Welcome to the 2011 Annual Gathering Website! Use the Navigation Menu above to learn more about each aspect of the event we have planned for you.
Hygeine Supplies for Families on the Border
I had the opportunity to visit the Romero Center recently, and hear about the work that they are doing. More than that, I heard about the stories of people who are caught between two worlds--those of poverty, hunger and homelessness, and the promise that lies across the border.
Our Associate Conference Minister for Border and Latino Ministries, Carlos Correa, speaks of the people he comes into contact with daily with the same care and concern that an exceptional and loving pastor does for his congregation.
It was then, at our board meeting in the main hall of the Romero Center, that your Conference board got the idea, with unanimous support, for how you can help with a mission project for Annual Gathering this year:
Please. Help us collect supplies for the families on the other side of the border: blankets, toothpaste, soaps or
shower gels; clothing, flat shoes, new socks, etc. Have you been saving up those toiletry items from your hotel trips? Bring them to Annual Gathering.
If you were sleeping outside on the other side of the border, feeling unsafe and hungry, what would you want to have? Be creative, but bring it to Annual Gathering. You will be bringing hope for the journey.
Bring all of this to Annual Gathering this year, and our youth will assemble them into thoughtfully packed hygiene kits for people you may never see, but people, nonetheless, to whom you have been a blessing.
Noted preacher, author and professor Tom Long will be preaching on Saturday morning, and we will begin the processional that day singing,
"We are called to act with justice.
We are called to love tenderly.
We are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God."
As we sing, all the items that you bring in love for our brothers and sisters across the border will be brought by our youth to the altar. Please--let the biggest problem we have be the need to go into extra verses!
In closing, let me share a testimony to the Romero Center by a visitor from Minneapolis:
"Centro Romero offered me an experience like no other. I observed people making a difference, without having financial contributions from any organization... that was a lesson about faith. I was amazed by the unity of the people, helping each other... that was a lesson about unity. I was touched by the spirit of the Mexican people... that was a lesson about strength. What an experience, thanks!" Destaye Crawford, Cambridge, MN
Yours,
Paul Tellstrom
