastor, District Executive in the 70s. Jim Tomlinson, Ivester pastor and District Ministry Chair, guided the first group of Lay Ministers through the 3 year reading course in the 70s.

However, the decision to combine the three districts was not unanimously supported. Change is often fraught with worry about what the changes will bring and/or interrupt a successful arrangement. Often, not always, change is resisted by older experienced members. Recollections of the decision of the Southern Iowa District to combine with the other two districts was recently recalled by retired minister Richard Burger of Fairview Church. Ray Zook, the district executive of the Southern Iowa District had many conversations with members in that area; he had been present at the meetings where pros and cons were debated, sometimes heatedly. Thus, Ray Zook was prepared; his written resignation was in his pocket, ready for submission to the Southern Iowa board. The discussion changed when a young minister, Richard Burger stood to make an observation on the viability of continuing the status quo. After some reflection, the voting body accepted the proposal to merge the three districts. Later, Ray Zook told Richard Burger that he tore up the resignation. Ray Zook became the first District Executive of the Northern Plains District.

The Church of the Brethren was founded and is continuing on the strength of the people and their dedication to God, the Bible, and the local congregation’s willingness to serve others. Part of the willingness to serve includes wisdom, listening to the Spirit, and courage to speak what God has laid on your heart. May it continue to be true for years to come.

One of the memorable events/changes in the late 60s was a conference decision to move District Conference to the Methodist Campground at Cedar Falls, Iowa. The size of the conference, need for overnight lodging, and meal needs were beyond what local churches could handle. Some distinct memories of the years at Methodist Campgrounds:

• Leaving southern Iowa with only short-sleeved summer clothing and experiencing a dramatic change of temperature on Saturday afternoon. On Saturday evening and Sunday morning, the conference was a mix of colorful blankets over shoulders as we attended the services.
• Being elected to District Board, serving first on Witness then on Nurture Committees with mostly pastors.
• One especially hot Saturday p.m. business session, Harold Mack was explaining a long, detailed budget. The Evangelism Committee appeared with cups of cold water for delegates; Harold sat down, and the Budget passed without more comment.
• As District Moderator in 1980, I wrote to each of those who were to provide reports, strongly suggesting they keep the length of their report to 5 minutes. After some concern by those reporting, most were able to do it. The most memorable was the report by Paul Hoffman president of McPherson College who outlined 12 goals for students attending college in 5 minutes. For a few years, I could remember most of the goals.
• Galen Snell was our guest speaker for 1980 with his text on Philippians 2. The Saturday evening service ended with a candlelight service as people circled the outer rim of the great hall holding candles as the only light. (We later learned candles were not allowed because the building construction was wooden.)
• One of my greatest memories is taking Fairview Youth group to District Conference in late 60s and early 70s, renting one cabin for the boys and another for the girls. The youth were able to have planned and unplanned activities with other youth of the district as they had free rein to conference grounds. To their credit, they attended the worship services and planned youth activities without prompting. Cooking for 18-20 people was a challenge; I remember when one youth asked if we youth leaders could NOT have macaroni again! He had a point…but it was easy to cook and served so many!
• In 1981, the Methodists decided to do some extensive remodeling to the conference accommodations, so District Conference moved to the college campus at Wartburg. There were some restrictions there which did not allow the freedom of worship we had experienced at the Methodist campground. Such is progress.

I also have memories of serving at Camp Pine Lake during the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

• Serving as Camp Pine Lake Counselor, first for Junior Campers in 1966 with John Smith as Dean. After overhearing a plot to steal the clapper out of the bell, John painted the clapper with green poster paint which remained wet in heavy dew. Later John walked to the boys cabins, asked for a show of hands and retrieved the clapper. Great disappointment for the perpetrators!
• Many years as Camp Pine Lake Counselor with the last time at Youth Camp in 1989. I was called for an interview for a principal position. The greatest worry of the campers was that I would not return that evening to complete my week with them. That year, Gordon Hoffert allowed a beauty contest of male youth in women’s clothing. My red dress worn by one of the campers was stunning on him, and he won the vote for best dressed!

And I was blessed to work as Area Evangelism Counselor on the District Evangelism Committee with Jean Lichty Hendricks, Larry Little, and others, traveling to 23 churches over a 3 year period to encourage the churches with weekend workshops which included setting goals for future activities in the church.

The Northern Plains District has operated well during the last 55 years; dedicated people have served loyally, providing devotion and expertise to various boards and committees. The District has met budget, sometimes with extra prodding, and the work of the church has continued to fuel local fellowships toward greater efforts on the challenges of the times. May it always be so.