Celebrating

• Journey: A Missional Leadership Development Program had a Learning Event September 8-10 and two new participants are from Piedra Viva Mennonite Church. Joanne serves as a sponsoring conference minister for the program and served as a mentor during the Weekend Learning Event. More info on Journey can be found here.
• The volunteer work of conference leadership teams who invest in the vision of IN-MI conference. These teams will gather for All Teams retreat September 15-16, with Joanne Gallardo and Steve Slagel leading equipping and visioning sessions.

Connecting

• Sharon Yoder visited with leaders of Mara Christian Church of America in Indianapolis (MCCA-Indiana) on August 19-20 and preached in their Sunday morning service. Andi Santoso, MMN representative for Asia and Middle East and a volunteer on Racial Ethnic Council of MC USA to connect with Asian congregations, joined the meaningful weekend visit.
• Joanne and Sharon met with other conference ministers across MC USA via zoom on September 12.
• Sharon met with transitional and interim pastors via zoom on September 15.
• Joanne continues to meet with the Swanee, Camfell, Elkhart and Goshen pastor clusters monthly or bi-monthly.

Credentialing and Leadership Development

• Our annual Pastors Gathering will be held November 6-8 at Amigo Centre. Watch for more information to come soon.
• Suella Gerber and Richard Kauffman are serving for several months as interim pastors at First Mennonite Church in Indianapolis.

Financial Update

Five Things Friday Roundup

This month, Joanne Gallardo’s Five Things Friday Roundup draws attention to Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15). Check out it out here.

MennoMedia and Everence Partner to provide virtual sessions

MennoMedia is hosting a virtual workshop featuring input from consultants at Everence. Join us on September 21 for a session titled Strategic Generosity: Maximizing your charitable impact. In this time together we will begin to explore different tools that you might utilize to impact future generations through generosity. Learn more and register online at MennoMedia.org or by emailing Mitch Stutzman, Director of Development and Partner Engagement at MennoMedia, at MitchS@MennoMedia.org.

Parents of LGBTQ+ Children Group Resumes

The Support Group for parents with children of all ages who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community will resume meeting on Saturday, September 16^th from 9:00-11:00 am in the library at Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship. Feel free to invite anyone you know who might benefit from this gathering. Please contact Sarah Higley Morrison at sjhigley@gmail.com with additional questions.