Conference Office Prepares for Annual Conference

“Giving our Hearts Away,” is the theme for the 2008 Annual Conference Session of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, to be held June 5- 8, 2008 at the Southeast Regional Center at Antlers, Oklahoma. Bishop Robert E. Hayes, Jr. will be the preacher for the worship services.

The worship committee is pleased to announce that Mr. Dayton Edmonds, Caddo, from Omak, Washington, will be the worship leader for the annual conference. Dayton’s parents, the late Kenneth and Prudy Edmonds, were both clergy members in the annual conference.

Dayton is a commissioned United Methodist missionary, now retired. For 25 years he served as a professional community developer living in Southern Oregon and North Central Washington. He works ecumenically nationwide with church congregations, educational institutions, camps, community groups, libraries and others, using storytelling, puppetry, clowning, positive imaging and other skills to teach sensitivity and awareness. Dayton’s art forms—drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking—blend with his storytelling abilities, and help him weave thought-provoking pictures for the mind’s eye.

Registration of clergy and delegates will begin at 1 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. The laity session will begin at 3:30 p.m. and the clergy session will begin at 3:45.

The opening worship will begin at 7 p.m. that night. The business session will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday morning.

Invitations have been sent to all OIMC churches inviting churches to send children’s choirs for the Saturday night worship service. The program on that night will feature children’s choirs that sing their native songs. Interested churches can contact Mrs. Josephine Deere at the OIMC office. Also performing will be the children/youth choir that sang at General Conference.

Local churches are also asked to bring either Sewing Kits or Layette Kits that will benefit the Sager-Brown Relief Center at Baldwin, Louisiana. The kits will be received during the report of the Disaster Response Program.

The sewing kits consist of: 3 yards of cotton or cotton -blend, solid color or print fabric (must be 3 yards of uncut fabric); 1 pair sewing scissors; 1 package of needles; 1 spool of thread; 5-8 matching buttons.

Wrap sewing notions in the fabric and place in a sealed one-gallon plastic bag.

The layette kits consist of: 6 cloth diapers; 2 shirts or 2 one-piece body suits; 2 baby washcloths; 2 gowns or sleepers; 2 diaper pins; 1 sweater open in the front; 2 receiving blankets. Bundle the items inside one of the receiving blankets and secure with the diaper pins.

All items included in kits must be NEW items. All emergency kits are carefully planned to make them usable in the greatest number of situations. Since strict rules often govern product entry into international countries, it is important that kits contain only the requested items - NOTHING MORE. Do NOT include any personal notes, money or additional materials in the kits. These things must be painstakingly removed and will delay the shipment.