Our virtual retreat in September on the Coronavirus was a big success. Many more saw it than would have come physically to a weekend retreat, although we really missed the in-person meeting and fellowship. Many Chaplains watched and have complimented us on the program. Please share the link with others.
There are many Christian Health Professionals in our churches who have never heard of our group. Encourage them to go to our website, sign up for this newsletter, and watch the video of our conference, or Email a link to this newsletter and our website. We have added over 25 people to our subscribers since June 1. We currently over 300 subscribers. but want to add even more.
The virtual meeting showed us that we can do more than just have an annual retreat. Our purpose is fellowship, but also to help our churches address important health issues, including mental health, addiction, outreach to the elderly, and topics such as suffering and the coronavirus. Through virtual meetings, we can include people who might not be willing to travel to our annual retreats. Our board is also thinking of one or two one hour zoom programs in 2021.
At this point, we are planning on a face-to-face retreat at the Essenhaus in Indiana. We have reserved the dates of September 17-19, 2021. A final theme and speaker have not been determined yet but we are considering a follow-up on our coronavirus meeting with an emphasis on lament. Please email any thoughts you have to our president, normwetterau@aol.com
Many believe that God can speak to us during the pandemic, and by next September we can look at that theme, and see what we have learned.
Fall Virtual Conference:
We want to thank all the presenters and all those who attended.
Rebecca Taylor: video and video host and NE Seminary
Chaplain Larry Lyons
Chaplain Rick Kerr
Chaplain Kathy Petteys
Dr. James Boal
Steve Noblett
Richard Reynolds
Tim and Patricia Porter
Our January 2020 Newsletter has a copy of Kathy Pettey’s presentation. It brought me and others to tears when she presented it. Read it or listen to it again. I wrote a summary of Steve Noblett’s talk. All the other talks were equally good and we encourage you to go to events and listen to all the presentations. Larry Lyons was a chaplain in a hospital that was overrun with cases and deaths. Rick Kerr is a chaplain who works in an ICU. They talked about many things, including helping the staff, not only at the time of the outbreak but in the following months. Dr. James Boal works with Larry Lyons and described the medical situation in the hospital during the height of the problem. Richard Reynolds is a chaplain who works with the homeless, a group that has major problems during this epidemic. To do real justice to these speakers you need to hear what they said.