Welcome to the Bluebonnet Area...
The Bluebonnet Area of the Christian Church in the Southwest.
Compassion and Aid Received in Haiti
If you’ve been watching the news, you’ve inevitably heard about the difficulties of getting aid, supplies, and medical care to those affected by the earthquake in Haiti.
While it is true that the delivery of aid has been hampered by many factors, including infrastructure-related challenges, Week of Compassion can assure you that aid is reaching many of those who need it.
Martin Coria, Church World Service Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, now based in the Dominican Republic and working closely with Servicio Social de Igelesias Dominicana (SSID), noted that with pre-positioned CWS kits and blankets, SSID was able to provide relief to the victims of Haiti's massive earthquake in the first twenty-four hours of the disaster. On Wednesday, January 13, SSID sent a flight with supplies to Port-au-Prince, and their staff was able to see the needs firsthand and quickly provide the most crucial supplies and assistance.
Click here for details and a live news feeds.
Click here to make an on-line donation.
Click here to go to the WOC Haiti website.
BBA Board Meeting Photo Gallery
Pictures from the January BBA Board Meeting are on-line.
Click here for the photo gallery.
Camp & Events On-Line
Dates and information about 2010 camps and events at Disciple Oaks Retreat Center are now on-line.
Click here for details.
The Beautiful Simplicity of the
Sense of Service
The welcome to Texas and the BBA has been overwhelmingly kind and friendly. Terri and I are gratified to be so warmly embraced and welcomed. We arrived to San Antonio on New Year’s Eve.
On New Year’s Day we were driving through a neighborhood here in San Antonio. We came upon two little girls who appeared to be 8 or 9 years of age. They were standing at the street near a stop sign with a large, colorful poster that read, “Free Lemonade.”
Terri, my wife, rolled down the window to speak to them. She asked, “Is the lemonade really free?” The rather timid answer was simply, “Yes.” Terri asked, “Why are you giving away free lemonade?” The reply, “Well, it is the beginning of a New Year, you know…and Jesus died for us, so we just wanted to serve.”
We were wet eyed at the beautiful simplicity of this sense of service.
It is a New Year; there is that enduring reason to serve. I am delighted for the opportunity to serve you as Transitional Area Minister. I am excited and expectant that the days ahead will be filled with opportunities to serve with a “free lemonade” sense of service.
Rev. Allen C. Allen
Disciples Mission Giving Remittance Report
You may download the the Disciples Mission Giving Remittance Report at the links below.
Click here to download as a PDF file.
Click here to download as a Microsoft Excel workbook file.
News From Around Disciples
From CrisisCommons
Live News Feeds From Global Ministries
From Disciples.org
Clergy Boundaries Training - Rescheduled
Please be advised that the Boundaries Seminar scheduled for Saturday, December 5, 2009 has been postponed. The seminar has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 6, 2010. In addition, for those who can not attend the seminar on weekends, a weekday session has been added for Monday, March 1, 2010. The seminars will be held at Rolling Oaks CC, San Antonio. Please contact Anna in the BBA office at bba@ccsw.org for registration form and details!
Summer Collegium In Support of Small Congregations
Applications are now available for the Summer Collegium, a project in support of small congregations at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. Clergy (and their spouses or partners) from 25 small churches of all Christian denominations are invited to spend nine days at Virginia Seminary for encouragement, education, rest and renewal. All expenses, including travel, books, meals, lodging, child care at home and pulpit supply, are paid by a grant from the Lilly Endowment.
The theme of the Summer Collegium this year is Leadership in the Small Congregation. Our keynote speaker will be Alice Mann, a prolific writer on congregational ministry, and John Bell from the Iona Community in Scotland will join our worship team for the conference.
The dates for the Summer Collegium are June 23 - July 1, 2010. Application forms are on our website, http://www.vts.edu/education/collegium, or will be sent in the mail by emailing SummerCollegium@vts.eduor by calling 703-461-1760. Applications must be postmarked by December 15, 2009, to be considered.
“Community ON Purpose, Community
WITH Purpose”
by Rev. Dani Loving Cartwright, Regional Minister and President, Christian Church in the Southwest.
Continuing the emphasis on the release of the Southwest Regional Guiding Vision for ongoing transformation, Southwest Regional Minister and President Rev. Dani Loving Cartwright delivered a heartfelt message to several hundred Disciples at the North Texas Area Assembly, Sunday May 3, 2009 at Northway Christian Church in Dallas.
Her message beckoned for building communities centered in the sustaining and abiding power of the true vine, Jesus Christ. She gave several personal community building experiences requiring faith, sacrifice, new relationships and courage from her early pastoral ministry in East Texas. Referring to John 15:1-8 and the new Regional Vision, Dani passionately encouraged our pastors, leaders and churches, to prioritize and practice deep prayer, Bible study and Biblical literacy in the church. She maintained the church needs to be compelled in its motivation by inviting conversation around the scriptures.
For more information about the New Day New Direction efforts, please click here to go to the website of the Christian Church in the Southwest.
Through the courtesy of the North Texas Area, this video is available for your use in your church's website in two video resoltions. Click hereto go to the North Texas Area website for the instructions for embedding this video in your website.
The BBA Prayer Chapel is Open
The website's Prayer Chapel can now accept on-line prayer requests. "Convert your thoughts into prayer. As we are involved in unceasing thinking, so we are called to unceasing prayer," - Henri Nouwen.
Prayer requests can be submitted on a secure form and are instantly transmitted to the Bluebonnet Area Office.
Click here to go to the Prayer Chapel.
News from the Area
Click on one of the headlines below to go to the details of each story. To see all of the stories, click here to go to the News Archive page.
03/18/2009 - Spring Licensing Interviews on March 28th
The Bluebonnet Area Department of Ministry is preparing for our spring licensing interviews.
03/18/2009 - Pension Fund Board Forgoes Special Apportionment and Good Experience Credit
The Board of Directors of the Pension Fund of the Christian Church elected not to approve a Special Apportionment for Pension Plan accounts or Good Experience Credits for Tax Deferred Retirement and Benefit Accumulation accounts at its regular meeting in Indianapolis, Feb. 25 - 27.
03/18/2009 - Outstanding Musicians and Performers to Lead Worship at 2009 General Assembly
The 2009 General Assembly in Indianapolis is shaping up to be a worshipful extravaganza.
