Conference News & Views

You are invited to attend a one-day workshop, where you learn to administer and interpret the PREPARE/ENRICH Inventories to couples you are counseling. The program was developed by Dr. David H. Olsen, Professor Emeritus of Family Social Sciences at the University of Minnesota. The training will focus on administering and interpreting five couple inventories:

+PREPARE – for premarital couples
+PREPARE-MC – for premarital couples with children
+PREPARE-CC – for cohabiting couples with or without children
+ENRICH – for couples seeking marriage enrichment or counseling
+MATE – for couples over the age of 50 making life transitions

Date: April 24, 2007
Time: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Location:Blakemore United Methodist Church
Nashville, TN 37205
3601 West End Avenue
Cost: $140. Includes training manual
Registration Deadline is April 10, 2007

Trainer: The Reverend Tom Carter
Please call or email for registration form and additional information.
Email: tomcarter@juno.com
Phone: 615.665.3117

For additional information go to web site: www.prepare-enrich.com

Quotes from two recent attendees:
“As a pastor, I have found the Prepare/Enrich program to be a wonderful tool that helps me enable couples to walk through a positive process of pre-marital counseling. Through the Prepare/Enrich program, couples are able to discover their strengths as well as possible growth areas before the wedding day. Moreover, the program allows flexibility so that the pastor or counselor can tailor the counseling session specifically for the couple. For me, it is one of the tools I rely on as part of my ministry.”
Reverend Scott Aleridge

“Several couples I counsel are away at school or live in other places. Since our face to face time is so limited, the online evaluation tool can help me focus the time on the specific areas that couples need to explore. The tools will help me know what questions to ask to maximize our time together. It offers a complete counseling package that will make a difference in the couple’s lives as they grow in love with each other.”
Paul E. Gardner, Blakemore United Methodist Church

PREPARE Program Proven Highly Successful
National Study of PREPARE Program with Premarital Couples in Church/Community Settings

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the PREPARE Program (Version 2000) with 153 premarital couples in three groups: the PREPARE Program Group, the PREPARE No Feedback Group (only took PREPARE Inventory and received no feedback) and the Control Group.

Both of the PREPARE Groups significantly increased their couple satisfaction, while there was no change in the Control Group. Both PREPARE Groups made improvements in several important relationship skills (communication & conflict resolution) and relationship areas (roles, couple closeness & flexibility).

Significant changes were made in the couple types only in the PREPARE Program Group and not the PREPARE No Feedback Group, which demonstrates the value of the six couple exercises and feedback sessions.

In the PREPARE Program Group, the number of Vitalized couples (the most satisfied type) increased by 52% from pre to post-test. Over half (55%) of the three other couple types (Harmonious, Traditional, and Conflicted) increased one or more levels. For the highest risk couples, the Conflicted types, 83% moved to a more positive couple type.

Overall, the PREPARE Program had a significant impact on 90% of the couples and only 10% moved to a lower couple type. Therefore, this study demonstrates that the PREPARE Program is a very useful prevention program for increasing marital satisfaction and reducing divorce.If you would like to examine the Research Report click on the address below:
http://www.prepare-enrich.com/files/Research/aacc_study_2003.pdf

Seeking to connect the scholarship of the Church and the practice of ministry, The Cal Turner Jr., Center for Church Leadership of Martin Methodist College is inviting pastors, deacons, and church professional for a time of worship, learning and fellowship. Dr. Margaret Ann Crain and Dr. Jack Seymour will be leading plenary sessions and panel responses on some of the most pertinent issues facing ministry in the United Methodist Church today.

When: Friday and Saturday September 21-22, 2007.
Where: Martin Methodist College campus, Pulaski, TN.

More information will be available soon.

Schedule (Tentative):

Friday, September 21, 2007
(Pre-Conference Event for Elders and Deacons)

Partnering to be the Church for the World

1:00 Registration

2:00 Greeting and Introductions
Jack Seymour and Margaret Ann Crain raise issues related to this question:
· How does our understanding of ecclesiology help us to answer this question?
· How do the orders partner for the mission of Jesus Christ?

2:30 Response from a panel

3:15 Break

3:30 Dialogue and Discussion in groups

4:30 Seymour and Crain respond

5:00 Break for dinner

**The primary resource for this afternoon will be the paper that is being published by GBHEM this spring, The Promise of the United Methodist Order of Deacon in the Twenty-First Century: DEACONS AS MESSENGERS OF THE GRACE OF GOD by Margaret Ann Crain. It will be widely available by next fall.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Teaching and Mentoring in the Church of the 21st Century
Margaret Ann Crain and Jack l Seymour
(Open to All)

7:00-8:00 pm Keynote Address: Seymour and Crain
“Learning for Discipleship”

8:00-9:00 Worship


Saturday, September 22, 2007

9:30 am Worship
10:30-11:30 Plenary and Panel Response:
“What we’ve Learned from Adults in the Church”
· What difference does it make if we focus on teaching or on learning?
· What is the culture in which we teach/mentor?
· What are the spiritual yearnings of the folks in the pew?

11:30-1:00 pm Lunch Celebration of a Decade of Deacons in the UMC

1:00-2:00 Plenary Session II and panel:
“Teaching and Mentoring”
· What does learning theory and brain research offer to the church?
· What is Christian formation and how does it contribute to the “Way” of Jesus?
· How do adults continue to develop and change? How does faith develop?

2:00-3:00 Workshop
“How do we choose curriculum, settings, and methods for disciple-making?”
Case studies in small groups

3:00-3:30 Closing Worship

In each plenary, Crain and Seymour will present an opening statement that raises pertinent questions. The panel will have an opportunity to respond and then Seymour and Crain will wrap up and summarize. We would hope to provide provocative questions along with some of the latest thinking on these issues of teaching and learning in the church.

Biography: Margaret Ann Crain and Jack L. Seymour

Dr. Jack L. Seymour is Professor of Religious Education at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, one of our United Methodist Seminaries. Dr. Margaret Ann Crain is Associate Professor of Christian Education and Director of the Deacon Program at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Together and separately they often lead workshops at national and conference level meetings for United Methodists as well as other denominations.

Current research includes: for Margaret Ann, the future of the UMC deacon and approaches to adult education in congregations; for Jack, inter-religious education and theological education. Margaret Ann is president of the Religious Education Association and Jack is editor of the journal Religious Education. Together they have conducted research on the theology of laity: What prompts us to ask questions about God? What role can the church play in resourcing and nurturing the growth of faith?

Together they have written three books, two of which are Yearning for God: Reflections of Faithful Lives, (Upper Room Books, 2003) and A Deacon’s Heart: The New United Methodist Diaconate (Abingdon, 2001). Jack is also the editor of Mapping Christian Education (Abingdon Press, 1997).

They are married with four daughters and six grandchildren.

Nashville, TN- The public unveiling of the Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee will take place on February 23, 2007 from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville.

The Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee was founded in August 2006 with support from the LifeWorks Foundation and the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies with the aim of bringing people together to create and sustain a secure and healthy food system for Middle Tennessee, from production to consumption.

There are more than forty Food Security Partners representing all parts of the food system, from farm to fork, including farmers, community gardeners, food processors, food distributors, farmers’ markets, grocery stores, food banks, food advocates, nutrition and health experts, schools and universities, government, faith-based groups, volunteer groups, neighborhoods, and concerned individuals.

The Partners, while a diverse group, all have the same goal: to create food security for Middle Tennessee. Food security is a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.

The Food Security Partners will work together to generate solutions based on the following ideas:

· High quality produce, especially food grown in Tennessee, is the foundation upon which our current obesity epidemic can be confronted.
· Ending hunger and promoting health is dependent upon making linkages between areas in need with areas of excess.
· Long-term sustainable food security occurs when people and communities have the capacity to provide for their food needs.

The event on February 23rd will serve as a platform to highlight the strengths of Middle Tennessee’s current food system as well as areas for improvement. Bill Purcell, Mayor of Nashville, and Ken Givens, Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture, will provide supportive remarks. Mark Winne, co-founder of the national Community Food Security Coalition, will be the keynote speaker at this event. In addition, a panel of local food security advocates will be speaking.

For more information on the Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee, fellow stakeholders, or the event at the Country Music Hall of Fame, please contact Founding Director, Darcy Freedman.

Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee
List of Founding Partners and Members
February 15, 2007

ACTS Incorporated
Bethlehem Centers of Nashville
Blue Moon Farm
Bordeaux Northwest Family Resource Center
Cayce Family Resource Center
EarthMatters Tennessee
Eaton’s Creek Organics
Edgehill Family Resource Center, Youth Advisory Council
Feed America First
Good Food for Good People at the Truth and Reconciliation Project
Hands On Nashville
Jeff Themm
Journey to Bliss Raw Foods
Kate Payne & Scott Weiss
Kids to the Country
Mamushi Nature Farm
Mary Campbell
MANNA
Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods
McPherson Consulting Group, LLC
Metro Parks and Recreation, Warner Park Nature Center
Monroe Carell, Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt
Nashville Farmers’ Market
Patricia Conway
Patricia & George Bullard
Presbytery of Middle Tennessee Hunger Program
Reverend Thomas Henderson
Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee
Sheila deBettencourt & Del Ketcham
Sue T. Amos
Susannah Shumate & Brent Gass
Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church
Tennessee State University, Cooperative Extension Program
Tennessee State University, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research
The Land Trust for Tennessee
Twin Forks Farm
University School Of Nashville
Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies
Vanderbilt University, Center for Health Services
Vanderbilt University, Program in Community Research and Action

Darcy Freedman, MPH
Founding Director
Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee
Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies
Phone: 615-322-5638 (work) 615-579-0783 (cell)
Fax: 615-322-8081
Email: darcy.a.freedman@vanderbilt.edu

We just got word that the new high-risk pool, AccessTN, for people who have medical conditions and who cannot buy health insurance coverage from the private market place is now accepting applications.

The Tennessee Health Care Campaign will be conducting an education program on AccessTN and on completing the application via conference call on Monday evening, Feb. 19 at 6:45 PM Central Time, 7:45 PM Eastern Time.

If you plan on participating on this conference call, please email me at tgarr@thcc2.org so we will know how many to plan for.

The application is available on-line at: http://covertn.gov/access_tn.html It will be helpful if you can print this application off and review the material before the call. The instructions and the application are 29 pages long.

Since enrollment into AccessTN will be limited to the first 6,000 people, your best chance to become enrolled is to apply before March 1, 2007. You need to get the word out to people who have been cut off TennCare. Everyone who was cut from TennCare and not on Medicare needs to apply.

The application packet is 29 pages long. The application itself is 10 pages. If you need to apply for premium assistance, this application is 3 pages long. In addition, there is a 2 page Attending Physician's Statement. Since you are going to have to prove that you are uninsurable, getting the Attending Physician's Statement signed and completed may be the easiest way to get proof of your medical conditions. Remember that this needs to be done by March 1 if you want to have a likely chance to be accepted.

The Tennessee Health Care Campaign encourages everyone who was cut from TennCare and not on Medicare to apply. The state is saying that there are not that many people out there who are sick. This administration has a fundamental lack of understanding of the needs of people who are low income and have chronic medical conditions. If we want this program to grow, we have got to demonstrate that there is a need for comprehensive insurance for low income people.

Don't let the premiums listed keep you from completing the application. It is likely that most of you will not be able to afford this coverage. However, please complete the application by March 1 and mail it in. You will always be able to turn the coverage down if you cannot afford it when it is time to pay your premium. Be sure to fully complete your application. If it is not complete, it will be returned. The program is scheduled to start on April 1, 2007.

The Conference Call will be on Monday, Feb. 19, 2007, 6:45 to 7:40 PM Central Time, 7:45 to 8:40 PM Eastern Time:
Conference Call Number: 1-620-782-2200 - This is not a toll-free line. It is subject to your normal long distance charges.
Access Code: 2277500#. Be sure to push the # key after 2277500#.

I hope to talk with you on the conference call at 6:45 PM Central Time.
If you have any questions, please call us on our toll-free line: 1-877-431-7083. If we are not in, please leave a message.

Take care,

Tony Garr
Tennessee Health Care Campaign
www.tenncare.org