Prayers and Celebrations 

Diana Butler Bass:
Presenter at the RMS Assembly

Tickets now available
to hear
Diana Butler Bass
(for those not attending
the assembly)

You may purchase your ticket in the assembly office (Marble Room - 4th floor of the Hyatt) or at the registration desk just outside the Capitol Ballroom immediately prior to Dr. Bass' morning presentation. You will then receive a name badge that will admit you to visitor seating. The Butler Bass presentations are on Friday at 9:20 a.m. and again at 3 p.m., each for 45 minutes.

Please have exact change or a check payable to Rocky Mountain Synod.  Thank you for your interest and participation.

2008 Synod Assembly

Preparing for Mexico City 

RMS Youth: 
Share Your Leadership Skills 

Youth Leadership Needed
for the 2008 Senior High Gathering

ELCA Disability Ministries
Mentorship Program

 Serving Those with a Disability 

The Disability Program of the ELCA has introduced a new program which may benefit some rostered leaders and candidates for ministry in the ELCA. The Mentorship Program is seeking out both potential mentors and "mentees" for this program. The Disability Ministries Program of the ELCA is aware of the unique challenges that face individuals who live with a disability as they serve in the public ministry of this church and is particularly invested in those who are beginning their discernment of call and preparing for full-time rostered ministry.  It is hoped that this program will be available to individuals who are currently serving in rostered ministry as well. It is to this end that the new initiative was started - to help support candidates for ministry as they navigate candidacy, seminary, the call process, and life in ministry. 

The initiative will support candidates or rostered leaders living with a disability by providing a structured mentorship program. The staff of the program is optimistic that mentors will be rostered in the ELCA, engaged in public service and leadership in the ELCA and are also living with a disability. 

This program will be completely voluntary.  It is important to stress that this program will have no connection to the candidacy or call process in the ELCA.  While the hope that participants will be open about their disability with the candidacy committees, seminaries and congregations, all information known about the participants or their disability will be considered privileged. 

You can help make this a success in the following three ways:

• Encourage pastors and rostered lay leaders who have a disability to be a mentor;
• Share this information with specific individuals who you feel might be interested or benefit from this program. 
• Since not all disabilities are visible, make this information known to all of your candidates.

ELCA Small Town and Rural
Ministry Alliance

Wellness of Mind, Body
and Spirit

STaR, the ELCA Small Town and Rural Ministry Alliance, and the Nebraska Synod invites everyone to their annual gathering at Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, NE. Using the theme Wellness of Mind, Body and Spirit, this year's gathering will take place from July 16-19.

This annual gathering provides a place where participants hear, witness and learn about concrete models of hope. Each workshop, presentation, and exhibit contains tangible models of hope that you can use or adapt in your own ministry setting. Participants include lay people, rostered and ecumenical guests. You will have the opportunity to:

· Form community with others who live and minister in small town and rural settings.

· Eat locally-grown food cooked with traditional Nebraskan menus.

· Participate in worship that is both inspirational as well as contextual to the Great Plains.

· Listen and interact with speakers who are well-informed about small town and rural issues.

· Enjoy some Sabbath time or play and pray with others.

For more information contact:

Katie Tippins at 800-638-3522 ext. 6556 or Katie.Tippins@elca.org .

To register, get the schedule of activities or information about the speakers, you may go to www.elca.org/rural/star . There you will also find the registration form that can be printed, completed and mailed along with your check to:

ELCA Rural Ministry Networking and Resourcing

2930 E. 13th Street

Des Moines, IA 50316-1444

prayers for ministries & meetings this week:

And God said to him,

Today, as in the early days of Christianity, we face the challenge of being inclusive and welcoming as we live as the body of Christ. During the season of Pentecost, we are reminded of how the flames of the Holy Spirit can blow through our hearts to keep the love of God ever present there. At this new time of Pentecost, Pastor Bob Kippley, Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church,
Canon City, Colorado, offers this message and asks, "Who are the "gentiles" in your life that you are being challenged to accept?"

A major crisis in the early church was how to handle outsiders. The primary followers of Jesus were Jew­ish. Empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, his followers began preaching the Gospel and soon non-­Jewish people (Gentiles) where attracted to Christianity. To see the full impact of this, we must under­stand that Judaism perceived Gentiles as outside the possibility of salvation. They were perceived as pa­gans who lived by their genitals (hence the word "gentile"). Sometimes they were referred to as "dogs". Read the entire message here.

The Rocky Mountain Synod honors its ecumenical partnership with the Wyoming Association of Churches (WAC) by highlighting events or activities of WAC in the eConnection newsletter from time to time. In this issue of the Synod's newsletter, Reverend Warren Murphy, WAC's director, speaks of his time spent at the National Workshop on Christian Unity this past April 2008.

NWCU is a group of national ecumenical and interfaith officers who meet annually to explore the latest developments and trends in ecumenical work. Read more on how "unity and justice" issues as well as the phenomenon of the "Emerging Church" are coming to the forefront in national dialogues.