First Free of Warrensburg is offering about 65 charis to a needy church plant or congregation. The chairs are 20+ years old but still servicable according to the church. No picture of the actual chairs is available, but they are similar to this internet picture (except the metal is silver tone). Contact me if you are interested.

First Evangelical Free Church will sponsor a children’s ministry training event on October 18, 2009 from 5:00-8:00 pm.  The church is at 1375 Carman Road, Manchester, MO  63021.  An RSVP is required – please refer to the full brochure available at the link below.

FEFC Children’s Ministry Training Brochure

St. Louis based Covenant Theological Seminary offers 20 free seminary classes through its Worldwide Classroom.  For a list of the classes and to register go to http://worldwide-classroom.com/courses/.

The 2009 Missouri-Arkansas Fall Retreat is coming on October 11-13 in Osage Beach, MO.  The hotel has asked us to release unneeded rooms.  To ensure you have a place to stay wil you please send in your registration form ASAP!  If you need the form, you can download it at the Retreat tab of this site.

On Sept. 17th, pastors, church planters and friends of the EFCA gathered for a program and luncheon focused on The Church and Israel.  The audio recordings of William Koenig and Dr. David Chapman are available at the Ministry Community tab of this site.

There was strong interest in the topic.  Perhaps this was because of the recnt discussion of the premillenial stance of the EFCA at its 2008 National Leadership Conference.  Mr. Koenig of Koenig News International represented a dispensational premillenialist position while Dr. Chapman represents the historic premillenialist position.  One participant asked if the authors would co-author a book on the topic of eschatology for many in the church who are confused on this topic.  Another asked for resources that might help further study.  In response, I have also listed several books and included links to Dr. D.A. Carson’s 1995 seminary class on Revelation under the ministry community tab.  Please send me your feedback if you find these resources helpful.

The St. Louis/Eastern Missouri Ministry Commuity program and luncheon focused on Engaging God’s Mission Regionally and Globally.  Links to the video and PowerPoint presentations that were used or referred to at the meeting can be found on the Ministry Commuity tab.  In addition to hearing from Richard Schumacher and Rick Burke, the 35 attendees were introduced to the EFCA missionaries currently candidating with Reach Global and SIM.  We also heard from a representative of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship about the upcoming Urbana ‘09 Student Missions Convention.  Again, links are under the Ministry Community tab.

Dear Pastors, Church Planters, Ministry Leaders, Seminarians, Friends of the EFCA and Spouses:

Please mark your calendars and plan to join us October 11-13 for the EFCA Missouri-Arkansas Fall Retreat in Osage Beach, Missouri.  The retreat will begin with an informal dinner Sunday evening, and will conclude midday Tuesday.  This year, our keynote speaker will be Terry Sanderson who will assume the role of Lead Pastor at Calvary Church, St. Peters, MO after 20 years at North Park Church in London, Ontario.

More information about the program and registration will be mailed to you shortly, and will also be available on www.efcamorar.org in a few days.  Once again we will stay at the Osage Village Inn and use a local church as our meeting venue.  There will be time built in to the schedule for recreation including the second annual Missouri-Arkansas mini-golf tournament. This is a time to relax, refresh and reconnect with your spouse and ministry peers.

 This notice has been e-mailed not only to pastors but also to spouses if I have their address.  Please let your spouse know they are welcome, and pass their e-mail address on to me if they didn’t get the notice.  My wife Pam and Susan Ritland are taking the lead in planning a special program for the spouses.

 Please let me know if you have any questions.

 Regards,
 Richard Schumacher
Regional Associate Superintendent
Church Planting Missionary
EFCA Central District
P.O. Box 848, Manchester, MO  63011-1148
(636) 527-4432 Phone
(314) 640-4560 Cell
www.efcamoar.org

Trinity Graduate School is offering several web-based classes: Foundations of Cultural Engagement, New Religious Movements; Introduction to Human Rights; and Rights of Women, Children and Families.  More information is found on the attached pdf file or at www.tiu.edu.

Trinity Graduate School Online Fall 2009 Classes

Calling all prayer leaders at EFCA churchs in Missouri and Arkansas!  The following announcement is provided by Larry Austin, Central District Director of Church Health.  Contatc him at laustin@efcacentral.org for more information or if you would like to participate.

Background and Values:  This would be one of six to eight regional summits being planned and promoted by the EFCA this fall.  It is one of the fruits of  EFCA Prayer Pacesetter Summits, the last of which was November 2008.  This gathering of “prayer pacesetters” from across our denomination has been seeking the Lord on how to work with the Spirit in stirring a fresh movement  of prayer across the EFCA.  My involvement with the prayer pacesetters began while I was at First EFC and the burden of elevating the value and practice of prayer is something I brought with me into this new role.  Prayer is a catalyst for increasing spiritual passion—something that teaching and programs cannot achieve alone.  Prayer is the one thing that we can do right now without great cost that would have an exponential impact of the health of our churches and leaders.

 Details:  Our summit would meet from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM on October 31.  It would incorporate large group times of worship, scripture reading and guided prayer.  It would also involve table fellowship at noon (not just a lunch break), and some time for personal solitude and prayer.  I’m considering three locations in Central Iowa because the proximity of my resources for the event (The Des Moines Botanical Center; a Des Moines Church–Valley or Westchester; The Plex at First EFC-Ames).  I have a fairly realistic view that if we gathered 100 people for prayer from within a two to three hour drive it would be a huge success (prayer events at First EFC would range from 20 to 75 people).

Terry Schoenfeld, Pastor of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Webster Groves, MO turned to the Old Testament to encourage pastors in expository preaching at the St. Louis/Eastern Missouri Ministry Community on Thursday May 21st.  A link to the adio file can be found under the Podcast file.