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On the Right Path The News let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity
3rd Quarter 2019 Walk In the Light Volume 19 Issue 3
Listening to and Hearing God
by PJ Pitonyak, SME CLD
There is no doubt that, as
members of the Emmaus
Community, we pray.
Some pray aloud, and that
serves as a way for others
to hear our prayers and join
in them. Sometimes vocalized prayers can lead another to
have confidence in their own style of prayers. I have learned
that prayers said aloud, even when alone, focus me and my
thoughts. It’s also fun to hear what comes out of my mouth. Did
I say that, or was I led by the Holy Spirit?
Recently I have been concentrating on prayer and fasting.
Fasting can be for a day or a few hours, daily or weekly or less
(but why less???). One can fast food or drink or media or
television. These are just examples. Ask God to lead you in the
specifics of fasting, and be aware of your personal health
needs. Then focus and listen and hear.
Not only has my prayer time become more focused and regular, I have been able to see prayers answered as I have askedmore quickly. Doors are opening, and when they close I knowwithout a doubt that I have received an answer. I am so securein the answers because I am so focused on my prayers, and Ihave such faith and trust in the Lord. I have learned to be moreopen to hearing where God is leading me and where He is notleading me.
Something that has happened is that while becoming strongerin my prayer life, there are times when “those thoughts” still fillmy mind, but I am so much more quick to turn the devil and hiswords away. My mind is filled with the positive Words of Godand His love for me...less negative talk.
Southern Maryland
Emmaus
See you at
the 4th Day Gathering
Next Gathering - October 5, 20194th Day Seminar at 4:00 pm
Gathering and Pot Luck at 5pm
La Plata United Methodist Church3 Port Tobacco Road
La Plata, MD20646
See the Full Gathering Scheduleon Page 6
Bring Friends, Fam ily,Neighbors. Everyone Welcome!
See you there!
See Listening pg. 3
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2019 Walks - West River
Men's Walk #59 September 19 - 22
Women's Walk # 60 September 26 - 29
Make plans to at tend the com mu nity events for each walk:Thurs day - Spon sor’s Hour - 7:00 p.m. Sat ur day - Can dle light - 8:00 p.m.
Sunday - Closing - 4:00 p.m.
Click the links below to sign upfor the Prayer Vigils for the FallWalks
Men's Walk # 59
Women's Walk #60
Pil grim and Team Ap pli ca tions and this news let ter may be down loaded from theweb at http://www.southernmarylandemmaus.com/
CLICK on “Doc u ments, Lists and News let ters”
Mailing Address for Southern Maryland EmmausP.O. Box 343
White Plains, MD 20695
Upcoming Events of the Southern Maryland Emmaus Community
No Gatherings in August or September see - 4th Day Seminar below
See List of 2019 Gatherings/Events on page 6
4th Day Sem i nars
Sem i nars are held in the spring fol low ing the men’s and women’s walks. The next sem i nar date will be October5th at La Plata UMC 3 Port Tobacco Rd. La Plata, MD. Potluck at 5pm. Attendance at a Fourth Day Sem i nar isre quired in or der to spon sor pilgrims, and is highly rec om mended for those who wish to team.
NOTE: Team lists are on page 12-13 Pilgrim Lists are not final but can be found on our website
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On the Right PathDead line for next is sue is November 1, 2019. The pre ferred method of sub mis sionis as an MSWord doc u ment file or a WordPerfect file (.rtf file also ac cept able) sentvia-e-mail to the fol low ing ad dress: [email protected]. Very short ar ti cles ornotes may be sent in the body of the e-mail mes sage. Please send your com mentsand rec om men da tions as well to the ed i tor, Dan Brennan, at the e-mail ad dress above.
"On the Right Path" is pub lished by the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity. Dan Brennan Ed i tor.
For more in for ma tion, check out The Hid den Power of
Prayer and Fast ing by Mahesh Chavda. There are
some ideas that I do not agree with, and those will be
readily ap par ent, but read ing this book this has been a
great way for me to learn about fast ing and prayer. As
dis ci ples of Je sus, we are en cour aged to fol low Him
and con tinue His works. He set the ex am ple by fast ing
and pray ing. I am fol low ing Him. I may be hun gry but
never thirsty as I have the Living Water.
As the SME CLD, I have put this prac tice into play
through out the year and in prep a ra tion for our up com -
ing walks. I can not wait to see all God re veals as an -
swers to my prayer and fast ing. Of course, oth ers have
also prayed, and we ask that prayers con tinue through
and af ter the Walks for our pil grims, teams, spon sors
com mu nity and spir i tual leadership.
De Colores!
Listening from pg. 1
Emmaus Shorts
Am I Fit?
A lot of people these days arewearing these fancy devicesthat track their physical activity,you know, things like counting
your steps, measuring the distance you’ve traveled,calories burned, and sleep quality. They are designedto help you become more active, eat a morewell-balanced diet, sleep better and ultimately, turn youinto a healthier human being.
The funny thing is, that’s the sort of stuff your motherused to do – just with a little nagging and very littletechnology. In my case, I’m not sure there is sufficientnagging or technology available to undo the damageI’ve done to my aging body.
Now, I wouldn’t argue with the value of monitoring ourphysical activity and encouraging healthier living, but Ithink we need something more. We need something tohelp us achieve the goals mentioned in James 1:19
“…let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak,slow to anger…”
On any given day if you pick up a newspaper, or turn onthe TV, or listen to the radio, you are bombarded withangry voices condemning, mocking, berating, belittlingand otherwise denigrating others. It doesn’t matterwhat your political, religious or social leanings might be, the angry words spoken in haste and with little thoughtfall on everyone and everything.
If you tune in to news and opinion shows, especiallythose with panels of so-called experts, you quicklynotice that no one is listening. Each person has theirown point to make and doesn’t feel the need to hearanyone else.
Perhaps that’s to be expected, but what about you andme? Do we behave the same way? I know I’m guilty ofspending more time formulating my response than i doin listening to the other point of view. Do I stop toconsider whether a speaker is making a valid point ornot, or do i simply focus on how I’m going to make myown point? We’re all proud of our
See Fit pg. 9
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Southern Maryland Emmaus - Leadership & Service
Re sources on Our Web Site Visit http://www.southernmarylandemmaus.com for these and other com mu nity re sources:
• Southern Maryland Emmaus Leadership Roster & Board of
Directors
• Southern Maryland Emmaus Prayer Points of Contact
(PPOC)
On The Right PathThis is the newsletter of the Southern Maryland Emmaus Community. It is published quarterly, available on lineat our website:www.southernmarylandemmaus.com
The link to the newsletter is emailed to community members through PPOCs. If you do not have a PPOC, contactRick Pitonyak at [email protected]
South ern Mary land Emmaus isaf fil i ated with the In ter na tionalEmmaus Move ment of The Up perRoom, Nash ville, Tn. Emmaus is apro gram of fer ing of the Upper RoomInternational Walk to Emmaus Office. Our pur pose is to in spire, chal lenge,and equip church mem bers forChris tian Ac tion.
Prayer Coordinator
Rick [email protected]
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If you have special requests for musicyou'd like to share personally or have the
community use for gatherings and ourwalks, please let Jim Risley know at
Friend Us on Facebook! Blairlee Owens - Administrator
My name is Blairlee Owens. I worship at Trinity United Methodist Church in Annapolisand I walked on Southern Maryland Emmaus Walk #30 and sat at the table of Ruth. (clap) I am the Administrator for our Southern Maryland Emmaus Community Facebook Page.(https://www.facebook.com/groups/154818234532686/) The page has been "up" foryears, but there has been little activity on it. With this announcement, I am hoping that
many of you will friend us! I plan on posting information from the Upper Room about Emmaus as well asinformation about the Southern Maryland Emmaus Community. By keeping the information current and up todate, as well as interesting, I hope to use this social media tool to help expand our communication reach tomore members of the community. There are a few basic guidelines we will follow - like you do have to haveattended a 3 day walk to be a friend of the page. All comments and info will be approved before being posted.Feel free to pass this info on to others in Southern Maryland Emmaus. Please like our Facebook page andsend me any information you would like to me to put on our page. Please let me know if you have anyquestions!
New Vision Poplar Grove Church is Born
Terraine Arnold Duberry and her Husband Pastor HerbDuberry (Pilgrim 21 September 2019) successfullyopened/started a new church on July 14th.
New Vision Poplar Grove Church.Services Sunday at 11am and Wednesdays 7-8:30pm We are located just off of the 95 N/S Exit 51 to CantonAvenue :Washington Blvd.1401 Bloomfield Avenue, Halethorpe (Baltimore), MD21223Lower Level New Vision Poplar Grove’s 1st outreachof the ministry:
Terraine is liv ing the dream of learn ing the sound board
like a DJ (smile) and learn ing to play pi ano.
Terraine will be Preaching:August 21 (Wednesday 7pm Corporate Worship andCommunion), August 28 (Wednesday 7pm Corporate Worship andCommunion)September 4th (Wednesday 7pm) and 29th (Sunday11am)October 23rd and 30th (Wednesdays 7pm)
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Walking My Path
Help us con tinue this new fea ture, "Walk ing My Path". It's an op por tu nity to share with the com mu nity how you have beenwalk ing "on the right path" fol low ing your Emmaus Week -end. How did you week end change your life? What haveyou done since to share your faith with oth ers? Send yoursto ries via email to the ed i tor at [email protected].
Dear Friends,
With the fall weekends fast approaching we have agreat need to secure walk on agape volunteers for boththe Men’s and the Women’s weekends. Below is a listof the dates and times when the help is needed. Please prayerfully consider blessing the team and pilgrims byvolunteering your time.
To sign up please call or email Len Lent at240-434-3494 [email protected]
Friday (9-20-19 for the men) (9-27-19 for the women) (one person only for each time frame):
8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Saturday (9-21-19 for the men) (9-28-19 for thewomen) (one person only for each time frameunless noted)
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. , 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
4:30 Dinner table decorations, serving, and clean-up: 6 servers needed, 2+ volunteers needed for setup andcleanup
6:30 p.m. Candlelight set-up and clean-up: This is
currently handled by a Reunion Group from Good
Shepherd UMC. Judy Lindley is the contact for this
group.
Sunday (9-22-19 for the men) (9-29-19 for the
women) (one person only for each time frame)
8:00 a.m. – Noon, Noon – 3:00 p.m.
Sunday clean-up crew (3:00 UNTIL IT’S ALL DONE!)
– 8 - 12 people, depending on the facilities
Another blessing for the team and pilgrims is tableagape. Please consider making or otherwise providingtable agape. If you have table agape that you want toprovide for the weekend let me know and I will help youget it to the weekend.
Thanks for all you do to bless our teams and pilgrims.
Your Brother In Christ
Len Lent
See Barry Oren's Story on page 10
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My name is Connie Wells; I attend First SaintsCommunity Church, California Campus. I walked onSME #28 and sat at the table of Naomi (clap). Whilevisiting with my daughter this summer she asked if I’dwatch WAR ROOM with her. Our small group hadviewed it several months ago and although the actingwasn’t the best, I loved the message of the movie so wewatch it together. Several days later she asked if I’d dothe book study FERVENT with her. The book is basedon the movie and written by Priscilla Shirer. Priscillaalso stars in the movie and the movie and book arebased on her grandmother’s prayer strategy.
FERVENT is a hands-on, knees-down, don’t give upaction guide to practical, purposeful praying. We havean enemy……and he’s dead set on destroying all wehold dear and keep us from experiencing abundant lifein Christ. What’s more, his approach to disrupting our
life and discrediting our faith isn’t general or generic, not a one-size-fits-all. It’s specific. Personalized. Targeted.
So, how do we strike back? With PRAYER. A weaponthat really works. Each chapter will guide you in crafting prayer strategies that hit the enemy where it hurts,letting him know you’re on to him and that you won’tback down.
If you’ve seen WAR ROOM and are longing toimplement what you saw on the screen, FERVENT isthe book for you!
Decolores!
We Are an Emmaus Team and Community
By PJ Pitonyak, SME CLD
Do you remember being amazed the first time you sawbehind the curtain? I do. One minute we are on a busyEmmaus walk and the next the whole site is brokendown. One minute we are sharing breakfast or dinner at a gathering and the next the table and chairs arecleared. All this is possible because we are a team. We are a community.
You are part of the Southern Maryland EmmausCommunity. What part do you play? We NEED you totake a more active role. Please, pray and listen forGod’s response. He and we need you to participatemore and to show more agape love by sponsoring,attending gatherings, writing articles for the newsletter,posting to the FB site, making agape, tearing down after the walks and serving on the board. If you are a pastor,
we NEED your direction as a spiritual leader. We needSpiritual Directors, and we need a full Board.
Christ is counting on you, and Southern MarylandEmmaus is counting in you. Don’t make this a cliché. Take action. Be a team player now. Get off of thebench and away from the sidelines. Experience thewhole Emmaus experience by doing all you can for ourcommunity and for Christ. Sure, you can leave yourwalk and lead more at your church, but your churchshould also have an active Emmaus group, and thatgroup should do more for Southern Maryland Emmaus.
De Colores!
9
own arguments, and we have a natural tendency towant to prevail in any discussion. But what if we’rewrong?
When Jesus spoke to the Jewish religious leaders, didthey even give a moment’s thought to what he wassaying? No doubt they were completely focused ondisproving and rejecting those ideas which did not fitwith their beliefs.
When the thousands gathered to hear Jesus speak, Iwonder how many of them listened with an open mind,and how many may have been missing the messagebecause they were focused on their own opinions.
Even the disciples did not always listen.
Matthew 28 reads: Then the eleven disciples went togalilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them togo. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but somedoubted.
It is not known which disciples may have doubted, butJesus gave them a reason to believe.
In Matthew 28 he says:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “all authority inheaven and on earth has been given to me. therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the father and of the son and of the holyspirit, and teaching them to obey everything I havecommanded you.”
To doubt is human, but it is through faith that we learn to overcome our doubts. It is through faith that we canlearn to be still and hear the words of Jesus. It isthrough faith that we can learn to listen more and speakless.
Proverbs 18:13 has good advice: If one gives ananswer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.
Do you ever argue with god? I know I do sometimes.But as he told the disciples, all authority in heaven andon earth are his. To think we could prevail in a debatewith Jesus is indeed folly. All we really need to do islisten. How much more could weaccomplish as individuals, as a nation, asa world body if we all heeded the adviceto just listen and obey everything whichJesus commanded us to do.
I don’t have one of those fancy fit bittracking devices to track my sleepingpatters, but I sleep just fine knowing thatthe source of all authority, Jesus Christ,is in control of my life. Well, except for thatsnoring business, of course – that’s all me.
Fit from pg. 3
Some of What You Will Find On Our New Website
NOTE: Team lists are on page 12-13 Pilgrim Lists are not final but can be found on our website
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Hmmmm, Nearly 300 High School Kids For A Week Sleeping In A Church
(What Could Pos si bly Go Wrong?)
No kidding – I spent the week of June 30th to July 5th
with nearly 300 high school kids in northern AnneArundel County! I know, I know, you’re likely thinking –are you nuts Barry?
Well, yes…but not because of this wonderfulweek…my resume is replete with all manner of thingscrazy!
First off, let me tell you these high school kids areChristians. Not only do they sign up with their youthgroups to come from around the country to come tonorthern Anne Arundel County, they do so within thefollowing parameters:
The youth groups came from as far away as Iowa (18hours on the highway!) They also came from Michigan,New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, New Jerseyand Maryland!
They came to sleep on classroom floors.They came to eat cafeteria styleThey came to shower in trailers and cold watersupplied tents.They came to be separated from their youth groupsto work on 6 person crews with folks they never metbefore.They came to work on resident’s homes – for peoplethey’ll likely never, ever see again.They worshiped together twice each day – at 8:00AM and again at 7:30 PM.They shared devotions twice daily as well – at theirjobsite and again after the evening worship service.
Oh, and they paid $500 for the privilege…
I tell you that you’ve not lived until you are in the midst of young Christians, willingly, openly praising JesusChrist. You see, these ‘kids’ are not the ones we see onthe news or read about online sitting at the localshopping center looking for trouble…these ‘kids’ arehere to SERVE!
Standing off to the side during worship each night I wasoverwhelmed to realize that these ‘kids’ are our future!These are the folks we’re turning the world over to – notthe buffoons looking for trouble.
If this feels like the beginning of a table talk during anEmmaus weekend, well then congratulations…you’repayin’ attention!
My name is Barry Oren, I worship at The Nichols-Bethel United Methodist Church, in Odenton, Maryland and Iwalked on Southern Maryland Emmaus Walk # 41. I satat the table of…wait for it…wait for it…Thomas!
Let’s just call this a Graduate talk for Emmaus!
Here’s some quick facts for you:
As the Co-Sponsor (CS) we needed to raise $19,000 –we raised $50,000.
As the CS we needed to visit nearly 80 different homesto find 35 viable sites.
As the CS we had a volunteer staff of over 150 people –from our church and neighboring Churches.
Walking My Path
In this is sue, Barry Oren talks about how he is "Walk ing thePath" and putt ing his Emmaus train ing and faith into prac tice.
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As the CS we had a Set Up team of 14 volunteers whocompletely set up the sites with materials and ladders in just two days!
Our community provided funding, donated materials(over $1000), a local community church opened theirdoors to us – allowing us to convert their facility from achurch into a workcamp in less than 2 hours after theirworship services were over. (We also re-converted theworkcamp back into a church in under 3 hours at theend of the week.).
Local community businesses also provided us withspecial pricing on materials, a warehouse where wecollected over 100 ladders, 50 sets of saw horses andwhere we staged all the materials for the set-up week.They also gave us a forklift to use and a large box truckto use – with an operator!
We had a volunteer staff from around the country towork behind the scenes to make sure everything ransmoothly (it’s an understatement to say there’s a lot ofmoving parts in a workcamp!) This staff included 19volunteers!
We also had a paid Director (for legal purposes) andfour paid staffers who are college students with a wholelot of responsibilities:
A Program Manager – running all the technical aspectsof the A/V for services.
An Office Manager – handling all the office and HRduties.
A Crew Manager – puts together the 6 person crews onSunday between the hours of 3:00 and 6:30. Shematched the skill levels to the crews and the needs ofthe individual sites.
A Materials Manager – in charge of all materials duringcamp week, including nightly purchasing runs for anyadditional needs.
Here are the results:
About $350,000 pumped into the local economy!
7650 service hours – for just the camp week!
12 youth groups from 9 different states!
300 + participants!
26 sites – with a com ple tion rate of over 95%!
2165 non-per ish able food items do nated by the youth
groups – these items went to five dif fer ent com mu nity
food pan tries!
The ca terer we used was so moved by the workcamp
they were able to box up left overs from each meal and
fed over 50 peo ple a day at a lo cal tent city through a
group called the Emmaus Cen ter!
We had most of the res i dents join us Fri day night for a
cel e bra tion ser vice hon or ing them.
Of the 26 res i dents we served, twenty-two have writ ten
won der ful thank you let ters and two even do nated
money to our fu ture en deav ors!
Our youth group has asked for and started a monthly
pro ject list so they can reach out all year.
On Thurs day night we hold a ded i ca tion ser vice – an al -
tar call if you will. The theme for the week was ti tled Re -
lent less and was all about God’s Re lent less pur suit of
Da vid and Da vid’s Re lent less pur suit of God. That night
we pro vided the par tic i pants for a way to have their sins
washed away at the foot of the cross. Us ing rice pa per
each per son wrote down a sin (or sins) they wanted
God to cleanse and re move. When they were prayer -
fully pre pared they came for ward (as they wished) and
placed the rice pa per with the sins into a ba sin of wa ter
and watched as the pa per hold ing their sins dissolved
and disappeared.
You see, at the Ches a peake Bay Workcamp we get a
lot of work done for the res i dents we serve…but more
im por tantly…much more im por tantly we bring our fu -
ture into the lov ing folds of Chris tian dis ci ple ship.
And just four days later I had the op por tu nity to serve
the Fred er ick (MD) com mu nity as the di rec tor for that
workcamp! Through Group Mis sion Trips (Col o rado)
we made this hap pen in 34 com mu ni ties this sum mer –
over 14,000 youth lives changed.
Ed. Note – Voice of Amer ica has this fea ture video on
the Ches a peake Bay Workcamp:
https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-teens-keep-faith-repairing-homes
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Southern Maryland Emmaus Community
Reunion & Accountability Groups
The Reunion Group Coordinator, Ellen Bertelsen would like to hear about any activeGroups in Southern Maryland. If you are having difficulty finding a Reunion Group, contact Terraine Arnold Duberry. Experience the Fourth Day feeling.
Calvary UMC, Waldorf Women Thursday - 5 p.m. location varies contact Cheryl Merkle [email protected]
First UMC, Laurel Men Saturday - 7:00 a.m. Women Saturday - 8:30 a.m.
First Saints UMC, California Campus Women Mondays 5:00 p.m. (home setting) contact Sheila Hanson [email protected]
Good Shepherd UMC, Waldorf Co-Ed Wednesday 6:00 p.m. at restaurants call Linda Ford 301-645-6408 Men Thursday 6:00 p.m in Chapel. Women Monday 7:00 p.m. (not at church) contact Margaret Kolbe 301-870-8946 Women Thursday 6:00 p.m. (not at church) contact Linda Adgate 301-645-3845 or Becky Collier 301-932-3131
Grace Notes Thursdays, 3:00 p.m. Contact Pam Grace 301-475-3446
Huntingtown UMC Coed: 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 7pm at church contact Jim D’Amico
La Plata UMC, La Plata Women Thursday 6:00 p.m. at the church Men Tuesday 6:00 p.m. at the church Contact John Hastings [email protected]
Lexington Park UMC, Lexington Park TBD
Linthicum Heights UMC, Linthicum Heights Co-Ed Saturday 8:30 a.m.
Naval Air Station, Patuxent River Men Wednesdays 11:30 a.m.
Nichols-Bethel UMC, Odenton Co-Ed Wednesday 6:30 p.m.
Olivet UMC, Lusby Co-Ed 1st Sunday of the month 12:15 p.m. at Olivet UMC Good News Center
Pisgah UMC, La Plata Women Wednesday 6:00 p.m. (home setting) for information contact Patti Flesher 301-743-2271
Shiloh UMC, Bryans Road Co-ed Tuesdays 6:30 p.m. (home setting)
Can't find a reunion group?
Consider starting a new one.
“Walk in the Light” - South ern Mary land EmmausVisit us on the web at www.southernmarylandemmaus.com
"Were not our hearts burn ing within us while He wasspeak ing to us on the road, while He was ex plain ing
the Scrip tures to us?” Luke 24:32
In for ma tion on the South ern Mary land Walk to Emmaus, as well aspil grim and team ap pli ca tions may be found on our website:
www.southernmarylandemmaus.com
Southern Maryland EmmausP.O. Box 343
White Plains, MD 20695
Southern Maryland Emmaus Board of Directors 2018
Community Lay Director/Chair - PJ Pitonyak
Assistant Community Lay Director - Cef Epps
Past Community Lay Director -Dwayne Waltrip
Treasurer - Lorenda Wilson
Secretary/Historian - Lorenda Walton
Community Spiritual Director - Open
Agape Coordinator - Len Lent
Asst. Agape Coordinator - Open
Team Selection - Sheila Hanson & Connie Wells
Community Events Coordinator/Fourth Day Coordinator - Cef Epps
Sponsorships/Reunion Groups - Terraine Arnold Duberry
Registrar/Pilgrim Selection - Dwaine Waltrip
Assistant Registrar - Open
Communications/Directory - Rick Pitonyak
Music Director - Jim Risley
