The 2008 Regional Assembly held in Frederick, MD made one major decision beyond approving the slate of officers for the 2009-2010 biennium.  The Assembly approved a Capital Campaign for 2009-2011 to raise $1.5 million dollars.  The campaign is to expand the Dining Hall at Camp Mary Mac, Sharpsburg, MD and to build a new dormitory at the Christian Church Conference Center at Bethany Beach, DE.

The Rev. Fred Harris, Senior Pastor at First Christian Church in Hagerstown, MD and the Rev. Cecil Cook, Senior Pastor at the University Christian Church in Hyattsville, MD will co-chair the Capital Campaign.  More information will be posted in the near future.

The Christian Church Capital Area is pleased to announce that you can now download the latest Capital Area Christian Newsletter, March 2008, from this page. (You'll see the handy link at the bottom.) This issue brings you up to date with all the wonderful events coming up for our region, including a word from our Acting Regional Minister.

If you would like to receive a regular email when the Capital Area Christian is published, feel free to email the office (mail@cccadisciples.org) with your name and email address. 

The Heartbeats of Faith is all about health — health of the Churchwide Health Care program, health of our clergy and church workers, health of our congregations, and the health of the whole church.

It is not news that health care insurance is in crisis, and for many clergy/congregations, seems prohibitive. The General Assembly meeting in Portland, OR in 2005 accepted the recommendation that a $5,000,000 Trust Fund could go far to smooth out the restructured health insurance to control costs and make health care insurance more affordable for our younger clergy and smaller congregations, as well as older clergy.

To find out more about the needs and for opportunities to participate, please contact the Heartbeats of Faith campaign at www.heartbeatsoffaith.org.

You may also contact Laird Thomason at lairdat@mac.com for assistance as you plan a campaign in your congregation with an offering April 13-20.

"Joash was seven years old when he began to reign and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem....And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” “All the money.... which a man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord,...let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered." (2 Chr. 24.1-2, 2Kings 12.4-5) RSV

Unless one is an Old Testament scholar, I could probably get good odds that you do not remember who Joash was! And even if you do remember a Joash, you probably cannot account for the seven people in the Bible who are named Joash! The Joash to whom I refer is one of the five kings of Israel who were judged to have been good kings.

Joash was king in the last half of the 9th century BCE. Two hundred years earlier, David and Solomon had built Israel into a great community. But the faith had dwindled by the time of Joash. Some sought the new Baal worship. Yet the call of Joash for a special offering during his 40 years led Israel to a great restoration.