You are invited to an Open House at the WDC Resource Library on Sunday Jan. 27, 3-5 pm. Discover new resources, meet friends, invite your neighbors, read to your chil- dren. We don't want to be the best kept secret in South Cen- tral Kansas, come and ex- plore! 2517 N. Main St., North Newton, KS. (Please run this Tabor Mennonite Church January 13, 2013 announcement in your bulle- Community and Conference Announcements tins Jan. 20 and 27.) SEEDS A weekly communication for WDC Churches and Members. WDC Seeds is also available at: www.mennowdc.org (Conference Life / Publications). Pastor Karen Andres completed ten years of ministry on December 31 at Tabor Mennonite Church, rural Goessel, Kansas. At her farewell, members of the church expressed appreciation for the ways in which she had challenged the congregation in prayer, spiritual direction, Christian formation, and being able to speak openly about mental health matters. Karen plans to pursue further training and ministry in counseling. She will be serving part-time as chaplain at Prairie View, a behavioral and mental health center. COMMUNITY: Glen Ediger, author of Leave No Threshing Stone Unturned, will be the special speaker at Mennonite Heritage & Agricultural Museum's annual meeting at Goessel Mennonite Church on Sunday, Jan. 20. The event will begin at 2:30 p.m. The program will begin with a short business meeting, followed by Ediger's presentation. Faspa will be served after the program. Ediger's book will be available for purchase at the meeting. He will be at the book table to sign books. The Hesston College Bel Canto Singers and the Goessel High School Elbiata Singers will collabo- rate to present A Prairie Winter Sojourn at St. Fidelis Church: The Cathedral of the Plains in Victoria, KS, at 5pm Sunday, Jan. 27. the concert is free and open to the public, though a free-will offering will be collected to cover program costs and for the ongoing work of St. Fidelis Church. A charter bus leaving from Hesston at 1pm Jan. 27, will travel to the concert for anyone wanting to attend. Seats on the bus can be purchased fro $25 by calling Hesston College Alumni and Church Relations at 866-437-7866. Reservations and payment must be received by Fri. Jan. 25. The Hutchinson Chapter of the American Guild of Organists invites piano students interested in learning about the organ, to attend an “Introduction to the Pipe Organ” event at Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, Goessel, KS, on Saturday, January 19, at 10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon. Melody Steed, organ pro- fessor at Bethany College, will lead the event. Students may bring music along to try on the organ. Pizza and pop will be served at noon for all participants. The event is free and open to students of all ages and family members. For more information and to get a meal count, please reserve space with Ken Rodgers at (620) 217 – 1055 or [email protected]. Saturday, Jan. 26 -- 16th annual Celebrate Kansas Day! at Kauffman Museum, 1:30-4:30 p.m., with a theme “Kansas Symbols"; free activities include make-it-and-take-it crafts for children, presentations, demonstrations, popcorn popped over an open fire, horse-drawn wagon rides, bake sale, flea market and silent auction. Offender Victim Ministries Prison Arts’ Choir: Men are needed to assist in Offender / Victim Ministries’ Prison Art’s Choir at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. Practices are on Tuesday evenings at HCF beginning February 5 with performances on the weekend of April 13. Volunteer training is needed in order to volunteer in the prison and will be given mid-January for new volunteers. Returning choir members can receive annual training on Jan. 29 or Feb. 4. Contact Nathan Koontz at OVM, 316-215-1758 or [email protected]. Now is a great time to consider joining the "Footsteps of Paul" tour to Greece and Rome, May 20 - June 3, 2013. After seeing the missionary sites of Paul in this 15 day tour you will read Acts and his New Testament letters with new knowledge and understanding. From the astonishing ruins of ancient Ephesus, to the stately acropolis in Athens, to the eternal city of Rome this is a tour of a lifetime. The weather will be great and the sites inspiring. Seats remain but register soon. Price: $5,139 from Wichita. For tour information call Weldon Martens at402-202-9276 or go to - http://www.mtstravel.com/tours/ toursP01.html WESTERN DISTRICT CONFERENCE The Western District Music and Worship Task Force invite all women to join in SINGING HEAVEN'S SONG, a festival of choral music for women's voices, on March 3 at First Mennonite Church. See poster and registration form for all information. Sign up now for Pre-School Story-Time at the WDC Resource Library. The fun begins again on Wed. Feb. 6, 10 a.m. Pat Schmidt provides a wonderful time of introducing children, ages 3-5 to quality chil- dren's literature. Call 316-283-6300 to sign up. COLLEGES: Bethel College/Newton community Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration features several special events: Sunday, Jan. 20 (with Newton Anti-Racism Group) -- free showing of the documentary "Anne Braden: Southern Patriot," 7 p.m., Newton High School auditorium, with discussion following; Monday, Jan. 21 (with Harvey County Community Partnership/Diversity Task Force and KIPCOR) -- "Remember the Dream," with keynote speaker Rosemary Harris Lytle, president of the NAACP for Colorado, Mon- tana and Wyoming, as well as winners of poetry, art and essay contests and student musical perform- ances, 7 p.m., Krehbiel Auditorium, free, with a freewill offering taken for the Harvey County Homeless Shelter; Tuesday, Jan. 22 -- free seminar with Rosemary Harris Lytle, "Uncovering the New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the U.S.," 1-2 p.m., James A. Will Family Academic Center Room #216 Hesston College will host its annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Week Jan. 14 to 18 with the theme "Engendering Diversity: Gender Around the World and on the Hesston College Campus." As the women's movement of the 1960s gained momentum alongside Dr. King's work and the Civil Right's Movement with similar messages of equality, respect, and understanding, King's work expanded into a concern for universal human rights. The schedule for the week includes: Monday, Jan. 14, 11 a.m., Hesston Mennonite Church - "Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gender," Dr. Akiiki Daisy Kabagarama. Tuesday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m., Kropf 150 - "Of Environment and Men: What in the World is Happening to Males," Dr. Hugo Boschmann and Lorna Harder. Wednesday, Jan. 16, 11 a.m., Hesston Mennonite Church - panel discussion on gender roles led by Marissa King. Thursday, Jan. 17, 7 p.m., Friesen Cen- ter 125 - "The Demise of Guys and the Rise of Women," Lois Misegadis and Dwight Roth. Friday, Jan. 18, 11 a.m., Hesston Mennonite Church - "How Women Around the World Benefit from Ten Thousand Villages," DawnEna Weibe. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, see the full news story online at hesston.edu. THIRD WAY MEDIA: radio program, Shaping Families Weekend of January 12 – Our Daughter was Sexually Abused – Part 1 Angela and Christopher (pseudonyms for a couple in a small Midwestern town) tell the tragic story of their daughter’s abuse by a youth pastor. They share their story with the hope of educating and keeping others from going through their daughter’s pain Weekend of January 19 – Our Daughter was Sexually Abused – Part 2 A Mennonite couple continues the story of their daughter’s abuse by offering warning signs, profile of a predator, and how churches can protect their children and their ministry. Listen on KBCU 88.1 FM North Newton, KS Fri 4:00pm or visit www.ShapingFamilies.com the weekend the program airs to download a podcast or the transcript. SHAPING FAMILIES PROGRAM IS ENDING JANUARY 31, 2013. We regret to inform you that the Shaping Families radio program is being discontinued as of January 31 due to severe financial sustainability issues with our larger organization. In spite of good support and interest from churches like yours, we have not been able to inspire very much in the way of contributions or donations. With the staff time that it takes to produce it, our management team and board felt like this cut needed to be made. We thank you so much for your use of the bulletin announcements these last years. The podcasts will continue to be available at the website for the foreseeable future. .