What do a musician, doctor, camp staffer, social worker, pastor, and graphic artist have in common? They are planning the BC. The Breakfast Club? Well, they meet at that time of the day - but they are actually planning the Biennial Convention. This year, in June, the Church of the Lutheran Brethren (CLB) will experience its first Biennial Convention. Future conventions will meet every two years, with the Regional meetings in between. (Follow convention news and updates at the > Biennial Convention blog)

The committee has been meeting since September to brainstorm and plan for the first convention of its kind. They have been in prayer and discussion around how to encourage more than pastors and delegates to attend the Convention. The ideas have been creative and all over the board: from starting the convention earlier to lasting longer, having an assortment of seminar tracks, offering more for youth and young families, incorporating community events, offering service opportunities, and the list goes on.

With the dates and location having been announced at the last Annual Convention, some parameters were already in place this year, but the brainstorming opened up fresh new ideas and it has been exciting to see how God is shaping the plans. The desire of the committee is to have the CLB truly come together as one body - to learn, be encouraged, grow, and return to their congregations and communities stronger and united.

As the discussions got rolling, a theme began to surface. With changes taking effect since the last convention, the committee felt that it was a good time to refocus the Church's attention on the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. We talked about the importance of sharing the good news with our children, our congregations, our neighbors and the world. The good news is for all people and for all generations. The theme is going to be: Telling His Story: The Good News for All Generations.
(Article continues below video)

Promoting the 2010 Biennial Convention of the Lutheran Brethren.
DOWNLOAD this video for your church HERE (see "About this Video" section)

How could the convention portray that theme? It could be developed with a sense of storytelling, such as building the worship services off of stories in Scripture. The committee discussed many different Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments. While it would have been great to touch on everything, there clearly needed to be a focus that would ground the theme of the convention. What better place to "Tell His Story" than in the Gospel of John? The book starts out with "In the beginning was the Word..." and chapter 20 ends with "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." We wanted the convention to cover more than the life of Jesus since it's not the only part of God's story for us, though it's an essential part, and focusing in on the Gospel of John seems to allow us to do that in a beautiful way.

The next step was to find the speakers. CLB President Joel Egge will be the opening speaker on Sunday evening, and Dr. Eugene Boe of Lutheran Brethren Seminary has agreed to speak on Monday evening. We are excited to have Pastor Shawn Bowman of Jamestown, North Dakota as the Tuesday evening speaker. The committee is still working on the morning Bible Hour speakers.

The convention schedule and the seminar topics are next on the committee's list. Many ideas have already been discussed.

This is an exciting time in our churches and we encourage pastors and delegates to bring new people to the Biennial Convention who are interested in the mission and vision of the CLB. The convention is much more than business sessions. It is a time to come together as a unified body looking to God for guidance and wisdom. Our family of churches seeks to effectively reach out to our surrounding communities, yet at the same time disciple those who are already part of our congregations. How do we reach out to an ever-changing culture? How do we pass the good news of Christ on to the next generations? Let's come together as a family of churches and ask God to reveal himself again as we live in "His Story" this coming June.

Barb Walswick serves as the Executive Secretary for the President of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren.
Follow news and updates about the convention at biennialconvention.blogspot.com

BIENNIAL CONVENTION INFORMATION

Telling His Story
The Good News for All Generations

June 20-23, 2010
Fergus Falls, MN

www.biennialconvention.blogspot.com

Also:
Saturday, June 19th

• Pastor's In-Service Seminars
• Women's Ministries Annual Convention (more information> wmclb.com)
• Inspiration Point Bible Camp 50th Anniversary Celebration
  (more information> ipoint.org)