Regional Address is Now Online

The last Regional Address given by Dr. Richard Guentert is now available online.

Tim Diebel Elected to Executive of the Forum

Friends:

I'm proud to announce that the Rev. Dr. Tim Diebel, Sr. Minister of First Christian Church, Des Moines, and Moderator-Elect of the Upper Midwest Region has just been elected Secretary of the FORUM OF REGIONAL MODERATORS.

The Moderators of Regions from across the United States and Canada have been meeting for two full days in Nashville, Tn. They have just concluded their assembly tonight. At the closing worship service our General Minister and President, Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, issued the installation charge and covenant to the organization's newest officers.

Moderators and Moderators-Elect of the denomination gather in this forum once every two years along with the College of Regional Ministers. This year the body had an orientation from Rev. Glenn Carson to the work of the Disciples Historical Society, which calls Nashville home to its museum of memorabilia for the three restoration streams of the church.

Participants had the opportunity to visit and tour the Historical Society.They also explored the nature of the Disciples past, present and future work in the Regional and General manifestations of the church. They concluded their meeting with hearing the delightful music of a famous Nashville song-writer, Thom Schuyler. His award-winning song, "Prayer of a Desperate Man" can be heard at http://www.thomschuyler.com/

Congratulations to Rev. Diebel on his election to the Forum's executive committee.

Dr. Richard Guentert, Regional Minister

Regional Minister and President to Conclude Ministry in December

From Regional Minister and President, Richard Guentert:

June 21, 2008

To: The Disciples Church Family of the Upper Midwest Region

Re: The Date for the Completion of a Regional Ministry

Dear friends,

At the end of 2008 it is my intention to complete my service as Regional Minister and President to the Upper Midwest Region. I am announcing it at this early point to provide the Region’s Personnel Unit a suitable window of time for assessing leadership needs and for seeking to identify and call that leadership.

December 31^st will be the last day of my service to the Region in this role, and will mark the completion of 15 years in this office of episcopal care for the congregations of Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas. The finishing-out of this term of office will also mark the end of 29 years of my life which have been dedicated to the Regional manifestation of Christ’s church in the Regions of Kansas and the Upper Midwest.

It was following the Upper Midwest floods of 1993 that I was consecrated to begin this particular ministry. And now it is following the Upper Midwest floods of 2008 that I offer this letter indicating the future date of my resignation, and pause to recall another kind of flood – the flood of blessings with which I have been blessed as your Regional Minister in all those in-between years.

Thank you for all the personal and professional development you have nurtured in my life the past decade and a half. These years have been deeply rewarding and have afforded me a host of precious memories. It has been a privilege for me to be your servant in the stewardship of this Sacred Trust. Reflecting on the providence which made this charge possible, I am deeply humbled. This has been a wonderful and meaningful setting for the exercise of my baptismal vocation, for the employment of my ordination vows, and for the utilization of my gifts for Regional ministry.

I have been fortunate to work with some of the finest lay and clergy leadership this denomination has generated. Throughout this ministry I’ve been surrounded by committed Regional Board leadership and truly gifted Moderators in each and every biennium. Most especially I am grateful for the caliber and commitment of both Clergy Staff and Support Staff whose partnership in this endeavor has continually been collegial, supportive, inspiring and remarkable.

I am quite confident about the transitions that will be occurring – given the continuity of quality Regional leadership that is being nominated in October to lead us into the next biennium, and given the continuity of quality professional ministerial leadership you have in Don, Bill, Andy, Caroline, Roberta and Bert.

And the Region is likewise blessed to have in place an outstanding and exceptional Personnel Unit under the able leadership of Randy Ehrhardt. I invite your prayers for them as they begin their work in discerning the leadership needs for a new era in the ministries of the Upper Midwest Region. And please be assured that I will remain diligent in providing the best energies and efforts I can throughout the remainder of this year.

As “Disciples Together” we have traversed a significant season and a cherished chapter in the life of Christ’s church. In the coming six months I have no doubt that this Region’s leadership will pull together to keep on addressing the immediate and the long-term challenges that lie ahead of us. We do so always mindful that we are “Sharing in the Fullness of God’s Table, for the Blessing of All.”

It is my sincere prayer that history will regard the work and witness we have accomplished “together” as efforts upon which future generations may build, and that our offerings rendered “together” will truly bring glory to Christ and to his Church.

Yours in Christ’s service,

Dr. Richard Guentert

A Pastoral Letter on the Midwest Floods

From Regional Minister, Richard Guentert:

A Pastoral Letter of Presence and Encouragement

As I write this note the National Weather Service has issued alert number 528. The rains and the rampant threats of flooding across various parts of Iowa seem to just continue unrelentingly.

As your Regional Minister I want to assure you that my heart goes out to those who have been the casualties of those flood waters. Likewise I have received phone calls and communications from other Regional and General church leaders across the denomination.

In a phone call to me yesterday, your General Minister and President, the Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, offered her attention and prayers as she is mindful of our situation. She wants you to know of her personal concern as we struggle with this disastrous event.

Businesses and churches have been inundated in varying degrees of seriousness in those run-off and lower lying areas areas – as have residences. People have been heartbroken as they watch treasured places of residence and work be submerged by the engulfing waters. Farmers are helpless as they watch seeded crop lands be submerged by the muddied and swollen streams.

The death of four scouts and the hospitalization of 40 others who were fellow campers put an exclamation point on a season of tragedy and sorrow for many families in this Region.

Many volunteers and community workers are exhausted – mentally, physically and psychologically - as they have worked valiantly to address the emergency and safety concerns of residents. Many have worked hard but lost the battle to the forces of nature. Many will continue to battle the elements, in striving to preserve as much as possible of what remains after the flood.

Community leaders, disaster relief workers, and denominational church leaders are already giving attention to those relief efforts that will need to follow on the heels of the flood when it finally subsides. Pastors have called the Regional Center wondering about volunteer work teams that can be organized to go into those areas following the aftermath. I’ve had similar inquiries from Regional Ministers in the surrounding Regions.

The Region and the Week of Compassion personnel have already been in touch with each other about relief monies to help in some of these arenas. Help will be forth-coming from them as we get clearer assessments about need.

Let me encourage all Disciples across the Region to make over and above gifts to Week of Compassion – designated/anotated for the Iowa Flood Relief effort. Those can be sent to the Regional Church Center, Box 41217, Des Moines Iowa, 50311-0504, if you are desiring congregational credit for your gift. They will be forwarded in a timely manner to the Week of Compassion for this specific useage.

In the meantime, what can we do? We can live-out the very vision around which we have gathered in this Region for a number of years: We are “Disciples together, sharing in the fullness of God’s Table, for the Blessing of All!!” Now is the moment to demonstrate the depth of what those words really, really mean!!!

1. We, can lean on each other. The community relationship we experience with friends, family, and neighbors means everything in such moments.

2. As “Disciples Together” we can render thanks for the health and well-being of family and friends. Possessions may be lost, but the gift of “life and breath and being” means that there is always “possibility and promise” for starting over again.

3. We, as “Disciples Together” can Pray. Give thanks for the life-sustaining faith that was imbedded in your hearts and souls in the most formative moments of your life. (You may want to re-read – and pray – that powerful testimony to faith and hope that is recorded in Romans 8:18-38.)

4. We, as those who are “Sharing in the fullness of God’s Table” can gather in worship to sing together, to pray together, to hear the word together, to be sustained by Communion together. Therein is the spiritual sustenance that will buoy us sufficiently to endure the immediate circumstances.

5. We, as those who exist “For the Blessing of All” can hear God’s word of encouragement from Romans 5:3-5. “. . . ³We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

6. And we, as those who exist “For the Blessing of All” can share our resources, our time, our energy, and our monetary blessings through the Week of Compassion, to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

In the meantime, know that your Regional and General church is walking alongside you and holding you close in their thoughts and prayers as well.

May God bless and strengthen us each one for the journey!

Dr. Richard Guentert,

Regional Minister and President

Christian Chruch (Disciples of Christ) in the Upper Midwest