Apparently today is national Wiggle Your Toes Day! Here's something to wiggle your piggies at, our announcements for the week of Aug. 6, 2017.
People and Prayers
Jane Bivans is home recovering from knee replacement surgery and is progressing well.
We congratulate Cassi Clark and Colin Carpenter, who were married in our Sanctuary Saturday.
Have a prayer request? Email us at thomas @vinestreet.org.
Celebrate & Discover Children’s Ministry
Everyone, please join us for fun, fellowship and food on Sunday, Aug. 20 from 5-7 p.m. The Children's Ministry Committee is hosting a cookout to mark the end of summer with all the hot dogs and chips you can eat. We will also be having ice cream, some of which will be homemade! If you have an ice cream maker and would like to help, please contact Angie Wilson (angie.wilson2347@gmail.com). We'll see you on the playground!
Insight to New Spaces
The Nashville location of Insight Counseling Centers, along with its administrative office, has moved to two nearby locations, continuing a 32-year tradition of serving the greater-Nashville community. Clients are being served now out of interim office space at Brook Hollow Baptist Church and Seton Lodge at Saint Thomas West Hospital. The move comes as we anticipate the sale of a portion of our campus property to Montgomery Bell Academy.
A vision of this congregation, we’re proud our partnership with Insight Counseling Centers will continue to thrive in the interim. We look forward to our campus renovations and the eventual return of Insight, too. If you or someone you know needs a listening ear, Insight may still be contacted at 615/383-2115 or at www.insightcounselingcenters.org.
Men’s Social Gathering
Monday Men will meet Monday, Aug. 7. Join us! Some of Vine Street’s men gather the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at the west Nashville M. L. Rose. It’s a great way to get to know the guys from church. If you’re interested, send an email to Thomas Kleinert and you’ll receive a monthly reminder of this gathering (thomas@vinestreet.org).
Disciples Welcome New General Minister and President
Our denomination has a new leader. The General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada elected recently the Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens to serve as the general minister and president. She is the first African-American to hold this post and the second woman to lead Disciples. Hord Owens is also the first African-American woman to lead a mainline denomination.
A widely sought after preacher, speaker and workshop facilitator, Hord Owens comes to the position in a time of renewed emphasis on the issues of race, particularly in the United States. Her election comes on the 50th anniversary of the Merger Agreement uniting the African-American and largely white branches of our American-born denomination. She has been serving as pastor a predominately white congregation in the Chicago area.
“We need to stop demonizing differences as deficiencies,” Hord Owens says in a denominational press release. “We should seek to understand, to work through our differences in priorities, opinions, methods, and goals. This will not be easy, but imagine what an example this will be for the world if we can bridge the gaps in politics, identity, geography and theology.”
Hord Owens’ resume includes more than 20 years in corporate America leading diverse teams in data management before she entered seminary. For the last 15 years, she has been the dean of students at the University of Chicago Divinity School, shepherding a varied student body in both background and theology.
The election of Hord Owens follows the 12-year tenure of the Rev. Sharon E. Watkins, who was the first female to lead a mainline denomination in the United States upon her election in 2005. Hord Owens’ term is six years with an option for re-election in 2023 for an additional six-year term. May God bless the ministry and leadership of the Rev. Teresa Hord Owens!
A Note of Thanks
Dear Vine Street Christian friends:
We are so grateful for your recent financial contribution of $1,000 to the Nashville Food Project! Gifts like these renew and affirm our work to bring people together to grow, cook and share nourishing food in our community.
Through our gardens, our kitchens, our partnerships, and the more than 7,000 volunteers that work alongside us annually, The Nashville Food Project alleviates hunger, brings people out of isolation, and disrupts cycles of poverty. This community impact is powered by the generous gifts of so many like you. Thank you for your support in this transformative work. With gratitude,
Teri Forsythe Sloan, Development Director, The Nashville Food Project